Luka Doncic had a tremendous first half in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Doncic had 23 points on 9-of-13 field goal attempts to go along with three rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. While his scoring was on full display as he scored the second most in any Finals half by a Mavericks player ever, two of his most impressive highlights from the half were a pair of second quarter assists.
First, he found Derrick Jones Jr. for a layup with just over five minutes remaining in the half. As Luka dribbled through the defense from left to right it appeared he was going to go for a tough layup over Al Horford, but instead he dropped the ball off perfectly behind him and hit Jones in stride for the easy basket.
Then two minutes later he attracted a double team at the three-point line and picked up his dribble. With a quick flick of his wrists he threw the ball up to Jones near the rim. Jayson Tatum tried to break up the pass but it was right where only his teammate could catch it. Another dunk for Jones.
This is the kind of thing that Doncic will have to continue to do if the Mavericks are going to win this game. Despite his 23 point half, the Mavericks still trailed by three after 24 minutes.
The Dallas Mavericks are celebrating their first round series win over the Los Angeles Clippers by locking down the coach who helped them get there. On Monday, the franchise announced they had reached an agreement on a multi-year contract extension with Jason Kidd.
Kidd, fresh off his third series win as head coach in Dallas, has been with the organization since the 2021-'22 season. In his first year at the helm he got an unmatched level of defensive buy-in from Luka Dončić and it resulted in a Western Conference finals appearance; there, the Mavs would fall to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.
Kidd's squad stumbled in his second season at the helm. They finished 38-44, 11th in the West, despite trading for Kyrie Irving halfway through the year. But it's safe to stay they bounced back. Doncic and Irving's partnership blossomed under Kidd and a series of moves at the trade deadline finally gave Dallas the ideal roster to surround the two superstars. The Mavericks wrapped up the 2023-'24 season with a 50-32 record, finished fifth in the West, and beat the Clippers in six games to move on to the second round of the postseason.
Extremely good vibes in Dallas, in other words. Great business sense by Kidd to negotiate his extension right now.
"We are excited to have coach Kidd continue to lead our team throughout the coming years with this well-earned contract extension," team governor Patrick Dumont said in the release. "Kidd led our team to two playoff appearances in three seasons, and we are looking forward to his leadership in continuing to build and grow this already great franchise."
"I have known Jason for a long time, and I cannot think of a better, more qualified candidate to lead this team going forward," general manager Nico Harrison said. "As a former NBA Champion Hall of Fame player, Jason brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this role which cannot be duplicated. He has earned the trust and respect of our players and that of so many across the league, and I look forward to working alongside him as we continue to build upon the culture and foundation of success he's helped foster throughout his tenure as head coach."
Kidd's gone 140-96 in three seasons in Dallas and is now on board for a few more years. The pressure to deliver is always high when coaching a talent of Dončić's caliber, and Kidd has been rewarded for doing just that. He can now look ahead to the team's next series against the Oklahoma City Thunder with job security fully ensured.
The Clippers had a chance to take control of their series with the Mavericks in Wednesday night's Game 5 in Los Angeles, but instead they stunk up the joint in the second half and got blown out, 123-93, to fall behind 3-2 as the series shifts to Dallas for Friday night's Game 6.
The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard in Game 5, as he continues to deal with an injury to his right knee. Los Angeles had won the other two games in the series that Leonard had missed, which makes Wednesday night's performance even harder for fans to understand.
Paul Pierce didn't hold back on the Clippers on FS1's Unidisputed, calling them a moody team.
The Clippers, who won Game 4 in Dallas without Leonard, will need to turn things completely around in Game 6 or their season could come to an abrupt end.
BOSTON – Jason Kidd made 10 All-Star teams during his NBA career, earning his place among the great playmakers with size, skill and, yes, smarts. Kidd saw the game better than most, still does. On Saturday, as Kidd’s media availability was wrapping up, he was asked a a boilerplate question about Jaylen Brown’s game.
“Well, Jaylen,” Kidd said, “is their best player.”
Boom, there’s your story. Kidd knew what he was doing with that answer. Of course he did. Few dynamics are more closely scrutinized than Brown and Jayson Tatum. Just last week, ESPN Zapruder-filmed a video of Tatum applauding Brown’s conference finals MVP win—not hard enough for their liking—to wonder if there was an issue. Brown is routinely measured against Tatum, two All-NBA wings, teammates, forever in competition. Kidd’s comment was less praise for Brown than a chance to toss a grenade into Boston’s locker room.
