Nick Wright: ‘Mavs Still Beat Jazz, Make Finals With Doncic Back By Game 3’

NBA analyst Nick Wright isn’t backing off of his bold prediction for the Dallas Mavericks in this year’s playoffs.

Dalton Trigg | Apr 15, 2022

Although the Dallas Mavericks face uncertainty with Luka Doncic’s injury status ahead of Saturday’s Game 1 against the Utah Jazz, one NBA analyst still believes Dallas will not only win the first-round series, but potentially go all the way to the Finals as well.

On FS1’s Friday morning episode of First Thing’s First, Nick Wright, who recently picked the Mavs to make it all the way to the Finals before ultimately falling to the Milwaukee Bucks, doubled down on his stance… with one new wrinkle added.

Donovan Mitchell, Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz — Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Doncic vs. Mitchell.

gettyimages-1388614443-594x594 — Tim Heitman/Getty Images

Dinwiddie vs. Conley.

gettyimages-1388614562-594x594 — Tim Heitman/Getty Images

Mitchell vs. Bullock.

“As long as Luka is back by Game 3, the Mavs will still make the Finals,” said Wright. “You can fall down 0-2 to the Jazz and be in great position. Just ask the Clippers from last year. No one likes a 2-0 lead less than the Utah Jazz.”

Wright also went on to talk about how he’s devastated by the idea of Doncic, who he considers to have “true GOAT potential,” missing playoff games since other GOAT candidates — LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — were available for every playoff game their teams played in their careers. Although a lot of the injury stuff is out of Doncic’s control, Wright considers potentially missing playoff games as a blemish on his resume.

Given that Dallas hasn’t made it out of the first round in over a decade, it might have been jumping the gun to predict a Finals run even when Doncic was fully healthy. Although the Jazz arguably face more pressure, the Mavs still have early-round demons to exorcise themselves.

Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Doncic grabs at his calf.

Jazz, Gobert, Mitchell — Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Is this the final dance for Mitchell and Gobert?

Doncic hopes to lead the Mavs past the first round for the first time in over a decade.

With a recovered Doncic and the Mavs having a top-10 defense, Dallas will have a chance to win every time it steps on the floor.

The Mavs have proven that they’re capable of beating the NBA’s best teams this year, and they’ve even won a few games without Doncic as Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson shined. Now they’ll just need to prove it in the postseason as well. Dallas has wins over the Memphis Grizzlies (two times), Golden State Warriors (three times), Utah Jazz (two times) and Milwaukee Bucks in 2022.

Published Apr 15, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.