After they lost Game 5 to the Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal gave his thoughts on what they can do to make themselves better next season.
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The Dallas Mavericks exceeded expectations this season. The team led by the prodigious Luka Doncic reached the Western Conference Finals against all odds but the Golden State Warriors were just too powerful and experienced for them. The Mavs were in danger of getting swept after losing their first three games but they managed to put on a show in Game 4 with Luka Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie at the centre of all the good things done by them. After they lost Game 5, Shaquille O’Neal gave his thoughts on what they can do to make themselves better next season.
Speaking on Inside The NBA, Shaq said, “Listen, they play well. Nobody expected them to be here. They are young. They are having fun. I think just the toughness of the Warriors, especially at this time of the season just kind of caught up with them. Luka as a leader is going to have to get better. I don’t say that disrespectfully but when you are called a great player, one of your job is to make everybody around you better. He did that. He also learned a lot when he wasn’t in the game. Dinwiddie and Brunson said ‘Hey, we can play in this league too.’”
Shaq then went on to stress how they can get better as a team next season and suggested that if they add one more big name to this current roster, then the Mavs can be very dangerous. “If those three (Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson) can learn to play together and they get one more big-name player, they can definitely be dangerous”, Shaq said. “But, they also need to realise that just cause you made it this far this year, it ain’t going to be like this because the Clippers are going to come back next year, the Lakers, Utah. Boy, will there be a lot of teams.”
Read more: “We are going to face Boston in the NBA Finals” – Draymond Green
When Jason Kidd was named as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks in June 2021, nobody expected him to guide the team to the Western Conference Finals. But after a gruelling season that had a lot of ups and downs, Kidd can look back and say that it was a job well done. Kidd spoke to the reporters after losing to the Warriors and said that he, his coaching staff and the team will learn a lot of things from this season and will use this momentum as a springboard to achieve better things next season.
He said, “I think it means a lot. Especially, where we’ve been in the past. We’d be on our second vacation by now. So to be able to play and to make it to the Western Conference Finals is a great accomplishment for this team and for everyone, coaching staff included. We’ll have to get back and review the last three series and see where we can get better as coaches and we’ll spend time with the players this summer to make sure that they are working on the right thing.”
