This Week In Basketball can only marvel at Dallas' second-half surge for the ages ... and mourn the desperately sad loss of Bill Walton

The backstory behind our untraditional late May dateline is also explained here on a very teary day in the NBA

(Editor’s Note: A full tribute to the legendary Bill Walton, who died Monday at the age of 71 after a battle with cancer, is coming Tuesday. I have posted my regularly scheduled This Week In Basketball column first, albeit with a very heavy heart, since this piece was 90% assembled before we learned the incredibly sad news about The Big Redhead. Not enough can be said about Walton, but I will try to do my part in the Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza and in this chat thread.)

LONDON — The Dallas Mavericks were so far away from where they had hoped to be on Feb. 8, at a middling 28-23, that they felt the need to make two deals on Trade Deadline Day.

Now look.

Not even four months later, with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving meshing like LeBron James and Irving used to and with so many players around them on this totally revamped team snapping into place like perfectly clicking LEGOs, Dallas is just one win away from the NBA Finals.

I'm not sure we've ever seen a midseason renovation like it.