Who’s left in the NBA conference finals is one Goliath and three Davids.
At least, that’s the way it looks on the surface.
The Boston Celtics are the clear favorites to win the championship as the NBA’s version of the Final Four unfolds.
Jason Kidd acknowledged as much on Monday as the Mavericks began preparations for the Western Conference semifinals against Minnesota.
“You have four left,” he said. “Probably only one was really talked about as having a legit chance of winning the championship. And that would be Boston.”
Indeed, before the season, the Celtics were about 3-to-1 to win the title. The Mavericks were 22-to-1 and the Timberwolves were 60-to-1. The Indiana Pacers, who will tangle with the Celtics in the East Finals, were over 100-to-1.
No matter who survives for the title, the foursome that remains ensures that for the sixth straight season, there will not be a repeat champion. Toronto won it all in 2019, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee, Golden State and Denver last season.
The Timberwolves knocked out the Nuggets on Sunday in Game 7 of that series in Denver.
“The league loves it,” Kidd said. “It’s great. It’s great for the league. I saw a question today: is there any more dominance? Is there ever going to be another dynasty?
“With player movement and the league being so young, we’ll see. But it’s great. That (the parity) gives everyone the opportunity that they truly believe they can win a championship at the starting line of this marathon.”
It certainly was a small set of backers for the Mavericks and Timberwolves to make it to this point when they met in Abu Dhabi for the start of the preseason back in October.
Perhaps limited to their own locker rooms, in fact.
But here they are. And one of them will be in the NBA finals in a couple weeks.
And, of course, the Mavericks will be the underdogs the rest of the way. Just as they were in the first two series of this playoff run, albeit only slight underdogs.
“Nothing new,” center Dereck Lively II said. “No matter if you look at people thinking who’s going to win the series. No matter if you’re looking at Luka’s MVP race. Me second-team all-rookie. It doesn’t matter what label they put on us.
“We’re just going to try to do our best to claw our way out and show who we are.”
For Lively, who lost his mother, Kathy Drysdale, last month after a lengthy battle with cancer, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I feel like it comes back to my mom’s old saying, and this goes back to when I was a baby: Sink or Swim,” Lively said. “You know you’re going to be in a high-intense moment. You’re going to be in do-or-die moments. You’re either going to float, stay alive and figure out how to learn and adapt to it. Or you’re going to sink. No one wants to sink.”
So far, the Mavericks have paddled along just fine after beating both the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder, winning both series in six games.
No update on Kleber: The Mavericks will need all the size they can get in the conference finals against the Timberwolves, who are one of the biggest teams in the league with Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid.
But they will continue to be without Maxi Kleber, at least for the start of the series.
“Still out,” Kidd said. “Looked good today. He looked good on the treadmill.
“We’ve done it already in one series (playing without Kleber). We’re going to have to do it again until he comes back. But that gives other guys the opportunity to step up and we truly believe everyone in that locker room is going to hold it together until he gets back.”
Kidd still close to Carlisle: Kidd was the point guard on the Mavericks’ championship team in 2011 coached by Rick Carlisle.
Now, while Kidd is coaching the Mavericks in the West finals, Carlisle has the Indiana Pacers in the East finals against Boston.
“He texted me, I owe him a text now,” Kidd said after Monday’s workout. “I was a little busy, but I will send him a text. I know he’s busy because it’s a quick turnaround for them playing Boston tomorrow.
“But it’s incredible what he’s done with Indiana. To be able to go to Game 7 in New York and be able to win on the road, he has his group playing at a high level. He’s done an incredible job with that group. Their fun to watch. They score a lot of points.”
X: @ESefko
Share and comment