The 2024 NBA Finals haven’t gone the way Dallas Mavericks fans have hoped. They were able to get past the tough Western Conference, winning every series without any questions. However, that has not been the case in the NBA Finals. After losing the first two games on the road to the Boston Celtics. There remained some hope among Mavericks fans of being able to tie it back up when they went home.
That hope went away quickly after the Mavericks again fell short to the Celtics in game three, despite a late fourth-quarter push, losing the game 105-98. With the Mavericks being down 0-3 in the NBA Finals. The question now shifts to who is the most to blame for the Mavericks’ downfall. A lot of people will point to Luka Doncic however, it seems to be more of a combination of things.
Who is Most to Blame on The Mavericks for Their Downfall in The NBA Finals?
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic is the first to blame for the Mavericks with all the complaining he has done to the officials. He is the leader of this team and it just seems like he is more focused on getting a call than playing basketball. There are times in these games when he goes back on defense and complains to the officials for too long. Where he doesn’t get back in time to help his team stop the Celtics from scoring. Notably, last night Luka fouled out committing four ill-advised fouls in the fourth quarter, and continued to complain about the officials after the game instead of taking any accountability. To go along with that, his defense altogether has not been very good. Whereas in the other series, he performed better on defense.
Luka’s play has been good enough scoring nearly 30 a night in the NBA Finals. However, when you are your team’s leader and best player, you are held to a higher standard. With all the complaining and lack of effort on defense, it isn’t good enough despite the scoring he is still giving the Mavericks.
Kyrie Irving
Just like Luka, Kyrie Irving’s play in these Finals has not been good enough. The lone player on the Mavericks with any finals experience has been sub-par in these first three games. In the first two games, he averaged 14 points shooting an abysmal 35% from the field. He was able to finally turn it around with a great performance in Game 3. Where Kyrie took off with 35 points. However, his play altogether just isn’t enough for the Mavericks to be able to win.
Going into this series the Mavericks needed both Kyrie and Luka to be great for them to have a chance to win this series. So far they haven’t, and because of that the Mavericks are down 0-3 in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks traded for Kyrie to give Luka another star to play with. They also did it for the experience that he has had in the playoffs to help this young team get over the hump when they get to this spot. Both of those things have not gone as planned for the Mavericks in these Finals.
Lack of Production From Role Players
Throughout these playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks have been getting great help from a lot of their role players. Whether that be from P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., Daniel Gafford, or Dereck Lively. That has not been the case so far in the NBA Finals. It has been very inconsistent play from all of them only in Game 2, did all of them play well. In a series where Games 2 and 3 have been decided by seven points. The Mavericks have been in a position to win both games even with the inconsistency of Kyrie Irving. A little bit more production from the role players could have changed the outcomes of those games.
All of those reasons combined are why the Mavericks find themselves in a 0-3 hole. With the NBA Finals being all but finished as the Celtics look like the better and more experienced team. The Dallas Mavericks are going to be going into the offseason trying to figure out how to fix this roster so that they can get back to the Finals next year.
