After sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks are the firm favourites to win the NBA Finals (Part-1)
This year’s playoffs have been full of shock and upsets. It all started when the eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies knocked down the mighty San Antonio Spurs 4-2 in the first round series. A day later Atlanta Hawks went on to oust the much fancied Orlando Magic. However, the biggest surprise came nearly two weeks later, when the Dallas Mavericks swept the two times defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers out of the Western Conference semi-finals.
The Mavs were considered as the perennial playoffs underachievers before the series started. However, they lived up to the occasion this time and displayed the intensity and aggression, which has been missing from their ranks in the last few season.
The Purple and gold looked fatigued on both ends of the court during the series and they definitely had some chemistry issues going on. They also became the seventh defending champions to be swept out of the league play-offs.
Among the remaining seven teams that are striving to qualify for the Conference finals, the triumphant Dallas Mavericks are now considered as the favourites to clinch the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Following are the few important reasons why.
Sweeping the two-time defending champions
With the start of the series, very few people echoed that Dallas would go on to eliminate the Lakers from the Conference semi-finals. The tables however turned around completely as they not only eliminated the Lakers but also did it in style by sweeping the defending champions.
In fact, in the last game, they routed the Lakers by 32 points and also equalled the record for most three’s in the playoffs. After knocking the Lakers out, the Mavericks can now believe that they are well-equipped to clinch the title fight. Confidence and aggressiveness are the big factors for a team’s success in the play-offs as the Dallas possesses both the attributes.
Better size, defence and shooting than ever before
For 11 years in a row, the Mavericks have won 50-plus games accompanied by the brilliance of the All-Star Dirk Nowitzki. However, the team managed to make it to the Conference finals only two times during this stretch. Every team in the league knows that in order to stop the Mavs, they have to pin down Nowitzki. However, things have taken a turn from the usual this time and some other stalwarts are also making their presence count.
With the addition of the big man Tyson Chandler, Dallas’s defence has become very compact and has further been fired up by Brendan Haywood, who joined the franchise last season. Both the 7-footers do not offer a ton offensively, however with their great sizes they are force to reckon with at the back. Chandler and Haywood have been pivotal in gelling together the Mavs’ defence this post-season
On the other hand, Jason Terry is also in the form of his life. At present, the guard who has been the runner up for the ‘sixth man of the year’ in the last two seasons does not seem to put a foot wrong. He has simply been sensational in crunch times and has also enhanced his shooting both from within the arc and from outside it.
And then there is Jason Kidd, the old war horse, who completely rendered Kobe Bryant helpless in the semi-final series. The Mavericks have become a complete unit this time as they are better in size, better on the defence and better on the offence. These attributes makes them the toughest contenders for the championship title this year.
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