What Mavericks Need to Learn Moving Forward

Here is what the Mavericks need to learn moving forward from their NBA Finals loss to the Celtics. They need to be tougher. They need to be in better shape. They need to improve their supporting cast.

Monday night the Celtics closed out the Mavericks in 5 games. This was not a close series. The gap between the champion Celtics and Mavs was not even close. The entire series seemed to be a five-on-two contest between the two teams. Anybody on the floor for the Celtics was capable of carrying their team. For the Mavs it was just Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving and they clearly could not carry the load by themselves.

Throughout the series I thought the Celtics were the tougher team. Celtics players like MVP Jaylen Brown were tough as nails. Mavs players like Luka Doncic seemed to avoid contact at times.

Speaking of Luka, I am not alone in saying this. He has to get in elite shape. He probably needs to drop about 15 pounds. In fairness, he played this series on a bad knee and by the end of the series he looked worn down.

And finally, the Mavs need a stronger supporting cast. When you only have two star players going against a Celtics team full of elite defenders who you become easy to defend. The Mavs need a big offseason in order to compete at a higher level next season. But that will be a tall task. The Mavericks do not have a first round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. In fact, they do not have a pick until the 58th and final pick of the draft. Yikes. So they will have to work some free agency magic.

These are just a few things the Mavericks need to learn moving forward. For more reaction to the NBA Finals tune into Craig Shemon and Company each weekday from 2-6 on ESPN Southwest Florida.

Rory McIlroy has undoubtedly been one of the most successful players in all of professional golf, for quite some time. There's no arguing that. But what happened to him Sunday at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst was just the latest in a string of heartbreaking losses.

We'll get to those heartbreaking moments in a minute, but first, it's important to note just how successful Rory McIlroy has been. Here's a look at some of his notable accomplishments:

You could honestly keep going on that list for quite a while. But you get the idea.

And before we get to what happened with McIlroy, it's important to give the 2024 champion Bryson DeChambeau a lot of credit here. His miraculous save from near-certain disaster on 18 clinched the win. Yes, he needed some help down the stretch to even be in that position, but it still takes a lot to win the U.S. Open, and he did it.

McIlroy has been close a lot lately. He had a chance to win the U.S. Open in 2023, but ultimately ended one shot back of Wyndham Clark. In 2022, he was tied for the lead going into the final round of the British Open, before falling to third. He also finished second in the 2022 Masters, but Scottie Scheffler wasn't going to be caught there.

Eleven times in his career, McIlroy has finished as a runner-up in a tournament. Another 11 times, he's finished third. He's had a whopping 78 top-5 finishes, and 123 top 10s! Yes, in 252 events, he's finished in the top 10 123 times.

But like we said, Sunday's DeChambeau win doesn't happen without some help. And Rory gave him a lot of that. There were a lot of moments that could have made a difference during the tournament, but there were five in particular that stood out on Sunday. So we're going to take a look here at the four moments that ultimately cost Rory McIlroy the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

The par-5 fifth hole was a nearly must-birdie hole on Sunday, as it was the most likely place to have that happen. And a beautiful drive from McIlroy set up an incredible second shot that could have set him up for an eagle putt.

Instead, disaster struck. The second shot eeked along the edge of a steep drop on the green, and never made it quite over the hump. It rolled all the way back off, into a terrible lie on the native rough.

Still, from there an up-and-down would leave a birdie putt. But an up-and-down from that lie wasn't going to happen. The third shot skipped across the top of the bunker but rolled right back into it.

A clunky pitch out of the bunker led to a barely missed par putt and a bogey. It was so close to being a shot at an eagle, and instead, it was a stroke lost.

After birdies on 9, 10, 12 and 13, suddenly Rory was in the mix in a big way, leading by two. That's when one of the trickiest par 3s in the world struck.

McIlroy picked the wrong club, and clunked his tee shot over the green. His second shot was fast and left a long putt for par. It didn't fall, and his two-shot lead was down to one.

McIlory was able to regain his composure on the tee on 16. He drove perfectly into the fairway, and his second shot left him in a good position to at least two-putt for par.

That's when the unthinkable happened. An unthinkable 496 times before the 16th hole, Rory McIlroy had made every putt inside of 3 feet this year. But from 2 feet, 6 inches away, McIlroy missed and suddenly the tournament was tied again.

As if the unthinkable miss on 16 wasn't bad enough, then came 18.

McIlroy started with a drive into the native rough, which left him a difficult second shot. He did manage to save fairly decently into the area in front of the green.

An up-and-down from there would leave him with a par and a one-shot lead with DeChambeau playing the 18th. And Rory stuck the landing with his approach, leaving him just under 4 feet for par.

It's important to note that this wasn't just a random putt from 4 feet. There's a dramatic slope on the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2, and after an exhausting 72 holes, it takes everything in you to read that and make it. Most of us reading this would be 50-50 at BEST on that putt.

Unfortunately for McIlroy, it was a miss, a bogey, and it left the door open for DeChambeau to have his hero moment on 18. Which he took.