“J-Kidd, man,” said Celtics center Al Horford, laughing. “I see what he is doing.”
Indeed, everyone does. And why not? If there was anything learned from Boston’s 107–89 shellacking of the Mavericks in Game 1, it’s that in this series, Dallas is outgunned. Luka Doncic got 30 but he needed 26 shots to get there, while the Celtics’ ability to defend him straight up held Doncic to a single assist. Gone were the lobs, the corner threes that powered the Mavs through a rugged Western Conference. Instead, it was congested drives and contested jumpers while Dallas struggled to get anything past the 7’2” Kristaps Porzingis waiting for them at the rim.
“I thought we were too much one-on-one,” said Kidd. “We've got to move bodies. We've got to move the ball. Multiple guys have to touch the ball. We were just too stagnant, and that's not the way we play. We've got to be better.”
Kyrie Irving will be better because, for Irving, it couldn’t go much worse. Irving scored 12 points on Thursday, connecting on 31.6% of his shots and missing all five of his threes. Much was made of how the Boston crowd would respond to Irving on Thursday, and while there were the obligatory chants, all things considered the reaction was relatively tame. “I thought it would be louder,” Irving said. Many of Irving’s misses were off open looks and Dallas is confident if he gets the same looks in Game 2, those shots will go down.
“I mean it was our first time being together as a group in this Finals stage,” said Irving. “Experience is the best teacher at times when you don't know what to expect.”
Even if Irving is better, Dallas needs more. More from Dereck Lively II, the springy rookie who got off one shot in 18 minutes. More from Derrick Jones Jr., who finished 2-for-9 from the floor. More from Josh Green, who was 1-for-4. The Mavs committed 11 turnovers in Game 1, which led to 18 Celtics points.
“We've got to take care of the ball,” Kidd said. “We've got to make it easier for Ky and Luka. Being able to put those guys in different spots on the floor so there's a little bit stress-free so they can do what they do at a high level. We just didn't do that in Game 1.”
Kidd’s press conference tactic doesn’t appear to have had its desired effect. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Kidd created a firestorm with his lofty praise of Brown but inside Boston’s locker room, it isn’t going anywhere. For years the dynamic between the two has been scrutinized, and all it has done is make the bond between them stronger. They are very different people, Tatum and Brown, but they share the same goal. Six conference finals, two NBA Finals and all that matters now is that they don’t leave this one empty handed.
“This is a team sport, right?” Tatum said. “We understand that. We wouldn't be here if we didn't have JB on our team, and we can say that for a lot of guys. We have all played a part in getting to where we're at. We understand that people try to drive a wedge between us. I guess it's a smart thing to do or try to do. We've been in this position for many of years of guys trying to divide us and say that one of us should be traded or one is better than the other. So it's not our first time at the rodeo.”
Said Brown, “We've been just extremely focused on what our roles and our jobs are. We have all had to sacrifice. Jason [Kidd] has had to do that at the highest of levels and I respect him and tip his cap for it. Right now, at this point, it's whatever it takes to win and we can't let any outside interpretations try to get in between.”
Dallas wants Tatum to feel slighted, to overcompensate, try too hard to assert himself in Game 2. Not happening, Tatum says. Tatum wants to score but if the Mavs tilt its defense towards Tatum again, if they continue to load up, Tatum will keep the ball moving. He collected five assists in Game 1 and if more shots had fallen, he could have racked up several more.
“It's just about reading the game,” Tatum said. “Draw so much attention, you know, when I have the ball in my hands. It's about creating an advantage. We always talk about that, watching film, creating advantage, finding the mismatch that we want, and it might not always end up in the shot for you. Or if you set a screen and get a smaller guy on you, just having that mismatch and calling for the ball, right, it may draw other defenders to help, and we can pin in for somebody else to get a shot. Those things won't show up in the stats sheet, but it's part of our execution, and sometimes you have to make a sacrificial cut or things like that to generate good shoots.”
Even after years of success as teammates, after All-Stars and All-NBA teams, 50-win seasons and deep playoff runs, questions about Tatum and Brown’s relationship still linger. Only one thing will kill them off. On Sunday, Boston will look to move one win closer to doing so.
