The Dallas Mavericks have won the NBA title once so far: in 2011 with Dirk Nowitzki. Since then, the team has not been in the finals – until now. Luka Doncic wants to emulate the Würzburg native.
Luka Doncic now has a maximum of two and a half weeks to build his own statue in front of the Dallas Mavericks’ arena – next to that of Dirk Nowitzki. The Texans have not been in the NBA Finals since winning the title 13 years ago with the Würzburg native in the lead role.
With Doncic as their leader – and Maxi Kleber, once again a Würzburg native, in the squad – they are back. Finally. “The fans have been waiting for this moment since 2011. We want to give them what they deserve,” said the Slovenian before the first game in the series against the Boston Celtics. The hosts are favorites in the German night to Friday (2:30 a.m. CEST), but the Mavericks are more than just underdogs in the up to seven games until the decision.
The Celtics were the best team in the league in the regular season and the clear winners in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The team around stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown has top players in every position and a lot of experience at this point in the season. For the Celtics, this is the second finals in three years; in the Eastern Conference finals series, they have even been in six of them in eight years. The bookmakers clearly favor the record champions (17 titles) from the US East Coast. However, the betting-mad Americans are putting more money on a championship for the Mavericks before the first game.
Doncic outstanding in the playoffs
There are two reasons for this: Kyrie Irving and, above all, Doncic, the 25-year-old Slovenian who hardly looks like one of the best athletes on the planet in street clothes, but who is still the best NBA basketball player this season for many fans and experts. No one has scored more points than him. In the playoffs, he has already achieved at least 150 rebounds, 150 assists and 50 three-pointers – no one has managed that before him.
The Serbian Nikola Jokic won the title of MVP of the main round, but he was eliminated in the second round with the defending champions Denver Nuggets. Doncic, on the other hand, was voted the most valuable player of the Western Conference finals after four wins in five games against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And he is now leading his team with Irving into the finals against Boston. “Kyrie has a positive attitude as a person and is incredible on the court. He makes my life easier,” Doncic recently said about his teammate, who has long been considered complicated and provocative.
Irving and Boston share a common past. The point guard played in Massachusetts for two years before he made a loud move to the Brooklyn Nets, and has been passionately despised by Celtics fans ever since. Irving himself has sometimes lost control of himself at games in Boston, shouting insults at the stands and symbolically stomping on the Celtics logo. Even with the Nets, Irving made most of the headlines for his actions off the court.
Important role for adhesives
Since moving to Texas, however, Irving has seemed calmer, happier and now seems like the ideal complement to Doncic. “It’s a wonderful combination. These two help each other and you can see that they are important to each other,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. After teething problems in the months following the move last season, Doncic and Irving have been the most difficult duo in the NBA to defend since this season.
“We like to play basketball. We like to play together. That’s all,” said Doncic after the decisive win against the Timberwolves, when he scored 20 of his 36 points in the first quarter, more than all of the opponent’s players combined. Without him and Irving in top form, it will be nothing against the Celtics.
But players like Kleber are also of enormous importance in the finals. The German’s defensive qualities could make the difference, especially if Kristaps Porzingis can play for Boston again against his former team from Dallas, as expected. “Basketball is a team sport. Everyone on the team has their role, everyone is important. We trust each other,” said Doncic. He knows that Nowitzki didn’t bring the championship to Dallas on his own. One of his most important teammates at the time was Jason Kidd – Doncic’s coach.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
