Chris Mannix: All right Beck, not to discount Dallas’s chances of being the first team in NBA history to overcome a three-zip deficit, but it looks like the Mavs are headed to (ahem) Cancun. By any measure this has been a successful season in Big D. The Mavericks overcame a horrible start, made the playoffs and advanced past the first round for the first time since 2011. Meanwhile Luka Dončić continues to look like this generation’s next great playoff performer. But now the real work begins. Unless Dallas wants to become the 2019 Blazers—a perennial playoff team that made one trip to the conference finals—they need to improve. So where do they start?
Howard Beck: Absolutely, this has been a successful season for Dallas, no matter how this series ends. The Mavs won a playoff series for the first time since their 2011 championship. Luka Dončić got a real taste of playoff success. That’s important. And there’s no shame in losing to a dynastic team in the conference finals. They’re in good company, with the Blazers, Rockets, Spurs and Thunder (all of whom, by the way, had better overall talent than this Mavs team). But they’ve gone as far as Luka alone can take them. He needs a legit costar. Kristaps Porziņģis was supposed to be that guy. He wasn’t, so he’s gone. The No. 1 job for first-year GM Nico Harrison is to acquire that costar, whether via trade or free agency. I just don’t see an obvious path to that guy. Do you?
