It has been a tough road for the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Playoffs.
After defeating the Utah Jazz in six games and the heavily favored Phoenix Suns in seven games, the Mavericks were tasked with taking on a veteran-led playoff-experienced team in the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
The Warriors showed that they could be back into the championship winning form they were in when they last won the NBA Finals in 2018.
The Mavericks lost to the Warriors within their first three games as the veterans and young players for Golden State found unique ways to dominate on the court. The Mavericks were also unable to find consistency from their scorers outside of first-team All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic.
Facing elimination in game four at home, the Mavericks fueled themselves in a fight for a 119-109 win thanks to six of their players scoring double-digit points. They also forced a tough scoring night for Warriors point guard Steph Curry, shooting guard Klay Thompson and small forward Andrew Wiggins.
With the Mavericks finding their first signs of life, their chances of completing a tremendous series comeback against the Golden State Warriors is incredibly low, but not impossible.
Doncic has been on fire during the Mavericks' postseason run. In 14 games played, Doncic leads the NBA this postseason in points scored per game (31.9) shooting 46.3% from field-goal percentage and 35.6% from the three-point arc. He is also averaging 9.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. Doncic continues to show that he is one of the most electrifying scorers and playmakers in the NBA as he has accumulated nine games this season where he has scored 30 or more points.
But his fantastic playmaking alone will not be enough for the Mavericks to come back while down 3-1 in a seven-game series to win. The Mavericks will need some of their offensive-minded players like guard Jalen Brunson, forward Dorian Finney-Smith and forward Reggie Bullock to play more consistently night-in and night-out during the upcoming games.
Brunson was one of the main impact scorers for the Mavericks in the first two games of the first round against Utah when Doncic was out with an injury. Brunson scored 14 points in game one against the Warriors and then 31 points in game two. He has been hot or cold from behind the three-point arc. Brunson also needs to be more consistent in defending against the high-caliber Warriors scorers.
Dorian Finney-Smith accumulated a total of 24 points in the first three games against Golden State and then scored 23 points in the game four victory. Guard Reggie Bullock scored 12 points (shooting 4-12 in field goals) in game one, 21 points in game two, zero points (0-10 in field goals and 0-7 from the three-point arc), and finally, 18 points in game four.
It doesn't help the Mavericks that their second most consistent scorer for several seasons in shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. has been out indefinitely following foot surgery this past February. This post-season for the Mavericks has been captivating, still, thanks to the fantastic play of Doncic.
Dallas got the best out of their role players in the game four win over Golden State as the Mavericks shot 50% of their field-goals (41-of-82) and 46.5% from the three-point arc (20-of-43). The Mavericks had six scorers that competed with the elite scoring playmakers of the Warriors and outscored them.
Dallas has found new life in a series they feel they can win. On Thursday night, the Mavericks will have to endure another tough task: repeating the offensive and defensive performances they showed in game 4 on the road as the series goes back to San Francisco.
This a tough goal for the Mavericks to accomplish, but it is one they feel they can complete. They were able to come back in a series against Phoenix down 0-2.
The last time a professional team (MLB, NBA, and NHL) come back from 0-3 to win a seven-game series was in 2014, when the Los Angeles Kings were down 0-3 in the first round against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference First Round. The Kings would on to win the 2014 Stanley Cup Championship.
The Mavericks could do the same for the first time ever from the NBA.