Josh Green knew from the start of the season that his Dallas Mavericks had the skeleton of a team that could win it all.
“We’ve always had the approach that we’re a contending team, and a championship team,” Green told ESPN.
The 23-year-old is entering the first NBA Finals of his young career — alongside fellow Australian Danté Exum — on a Mavericks team led by the electric duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, with the Boston Celtics the final obstacle remaining en route to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
The Mavericks enter the Finals as the Western Conference’s fifth seed, but that number isn’t indicative of how the team is currently functioning. Jason Kidd’s group used a wildly impressive end of the regular season, along with three straight playoff series wins against high-level opponents, to announce themselves as a legitimate contender going into the franchise’s first NBA Finals since 2011, Game 1 of which tips off on Friday (AEST).
“We knew that there were puzzles we had to figure out along the way,” Green said. “Judging and looking at last year to this year, the level of professionalism is a different level; it was set at a really high level at the start of the season. Everyone wanted to win at the start of the year. It’s what everyone said, and what everyone put their mind to.”
The first of the puzzle pieces the Mavericks had to put together was how to approach the final game of last season.
The Mavericks had an opportunity to make the Play-In Tournament, but instead chose to rest key players — including Green — for their April 7 game against the Chicago Bulls. They lost the game — the NBA considered it tanking, and subsequently fined the team $750,000 — and, in turn, kept their 2023 first round pick. They would use the pick to select Dereck Lively II, the rookie centre who’s been one of the Mavericks’ most important players over the course of this run to the Finals.
That selection was the first of many decisions that would lift this Mavericks team from a playoff hopeful to a true contender. There was the signing of Derrick Jones Jr. to a minimum deal going into the season that’s turned out to be one of the best contracts in the league, and the mid-season trades to acquire both PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford.
All four of the Mavericks’ new faces were a big reason why Kidd’s team went 16-2 over an 18-game stretch to end the regular season, ranking as the NBA’s top-ranked team in defensive efficiency during that span, and have been key contributors during this deep playoff run.
“There were a lot of people that doubted us defensively as a team and the connection we had on the defensive end,” Green said.
“It definitely took time. From day one of training camp, that’s been the biggest emphasis from all of the coaching staff. Defensive principles is probably what we spent the most time on.
“Being able to add the rim protection was huge. We’ve had D-Live the whole season, but then having another one in D-Gaff changed a lot. Another big like that changes the game. There aren’t a lot of teams in the NBA that have two guys over 7’1; that definitely helped us. Then, everyone really bought in to winning. That’s when a lot of guys took on their roles in the second half of the season.”
What Green describes as players “taking on their roles” is almost equally as important to winning as the excellence of Doncic and Irving. The Mavericks are built in a unique way, often described as heliocentric: all of their processes almost entirely go through the team’s primary player — Doncic, in this case — with the remainder of the roster filling ancillary roles.
The key is to maximise Doncic, who can in turn maximise them, but it comes with some level of sacrifice. It means abandoning any urge to be a primary player on a team; generally reducing what one does on the court to just one or two things, for the betterment of the success of the group.
Every season since being drafted by the Mavericks in 2020, Green has gradually refined his game as one that is complementary to Doncic, with a focus on spot-up shooting, cutting, and point-of-attack defence to most effectively play alongside the Slovenian superstar. It’s led to the Sydney-native playing a meaningful role on the Mavericks when it matters most, playing 17.8 minutes a game over these playoffs, averaging 4.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists a contest, while shooting 35.4% from downtown.
“Honestly, it’s a tough adjustment for anyone,” Green said. “But, I think for me personally, I want to win first.
“It took time to get used to it, and it took time for me to realise what I need to do to be out on the court. You can tell it’s appreciated from guys like Kyrie and Luka. They know the work that the role players put in. They know that it’s not like the role players can’t do more; but we have Luka and Kyrie and there’s certain things that we need to do in order for our team to win, and we’re willing to sacrifice for the team.
“That’s why we’re in the Finals. Our goal is to keep being a winning team, and that means buying into your role.”
Playing in a refined role is a sacrifice of a sort, but the reward is knowing one can ride alongside Doncic’s greatness to the biggest stage in the NBA.
Doncic, still just 25, is widely regarded as the series’ best player going into these Finals, and Green believes his teammate is deserving of an even bigger consideration.
“There’s a reason why he’s considered the best player in the world, and he deserves that,” Green said of Doncic. “He had a very strong case of being the MVP this year and, being biased, I think he should’ve been MVP.”
Asked what makes Doncic special and why he’s so difficult to guard, Green took a slight pause then continued: “It’s his tempo,” Green said. “His understanding of the game.
“You can tell he’s played with older guys his whole life; the way he plays, and the composure he plays with. He always plays with such a slow pace, so people are surprised at how quick he is side to side. He’s sneakily fast side to side.
“I think that’s what’s surprised a lot of people defensively this season, too; him being able to stay in front of people. He’s done an amazing job on the defensive end. I think its his tempo, mixed with his size, mixed with his shot-creating ability. Not a lot of guys shoot better when they’re shooting step-backs, but that’s his rhythm.”
An Australian who’s active on a roster hasn’t been to an NBA Finals since Andrew Bogut did it with the Golden State Warriors back in 2019, and the last to win a championship was Matthew Dellavedova with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
Green and Exum are hoping to follow in Dellavedova’s footsteps by winning an NBA championship ring before immediately jetting off to an Olympics to represent the Australian Boomers.
“It’s something I’ve dreamed of, ever since I was a kid,” Green said of being in a Finals.
“When you’re going along the journey of making it to the Finals, you don’t really get time to reflect on it and being able to make it. Now that I’m here and I’m preparing, I’m ready to go, I’m super excited, my body feels good now that I’ve had a week off.
“From day one, we’ve had a championship on our mind. It’s the first thing we talked about. That was our goal. A lot of people say they want to be a championship team, but I think we’ve proven that we really want this. There’s a reason why we’re here.”