Fansided

Hardwood Paroxysm’s favorite historical NBA teams

By HP Basketball Network

Apr 8, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; TNT broadcaster Chris Webber during the NBA game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; TNT broadcaster Chris Webber during the NBA game between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Long Live the ‘02-’03 Dallas Mavericks

By Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace)

Of all the Dallas teams I’ve watched during my life, the one I love the most is the one I saw the least. The fall of 2002 was my first in college, out in California away from Texas for the first time in my life. Dallas basketball was more of an idea to me then, as I dove head first into the college experience (I was also surrounded by way too many Lakers fans coming off a three-peat).

The ‘02-’03 Mavs and ‘03-’04 Mavs are baffling in retrospect, with Donnie Nelson behaving more as a mad scientist than a general manager. My love for the ‘02-’03 team is pure nostalgia; despite winning 60 games in a crazy Western Conference, in my mind they are perhaps the most talented team ever assembled in Dallas.

Offensively, the ‘02-’03 Mavericks were ahead of the times, often tossing out a line up of Steve Nash, Nick Van Exel, Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitzki, and Raef LaFrentz, a group which collectively shot 38.5% from behind the arc that season. Who needed defense when they were capable of scoring all of the points. Walt Williams, Shawn Bradley, Eduardo Najera, Adrian Griffin, and Raja Bell all also received steady playing time.

This team should mainly be remembered for one of the most entertaining playoff series of the early 2000s. Running up against the loaded Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference semi-finals, the Mavs outlasted the Kings in a 7 game series which saw at least one team eclipse the 100 point mark in six of the seven contests. The most famous game was the wild, triple overtime thriller (see above) in Game 3, but I’ll remember Game 2 for the rest of my life. The Mavericks hung 83 on the Kings in the first half.

Dirk would injure his knee against the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, thus making this particular Mavs team a footnote and a fun “what if” argument. Donnie Nelson blew up the team again in the off season, taking on Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison, so this particularly brand of magical basketball was very short lived. Though I didn’t see them but a handful of times, I’ll always associate the ‘02-’03 Mavericks with my freshman year in college, a time when anything felt possible.

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