The Mavericks have no margin for error now.
Perhaps urgency has not yet been replaced by panic. But panic lurks around the corner, waiting to hijack the urgency.
There is no situation where you have to win unless your season ends if you lose. The Mavericks will have another game, no matter what happens Wednesday night in Game 3.
But falling 0-3 in the NBA Finals is nothing less than a dismissal notice that time is up.
No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series, be it the Finals or any other round.
So, for all practical purposes, this is something we must win.
Still, the Mavericks must remember not to stress over the situation.
As Kyrie Irving said on Tuesday: “Pressure is natural: it produces diamonds. If you have a healthy way of looking at where we are, it seems like we are that team that is gaining experience, that is capable of failing at this level.
“Now we have the opportunity to respond. That’s all you can ask for. If you asked me (in the preseason) if I’d like a chance to be down 0-2 and have a chance to respond in Game 3, or miss out on the playoffs, I’d choose the former. It’s as simple as that.”
Simple. Maybe that’s the best word to describe what the Mavericks need right now.
Just go out there and play like they did in the conference finals against Minnesota. Like they did in previous rounds of the playoffs against Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers, which seems like eons ago.
As the old joke goes: What is eternity like? The NBA playoffs, only shorter.
But the Mavericks have reached the point in the series where they will either rely on their rowdy, proud, loud fan base on Wednesday night in Game 3 and make a series of this, or they will have to face the reality that, Finally, they found each other. a team that could be a little better than them.
There is no shame in that. They are already one of the two best teams in the NBA this season. And they have no reason to panic either.
“The urgency started for us a while ago,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I think we’re used to that. Basketball is about successes and mistakes and capitalizing on mistakes. We just haven’t had that opportunity to capitalize. We are making stops. (Then) we turn the ball over, we hit a three.
“Hopefully the game will be close in the final stretch and we can take advantage of their mistakes. But there are two teams playing, so we can relax, enjoy and have fun. That’s all it is.”
But the fun is winning. And the Mavericks haven’t done it yet against the Celtics. And Luka Dončić is confident that the Mavericks are not far away from winning games in this series.
“I think our defense hasn’t been bad,” Dončić said. “We can’t really score. That is our main problem now.
But we’re getting some great looks. We are confident that everyone can shoot. We just have to keep believing it.”
Who would have thought that in this team? The offense is the big problem. There is no better time than the present to fix that.
For urgent reasons.
X: @ESefko
