Tomorrow: The Future

Today: the now. The Dallas Mavericks closed out the Oklahoma City Thunder, everybody’s favorite “look at this team!” team for the second decade in a row, in a sixth game on Saturday night to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they’ll meet the winner of the ridiculous Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves series, those teams entering a Game 7. 

With MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the now-underrated 2024 rookie do-everything big Chet Holmgren in tow and singing Aguilera to their hearts’[1] content, OKC dropped a 17-point lead. Melding at just the right time, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Mavs had come into the series operating an offense which countered Harden-era Rockets isolations with Curry-led dictation in Golden State circa-2017 to great success.

Against a calling-all-cars Thunder defense, the Mavericks offensive plan fell apart, but Dallas kept pushing. Its stars shining, and role players inhabiting exactly their spaces, they put a mirror to the slightly younger, slightly-brighter Thunder. In so doing, they put away a new-era league darling, one that calls to the past while looking toward a different future.

I did not enjoy coming to the realization that a 25-year-old perennial MVP-type had reached a conference semifinals for a likable Thunder team, for the fourth time; two of the first three included Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. As the tent-pole of that era, Durant is Alexander’s closest corollary. 

First, the basketball: that series produced a net rating of zero, meaning each team scored the exact same number of points over six games. The Thunder won Game 1 handily but dropped the next two before picking up a win that would figure to define a burgeoning team, the kind of win that allows for highlight packages and solemn voiceovers talking about scrappiness, and the idea of being an underdog, and calling into question what an underdog is when you and everyone around you talk about you like this – an underdog nevertheless.

Since he joined Dallas last February, Irving has been, to his, ahem, credit, a willing teammate, even if the injury bugs that have haunted him forever followed him to Texas. To that end: the Mavericks are 39-22 since the calendar turned to 2024, Dallas having rounded solidly into form as one of the league’s best[2] teams down the stretch. 

Dereck Lively’s emergence as a dual threat, along with P.J. Washington’s quick absorption into head coach Jason Kidd’s vision, have paid off – it was Washington who hit the two deciding free throws Saturday night, only months after Charlotte traded him from a talented but mismatched Hornets team, ever awaiting a healthy LaMelo Ball.

Having Shai round into form in the way he did this season, the Thunder arrived early, not unlike their forebears. Lu Dort solidified his presence as the premier wing defender, playing Luka straight up as best he could in many of his minutes; we’ll see that again. Jalen Williams’ season-long glow-up continued into this playoff run. If the Thunder excise Josh Giddey, who seems like the odd man out for a number of reasons, Williams, along with his homophonic teammate Jaylin, should see increased time next year.

For the Thunder, Sam Presti’s vision is once again coming to life: a young and instantly-overachieving, people’s champs bunch, featuring most players under contract for at least another two years and with the question of one high-profile player in a contract year. This is (still!) a chance at next-gen redemption will have to wait.

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[1] And to the mind-melted public’s

[2] And finally, in the Luka era, the most watchable