When the Dallas Mavericks get the ball rolling today in their NBA Finals match-up with the Boston Celtics, the franchise waves the Australian flag like no other.
A win for the Mavs would, for the first time in NBA history, deliver championship rings to three Australian-born teammates: Boomers athletes Dante Exum and Josh Green, and Melbourne-born, Team USA superstar Kyrie Irving.
Owned by billionaire American businessman Mark Cuban, the Mavs squad is typically stacked with international players. The 2023-24 lineup is no different, and is led by the Slovenian sensation Luka Dončić, the Association’s leading scorer this season with a 33.9 ppg average.
The 50-win Mavs also fields Exum, the comeback kid who has exceeded all expectations with his end-to-end play, and the athletic Green, whose regular season balling was at career-high levels.
Seven Australians have won NBA titles (not including 2016 champion Irving, a dual-national): Luc Longley (1996, 1997, 1998), Andrew Gaze (1999), Patty Mills and Aron Baynes (2014), Andrew Bogut (2015) and Matthew Dellavedova (2016), and Jack White (2023), who earned a ring with the Denver Nuggets last season.
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The Mavs vs. Celtics matchup is a dreamy one for neutrals. The 64-win Celtics is a fine-tuned machine that’s stacked with two-way players, and is led by the sweet-shooting forward Jayson Tatum, whose dad Justin is head coach of the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks.
Over time, the Celtics have collected 17 NBA titles, tied for the most in league history with its rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. Their last came in 2008.
The Mavs have just one championship, nabbed in 2011 by Dirk Nowitzki and Co.
The best-of-seven NBA Finals tips off at the TD Garden in Boston. Taking home court advantage in the series, the Celtics would play the seventh game at home, if required.
Stream the game from 10.30am AEST on ESPN, Kayo and NBA.com.
