Getting out of the first round of the playoffs is something that hasn’t been so easy for the Dallas Mavericks lately. It’s been sort of like trying to get an impressionable kid to eat vegetables – kind of difficult.
The last time the Mavs advanced out of the first round of the playoffs was in 2011 when they beat Portland, then swept the Los Angeles Lakers. After that series the Mavs defeated Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the Western Conference Finals.
From there, the Mavs knocked off LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the heavily favored Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in six games. Since then, the Mavs have qualified for the playoffs six times over the past 10 seasons, but unfortunately lost in the first round all six times.
Needless to say, the Mavs are hungry to at least get a taste of the playoffs’ second round.
There are four players currently on the Mavs’ roster who have advanced to at least the second round of the playoffs – with other teams – during their NBA career. They include Tim Hardaway Jr., Davis Bertans, Boban Marjanovic and Sterling Brown.
And as the Mavs start a best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz on Saturday at noon at American Airlines Center, the players offered their sage advice on how to reach the NBA’s next level.
“I think for the most part it’s preparation and knowing the personnel,” Hardaway said. “You can go through some schemes and you can go through all sorts of ideas on how to stop the guy.
“But it’s definitely going to come down to will, sacrifice, knowing your personnel (and) knowing the players’ tendencies, because at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to stop the ball in front of you.”
Hardaway made his lone appearance in the second round of the playoffs during his third year in the NBA – and his first season in Atlanta – in 2016. That year the Hawks broke loose from a 2-2 tie to defeat the Boston Celtics in six games in the first round, but were swept in four games by James and the eventual NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.
Bertans, meanwhile, enjoyed even quicker success in the playoffs. During his rookie season with San Antonio, the Spurs advanced all the way to the 2017 Western Conference Finals after dumping Memphis in six games in the opening round of the playoffs and dispatching Houston in six games in the second round.
Recalling the quality depth the Spurs had on their roister that season, Bertans said: “As good as the first unit was, the second unit was also good. And that plays a big part of having some type of playoff success.
“You can win some games with basically just the starting lineup, but it’s hard to win a series.”
Bertans played in 13 playoff games in 2017 and averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.6 minutes while shooting 40 percent from three-point land. But the Spurs were swept in the conference finals by the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
In his heart of hearts, Bertans thought the Spurs were going to defeat the Warriors in that series. However, with the Spurs leading in the third quarter, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia slid under the foot of Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard in the third quarter of the opening game of that series in Oakland.
Leonard landed on Pachulia’s foot and injured his ankle, and the Warriors immediately went on an 18-0 run. The Spurs eventually lost Game 1 of that series, 113-111, and Leonard missed the rest of the series and the Warriors won the remaining three games by 36, 12 and 14 points, respectively.
“When Kawhi got his ankle injury when Zaza stepped underneath him, they took over that game and they kind of took (the series) away from us,” Bertans said. “We had a really good chance, because you know if we win that first game on the road and take the home court advantage, anything could happen.
“So we kind of lost that series over there in Game 1.”
Like Bertans, Marjanovic’s venture out of the first round of the playoffs also was wrapped with intrigue. While playing for Philadelphia, Marjanovic and the 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets in five games in the opening round of the 2019 playoffs, but lost to the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors in an epic seven-game series in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
That’s the game where Leonard – who had been unceremoniously traded from the Spurs and was now playing for the Raptors – drained a memorable game-winning jumper at the buzzer in Game 7 of that titanic series that seemingly bounced on the rim forever before falling through and giving Toronto a 92-90 victory.
Marjanovic played 11 games for the Sixers during the 2019 playoffs and averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 9.5 minutes. He said the secret to playoff success is one team imposing its will on the other team.
“I think every game is so important,” Marjanovic said. “You study now more than you study during the regular season, because now you can focus on one opponent.
“You focus on how to defend them and how you can beat them.”
In the meantime, Brown averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.7 minutes for Milwaukee in the 2019 playoffs when the Bucks swept Detroit in the first round, beat the Celtics in five games in the second round, and lost to Toronto in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals after leading that series 2-0. The Bucks won 10 of their first 11 playoff games that season before dropping the last four games.
While playing nine games for the Hawks in the 2016 playoffs, Hardaway averaged 2.2 points in 9.7 minutes. Escaping the first round, he confided, is a bit easier because teams get to dial in on each other for perhaps at least a week, which puts a premium on scouting.
Hardaway added that in the case of this year’s Mavs, it’s a bonus that Dallas just played – and defeated – the Jazz on March 27, 114-100.
“I think it helps out tremendously, especially being able to play them possibly a week or two before the playoffs start,” he said. “Just being able to break down all their concepts and breaking down all their plays and their guys, knowing their tendencies (is a plus).
“You played the team four times during the season, so you know all of their plays. But it’s going to come down to, I like said, knowing the players’ personnel.”
Marjanovic pointed out that the playoffs are a special time in a player’s career, and his advice to his Mavs’ teammates is to shut off all outside distractions and zero in on the task at hand.
“This team is so competitive – each of us,” Marjanovic said. “We watch the playoffs on the TV and we watch the (NBA) Finals on TV and we want to be there. This is like your dream, and your dream can come true.
“Everybody believes in winning, everybody believes in miracles, everybody believes this can happen, because nobody can stop us from dreaming. And dream big. And of course, dreams can come true. Why not?”
Bertans has that same “why not” mentality to share with his teammates.
“I feel like what we really have here as well is a good first unit,” he said. “We also have the second unit that comes in and can still help build the leads in games.”
Unfortunately for Hardaway, he won’t be available to help the Mavs build any leads against the Jazz. During a Jan. 25 road game against the Warriors, the nine-year veteran suffered a left foot injury that required season-ending surgery.
However, Hardaway plans to still be “coaching” and doing whatever he can from the sidelines to help the Mavs try and get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons. And all of this hits home for Hardaway, who was on the court when the Mavs grabbed a 3-2 lead over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of last year’s playoffs, but lose the series in seven games.
“I’m going to be on the sidelines yelling and screaming like I normally do, and helping our guys out on the defensive end just in case we have any defensive breakdowns,” Hardaway said. “But it should be fun.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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