DALLAS – In front of a building that has been “rowdy, proud and loud” for two decades, for the video now airing before the fourth quarter – of Kyrie Irving shouting, “Don’t be boring!” – the 20,555 spectators who watched Dallas turn away at Oklahoma City fell into a chilling silence as PJ Washington stepped to the foul line with 2.5 seconds left on Saturday night. A one-point deficit separated the Mavericks from a trip to the Western Conference finals, and Washington stoically drained its first of three shots. And then, well, the American Airlines Center famously places sizzling hot microphones above the rims of each basket, which reverberates every ricochet of Washington’s second try, his winning try, amplifying the live theater playoff. Basketball can become real when a stadium maintains its collective power. breath.
In February, as the Mavericks neared a trade for Washington on the afternoon of the NBA trade deadline, Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was actually present at a Broadway matinee of “& Juliet.” His Mavericks were in New York after a game against Brooklyn before Thursday night’s game with the Knicks. “It was a good play for the first 30 seconds,” Kidd recalled, before leaving the production to talk to Dallas general manager Nico Harrison and their franchise face, Luka Dončić, about the deal.
A year earlier, Harrison called Kidd about the atypical opportunity to land Irving before the 2022 trade deadline. Before taking control of the Mavericks’ basketball operations, Harrison was a well-connected Nike executive who had worked closely with Irving for years at creating the signature sneakers of the perennial All-Star. And Kidd only guided the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back Finals appearances, while Irving admired the Hall of Fame point guard growing up in nearby Elizabeth, New Jersey. It’s rare to acquire an eight-time All-Star, Harrison and Kidd thought, for one first-round pick, a few seconds, plus two rotation players. But NBA fans will quickly recall that Irving’s tenure in Brooklyn was derailed due to numerous injuries, personal absences and suspensions and the gifted guard’s refusal to follow New York’s vaccination ordinance to go to work — and therefore into Barclays Center to play.
“I don’t have a perfect journey,” Irving said Saturday. “So when I came into this environment, I wasn’t sure how we were going to do on the field.”
Many within the Mavericks considered the blockbuster a masterstroke. Some around Dallas, some around Dončić, thought the Mavericks had made a move that could ultimately sever Dončić’s commitment to the organization — if the pair crashed and burned like Shakespeare’s own tragic duo. However, Dallas never wavered. They had reached the 2022 conference finals but lost to Golden State in five games and then lost Jalen Brunson in free agency to New York. It’s much easier to preach patience, dangle trading chips every transaction cycle, and then forgo conversations in the name of safety and avoiding dangerous risks. It’s much harder to identify and acquire two more complementary starters a year later, as the Mavericks did with Washington and starting center Daniel Gafford.
After a scoreless start Saturday, Washington hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter of Game 6 against Oklahoma City, then hit those series-clinching free throws to give Dallas a 117-116 victory over the Thunder. Gafford has personified the Mavericks’ grittier defensive identity since his own trade deadline, throwing a remarkable block on Luguentz Dort’s corner triple in this one. Dallas harbored a known affinity for Dereck Lively II leading up to last June’s draft, ironically landing the bouncy ball via a trade with these Thunder in exchange for OKC guard Cason Wallace. The surface where Lively brims with his 7-foot-1 frame, his 15 rebounds and his strong two-handed finishing in the paint all contributed to Dallas outscoring the Thunder by 26 points when Lively was on the floor in Game 6 . has incredible potential,” said Dončić.
He’s also a Duke product, as Irving, a fellow Blue Devil, reminded Dončić as they shared the postgame stage. All of these pieces have grown in three years in this Dončić-Harrison-Kidd era to a second conference finals appearance, a very different team from the young, happy-go-lucky ones that fell prey to the champion Warriors. “The first year our defense was incredible,” Kidd said, “and then our offense joined the party.”
Irving has unlocked another dimension to the Mavericks’ scoring attack. His playing feels as light as the feather that often dangles from Irving’s ear when he meets the media, floating around Dončić’s lead until Irving enters the fray through a gust of wind and intuition. Irving has nearly disappeared from the entire half of this playoff run in Dallas, but caught fire faster than a game. On Saturday, Irving came alive for 22 points, punctuated by a ridiculous sideways triple from the left wing, putting Dallas ahead 110-108 with 3:02 to play.
