It has been over a week since the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from the Play-In Tournament at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas was dominated in that game, losing 120-106, despite Anthony Davis putting up 40 points.
Just over a week later, the Grizzlies have already been eliminated from the playoffs, getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Memphis never stood much of a chance in this series, even though they led by 29 in Game 3, a lead they eventually blew because of the hip injury to Ja Morant.
The Thunder dominated the first two games of the series, winning by a combined 70 points. Memphis was more competitive in the final two games at home, as Scotty Pippen Jr. put up a massive 30 points in a losing effort, but a sweep is still a sweep. If the Mavericks had made it instead of the Grizzlies, there's a chance it would've been even uglier than this.
Dallas had next to no play-making in the final month of the season after Kyrie Irving tore his ACL. Brandon Williams and Naji Marshall performed admirably as fill-in point guards, but they wouldn't have been nearly good enough against a pesky OKC defense.
OKC forced 77 turnovers in the four games against the Grizzlies, which makes sense given that was Memphis' biggest weakness all season and one of OKC's biggest strengths. Dallas was about middle-of-the-pack in the NBA this year with protecting the ball, but the Thunder likely would've been able to take advantage of the Mavs' lack of point guards.
The Mavericks may have been able to win the season series against the Thunder, but they were often able to take advantage of a Thunder frontcourt dealing with injuries. Chet Holmgren didn't play in any of the four matchups between the Mavs and OKC and Isaiah Hartenstein only played in one. That was Dallas' big advantage last year in the playoffs with Holmgren getting bullied on the glass against Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. Even with Anthony Davis in the lineup, the Thunder having Holmgren and Hartenstein would've lessened that impact.
Nico Harrison, Jason Kidd, and the Mavericks decided to try to make a playoff push, allowing Davis, Gafford, Lively, and Dante Exum to return from injury before the end of the season rather than sitting them so they can get fully healthy and getting better odds in the draft lottery. Davis clearly was banged up, limping up and down the floor in the game against the Grizzlies.
In hindsight, they probably should've just rested, but they wanted to take some heat off the franchise from the Luka Doncic trade. As they're coming to realize, just making the playoffs to get swept would not have helped.
