The Dallas Mavericks Just May Not Be Good Enough Yet

DALLAS — Jason Kidd, the coach of the Mavericks, had a concise message for his gamers earlier than Game 3 of the N.B.A.’s Western Conference finals on Sunday evening.

Open pictures, he reminded them within the locker room, are simpler to make than contested pictures, so get into the paint and draw Golden State defenders. Do that, and area will open up on the perimeter.

“Attack, attack, attack,” mentioned Kidd, his voice betraying no small quantity of urgency. “Make them work.”

It was a sensible technique, and certain sufficient, it labored. The Mavericks generated a decent variety of clear appears to be like at 3-pointers. The drawback? They couldn’t make lots of them. Luka Doncic, the staff’s star level guard, supplied a synopsis.

“Sometimes you feel like you’re open and everybody knows you can make a shot, and then just miss,” he mentioned. “It gets you quite a little bit down.”

It was the newest installment of a series-long nightmare for the Mavericks, whose 109-100 loss put them getting ready to elimination. Golden State can full a four-game sweep on Tuesday, and if that isn’t dire sufficient for Dallas, there’s additionally this closely recited piece of trivia: No staff in league historical past has come again from the three-games-to-none collection deficit the Mavericks are going through.

“It’s not over yet,” Doncic mentioned, “but it’s not going to be easy.”

Not towards an opponent that Kidd described as a “dynasty.” Not towards the likes of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, collectively once more after wading through two injury-ravaged seasons to steer the Warriors to the cusp of their first N.B.A. finals look since 2019.

But Golden State can also be a potent mix of latest and previous. For a stretch of the third quarter, the Warriors went with a box-and-1 protection as Moses Moody, the first-year guard, defended Doncic after receiving steering from Green. In the fourth quarter, Andrew Wiggins, who has been enjoying his finest basketball since becoming a member of the staff in 2020, nearly dunked Doncic into oblivion.

“That was impressive,” Doncic mentioned, “I’m not going to lie.”

And Jordan Poole, the third-year guard who took benefit of the staff’s lean seasons to become an explosive playmaker, sealed the win with a late-game 3-pointer.

“They just stay connected throughout the entire game, whether they’re down 20 or up 20,” the Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson mentioned. “You can see that. It’s just very evident.”

It should be small comfort for them proper now, however the Mavericks are studying some helpful classes — lots of the identical classes that the Memphis Grizzlies learned in the last round once they succumbed to Golden State’s expertise and knowledge and all-around cohesive play. While Kidd stopped in need of conceding the collection, he acknowledged as a lot.

“As we reflect this summer, whenever that starts, we’ll understand what we did and how we can get better,” he mentioned. “We’re going to keep fighting, but we’re also going to get better from this experience.”

Give the Mavericks credit score for making an attempt to regulate their method after blowing a 19-point lead in Game 2.

That adjustment was on show early within the second quarter of Game 3, because the Mavericks — as soon as, twice, 3 times — penetrated into the paint, regularly sending passes to the perimeter seeking a top quality shot. It was solely once they dribbled into the tooth of the protection for a fourth time that Dorian Finney-Smith noticed Brunson behind the 3-point line. He drained the shot.

Later within the quarter, Brunson repaid the favor when he picked up his dribble close to the left elbow. As a slew of Golden State defenders converged on him, Brunson whipped the ball to Finney-Smith for an additional 3-pointer, which pushed Dallas’s result in 6.

But that was pretty much as good because it received for the Mavericks, who had been in any other case woeful from the 3-point line, taking pictures 13 of 45. Reggie Bullock missed all seven of his 3-point makes an attempt. Maxi Kleber was 0 for five.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Kidd mentioned. “We’re getting good looks, and they’re just not dropping.”

There had been different issues. One of them was named Stephen Curry, who collected 31 factors and 11 assists whereas taking pictures 5 of 10 from 3-point vary. The Mavericks additionally gave up too many offensive rebounds, and so they wasted one other valiant effort from Doncic. After scoring 42 factors on Friday, he went for 40 on Sunday. The Mavericks misplaced each video games.

“I’m still learning,” he mentioned.

If nothing else, the Mavericks are going to win or lose by being themselves — and unapologetically so. There isn’t any higher illustration of this phenomenon than the conduct of their gamers on the bench, who’ve been treading a effective line between enthusiastic and obnoxious. They cheer. They dance. But additionally they stand precariously near the court docket, which has induced points.

On Friday, for instance, Curry threw a go to an open participant who was calling for the ball. The drawback was that the open participant was Theo Pinson, an inactive participant for the Mavericks. Curry had mistaken Pinson’s white shirt for a Golden State jersey.

“It was a good pass,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr mentioned, deadpan. “He was open.”

The league subsequently fined the Mavericks $100,000 for persevering with to violate league guidelines concerning “team bench decorum.” On a number of events, the league mentioned in a press release, gamers and not less than one member of the teaching workers had encroached on the enjoying floor. It was the third time the league had fined the Mavericks within the postseason for the extracurriculars of their bench.

“We’re not going to sit,” Kidd mentioned earlier than Game 3. “We’re going to cheer.”

By the tip of evening, Golden State had rendered them silent.