DALLAS — While pondering either the greatest NBA Finals game in history or the sloppiest (you really shouldn't be limited to 30 points in a second half after you put up 76 in the first), I was wondering what it was like to be Mitch Johnson at the center of that storm Wednesday night. Everywhere you look, either Larry David or Taylor Swift or Adam Sandler or Spike Lee is jumping for joy, and ...

Head coach Mitch Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs looks on during the first quarter against the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2026, in New York.

Al Bello/Getty Images North America/TNS

DALLAS — While pondering either the greatest NBA Finals game in history or the sloppiest (you really shouldn't be limited to 30 points in a second half after you put up 76 in the first), I was wondering what it was like to be Mitch Johnson at the center of that storm Wednesday night.

Everywhere you look, either Larry David or Taylor Swift or Adam Sandler or Spike Lee is jumping for joy, and you feel like the spotlight has never been brighter or more unforgiving. I think if Gregg Popovich is five years younger, this never happens to the Spurs, but who can say for sure?

It makes me think back to the Mavericks' first NBA Finals. Dallas clearly had the better talent as the regular season record illustrated. The Mavs won the first two games at home by double digits. Parades were discussed, if memory serves. Then the whole thing got away from Dallas and, in particular, from young coach Avery Johnson during a dreadful week in Miami, back when the Finals had the 2-3-2 format.

Yes, Dwyane Wade was really good, and he enjoyed his own parade to the foul line, but the difference in experience between Pat Riley and Avery Johnson in that series was tangible.

It all makes you wonder what the Mavericks are looking for in their next coach which ... by the way, the Mavericks are still looking, correct?

It has been three weeks since new Mavs president Masai Ujiri made the decision (his and his alone, he said) to fire Jason Kidd and enter the world of coaching searches. Kidd was more unpopular than he deserved to be here, so it didn't exactly produce shock waves. Still, three weeks is enough time to find a coach, right? Or at least a list of candidates?

Dallas is one of three teams without a coach as we sit here less than two weeks before the NBA draft. Chicago at least has a list down to a reported four finalists — Tiago Splitter, Micah Nori, Ryan Schmidt and Wes Unseld Jr. Portland has talked with Jeff Van Gundy but seems to be taking its time, possibly because the new owner is more engaged with his other team right now, the Carolina Hurricanes.

That's understandable since they are in the midst of a finals every bit as breathtaking as Knicks-Spurs.

You don't have to have a coach in place for the draft, but it surely helps to make the next guy feel connected to the process. Is that perhaps not what Ujiri is looking for? More and more, this feels like this will be his team and his alone as he likes to say. He was quick to hire Mike Schmitz as his general manager, and that was a good selection based on Schmitz's history as a talent evaluator, especially for the draft. But it's also a 36-year-old getting his first GM job, so he's completely beholden to and unlikely to challenge Ujiri at the top.

As for the coach, he should be involved in what's happening the next three weeks. As Bill Parcells famously said, "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries." The Mavs' next head coach may not be at Parcells' Hall of Fame level any time soon, but this is the most significant draft Dallas is likely to have for the next five years, based on all the picks the franchise has traded.

Not just the ninth pick Dallas secured in the lottery but the last pick of the first round (No. 30) should be a player who can contribute quickly to the rebuild around Cooper Flagg. What if there are trades to make on draft night? What if someone wants to take a flyer on Kyrie Irving?

It's not that Ujiri and Schmitz aren't capable of making these moves. It's just that for most of the time here, the Mavericks have had an authoritative figure at head coach. Over the last 30 years, it has basically been Don Nelson, Avery Johnson, Rick Carlisle and Kidd. All were experienced NBA head coaches before coming here, except Johnson whose intelligence and demeanor made him more prepared than your average assistant.

There's nothing wrong with youth at the top position. Mark Daigneault had no head coaching experience, college or pro, until he got the Oklahoma City job, and he won his first championship ring at age 40. While Wednesday wasn't Mitch Johnson's finest hour, he did push his team past the Thunder in a seventh game at Oklahoma City. Young coaches have won in this league for a long time, it's just that experience can really help in the biggest moments on the brightest stage.

But by the time the Mavs need to worry about how their coach will handle a Madison Square Garden celebrity crowd breathing down his neck, it probably won't be the coach about to be hired.