Dallas Mavericks: 2002-03 Team To Be Featured In NBA 2K16

We’re nearing the release of yet another NBA 2K game and new classic teams are starting to be released. In most 2K games, the Dallas Mavericks have not been a featured team nor have they been a desirable team to play as. That might change this year as the makers of NBA 2K16 announced that the Mavs would be getting their first classic team in the game.

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The 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks are set to be one of the newest teams in the upcoming game. This was one of the best teams the franchise has ever seen and it’s only fitting that they are honored in NBA 2K16.

For some that don’t know much about the early-2000’s Mavs, let’s take a look at this team and how great it was.

The 2002-03 Mavs featured the peak of the Big 3 of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley. The rest of the roster was filled out by popular names within the franchise such as Nick Van Exel, Raef LaFrentz, Eduardo Najera, Avery Johnson and Shawn Bradley. Many of these names would not be known by today’s casual NBA fan, but in the early-2000s they were major pieces and reasons why this team was as good as it was.

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The Mavs finished with a record of 60-22 that season, which was good enough for third place in the Western Conference. They were coached by Don Nelson, who has the most wins all-time as a coach. After going up 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs, they dropped three straight before eventually putting the Blazers away in Game 7. The second round featured more excitement as the Mavs and Kings went to 7 games. In the end, Dallas’ offense prevailed, yet again.

That season was only the second season in franchise history in which the Mavs made it to the Western Conference Finals (the first was in 1987-88). It just so happened to be against the San Antonio Spurs. This period was when the Dallas/San Antonio rivalry was just building up. Dirk Nowitzki went down with a sprained knee in Game 3 and never played again in the series as the Mavs eventually lost and went down 2-1 in the series.

A few games later, they were down 3-2 and they were close to forcing a Game 7, but Steve Kerr got hot from three and that was the end of the season for the Mavs.

Perhaps the biggest reason why this team is well known has to do with its offense. The 2002-03 Mavs showed the NBA one of the greatest offenses it has ever seen, which came to be true with more teams Steve Nash played on. They averaged 103.0 points per game and scored more total points than any other team in the league that season. They came in second to the Celtics in three-pointers made and had the best free throw percentage in the league at roughly 83 percent. The Mavs could literally do it all on offense that year.

The 2002-03 season saw the Mavs’ key players have some of their best seasons in the NBA. Dirk Nowitzki averaged 25.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Steve Nash averaged 17.7 points and 7.3 assists. Michael Finley averaged 19.3 points and 5.8 rebounds. So as you can see, they provided about 63 points per game for the team, but their chemistry was one of the most amazing parts.

The Mavs’ Big 3 was arguably the Big 3 that influenced teams in the late-2000s to start trying to build their teams with superstars. Though they never won a championship, the 2002-03 Mavs were truly one of the more unbelievable teams in the NBA’s golden age where so many superstars came alive and thrived. It’s by no mistake that fans everywhere will get to use them in NBA 2K16 this season.

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