What a thrill it was for all of us that make up the MavsTV team to broadcast many of the special moments that were part of Cooper Flagg’s NBA Rookie of the Year season! If you wanna savor the flavor of some fun times, a mix of our favorite MavsTV Cooper highlights are here. Poster dunks, drives and contested jumpers against top defenders, records set, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He did it all and the overall game you see here is a big reason why he won!

RT @LawMurrayTheNU: The New York Knicks are the first team to win all four games of a NBA Finals in the play-by-play era (since 1997) in wh…

Not a surprise but man did Mike Breen call the hell out of that 4th quarter. Think he’s been doing Knicks game for 35 years so there’s obviously emotions there but he called every moment both ways with such tremendous energy. Great work during a fantastic NBA Finals!

Sometimes during races i have to watch stages a day after. Loved seeing Wout Van Aert’s stage win in France yesterday but concerned about his TdF status since he couldn’t start today. My favorite rider in the professional peloton. Hope we see him on the biggest stage next month!

Each of the first four games of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs has been within four points in the final minute of regulation. The last Finals series to begin with four such games was in 1973, when the Knicks faced the Lakers.

Perhaps the only stain on Thursday’s curtain-raiser were FIFA’s newly-mandated “hydration breaks.” When FIFA announced the change, it said the breaks were for “player welfare,” but many fans saw through the spin and assumed the breaks would be used by broadcasters to show commercials. On Thursday, Fox, which holds the English-language U.S. broadcast rights, confirmed those fears. It not only cut away to advertisements; during the second half of Mexico-South Africa, its commercials ran long and caused viewers to miss several seconds of action after play resumed. The blunder sparked an uproar among longtime fans. Read @HenryBushnell’s full 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 for free ⤵️ 🔗 bit.ly/4vI53Y7

This is a great article that includes a story I’ve never heard before. You know as the years pass I focus less publicly and privately on 2011. It was and always will be an indescribably special moment for our organization and community. The memories will always be cherished. But as my longtime partner Harp says to me often “Follow, the beat goes on.” Maybe I’ve just come to believe the best thing in life is be where your feet are as much as you can and don’t look back or ahead too much. But when you hit these milestone anniversaries (10, 15, 20 etc.) it’s healthy to indulge in some reminiscing. For example I have loved @SportsSturm Sturmstack game recaps the last few weeks. And I gotta say this was a great read for reminiscing purposes too!

8/39 FG in 2H, 20.5%...lowest FG% in a half in an NBA Finals game since available data in 1996-97.

Biggest deficit tonight: 29 (81-52 taken 9:40 left 3Q) Biggest playoff comeback ever: 31 pts by Clippers vs Warriors (R1, G2, 2019) Biggest Finals comeback before tonight: 24 by Celtics vs Lakers (G4, 2008) (play by play era of course, since 1996-97) NYK led for 43.8 secs of G4.

As Jack Buck once famously said, "I do not believe what I just saw."

Best VO2 Max on my runs this week that I’ve had since last Sept. Not many dudes my age with a VO2 Max almost as high as their age! I love running (and all exercise for that matter) and what it’s done for me in the last 24 years. It truly changed my life’s trajectory IMHO!

As the long awaited North American 2026 World Cup starts tomorrow, a note about my broadcast work. I’ll be at the Int’l Broadcast Center here in Dallas working on FIFA’s Audio Descriptive Commentary feed for many matches (starting w/ MEX vs RSA and KOR vs CZE tomorrow). A little primer on Audio Descriptive Commentary. It’s a service provided by many clubs in Europe and by FIFA in previous men’s and women’s World Cups for visually impaired individuals to go to games and experience the match atmosphere in person while having special headphone receivers to hear someone provide essentially an elevated version of radio play by play of what is happening. It’s making in-person matches a more inclusive experience for the visually impaired. Well this year FIFA as described in the screenshot below is making the service available on the FIFA ADC app. It’s now something anyone can listen to in-stadium or anywhere else, designed for blind/low-vision users but available to anyone who wants to listen. It’s the first time in this delivery method so it’s quite an endeavor and we’ll see how the first matches go tomorrow from a technical standpoint but a lot of people have worked really hard on it and I have no doubt it will provide the service desired for its intended audience. And there’s no real radio broadcast of these games in the US. Sirius XM and some iHeart stations are simulcasting the TV broadcasts but we’ll be doing as I mentioned a hyper descriptive form of radio PxP so this hopefully is of value to many others. My longtime former FC Dallas colleagues and friends @OwenNewkirk and @ryanfigert are doing many games as well and the great @VJ_Villalba12 and @golalvarado are providing Spanish play by play. Games played in Canada will be handled there by the outstanding @PeteSchaad in English and @MattCullenLive in French. Many don’t know this but my late mother spent the last about 8 years of her life dealing with significant visual impairment (limited vision in one eye, no sight in the other). Needless to say that was a difficult time in her life but not the only one and she fought thru it like the strong person she was until the end. Of course we all want to help people but a service for the visually impaired community will always connect to me in a unique way because of personal experience. So for many reasons this is an exciting and emotionally fulfilling project. Looking forward to it! ⚽️

