The Mavericks Not-So-Distance Learn... Thank You, Clippers

There are lessons that can be taught, and lessons that must be learned.

The byproduct of the Maverick’s stunning win in game 4 led to both teams learning critical lessons in game 5, each in their own way necessary for the development of their teams. For the Clippers, the lesson was about what is necessary to step up from being a very good team to a championship one, a team that has extraordinary capabilities that can be unlocked by explosive and shared passion. For the Mavericks, it was a demonstration of what is more important than just skills, and what intensity looks like in a real playoff match.

Dallas came into the game with every possible reason to lose. A decidedly superior opponent had been pushed down, and would either respond with a ferocious pride or go whimpering into the dark. The barking and catcalls from the bench before and during the start of the game had to tell Rick Carlisle which way that was going to go, and it couldn’t have been a good feeling.

Still fatally shorthanded, and in the absence of the adrenaline rush of the prior game, Dallas had to find its own internal animal to harness, and chose… a puppy. Next time, they’ll know that they need to make a different choice, to match that wild intensity with their own roar, but without this game under their belts, they might not have understood it so viscerally. They were meat to carnivores last night, and the final quarter when LA poured it on and on was the necessary lesson of the life and death nature of championship runs.

There were two players for whom that lesson was most needed, and most valuable. For Luka, who at times seemed bewildered by the bodies hurtling around him, it was about the limitations of his own vast skills, and the need for the sort of leadership that only he is in the position to provide. Luka was visible on the bench, looking inward for answers that weren’t there… in time, Luka will look outward, demanding from his team an elevated response that will magnify his own gifts. A few hours of Jordan clips from his championship years, particularly but not exclusively on the bench during time outs, is required viewing now.

For Kris Porzingis, there is a different lesson. It is not for anyone to question his injuries, nor will I do so here. It is to show him that when he can contribute, the playoffs are rarely as pretty as his mid-range jump shot. The playoffs are messy, physical gang wars, and if he really wants a championship in his future, he’ll need to grow beyond where he is as a player, and become more. It’s a lesson that makes coaches crave grizzled vets as the games mean more, players who may plod and grab, but who dull the other teams movements and cause deep breaths late. Porzingis has a perfect game for a contest in December; can he add to his game to make it work in late spring and summer is to be seen.

For the rest of the Mavericks, there were a year’s worth of lessons to be learned as well… but in the end, only some or few of them will be in Dallas when the team reaches its heights, and likely will play different roles then. When the Maverick’s won their one championship, they were populated with the kind of dogs that were more than happy to bark back, even bite once in a while if needed. They surrounded the brilliant play and the misunderstood toughness of Nowitzki, and demanded that he be given space. This group shouldn’t be asked to do the same, but may have begun learning that if they want to hoist a trophy, they’ll have to volunteer.

The Los Angeles Clippers will likely win this first round series against the Dallas Mavericks. That was the story coming in to the playoffs, and it remains intact following their thorough trouncing of a depleted Dallas team last night, 154-111. The Mavericks may find a way to stun the basketball world again, and win two in a row against an extraordinary Clipper team. It’s unlikely, but with what Dallas has shown us already, it’s not nearly as impossible as it sounds. The outcome of the series is not assured, but the contours are becoming visible.

What is clear from last night’s contest is this: school is in for these Mavericks, and there is no distance learning here. The lessons of the real playoffs are delivered in your face, loud and spraying everywhere; they are entirely tactile, and most of the time they hurt like heck. The Clippers did Dallas a huge favor by screaming their way through a record setting trouncing; had they pulled back and won by only a respectably margin, that education might not have stuck. Carlisle is enough of a veteran, enough of a teacher to not coddle the team now, but to help them pick up what’s left of their lunches and straighten out their clothes, then send them back into the playground for another go. Which of the Maverick’s hide in the shadows next game, and which scream back, will be instructive for the future of the team.