The win moved Irving to an astonishing 14-0 in closeout games during his 13 years in the NBA. Through this lens, the only lens that matters – winning – you can see why those Irving faithful never saw his arrival as anything other than basketball brilliance. He made one of the biggest shots in league history to sink those mighty Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. He can hit game-winning floaters with either hand and with ease. And in the right house, at the right time, Irving is consistently hailed throughout the building as Dallas’ unbridled leader.
“Mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and they embraced me with open arms,” Irving said of the Mavericks.
It was Irving who was begged by the Mavericks locker room to give an impromptu speech in their festive locker room. He held back a stream of tears, his daughter pressed against his hip, as he thanked all his teammates for their sacrifices and hard work. And then: “All the words of affirmation we give each other go a long way, man,” Irving said. If you remember, he was the one who came up 2-1 in this series during a crucial Game 3 win, telling Lively to stop escaping Chet Holmgren’s grasp, take the foul and sink free throws . Irving is the one so many of these Mavericks lean on. “His calming influence on the team. He is never in a hurry. He is always calm and always positive on the bench,” Kidd said.
Maybe his perspective has come with age and a good, hard look in the mirror. In his first three trips to the postseason, Irving helped LeBron James make three consecutive trips to the Finals. During five years in Boston and Brooklyn, he didn’t return to the conference finals until Saturday night. “I took it for granted,” Irving said. He is now 32, eight years older than Dončić – the same seniority that James Irving offered when they first teamed up with the Cavaliers. For this Dallas duo, their partnership seemed as much based on growth as it was on their shared gifts. “A big word we can both agree on is maturity,” Irving said.
They’re playing, and they seem so on the same page at the moment. When both were asked what the other means to them as a brother and teammate, Dončić leaned into his microphone before Irving had a chance to say anything. This time he wanted to talk first. “Yes, because you give the long speeches,” Dončić teased. These two approach these media obligations very differently indeed. Irving loves to take the microphone and deliver poetic monologues; Dončić is traditionally short, hunched over and grunting through everything. On this evening, Dončić was as jovial and open-hearted as we have ever seen him – thanks in large part to the man sitting to his left. “When [Irving] came, nothing but support for everything I did,” Dončić said. “He helped me a lot to grow up. I realized I saw the game in a different way.”
Two mountains loom around this exciting corner. One is a 7-foot-1, three-time MVP and the reigning Denver Nuggets. The other is a super-sized frontline of Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert and Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid supporting the emerging Anthony Edwards. Whether it’s Nikola Jokić or the Minnesota Timberwolves that the Mavericks will face after their Game 7 on Sunday, Dallas will play the first two games of the conference finals on the road. That was the same task for the Mavericks to overcome the top-seeded Thunder, and it’s a task Dallas must repeat if the franchise wants to reclaim the trophy. Kidd, as a player, helped Dirk Nowitzki acquire it in 2011.
They have as real a chance as any team still standing. This is not the courageous group that Dončić brought to this stage in 2022. “Now he’s got a veteran next to him, a couple of veterans next to him,” Irving said. “It’s a different run.” One that would also be much scarier than the previous one. Irving himself called this win against Oklahoma City the most difficult series of his career. Dallas staffers sighed in relief as much as they felt euphoria at surviving such a dangerous Thunder team. Shai Gilegous-Alexander scored a whopping 36 points from across the room. OKC has failed to leave any impression other than being a worthy opponent to the current giants of the West, with rival personnel in the NBA recognizing that these Thunder will have a say in who represents this conference in the finals of the next decade .
Irving doesn’t have that long left, but Dallas does now. The Mavericks deserve outside confidence that they will find further reinforcements to keep this roster on speed at every turn, even if it’s right before training camp, like how Dallas picked up another postseason hero, Derrick Jones Jr., last August . (Jones punished OKC’s soft defense against him with four 3-pointers and 22 points in Game 6). Ask Dončić, and this is just the beginning of Dallas.
“This group has been together for five months,” Dončić said. “We can do more and more, I think. Just big trades, big adjustments, and just… keep bringing them.”
