Greatest non-Finals teams to never win the NBA title this century
8. 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks
After consecutive seasons of 40, 53 and 57 wins, the Dallas Mavericks entered the 2002-03 season primed for a spot among the contenders.
The promising duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash had come into their own the previous year, making their first All-Star Games. They’d make it back-to-back appearances in 2003-04 with Dirk setting career-highs in points, assists and steals per game.
Despite having led Dallas in scoring for three straight years, Michael Finley comfortably settled into a more tertiary role alongside his All-Star teammates. He averaged 19.3 points on 37.0 percent shooting from distance.
Nick Van Exel averaged 12.5 points per game on his way to a fourth-place finish in the Sixth Man of the Year voting.
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All these potent offensive weapons spearheaded the league’s top-ranked offense and its highest-scoring at 103.0 points per game. Along with the eighth-best defense, the Mavs tied for the league-best wins mark with 60.
Unfortunately for them, the other 60-win team resided in their conference and stood in their way of an NBA Finals berth. The San Antonio Spurs met Dallas in the conference finals and took them out in six games.
This was the second straight MVP season for Tim Duncan at the peak of his powers. That’s hard for any team to topple and the Mavericks were the unfortunate victims of that bad timing.