The Mavericks’ win in Minnesota shows off championship culture that has been built

Trust, grit and resilience power Mavs to a win they had no business getting

Culture is an often-overused term in sports, a buzzword for something that you can’t see in a box score or give a tangible value to. Culture is hard to explain and even harder to build in a team environment. Coaches often time ramble for minutes trying to explain it, which is often time a sign that their group doesn’t have it. Teams with good culture mostly show that they have it through actions, not words.

When I hear players and coaches talk about culture, I often think back to a nearly five-minute sermon that Texas Football coach Steve Sarkisian gave at a presser last year. He was asked to explain the culture that his team had, and it’s the single best answer I’ve ever heard from someone describing culture and how it’s built.

As Sarkisian notes throughout the presser, teams can’t just say those buzzwords and expect culture to manifest itself. Championship culture is grown organically, preached and worked on throughout the year on a daily basis. Culture is the daily habit of doing little things right.

By now, everyone was able to see what the Mavericks were made of last year. Making the NBA Finals as a five seed shows that you’ve got something that most other teams don’t have. It takes sacrifice from guys like Markieff Morris and Dwight Powell, with limited on-court roles, to provide stability for the locker room. But each year starts fresh, you don’t just get to carry over what you once had. Guys come and go, and the work starts all over again. It takes time and energy to get culture right, which is why so many teams struggle to sustain success.

That brings us to a Tuesday night in October, on the road in Minnesota. The Mavericks were down 69-61 with 9:32 remaining in the 3rd quarter, having just allowed the Wolves to start the 2nd half on a 10-0 run. Dallas had every reason to pack it in and live to fight another day. It was only the 4th game of the season; your superstar was banged up right before halftime and it’s the second night of a back-to-back. No one would’ve faulted them for waiving the white flag. But instead, the last 21:30 of this game was a masterclass of the culture that has been built in Dallas. The Mavericks outscored the Wolves by 19 points over the final 9:32 of that 3rd quarter, and eventually won the game by 6.

Everyone will remember the game being won with the unreal shot making of Luka Doncic & Kyrie Irving, who combined to score 36 points in the second half. However, the game wouldn’t have been won without the work done by Quentin Grimes and Naji Marshall, two guys who both weren’t on last year’s NBA Finals team and have each had uneven starts to the 2024-25 campaign. Grimes hit 2 of his 3 three pointers late in the third to push Dallas’ lead to 8 points. Marshall, who went 0/4 from the floor, contributed with 3 assists and 2 steals, including the clinching steal against Anthony Edwards with under 30 seconds to go in the game.

It’s easy to be disappointed with your own personal performances, lack of playing time, or all of the above. Setting all of that aside to come up with a quality effort when it’s needed shows what championship culture is about. Tuesday night, the Mavericks trusted guys who were new to the team to make plays at critical times to win a game against a contender. Both Grimes and Marshall delivered the goods when it was needed.

Sure, there will be frustrating losses along the way; it’s impossible to be perfect for 82 games. For now, the team isn’t operating at peak efficiency, which is to be expected since it is still October. Until that happens, championship caliber teams find ways to win when they’re not at their best. Tuesday night, the Mavericks showed the trust, grit and effort needed to get a win when the deck was stacked against them. That’s the championship culture they’ve built.