The Mavs are a warm-‘n-fuzzy, overachieving story this NBA season.
But, let’s face it, the regular season feels like nothing more than foreplay before the Warriors and Spurs collide in the Western Conference Finals in May.
Dallas is a good team. But we were reminded Sunday night that the Spurs are in a totally different atmosphere.
Capping a rough 1-3 week in which they were blown out by both the Thunder and San Antonio and lost an overtime game to the East-best Cavs, the Mavs lost 112-83 in a game in which Rick Carlisle was ejected and the Spurs extended their undefeated home record to 24-0.
At the halfway point the surprising Mavs were 23-18 and tied for 5th in the West, but they’ve done little to convince skeptics they can play with the big boys. Their signature victory, remember, came against a Warriors’ team playing without Steph Curry.
When they’re healthy, the league’s two best teams clearly reside in San Antonio and Oakland.
“To the outside world, we’ve probably performed better than people expected us to,” said point guard Deron Williams. “But for us, we feel like we can definitely turn it up another notch. We’ve played pretty inconsistently. That was evident tonight. We had a great win in Chicago, and then we come back and get blown out. I know this is a great team and a tough place to play, but the game wasn’t even close except for the first quarter.”
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The Mavs are good, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. But the realization may hit this Spring that even their best may not be good enough.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
