For the second time in Jason Kidd’s three years as head coach, the Dallas Mavericks are headed to the Western Conference Finals, and they’ll once again have a chance to prove they are the best in the West.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks finished off the top-seed in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder, with a thrilling 117-116 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals at the American Airlines Center on Saturday to clinch the series, four games to two. Dallas moves on to the West Finals, where they will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who themselves bounced the defending NBA Champion Nuggets in a seven-game thriller.

For Coach Kidd, getting back to the West Finals represents clearing a big hurdle, one that was created when the team reached that round in his first year as Dallas coach in 2022. They lost that year to the Warriors, who went on to win the NBA title. A year later, Kidd’s Mavericks did not make the playoffs, the result of some decisions made midseason by Kidd, GM Nico Harrison, owner Mark Cuban and the front office staff to retool the roster and collect draft picks rather than let them convey to competitors.

More changes to the Mavs roster followed both during the 2023 offseason and at the 2024 trade deadline, leaving the Mavs locker room much different than the one J-Kidd inherited from his predecessor Rick Carlisle just a few seasons ago. Carlisle has his own team, the Indiana Pacers, in the Eastern Conference Finals and while discussing the changes made to the Mavericks, Jason wanted it made clear the immense respect he has for his former coach.”

“We’ve [had] to build a culture. There’s no shots at Rick [Carlisle]. Rick did the best he could with the roster he had. But since we’ve been here [the culture has changed],” Kidd said. “We go [to the Conference Finals] that first year, our defense was incredible. Our offense joined the party and we got to learn what it meant to win. Last year was a building year. Every year is not going to be a championship year. It just doesn’t happen in sports that way. I thought Nico did an incredible job this summer, and also since he’s been here, putting the pieces together that fit. And then sometimes you just have to give people time…But our goal is to win a championship. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Game 6 featured a championship caliber comeback from a Mavs team that is becoming known for them. They trailed Saturday’s game by 16 points at halftime, a deficit large enough it would have had many teams contemplating the short trip back to Oklahoma City for Game 7. But the Mavs used halftime to discuss their strategy, how they could limit their turnovers and increase their pace to get the game back where they needed it to be.

“Halftime, it’s kind of a cool thing, cause we just kind of talked and I thought the group responded, again being down 16, we knew what we had to do and we did that to start the third and we did that pretty much the whole second half,” Coach Kidd said. “We were not playing fast enough. Even if they score, we need to take the ball out and not look around and walk the ball up. We just worked the game, understanding that we weren’t going to get those 16 points in two shots. I thought the group stayed together, worked the game and got it down to seven there at the end of the third. Now it’s anybody’s ballgame. Our zone created some missed shots and some turnovers and then we capitalized on the other end.”

Down seven to start the fourth, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were bringing the Mavs back but Dallas still needed a little something extra and they got it from two of Harrison’s acquisitions of the last 12 months.

The first was Dereck Lively II, the Mavericks’ first 1st round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Ironically, Lively wore an Oklahoma City Thunder hat at first on draft night 2023. And the trade that sent him from OKC to Dallas would not have been possible if the Mavs hadn’t made the late season decision to pack it in for 2022-23, protecting their 2023 first rounder, from conveying to the New York Knicks as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade. Dallas ended up with the 10th pick (Cason Wallace), which they packaged along with Davis Bertans, and sent to Oklahoma City for the 12th pick, which was used on Lively.

Fast forward to Saturday night and Lively was wreaking havoc on Oklahoma City. The rookie was a beast on the glass, grabbing 15 total rebounds, including six in the fourth. He also scored eight of his 12 points in the final frame.

“He did an incredible job of imitating Moses Malone. He grabbed all the rebounds. He gave us second and third opportunities. He competed. And what I love about him is his voice. He’s one that’s going to talk. He’s blocking three point shots. He’s executing the game plan and he’s got to be fun to play with as a teammate because he’s fun to coach,” J-Kidd said. “I thought D-live played incredible for us. It’s easy to say he should start but he’s playing his role for us, and that’s coming off the bench and giving us energy and changing shots and finishing in the paint.”

