The Dallas Mavericks are one win away from going to the NBA finals, but if they want to win their first NBA championship since 2011, here is what needs to happen. Firstly, they must advance to the Finals by closing out the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
On Tuesday, May 5, the Mavs entered the game as the 156th team to hold a 3-0 lead in a playoff series. It’s important to note that the previous 155 teams in this position have gone on to win, making the Mavs’ loss in Game 4 critical. To avoid making history as the first team to blow a 3-0 lead in NBA history, the Mavericks must regroup and focus on securing victory in Game 5 as the series returns to Minnesota. Right now, the T-Wolves’ two stars have momentum, and if there is anybody who has enough delusion to believe that they can make history as the first team to erase a 3-0 deficit, it’s the Ant-Man Anthony Edwards.
Edwards, the Timberwolves’s young, talented, and exciting shooting guard, has been crowned by many as the second coming of Micheal Jordan– the greatest of all time, in my opinion– and he played like it in Game 4. With his team facing elimination, he ended the game with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. He also delivered some crucial plays on both offense and defense during the clutch moments of the game. His counter partner KAT, Karl Anthony Towns, played his best game of the series. He finished with 25 points and five rebounds, but he played with an aggression that he hasn’t played with all series, and he went 4-5 from 3, with all of them coming in the second half and two of them coming in the final five minutes of the game. Throughout the entire series, the Timberwolves played good basketball. Despite their efforts, they struggled to make the clutch plays needed to secure a win. Everything changed in Game 4 when their dynamic duo stepped up and led the team to a thrilling victory, marking their first victory of the series.
The next crucial step is for the Mavericks’ seasoned star shooting guard, Uncle Drew, also known as Kyrie Irving, to return to rare form. Many basketball experts consider Irving as one of the most skilled players in NBA history. His remarkable abilities on the court, despite being only 6’2″, have earned him this praise. With an otherworldly handle and lay-up package, he can dominate in various aspects of the game, including posting up, shooting mid-range, and nailing 3-pointers. Not to mention, his prowess in closing out games is one of his standout qualities. In the first three games, we witnessed vintage Irving in action. In Game 1, Irving, or the basketball savant as he calls himself, finished with 30 points and hit two clutch free throws to help seal the win. In Game 2, he finished with 20 points but scored 12 in the fourth quarter. In game 3, he scored 33 points, with 11 coming in the fourth quarter. That all changed in Game 4. Kyrie Irving, who entered the game 14-0 in close-out games, finally lost one. In Game 4, he finished with 16 points, but his shooting performance was far from impressive. Irving made just 6 out of 18 attempts and only 1 out of 6 three-pointers, and to make matters worse, he had four turnovers. Even in the crucial fourth quarter, where he typically shines, he only scored six points. That’s not going to be sufficient to beat the Timberwolves team. We know what to expect from his counterpart, Luka Doncic, a nearly 30-point triple-double, but for Dallas to win the championship, Kyrie Irving must play at the highest level and deliver some truly sensational, heroic performances.
The Mavericks are relying on Kyrie to bring his A-game for two reasons: first, they need him to help lead them out of the Western Conference Finals, and secondly, they need him to complete the last step in hopes of winning an NBA title, which is to conquer Jrue Holiday and the Boston Celtics. I want to highlight Holiday first because I believe he is one of the few players in the NBA who could give Irving a run for his money on the defensive end. Holiday is an elite defender with a championship pedigree, and he even earned a spot on the 2023-24 Kia NBA All-Defensive Second Team with his teammate Derrick White.
This season, the Celtics have been a juggernaut in the NBA. They arguably have the best starting five in the league and have the record to show it. Along with Holiday and White, Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brown, and Kristaps Porziņģis achieved a remarkable 64-18 record, marking their best performance since the 2007-2008 season when they won their last championship. Not only are they beating teams, but they are dominating them. The Celtics beat teams by an average of 11.5 points per game, which is the fifth-largest margin of victory in the NBA, and they defeated the Golden State Warriors by 52 points this year.
During the playoffs, the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals with what many consider to be the easiest route. In the first round, they defeated the Miami Heat 4-1, who were missing their best player, Jimmy Butler. In the second round, they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1, who played half the series without their two best players, Donovon Mitchell and Jared Allen. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they swept the Pacers 4-0, even playing 2.5 games without their All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Right now, Boston is getting rest as they wait for the Dallas and Minnesota series to conclude. Dallas has a two-game advantage and history over the Timberwolves, but history is made every day. Just because 155 teams who held a 3-0 lead advanced to the next round doesn’t mean it’ll happen for a 156th time. If Dallas wants to meet Boston in the NBA Finals, they need to first handle business against the Timberwolves, because after that Game 4 loss, the doors are open for a surprising upset.
