Invited to speak by the Bleacher Report yesterday, Mark Cuban returned at length to the elimination of his Mavericks in the conference final against the Warriors (4-1). The president of the Texas franchise knows better than anyone after the 2011 title, the road to success is long and sparse with failures.
Thus, 11 years after the only championship title won by the franchise, Dallas once again touched a participation in the NBA finals, losing in the conference final against the Warriors… not necessarily stronger from its point of view. view, but better prepared.
“When we lost in the conference final, I don’t think it was for lack of talent. The Warriors deserve a lot of credit because they’ve played together for so long. Their execution was phenomenal. The problem was not so much the talent as their collective experience.he said in particular. “The experience of having played together for all these years and having been in complicated situations from which they extricated themselves knowing what to do. We hadn’t been there yet. We hadn’t come out of the first round for ten years. A lot of it was about execution and when we were talking to our guys during the show, that was the theme that kept coming up.”
Experience and collective experience cannot be bought
For Mark Cuban, the Mavs are close to returning to the top. But only time (and defeats) will allow his “roster” to gain experience in terms of playoff series, and to cross this final milestone.
“The Warriors knew where to place themselves on both sides of the field, no matter how we adjusted. The teams we had played before weren’t as good at adjustments. It’s not so much about saying, ‘We need that second star.’ It’s more like: ‘Let’s take time and experience in critical situations and it will pay off'”he added. “Experience cannot be bought, you have to live it”.
The same observation can be drawn on the NBA Finals, during which the Warriors never seemed to panic, even in difficult times, even after their entry setback in Game 1.
“The Celtics had a lot of talent, but the Warriors just overpowered them in execution. They did the same with us. They did not dominate in shooting. They were able to find the guy who was open. They made the right choices, with guys who knew their role.he added.
Andrew Wiggins, the perfect X factor
Among the elements that tipped the series in favor of Golden State, we can note the serenity with which the Warriors gradually erased a deficit of 19 points to win 126-117 in Game 2.
Mark Cuban meanwhile underlined another point, the contribution of Andrew Wiggins, impeccable on the series, in addition to having slammed the dunk of the year.
“I think he’s the one who beat us. We knew what to expect with Klay, Steph and Draymond. We didn’t know what to expect, or how Wigs was going to weigh in, and he did. That’s what it boils down to in this type of series. Everyone has to understand their role, be able to do what the coach tells you, and have guys you might call “role-players” who stand out at the right time.”
The lesson has been learned and the reaction of these Mavericks, reinforced in particular by the arrival of Christian Wood inside, will be interesting to follow in 2022/23.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Luka Doncic | 65 | 35.4 | 45.7 | 35.3 | 74.4 | 0.9 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 4.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 28.4 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 34 | 29.5 | 45.1 | 28.3 | 86.5 | 1.9 | 5.8 | 7.7 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 19.2 |
| Jalen Brunson | 79 | 31.9 | 50.2 | 37.3 | 84.0 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.9 | 16.3 |
| Spencer Dinwiddie | 23 | 28.3 | 49.8 | 40.4 | 72.5 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 15.8 |
| Tim Hardaway Jr. | 42 | 29.6 | 39.4 | 33.6 | 75.7 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 14.2 |
| Dorian Finney-smith | 80 | 33.0 | 47.1 | 39.5 | 67.5 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 11.0 |
| Dwight Powell | 82 | 21.9 | 67.1 | 35.1 | 78.3 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 4.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 8.7 |
| Reggie Bullock | 68 | 28.0 | 40.1 | 36.0 | 83.3 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.6 |
| Max Glue | 59 | 24.6 | 39.8 | 32.5 | 70.8 | 1.2 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 7.0 |
| Brandon Knight | 5 | 12.9 | 40.0 | 23.5 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 6.4 |
| Isaiah Thomas | 1 | 13.3 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 |
| Davis Bertans | 22 | 13.9 | 37.5 | 36.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 5.3 |
| Trey Burke | 42 | 10.5 | 39.1 | 31.7 | 87.0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 5.1 |
| Josh Green | 67 | 15.5 | 50.8 | 35.9 | 68.9 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 4.8 |
| Marquese Chriss | 34 | 10.2 | 46.3 | 32.0 | 66.7 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 4.5 |
| Boban Marjanovic | 23 | 5.6 | 60.0 | 25.0 | 59.1 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.3 |
| Frank Ntilikina | 58 | 11.8 | 39.9 | 34.2 | 96.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.1 |
| Sterling Brown | 49 | 12.8 | 38.1 | 30.4 | 93.3 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 3.3 |
| Moses Brown | 26 | 6.5 | 54.0 | 0.0 | 62.8 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 3.1 |
| Theo Pinson | 19 | 7.8 | 35.9 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.5 |
| Willie Cauley-stein | 18 | 9.8 | 45.7 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Eugene Omoruyi | 4 | 4.5 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 |
| Moses Wright | 3 | 4.4 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Charlie Brown, Jr. | 3 | 5.1 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Carlik Jones | 3 | 6.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| George King | 4 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Jaquori Mclaughlin | 4 | 2.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
