Dallas' Stubbornness Is Leading To Their Demise

The conference finals are boring in the sense that you’re not going to learn anything new. So far, that has held true. A few players have jumped off the page. But, there is no learning curve in these series. Some teams are ready, and others aren’t. The Dallas Mavericks have been the opposite of ready.

Down 0-3, it’s time to face the facts. Here’s what Dallas did wrong in this series, and what their offseason may look like.

What Went Wrong?

It seems futile to talk about the Dallas Mavericks at this point. They lost another winnable game in game three, falling behind 0-3 against the Warriors. Their season is over, but I want to talk about why it’s over.

The Mavericks aren’t a complex team. I don’t even know if their offense features any “plays.” It’s a lot of hoping and praying. Sure, Luka Doncic is spectacular. He creates an infinite amount of open looks for Dallas’ shooters. But Dallas hasn’t adapted from that format.

Sure, it worked against the Jazz and even the Suns, but the Warriors are a different beast. What worked against other teams won’t work against them, and it hasn’t. Dallas has continued to live and die by the three. Right now, they’re slowly bleeding out on the side of the road like a stuck pig.

Dallas’ defense has sucked in this series. There’s no other way around it. Nothing they do seems to slow down the might of the Warriors. And sure, you can blame personnel for these struggles. But Dallas hasn’t done themselves any favors with the scheming decisions they’ve made.

Let’s take a look at what has gone so wrong for Dallas in this series.

Living and Dying By The Three

When the Mavericks make their threes, they win. When they don’t, they lose. At times in this series, they’ve looked unstoppable. They hit 15 3-pointers in the first half of game two. But, at other times, they can’t hit anything.

The Warriors aren’t taking away their looks. It’s just that Dallas has failed to capitalize for long stretches in this series. What frustrates me the most is how Dallas gets their 3-PT attempts. Attacking the middle has led them to better looks. When they don’t do that, the results are worse.

Don’t believe me?

Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Totals
Attack: 7/27	Attack: 8/15	Attack: 7/24	Attack: 33%
Non-Attack: 4/19	Non-Attack: 13/29	Non-Attack: 6/20	Non-Attack: 34%

Attack: 3-PTA that occurred after a drive into the middle
Non-Attack: 3-PTA that occurred when no drive was made

While Dallas hasn’t shot more threes when they attack or when they don’t, that’s not the point. The quality of the shots they’re getting is the key. Dallas puts so much more pressure on the Warriors’ defense when they make numerous drives and kicks. When they don’t, it’s a different story.

Golden State is fine with the Mavs taking threes early in the shot clock. They would rather have Luka take his step-back threes than have Dallas rapidly move the ball.

But we’ve seen Dallas get away from that too often. They don’t challenge the Warriors’ defense. Instead, they settle for out-of-rhythm triples that the Warriors are daring them to make. It also doesn’t help when your “shooters” have looked like this through three games;

Reggie Bullock: 33% 3-PT
Maxi Kleber: 14% 3-PT
Davis Bertans: 13% 3-PT
Frank Ntilikina + Josh Green: 0/7 3-PT

The Mavs are in a paradox. They aren’t generating as many good looks as they can. And when they do create a good look, they miss.

Going All Out On Steph Curry

Another crazy thing Jason Kidd has done in this series is send help every time Steph Curry touches the ball. The idea itself isn’t bad. There aren’t many players who are as unstoppable as Curry when he gets going. But Dallas may be selling too much on Curry.

This isn’t bad defense, until Doncic is late with his rotation. To make this defensive scheme successful, they have to meet Looney as soon as he catches the ball. Otherwise, this sort of thing will happen a lot (and it has). Doncic just gets pushed under the rim.

Why isn’t Kleber trying to stop Curry on this play? Looney isn’t a threat out there, but Green is. Dinwiddie helps off of Green way too much – and you know the rest.

This is where I get confused. Why do the Mavericks let Doncic switch onto Curry? I thought we were doubling him at all costs? Why is there where the line is drawn, especially in waning moments of your season?

(Note: There are way more clips than these. Imagine like 1000 of these)

The worst thing about Dallas’ strategy with Curry is that Curry hasn’t been great this postseason. He regressed heavily as a 3-PT shooter during the regular season. This postseason, he’s shooting 37.5% from outside, which is good.

But I would have rather seen Dallas use this defense as a last resort. If they couldn’t stop Curry, doubling him would be them waving the white flag. Instead, they’ve stayed with this defense throughout the entire series, and it hasn’t worked. At all.

I know I’m not speaking gibberish when I say a moving 25-footer is a more difficult shot than a wide-open layup, no matter who’s shooting the 25-footer.

Solutions

None

Coming into this series, I questioned whether Dallas would be able to hide their defensive mismatches. After three games, I still don’t know. The Warriors haven’t attacked Dallas’ sub-par defenders that much. They haven’t needed to.

Instead, the Mavericks have been force-feeding them easy looks, overreacting to a problem that isn’t there. And so, Dallas goes into another offseason with a bitter taste in their mouths. Maybe some Zach Lavine mouthwash can make them feel better.

Offseason

The Mavericks have work to do this offseason. Better options down low and more dynamic scorers are needed. But, they don’t have the most money to get things done. Here’s what Nico Harrison can do this summer.

Key Free Agents

Jalen Brunson (UFA)

Trade Assets

26th overall pick
Dwight Powell – 1 year / $11 million left on contract
Maxi Kleber – 1 year / non-guaranteed left on contract
Davis Bertans – 2 years / $33 million left on contract (third year has early termination option)
Josh Green – Potential RFA in 2024

Dallas’ most important free agent this summer is Jalen Brunson. They’re going to have to pay him a lot of money to retain him. As of right now, it’s hard to imagine Dallas letting him walk. But, the Mavericks could take a big swing with Brunson.

Brunson is the second-best player for Dallas. I’m not doubting that. He’s invaluable to Dallas in terms of giving Luka rest on offense. But, when Zach Lavine is apparently free game, you can’t tell me you’re not interested.

We could see a sign-and-trade centered around Brunson going to the Bulls in exchange for Lavine. Something like this, perhaps?;

Bulls Receive: Jalen Brunson / Davis Bertans / 2026 first round pick

Mavericks Receive: Zach Lavine

Obviously, both Lavine and Brunson would need new contracts, but I think there is an off-chance this happens. Lavine is an upgrade over Brunson and gives the Mavericks everything they’ve been looking for in a Doncic running mate.

Other smaller moves like targeting Tyus Jones, Kyle Anderson, Taurean Prince, or even TJ Warren would be beneficial for Dallas. It’s again clear that they have to make moves to get better. Let’s see what moves they have up their sleeves to improve.

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Dallas’ Stubbornness Is Leading To Their Demise