SAN FRANCISCO – Despite what wasn’t the most enjoyable night of their playoff run in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, the Mavericks are having the time of their lives.
And that’s got to make Jason Kidd smile.
How many times have we heard the Mavericks’ coach say that his team needs to have fun, starting with Luka Dončić, who puts fun at the top of his to-do list pretty much every morning when he wakes up, and going all the way down to the film-breakdown crew?
The fact that nobody in the NBA universe outside of Mavericks’ headquarters had them still playing at this juncture of the season is part of why the need to enjoy this is paramount.
“Super-fun,” said Maxi Kleber. “It’s a really great experience. I think most of us have never been in this situation to play in the Western Conference finals to play one of the top teams ever, It’s really fun for us.”
It’s like the old song says, even if things look bad after Game 1, they’re really not all that bad.
Said Reggie Bullock: “It’s super-fun, super-fun. When I signed here in the summer, I knew there was a chance for us to be able to make the playoffs, that I was coming to a great team. The goal of ours was to make the playoffs and make a better push than they did the year before.
“We’ve attained those goals, but we’re not at the end. We feel like we’re one of the best teams in the league. We had a slipup in Game 1, but we’re still going into Game 2 with high confidence.”
This idea of having fun would seem to be exclusive to the Mavericks, all of whom are experiencing the conference finals for the first time, other than the coaching staff.
But Golden State coach Steve Kerr said that, just because the Warriors went to five consecutive NBA finals a few years back doesn’t mean they aren’t full of joy. They don’t see this as purely a day at the office on the way to what they hope is a victory celebration next month.
“It’s a giddy kind of fun, especially having missed the playoffs the last two years,” Kerr said. “Our guys are really excited to be here. And we also have a lot of young guys who weren’t here for the five-year stretch of getting to the finals.
“It’s a combination of vets being hungry and excited to try to get back to the finals, and a group of newer additions, both young players and vets who have signed here or we traded for – they haven’t tasted it yet. So it’s a good mix.”
So, when things get tense in Game 2 tonight at Chase Center as the Mavericks try to level the series at a win apiece, just remember.
On the inside, everybody’s smiling.
Twitter: @Esefko
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