Joe Mazulla's dismissive take gives Mavericks extra fuel for a Finals rematch

The Dallas Mavericks' quest to win their second championship came to a halt last season when the Boston Celtics defeated them in the NBA Finals. The series may have ended in five games, but the Mavs were competitive in two of their losses.

Chances are the teams will meet again next year because the Mavs have made some key moves that will likely take them back to the top of the West in the 2025 playoffs. On the other hand, Boston is again the favorite to come out on top of the East.

It will be interesting to see how the rematch would play out if it comes to that.

Mazzulla didn't think the Mavericks were Celtics' toughest opponents

The Mavs should have additional motivation to face Boston after the title squad's coach, Joe Mazzulla, dished out a likely unintentional slight against them.

In an interview with John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal (subscription required), Mazzulla described the Celtics' conference finals matchup versus the Indiana Pacers as "by far the toughest series." That round ended in a sweep, but he thought it could have just as well gone to a Game 7.

Mazzulla brought up a good point as the Pacers nearly stole the first, third, and fourth contests.

He may have forgotten, though, that Dallas also put up a strong, if not stronger, fight. Luka Doncic and company may have been blown out in the bookends of the championship round. However, they had plenty of opportunities to complete comeback wins in their second and third losses.

The Mavs showed in Game 4 how potent they could be if they were firing on all cylinders. Thanks to several stud performers, the team delivered one of the biggest beatdowns in NBA Finals history. Its final lead of 38 points is the third-largest margin ever in the title stage.

It's also worth noting that Dallas held the Celtics to their lowest scoring average in a series in the 2024 playoffs, limiting them to 101.6 points per contest on 43.6 percent shooting.

The series saw Jayson Tatum needing to dig deep in his playmaking bag because the Mavs' defense limited him to a field-goal percentage of 38.8 percent. Jaylen Brown may have secured the Finals MVP, but he also found it difficult to score efficiently.

If only Doncic had enough help and Kyrie Irving hadn't struggled, which he admirably took accountability for recently, the 2024 Finals would have probably ended differently for Mazzulla and his players.