With the duel between Luka Doncić Y Stephen Curry as a main coursethe surprising Dallas Mavericks and the reborn Golden State Warriors The title of the Western Conference and a placed in the NBA Finals.
The Mavericks got their ticket to the West final on Sunday by giving the bell in Phoenix (USA) with a historic beating of the Sunswho were the best team in the regular season (90-123).
Devin Booker’s team and Chris-Paulrunner-up last year after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Finals, was run over by the Dallas steamroller with an extraordinary Doncic at the wheel.
At 23 years old, the Slovenian continues to break down barriers in the NBA with impressive speed and with incredible numbers: in these qualifiers he averages 31.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.
After two playoffs in which Kawhi Leonard’s Los Angeles Clippers got in his way in the first round, the Mavericks overcame their “curse” by beating the Utah Jazz in the first game this year (4-2) despite the fact that Doncic was unable to play the first three games due to injury.
In the semifinals of the West they faced the fearsome Suns, whom they defeated 4-3 despite losing 0-2 and 2-3.
Although Doncic is the soul and magic of DallasSince there is no other player on the roster with the rank of NBA star, the Mavericks’ squires are performing at a fabulous level.
Jalen Brunson is the best “plan B” of the Mavericks and he has won this summer to receive millionaire offers to have his services; Spencer Dinwiddie, who arrived midseason in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis, excelled in Game 7 against Phoenix; Y Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Reggie Bullock they have contributed effort and sacrifice on both sides of the track.
The architect of this little wonder of the Mavericks is Jason Kidd, that in his first year on the Texan bench has clearly left his mark on the team’s defensive improvement.
The Mavericks now dream of repeating their success from 2011, when they got their only NBA ring so far with Dirk Nowitzki as a great figure.
The return of the legendary Warriors
After two years of penalties and injuries in which they did not play in the playoffs, Stephen Curry’s Warriors, a legendary team and winner of three rings (2015, 2017 and 2018), will try to qualify for its sixth Finals in the last eight years.
Before facing the Mavericks, the Warriors have left the Denver Nuggets by the wayside regular season MVP Nikola Jokic (4-1) and the rebellious and impetuous memphis grizzlies of Ja Morant (4-2).
In the last two years, there had been more talk about the Warriors nursing issues that of their results on the field.
But already with their inexhaustible references back on the track (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green), the Warriors have once again deployed that spectacular, overwhelming and magnificent basketball that marked an era in the NBA.
Curry is undoubtedly the compass for the Warriors with an average of 26.9 points per game in these playoffs, but a fundamental aspect of the resurgence of the team was Thompson’s return in January after almost a thousand days out due to two very serious injuries.
Along with the so-called “The Splash Brothers” has appeared another compulsive scoring machine like Jordan Poole while Draymond Green continues to do everything – and practically everything well – and Andrew Wiggins tries to recover the great level of the first half of the season that led him to the All-Star as a starter.
Without Gary Payton II -except for a huge surprise- due to his controversial injury due to a very hard foul by Dillon Brooks, the Warriors did they will be able to count on the baton of their coach Steve Kerrwho had missed part of the tie against the Grizzlies due to coronavirus.