When we had Adam on Path to the Pick this week, he discussed Burries and the Mavs and connecting the dots which you can see here on the YouTube version approx 16 minutes in. It was a great, honest, insightful and realistic answer (and not just someone trying to hype himself up). youtube.com/watch?v=kByLG9Q8… In the longer version available on the Mavs App (but does require a MavsTV sub). I asked him about Burries age (21 on opening night) and my opinion he has no major weaknesses as a player but that there are perceptions out there with regard to an age-limited ceiling: "I think that is a very fair statement. I would also say there is quite a bit of work and due diligence done here about the prospect's character. People around Brayden rave about who he is as a kid, as a person. I think that's one of the reasons why he would be appealing to pair with Cooper Flagg. When you've got a big time talent like Cooper Flagg you're very careful, not just with the players you put around him but the personalities you put around him in the locker room. Ironically they were almost teammates once before. Because of that age he was widely viewed as a reclass candidate at the end of his junior year in high school and he was linked to Duke. Obviously that didn't come to fruition and he ends up at Arizona. And I think what people may not remember is that he got off to a slow start at Arizona and really struggled to shoot out of the gate. To his credit he stayed the course and there's a lot of really quality intel about how he handled that and about what type of teammate he is and I think those things make him really appealing. As far as the questions about his age and how it limits his ceiling, those are fair, that's a part of the calculus. I think his physical maturity coupled with his age is another part of the calculus. But I do think the general public has a habit of over-indexing kind of these undeveloped bodies and glaring athleticism and equating that to upside. When you look at guys who are stars in the modern NBA, it's not necessarily the Dominique Wilkins of 30 years ago. You're seeing overlaps of skill, feel, and physicality, so I think that's where someone like Brayden Burries upside could get underestimated in public spheres but I doubt that translates to NBA war rooms." Who knows how it will all play out in two weeks. He might not be there and the Mavs may have any number of other things they are looking at it. It's the unknown of Masai and Mike and their first draft with the Mavs. We'll all observing like you with intrigue about how it's going to unfold and we'll find out the reality soon. But if you have access I highly recommend our full interview with Adam. It's a really good convo with some great comments about Mike Schmitz, what might create pivot scenarios for the Mavs and others on draft night, thoughts on Pick 30 etc.

The entirety of our Adam Finkelstein interview is on the Mavs app version of Path to the Pick (gotta have a MavsTV sub). Lots more w/ regard to evaluating Brayden Burries, possible players to consider at 9 if it’s not a guard and other NBA Draft nuggets tv.mavs.com/video/968758

You can now catch Path to the Pick on Mavs YouTube! Join me, @MFollowill, @LesleyMcCaslin, @Dev34Harris and special guest Director of Bball Scouting for @CBSSports @AdamFinkelstein. Great intel on the Mavs and Brayden Burries, plus his latest mock. youtu.be/kByLG9Q8mO8

We asked Adam about his mock drafts connecting the Mavs and Brayden Burries. So he shares what he’s seeing, hearing and the dots he’s connecting plus an evaluation of the player as well on Path to the Pick tonight.

32 quarters of 40 pts by a team in NBA Finals history...a team scoring 40 in a quarter has now lost that game only 4 times. Including New York in the 2Q of G3 tonight, the Lakers 4Q of G2 in 2008, the Warriors 1Q of G6 in 1967, the Celtics 3Q of G5 in 1963.

Highest scoring quarters in NBA Finals since 1985: 49 - CLE, 1Q vs GS in 2017 G4 (the all-time Finals qtr scoring record) 43 - MIL, 2Q at PHX in 2021 G5 (tied for all-time Finals qtr scoring record by road team) 42 - BOS, 4Q vs LAL in 2008 G6 42 - NYK, 2Q vs SA 2026 G3 tonight.

Excited for Path to the Pick to air on Tuesday (6p KFAA, 630p Mavs YT & Mavs App). @TheDanaLarson and I analyze wing or big options at 9. Player profiles w/ Lesley and Devin. And the definite show highlight, a very insightful interview w/ CBS Sports draft expert @AdamFinkelstein!

Man…terrible news. Always enjoyed a chat w/ Stacey before games w/ the Bulls. A good guy who was friendly/outgoing. Loved his work on the telecasts. Condolences to all in the Bulls family & thinking of those who worked closest w/ him, Adam Amin, Chuck Swirsky, Neil Funk & others