The Dallas Mavericks have one last obstacle standing between them and a second NBA championship, the Boston Celtics. Going into the NBA Finals with an ‘underdog’ status as per Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson expand further on Kidd’s comment.
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Jason Kidd’s ‘We Like the Underdog role’ was recently expanded by both Shannon Sharpe aka Unc and Chad Johnson, aka Ochocinco on the Nightcap podcast. And Johnson had an interesting take on the Mavericks being labeled as ‘underdogs.’
“You know, it’s hard to say that the Mavs are the underdogs. Obviously, I’ve been paying attention to the Mavs throughout the playoffs. They’re playing really well with Kyrie and Luka arguably being the best backcourt duo in a very very long time.”
“I don’t see them as undergods. I respect Kidd for trying to keep his team humble, and for trying to keep his players humble, but they’re definitely not the underdogs. I think it’s based on preference as far as basketball fans go. Some will probably pick Boston, some will probably pick the Mavs as the better team.”
According to YahooSports, this is what Jason Kidd said:-
“We like the underdog role, we have to be. Boston’s been there before. We’re just a group of guys, that some people say, that just got put together and will play on the playground. It’s cool to see this group come together for a short amount of time and believe, and we got a great group of young men.”
As Chad Johnson said, he respected Jason Kidd’s preference of trying to keep his team and players humble but the Dallas Mavericks are nowhere near an underdog status this season. Regardless of their regular season standing, the Mavericks have thrived in a seven-game series against some of the best teams in the Western Conference.
Dallas took down the All-Star roster of the Clippers, followed by the best team in the West this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving went on to take down the Wolves who were fresh off a win against the reigning NBA champions, paving a historic run to the NBA Finals.
Kidd’s unorthodox ways of keeping Luka Doncic and the rest fired up
While Jason Kidd may be trying a new tactic to keep his team on the edge ahead of the NBA Finals, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic was already locked in and knew what to expect going into the finals, as per SportsIllustrated.
“They’re the best team in the NBA. They had by far the best record. They have some incredible weapons on offense and defense, so we’re gonna have to play really hard and amazing basketball to beat them.”
Having played for the Boston Celtics in the past, this will be a personal matchup for Kyrie Irving who said, “I’m at a place in my life where I don’t even consider those past moments. I had a rough time when I was there in Boston, dealing with death in my family and a lot of off-court stuff that I wasn’t ready to handle.”
“Now that I’m in a great place — to be able to vocalize how I’m feeling — I’m ready to go back to Boston and have fun with my teammates. I know we’re going to be locked in, and we’re going up against a great Boston team that has earned their way to the NBA Finals.”
The Boston Celtics will host the Dallas Mavericks for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 6. Tune into ABS Network at 8:30 PM ET to witness history in the making.
