The Mavericks expectations for 2019-20 weren’t high coming into a season of unfamiliarity and uncertainty.
Kristaps Porzingis wasn’t supposed to be the same after his knee injury. Luka Doncic shouldn’t be this good in just his second season. Tim Hardaway Jr. was a waste of a contract. Seth Curry was never meant to make it in the league. Dirk Nowitzki, the best player in Mavericks history, retired and left a team that wasn’t supposed to win more than 41 games this season.
And yet here we are.
Dallas is fifth in the West, just two games behind second place, with a 21-11 record. In their last 11 games, they faced the Eastern Conference’s five best competitors. Despite a disappointing 2-3 record in those games, the average margin of defeat was just 4.3 points, with the biggest loss by just six.
The Mavericks have a perfect roster composition, particularly with this combination of personalities. The team is made up of players out-performing expectations and proving pre-season narratives wrong. It’s fitting that while these players are in the midst of defeating their personal narratives, they’re simultaneously defeating the similar team narrative.
Team Culture
After 21 years of Nowitzki, there seems to be a new culture forming in Dallas. But these changes usually take years, not months, to come to fruition. The way out is to say the change has been years in the making. But according to Jalen Brunson, the success doesn’t come from a changing culture, but from embracing an already-established one.
https://twitter.com/MavsNationCP/status/1208286669696200704?s=20
Pieces of that championship culture still surround the team. Rick Carlisle is still the head coach. Darrell Armstrong is still an assistant coach. And J.J. Barea is back after a stint with Minnesota.
Dirk may have left, but the hunger and drive that won this team a championship eight years ago has reemerged.
That culture is how a 20-year-old kid is now mentioned in MVP conversation. It’s how a team rallied after its best player went down to injury and earned two road victories against the Bucks and 76ers. And, it’s how a man who spent all of last season on the bench due to an ACL injury stepped up in Luka’s absence.
Deep Roster
In an era of superteams, the Mavs are defying the odds by finding success without a Big 2 or Big 3. Luka led the charge until the injury, but multiple players have proven themselves capable of leading the team to victory.
In the win against the Sixers, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points in just the first quarter on his way to a team-high 27 points. In their victory against the Bucks, Porzingis and Curry tied for the team-high with 26 points each. And in that tough loss against the Raptors, Jalen Brunson led the team with 21 points.
The Mavs proved they can compete against top teams without their star player. With Luka’s smooth return, the team should continue its pace and surpass the Vegas preseason over/under total of 40 wins. The players have surpassed their own individual expectations and blown the Mavericks’ expectations out of the water. They weren’t supposed to achieve this yet, and there’s no telling where they’ll end up next.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @TLSportsMedia for the latest NBA news and insight.
