5 reasons Dallas Mavericks can win the NBA Finals

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Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle motions to his team during the first quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

4. Rick Carlisle

Rick Carlisle is one of just eleven people to walk this earth that has an NBA Championship as a head coach and as a player. He has been with the Mavericks since 2008 and has only missed the playoffs once since joining Dallas. He also has a career playoff record of 57-58 and is 27-26 with the Mavericks.

This year may be his best work yet. He took a team that when DeAndre Jordan signed with them this summer, a lot of people saw them getting to a five or six seed, and were still a step behind the contenders. When Jordan spurned them it was tough to find an analyst willing to call them making the playoffs at all.

He dealt with Zaza Pachulia in place of Joran, a 37-year old Nowitzki as his best player, and Parsons and Wesley Matthews both coming off of off-season surgery, Parsons obviously hurt the most missing 20 games this season. He did all of this and got his team back into the playoffs, and in it as a six-seed.

It would be tough to count out one of the few elite coaches in this game, no matter what the scenario or how banged up his team is.

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