Mavs In NBA Playoffs: No Dirk, No Win, No Problem (Someday)

The Dallas Mavericks played their first NBA playoff game without Dirk Nowitzki on the roster since May 1, 1990. With Doncic and Porzingis, it gets better from here

The Dallas Mavericks were finally back in the NBA Playoffs Monday night. That was something, right? Win or lose this series with the Los Angeles Clippers, the franchise appears to finally be heading back in a positive direction. But, for the record, the Mavs did lose Game 1.

It was also a reminder of how things have changed. Sixteen months ago, Dirk Nowitzki waved goodbye, ending his 21-year reign as the Mavs’ franchise player. So Monday’s game wasn’t just the start of the Mavs’ first playoff series in four seasons, when the Mavs fell in five quick games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. No, it was their first playoff game in 30 YEARS without Nowitzki on the roster.

That’s just a bit mind-blowing, isn’t it?

You have to go back to May 1, 1990, to find a Mavericks playoff game without Nowitzki on the roster before Monday night. Back then, the Mavs basically snuck in, falling in three quick games to the Portland Trail Blazers (yes, back then they played best-of-five series in the first round). That last game took place at Reunion Arena. The Trail Blazers went on to the NBA Finals.

So there’s the first difference, of course. The Mavs don’t play there anymore. They haven’t called Reunion home in 20 years. The arena no longer exists.

Plus, that playoff loss 30 years ago was the edge of the proverbial cliff for the franchise, which for the 1980s had been the NBA’s model expansion franchise. Just two years prior the Mavs reached Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, but lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles. Some thought it was a matter of time before the Mavs might overtake the aging Lakers.

Two years later the Mavs played their last playoff game of the 20th century.

How much have things changed since May 1, 1990?

Derek Harper, who led the Mavs in scoring in two of those three playoff games, is now the Mavs’ television analyst.

Rolando Blackman, who led the Mavs in scoring in the other playoff game, is the Mavs’ Director of Basketball Development.

Brad Davis, to some the “Original Maverick,” even though chronologically he isn’t (he joined the team in December of its first season), works radio for the Mavs.

Roy Tarpley, the player everyone believed would be the Mavs’ next great star, is dead.

Bill Wennington, one of the back-up centers on that team, went on to win three rings with the Chicago Bulls. Steve Alford is now the head basketball coach at Nevada.

Heck, I went to high school with the assistant trainer and equipment manager for that team, Kyle Leath.

The biggest difference of all, of course, is that it’s likely NONE of these Mavs know this historical footnote. The vast majority of them weren’t alive on May 1, 1990. In fact, only three Mavs were alive then — J.J. Barea (June 26, 1984), Courtney Lee (October 3, 1985) and Boban Marjanovic (August 15, 1988).

Barea wasn’t even six years old when the Mavs lost that Game 3 to the Trail Blazers. Heck, current Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle was wrapping up his first season as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that these Mavericks aren’t burdened with that history. The 1990s were basically a hell-scape for Mavs fans, broken only by the 18 months or so where they thought Jim Jackson, Jason Kidd and Jamal Mashburn might rescue them. Otherwise, until Nowitzki showed up, there was little to feel hopeful about.

Instead, these Mavs are only burdened by recent history, a four-year playoff drought, one that is, in retrospect, rather understandable. The final years of the Nowitzki era saw the Mavs exposed as a franchise unable to develop young players, too reliant on luring one-year free agents while keeping their “powder dry” to assemble superstars who, while they respected Nowitzki, didn’t want to play in Dallas.

Dallas has now rectified that on all counts. The trade for Luka Doncic was a master stroke of forward-thinking (it would be nice, however, if the Mavs could do that more than once every 20 NBA drafts). Dealing for Kristaps Porzingis created some pain in terms of draft picks lost, but it not only brought Doncic a long-term running buddy but the added surplus of a rejuvenated Tim Hardaway Jr. 

The “lack of player development” is something that’s more difficult to accuse the Mavs of these days, with the work of Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, Justin Jackson and Jalen Brunson. And please don’t limit yourself to the idea that every player a pro team develops has to be a ‘star.’ Each of these players fills unique roles on this Mavs team and they can’t do without them. The Mavs miss Brunson and Powell right now.

As for the powder, well, owner Mark Cuban is going to save plenty for Doncic once it’s time to re-sign him. As for the rest of that powder, unlike a few years ago, Cuban won’t have to work as hard to get free agents to consider joining the Mavs with two young stars like Doncic and Porzingis on the roster.

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Whether the Mavs win this series or lose this series against the favored Clippers, this franchise hasn’t been this well-positioned for long-term success since 2001, when the Mavericks ended an 11-year playoff drought and played their first playoff games with Nowitzki on the roster.

Now that he’s gone, the Mavs can start their new playoff era with a new leader but the same eventual goal — an NBA title. These Mavs owe Nowitzki a thank you for so many things, the biggest of which might be carrying the franchise for 21 years and creating a legacy where there’s no baggage for Doncic, Porzingis and the rest to carry into this postseason.

Nowitzki erased that a long time ago.