DALLAS — In addition to airing every game of the 2024 NBA Finals on our station, WFAA is also hosting a special presentation called "The Pregame" before each and every matchup in the series. Head here for more information.
There are a myriad of storylines for the last two teams standing in the NBA.
The Boston Celtics are pursuing a league-leading 18th championship as the season’s unquestionable favorites after running roughshod over the Eastern Conference while enjoying a 64-18 regular season record. The Dallas Mavericks, meanwhile, are looking for the franchise’s second Larry O’Brien trophy, and first of the Luka Doncic era, after going from Western Conference dark horse to top dog following some inspired mid-season pickups.
On the surface, it’s Celtics versus Mavericks, but deep down, it’s Boston versus Dallas. Two legendary sports cities who have never faced each other in a playoff match-up prior to Thursday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Both teams feature championship-caliber rotations featuring superstars, role players with defensive acumen, three-point marksmen, and an intertwining of cornerstones straight out of a multiverse plot. You see, at a point in time, Mavericks star Kyrie Irving was the heir to the TD Garden in the pursuit of that 18th title for the Celtics. Likewise, Boston big Kristaps Porzingis was the first choice in the Dallas front office’s plan for building a championship roster around Doncic.
There is a world where these two teams meet in this series with Dallas fretting over how to guard Irving and Boston worried about the spacing nightmares that Porzingis creates. This is not that world. But that world will converge with our own as Kyrie and Kristaps meet at the crossroads of their careers.
A 23-year old Porzingis arrived in Dallas on Jan. 31, 2019 along with Tim Hardaway Jr., among others. The former No. 4 overall pick had shown immense potential for the New York Knicks but came hampered with injury concerns. The price at the time was three Mavericks starters (Deandre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, and Dennis Smith Jr.) along with two first round picks to pair "The Unicorn" with a then 19-year old wunderkind Luka Doncic.
While injured at the time of his arrival, his addition to the roster saw Doncic, Porzingis, and Dirk Nowitzki all intersect, with the upside of the gamble pitched as a new generational pairing of Steve Nash and Nowitzki. Porzingis and Doncic did see some success when both were on the court, but it was never quite enough nor at the dominant rate that had been expected.
The issue for Dallas was the continuation of part-time availability taking up a big portion of their cap space. In parts of three seasons with Dallas, Porzingis played 134 regular season games and 10 playoff games. Porzingis' first taste of the playoffs in 2020 against the Clippers showcased why Dallas took the chance: A 23.7 scoring clip, 8.7 rebounds, and 52% shooting from deep to help push favored Los Angeles to six games.
Porzingis' second playoff effort saw his production regress down to 13.1 point average with a 29% three-point tally as it became clear that coach Rick Carlisle had no other use for the big man besides as a three-point decoy. Additionally, the rim protection expected of the 7-foot, 2-inch center did not materialize, largely due to Dallas’ roster limitations at the time.
Porzingis averaged 20 points and 8.8 rebounds overall during his time as a Maverick, with a game-high of 39 points, while scoring at least 30 points 16 times in a Dallas uniform. The Mavs got 10 playoff games with no series wins out of Porzingis' partnership with Doncic over the course of two-and-a-half seasons.
In the end, the pairing in action wasn’t worth the price of admission based on how the pairing was expected to go in theory, and Porzingis was shipped off to Washington prior to the 2022 trading deadline in a surprise move. The return for Dallas was the addition of Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. Dinwiddie helped the Mavs reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in the Doncic era, and eventually, both made the acquisitions of Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II possible.
After a season-and-a-half in Washington, Porzingis was traded to the Celtics ahead of this season where he enjoyed the best shooting percentage of his career to date (51%) and averaged 20.1 points in the regular season as the Celtics’ third option behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
In addition, Porzingis bought into what Boston presented to him in terms of analytics and started to develop more as a defender at the rim and as an option in the post. At 28-years-old, and with the luster of his years in New York and Dallas dulled by a stint in Washington, Porzingis matured with the best team in the league, where he doesn’t have to be the first or second option, and started to become the kind of player that Dallas thought would help take Doncic to the pinnacle.
The timing for how things ultimately played out in Dallas is a shame, as Porzingis now would seem to fit beautifully with the Mavericks as a three-point shooter who is now a little more able to bang with the bodies at the rim. However, it’s more likely that it was just never going to work in Dallas as Porzingis would likely see his game limited to shots from deep with the plethora of lob threats and better defensive options in the Mavericks’ rotation absorbing minutes.
But he’s found his place with Boston and is one of their key weapons. Porzingis’ time in the playoffs has been limited by a calf issue that has seen him absent since the opening round, however.
Once seen as the missing piece for the Mavs, Porzingis is on track for a Game 1 return versus Dallas where he will be standing in Doncic’s way to the basket instead of waiting on his passes.
Standing in Porzingis’ path will be Irving and the Mavericks. It’s a delicious twist of fate as Irving’s path back to Boston can be linked back to his need to find success outside of the shadow of LeBron James.
While James’ return to Cleveland after his Miami Heat defection was in large part to secure the championship that he missed during his first run with his hometown team, the championship was won by a heroic Game 7 shot from the other Cavaliers No. 1 overall pick, as Kyrie made from deep with under a minute left in a tied game and delivered a title to the city of Cleveland for the first time in over 50 years.
One year later, after a bitter loss to the Golden State Warriors in a rematch of the Finals, Irving asked out of Cleveland and out from under James’ shadow and arrived in Boston via trade for former Mavericks Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas, tasked with bringing the Celtics back to their spot as the league’s most decorated franchise.
Irving was an All-Star in both years during his tenure in Boston but, after two disappointing finishes in the Eastern Conference playoffs, soured on the relationship by the end of his second season in Celtics green and orchestrated his leave via free agency to build a super-team in Brooklyn. At the time, the Celtics were devastated but still had young up-and-comers in Tatum and Brown, who would blossom into superstars in their own right.
Meanwhile, a less mature and not yet humbled Irving had an acrimonious relationship with Boston upon his return with Brooklyn as he was fined for flipping off fans and notoriously stepped with intention on Boston’s mid-court logo. Needless to say, even though Irving has been a model citizen in Dallas, the Boston faithful hasn’t forgotten and Irving is expected to not only hear it from the fans but his presence in these Finals has already been painted as a major source of drama. That’s something that the Mavericks will have to overcome in their pursuit of four more wins.
After another complicated marriage that went sour in Brooklyn, Irving arrived in Dallas via trade last spring with the hopes of finally finding NBA happiness. Kyrie’s last year with the Celtics was 2018-2019, his age 26 season, and he played in a total of nine playoff games for the franchise to mirror the efforts of Porzingis with Dallas.
Now 31, Irving will double his playoff game total with Dallas in Game 1 of the Finals. Irving was supposed to win this while shepherding Tatum and Brown with Boston originally, then he was supposed to win with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. When those plans failed and Irving became something of a pariah, his road led him to Dallas where he now has an opportunity for redemption against the team that was supposed to be where he made his legacy.
After a complicated road, Irving truly looks to have found his home in the Dallas backcourt. Often maligned, Kyrie Irving has emerged as a team leader with a head coach and franchise that supports him as he looks to win the second championship of his career.
To do so, he’ll have to beat a juggernaut Boston Celtics squad where his past demons will be waiting for him. So too will be Porzingis, wearing the uniform that he donned first.
Do you think Kyrie Irving or Kristaps Porzingis will come up bigger during the NBA Finals? Share your predictions with Irvin on X (formerly Twitter) @Twittirv.
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