The other player that played a huge role for the Mavs in Game 6, and all series, was PJ Washington, a midseason trade acquisition from the Charlotte Hornets, who might go down as one of the best midseason trade acquisitions in franchise history. Game 6 didn’t get off to such a hot start for Washington, however, as he got into some early foul trouble. Partially as a result of that foul trouble, Washington was a non-factor through the first three quarters with 0 points after averaging nearly 20 points per game for the series coming into Game 6.

But Washington came alive in the fourth. His three with 4:11 to go finally got the Mavs back even at 105-105. Moments later, Doncic scored to give Dallas their first lead since midway through the second quarter. OKC answered, but a trey by Irving had the Mavs in front two, 110-108 with 3:02 to go. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his phenomenal series with a bucket to even the score.

However, there was Washington again, in the biggest moment, knocking down a triple, to put the Mavericks in front 113-110 with two minutes remaining.

“The beauty of PJ, being around him for this short period of time, is that his character is like no other,” Jason said. “You would’ve thought he had 30 points tonight. He just plays. He never complains. He’s guarding the best player on the other side. There are very few plays run for him. He just does his job at a high level and we’re very fortunate to have him. He didn’t have any points going in there [to the fourth] and he knocked down some big shots.”

Derrick Jones Jr. added a bucket to make it a five-point game but the Thunder wouldn’t go away and scored the next six points to briefly go in front.

With possession and just seconds on the clock, the Mavs put the ball in the hands of their closer Doncic, who penetrated the defense, forcing them to collapse, and kicked to Washington. Gilgeous-Alexander closed quickly and got a piece of the ball, but Washington held it tight and got a shot away as SGA grabbed his arm and a foul was called.

“The maturity and trust for the group was high and different guys stepped up at different points of the series,” Jason said. “Also tonight’s game. It wasn’t Luka or Kai making the game-winner. It was the trust that Luka had. The ball touches the paint, they collapse. He trusted PJ. PJ gets fouled.”

Washington stepped to the line and calmly sank both of the first two free throws to give the Mavs the lead. Then, armed with the knowledge that the Thunder had no timeouts he purposely missed the third free throw and did so in a way that gave OKC almost no time to get a shot off.

“[He] made the free throws and the biggest play, it won’t go down as the biggest play, was to miss the free throw the proper way,” Coach Kidd noted. “Sometimes we’ll say ‘“miss the free throw” and they’ll hit the backboard and [the other team will] get their setup. We didn’t want them to get set up. They had no timeouts. We’ve learned not to run away from the ball. To press the ball. To make the ball go back. We’ve lost games that way. So a lot of things we’ve learned along the way we were able to execute there late game.”

Jason also gave credit to the Thunder and his players and coaches for the performance throughout the series.

“Oklahoma City is an incredible team from top to bottom. Great coach. Great players. Was not an easy series,” he said. “For us, it was a really good series in the sense of staying together. I thought the trust was tested throughout the series. Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, all six games. The coaching staff, they did a phenomenal job of getting these guys ready to play and the players trusted the game plan and executed the game plan and we found a way to win the series.”

Now all that stands between the Mavericks and their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2011, when a Kidd-led crew hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy is one of the hottest teams in the sport, the Minnesota Timberwolves, led by one of the league’s emerging superstars Anthony Edwards.

Asked Saturday, before the Mavs even knew their opponent, about the culture of the Mavs, Coach Kidd beamed about how well prepared his team is for the challenges ahead of them while cautioning that what they’re trying to do is the greatest challenge they’ll ever face.

“We just got out there and play, and play for each other. And that’s what’s going to win a championship. And hopefully at the end here we can hold another trophy. I’ve had the opportunity to do that here. It’s incredible. But it is hard. The hardest thing to do in professional sports is win a championship. Because there’s only one. No one gets a second place trophy or a third place trophy,” he said. “Our culture is what you see. There’s trust. There’s enjoyment. There’s fun. I love this culture. This is a great challenge as a coach. I’ve got great guys that I trust and believe in, win or lose, and that’s the beauty of the Mavs right now.”

The Western Conference Finals begin on Wednesday, May 22 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Tip-off of Game 1 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on TNT.