As the NBA finals are set to begin Thursday night, it gives us reason to remember the words of wisdom supplied by San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

They aren’t his words. But he popularized them in the NBA way of looking at things.

It’s the story of the stonecutter and the famous quote from social-reform journalist Jacob Riis from around 1900.

Riis quotes that, as he watched the stonecutter hammering away at his rock 100 times without so much as a crack, it was the 101st blow that split it in two. And he knew it was not that hit that did the job, but the culmination of all that had gone before it.

Which brings us to the Boston Celtics.

And, also, to the Mavericks.

The Celtics are in the 2022 NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors, who vanquished the Mavericks a week ago. This sort of thing is old hat for the Warriors. While injuries derailed them the last two seasons, they have been in the championship series in all six of the other years over the past eight seasons.

But the Celtics, as proud and legendary as any organization in the NBA, haven’t been to the finals since 2010, the year before the Mavericks won the whole thing.

Boston last won the title in 2008, which was their 17th time hoisting the trophy. Clearly, they are used to doing this more than every 14th season.

But this is a different incarnation of the Celtics. It’s Jayson Tatum’s fifth season, one more than Luka Dončić had logged.

In his first four seasons, Tatum became the Celtics’ best player, never has missed the playoffs and led them to the Eastern Conference finals twice before finally breaking through this year to reach the NBA finals.

Pounding the rock.

It still hadn’t broken in two for the Celtics in terms of a championship, but it might with the next blow. The oddsmakers have this as one of the closest NBA finals on record, at least that’s how they have it handicapped. That would be largely because of the way both teams have persevered.

Which brings us to the Mavericks, who are coming off their most successful season since the title in 2011. They reached the Western Conference finals and while they were clearly outplayed by the Warriors, it was a wonderful statement that the Mavericks are pounding away at the rock.

“We’re going to get only better after this,” Dončić said. “It was a change and we had to learn to work with each other and I think next season is going to be even better.

“We can get better at everything – at winning. But we took a huge step.”

Although that’s not guaranteed, of course.

A year ago, the Atlanta Hawks had just finished a huge and unexpected run to the East finals, where they lost to eventual champion Milwaukee. The Hawks had every reason to feel like they had arrived among the elite.

Then, this year, they found how tough it is to stay in that elite group. Injuries hurt them and they simply didn’t play as well while slipping badly and having to survive the play-in tournament just to make the playoffs, where they lost in the first round.

The point is that this climb toward a mountaintop is not always a direct ascent. There are crags and drops and valleys amid the upward progression.

The Mavericks have leadership that knows this is the case. Coach Jason Kidd wen to the finals twice with New Jersey and lost both times.

He finally made it – eight years later – with the Mavericks.

The best news about the Mavericks is they have that attitude that is needed. Perseverance was a code word under Rick Carlisle. With Kidd, it’s become chemistry and accountability and communication.

But it’s essentially the same thing.

It’s all about continuing to pound the rock and not let it get the best of you along the journey, which certainly is going to have some disappointing moments along the way.

Maybe even times when the rock wins.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t rear back and give it that 101st blow.

Twitter: @ESefko

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