Established in 1980, the Dallas Mavericks have missed the playoffs in just 18 of their 43 seasons as a franchise. But it wasn't until a few years into the 21st century that Dallas became the representative of its conference in the NBA Finals for the first time.
With Dallas now the Western Conference representative for the NBA Finals, set to go up against the Boston Celtics, they're hoping to hoist another trophy.
Here is a comprehensive history of Dallas's playoff results and their appearances in the Finals.
Playoff result
Times occurred
Last year occurred
Missed postseason
19
2022-23
Play-in Tournament
0
Never participated
Lost in first round
13
2020-21
Lost in Western Conf. Semifinals
6
2008-09
Lost in Western Conf. Finals
3
2021-22
Finals appearance
2
2010-11
In the first three years after the team was incepted in 1980, Dallas did not make the playoffs. They finally saw a string of five straight playoff appearances from 1984 until 1988 culminating in a Western Conference Finals appearance in the last season led by figures like Derek Harper, Mark Aguirre, and Detlef Schrempf.
Dallas's longest playoff drought would soon follow, spanning 10 seasons from the end of the 1989-90 season until 2000-01 when they got back in the postseason. That coincides with the year that Mark Cuban purchased a majority stake in the team for $285 million. Cuban -- previously an extremely passionate season ticket holder -- is credited with re-sparking interest in the team. Along with that, the team started winning again. Dallas has only missed the postseason five times since he joined the ownership group (79.2% playoff appearance rate).
Earlier this year, Cuban gave up his majority stake, but retains a sizable portion of ownership and still oversees basketball operations for the franchise.
The Mavs have made it to the last NBA series of the year twice in franchise history. The first time Dallas made it was in 2006, matched up against the Miami Heat. Both franchises were making their first-ever Finals appearance at the time, but Miami would ultimately hoist its first Larry O'Brien Trophy, defeating Dallas in six games. Dallas won the first two games of the series but lost four straight after.
Game
Mavericks score
Heat score
1
90 (W)
80
2
99 (W)
85
3
96
98 (W)
4
74
98 (W)
5 (OT)
100
101 (W)
6
92
95 (W)
Here is a look at the leading scorers from that series per game:
Player
Points per game
Dwyane Wade
34.7
Dirk Nowitzki
22.8
Jason Terry
22.0
Josh Howard
14.7
Antoine Walker
13.8
Just five years later, in 2011, Dallas would have its next shot at the Finals. Fortuitously, Miami represented the Eastern Conference that year as well. This time, the Mavericks would exact their revenge, beating a cast that included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in six games. Dallas won the final three games of the series.
Game
Mavericks score
Heat score
1
84
92 (W)
2
95 (W)
93
3
86
88 (W)
4
86 (W)
83
5
112 (W)
103
6
105 (W)
95
That Mavericks team was coached by Rick Carlisle -- who now coaches the Indiana Pacers and ironically could be the coach on the other side if Dallas and Indiana both make it to the Finals -- and led on the court by Dirk Nowitzki. It also gained considerable contributions that season from Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd (who now coaches the Mavericks), Shawn Marion, Jason Terry and J.J. Barea.
Nowitzki was named Finals MVP. He averaged 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in the series per game. He famously disappeared from the court -- leaping over the scorer's table to disappear into the bowels of the arena -- for several minutes after the Mavericks won, but returned later to celebrate with the team and accept his award.
He told The Dallas Morning News years later that he didn't make it off the court in time to let his emotions flow privately when he led Germany to Olympics qualification in 2008, and that experience stuck with him. He preferred to have a few emotional moments by himself after winning the NBA title.
Here were the top scorers from the 2011 Finals series:
Player
Points per game
Dwyane Wade
26.5
Dirk Nowitzki
26.0
Chris Bosh
18.5
Jason Terry
18.0
LeBron James
17.8
Scoring and pace have changed tremendously since the Mavericks last found themselves in the Finals. The leading scorer last year was Nikola Jokic with 30.2 points per game. 2022 was Steph Curry with 31.2 points per game.
The 2011 series was the seventh-lowest NBA Finals scoring (in average total points per game scored) since 2000 at 187.0 points per game.
Year
Total points per game
2000
211.5
2001
194.4
2002
202.7
2003
169.8
2004
172.6
2005
171.6
2006
184.7
2007
167.0
2008
196.0
2009
191.8
2010
177.7
2011
187.0
2012
200.0
2013
194.7
2014
197.2
2015
194.2
2016
200.3
2017
236.4
2018
217.0
2019
217.3
2020
214.5
2021
221.0
2022
205.7
2023
201.0
After gradual increases following the 2011 season, Finals scoring took a massive jump in 2017 and has stayed above 200 points per game since.
JOSH WILSON
