For the first time since 2011, the Dallas Mavericks are going to the NBA Finals.

Then, Jason Kidd was the point guard — and he led the Mavs to the only title in franchise history.

Now he is the Coach, looking to do it again.

Evermore he is pulling the strings, and the third year head man has the Mavs in position to reclaim their place at the top of the NBA.

On Thursday night, they finished off a grueling run through the West, in which they were never the higher seed in a series, to hoist the Oscar Robertson Western Conference title. They did it with a thorough dismantling of the Timberwolves on their Minnesota home floor in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. The 124-103 final score wasn’t even close to indicative of how lopsided the game was.

Dallas led by 29 at halftime and by more than 30 for most of the third quarter before peeling off the gas just a bit down the stretch on the way to a comfortable conclusion.

The game was all but decided in the first quarter, when Luka Doncic scored 20 points on 8-of-11 from the field, including four threes.

“He was definitely Luka Magic mode,” Jason said. “He took the crowd out of the game right off the bat. He let his teammates know that it’s time that we have to take it up a notch. He sent the invites out and they all came. He was ready to go. As a leader, that’s what you need on the road against a very talented team to let them know that it’s going to be hard tonight and he definitely did that.”

Doncic finished with 36 points, as did Kyrie Irving. It was the third time in the five-game series that both players scored at least 30 points. Not surprisingly, Dallas won all three of those games. Doncic averaged better than 36 points per game for the series and was named Conference Finals MVP. After the game, he sang his coach’s praises.

“[Coach Kidd] has been doing an amazing job, just helping us, me and [Kyrie]. He was in those situations before, as a player, so he understands us,” Luka told Inside the NBA’s Charles Barkley. “The way he leads the game, it’s perfect. We’re really glad we have him.”

For J-Kidd, the 2024 NBA Finals appearance will be his fifth, three as a player, and two now as a coach.

His career began with two Finals losses as a player in New Jersey with the Nets, in his eighth and ninth NBA seasons, in 2002 and 2003. Then came the crowning achievement of his 19-year playing career, during that 2011 championship run in Dallas, when he was a 17-year veteran. His other Finals experience came as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2019-20 season, which concluded in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World, where the Lakers won the 17th championship in franchise history.

A year later, he was tabbed as the 10th head coach in Dallas Mavericks franchise history, replacing Rick Carlisle, who had been his coach for that 2011 championship run.

Jason nearly got the Mavs back to The Finals in his first year as Mavericks head coach. They reached the Western Conference Finals before falling to eventual NBA Champion Golden State.

After rebuilding last year during a season that was tough to swallow in many ways, and retooling at this year’s trade deadline, general manager Nico Harrison, Coach Kidd and the Mavericks front office put all their pieces in place. They have come together this season in a way few outside of their own locker room could have expected. But to hear J-Kidd tell it, there has always been belief there that what this team is now accomplishing was possible.

​​“It doesn’t happen a lot of times . . . go from the lottery to the Finals,” he said. “But we truly believed we had the pieces. Sometimes you take a step back to view what you have, to be able to get [2023 NBA Draft Pick Dereck Lively] in that process. And to be able to sign free agents, [Dante] Exum and [Derrick] Jones and add the pieces of [Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington]. It’s put us in position to be competitive with the best teams in the league. Now does that mean we win every night? No. But we come back to work the next day to get better and look at the mistakes we made. And that group is tight-knit and they truly believe they can win if given the opportunity.”

These Mavs have won 12 of the 17 games they have played this postseason as they head into the Finals, where they will play the Boston Celtics, who have been the best team in the NBA all season.

It will be a tall task, but Dallas has faced those all season, and Coach Jason Kidd now has them four wins away from the ultimate goal.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Thursday, June 6th at Boston’s TD Garden. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on ABC.