The takes were flying last night on Inside the NBA, after the Mavericks’ opening night win.
Shortly after the Dallas Mavericks opened their season at home with a 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs, Charles Barkley over at TNT’s Inside the NBA declared the Mavericks are in the bottom of the Western Conference playoff race. Never shy in making bold, and often unfounded, takes on any given night, Barkley sees the Mavericks in muddy light.
“As far as getting to the next level, I think they are a middle of the road team in the Western Conference,” the hall of famer stated from the studio. Seemingly comparing the teams Barkley believes the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, and Memphis Grizzlies all got better. And what about the Mavericks, who appeared in last season’s NBA Finals and are currently the reigning Western Conference Champions?
“I think they got lucky, because of matchups. Everything worked out perfectly for them…I think Dallas is the bottom of the West, six, seven, eight seed.”
Listen, it’s all entertainment and sound bites, and usually we wouldn’t entertain the bait. But sometimes utter insanity is spoken and must be addressed. It would be one thing to acknowledge that a few mediocre teams improved. It’s another to give those four opponents above the benefit of the doubt while not acknowledging the improvements Dallas made, and reducing last year’s results to only luck.
This isn’t the first time that “analysis” has been given to last season’s Mavericks. Win after Dallas win was chalked up to shooting variance and nothing else. “If X role player wouldn’t have shot well for two games they would have lost”. A futile exercise to acknowledge that players have to play well for a team to win, and the long list of title winners that have skated by a game or two by a shooter getting hot. And matchups? Yes, matchups matter. But what else to make of the Mavericks eliminating the 1-seed, 3-seed, and 4-seed out west?
To balance the takes Barkley’s opposite, Shaquille O’Neal, scorched that new Mavericks starter Klay Thompson — who posted 22 points and set a Mavs debut record with six threes — will average 20 points this season and the Mavericks will win the title. He tried hedging a few times (“if” Klay averages 20), but the takes were unsurprisingly flying.
It’s a long season. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Etc. etc. We won’t take the bait too many times, but kicking off the season this way it must be addressed, Chuck.