One win away from The Finals

Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya and Mike Piellucci dive into everything we’ve seen through the team’s first two days of free agency, including Klay Thompson, how it shows the difference of this front office compared to the past regime, the strange (but not bad) Derrick Jones Jr. for Naji Marshall swap, Quentin Grimes optimism and caution, and everything else Dallas has done and could still do.

Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya and Mike Piellucci talk about the best moments and lessons learned from the Mavericks' Finals run that ended earlier this week.

Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about what's real from Game 4 and what might not be in Game 5: the rim protection, Dereck Lively II's reemergence, Kyrie Irving, the rotation, and Luka Doncic.

Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya, and Mike Piellucci talk about the Mavericks' 0-2 hole in the NBA Finals, what's led to them being here, and what things need to change — things that absolutely can — for Dallas to get back into this series.

Tim Cato talks to Locked On Mavs' Nick Angstadt about the Mavericks' Game 1 defeat in the NBA Finals, where we think the offense was much more of a problem than the defense. We discuss why Boston took away the lob dunk so effectively without conceding corner 3s and what rotation changes or other tweaks might be coming to change that in Game 2. We both ended up in a more optimistic place about Dallas' chances than we were immediately after Game 1. Want Tim's instant reactions? I'm recording after every game on The Athletic NBA Show feed with our Boston Celtics beat writers Jay King and Jared Weiss.

Tim Cato, Austin Ngaruiya and Dave DuFour tell you how the NBA Finals is about to go down. We break down both sides of the court, the Kristaps Porzingis questions, how the rotation might change, Theoretical Maxi Kleber and his potential importance, and what paths we see for Dallas to win this whole thing.

Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about the Mavericks’ five-game series win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, what we learned, when we realized this team could be a finals contender, and how this journey has felt. We’ll be back early next week with a full Finals preview.

Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya are rejoined by Mike Piellucci to talk about Dallas’ Game 3, which truly felt like a win of destiny as the team overcame the absence of Dereck Lively II to win a game they had to win. They also talk about what it’ll take to win Game 4.

Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk with The Onion’s Ben Collins about Luka Doncic’s stepback game-winner vs. Rudy Gobert and whether this series is over.

Tim Cato and Austin Ngaruiya talk about the Mavericks winning Game 1, how they did it with just six made 3s, how historic it is, and why the Timberwolves should feel sick. They also talk about what could improve from Minnesota that Dallas must be aware of going forward.