WARNING: THIS POST IS LONG AND IS ENTIRELY ABOUT NBA BASKETBALL, WITH A STRONG EMPHASIS ON A CERTAIN DALLAS BASED TEAM OWNED BY AN ECCENTRIC BILLIONAIRE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
My Mavs are in the Finals. Do you people realize how long I've been wanting to be able to say that? Right now, all of Dallas-Fort Worth is pretty giddy with the idea that we finally have a championship caliber team again. I guess there were the Stars in the late 90s, but for some reason that doesn't seem to resonate as much. Of course, the gold standard are the Cowboys. They get respect and attention from around these parts like no other team. As a matter of fact, if Bill Parcells were to call a press conference at the same time as Game 1 of the Finals, I would not at all be surprised if that received higher ratings in the Metroplex than the game. And if any of you think that I am at all exaggerating then you really do not understand how fanatical locals are about the Cowboys. Not me though. I support the 'Boys because they're my hometown team but I really couldn't care less about pro football.
Which brings me to a thought that I've been trying to suppress throughout the entire playoffs. But maybe now I can start to just THINK it (nothing more). Anyone who's known me (or read this blog) long enough knows that I am basically a fan of just two sports: NBA basketball and NCAA football. And in each of those sports I have a team that I am fanatical about: Dallas Mavericks (NBA) and the University of Texas Longhorns (NCAA football). The Longhorns won the championship this year and the Mavs are four wins away. How am I supposed to react afterwards (after the celebrating, I mean)? The two teams I root for in the two sports that I'm passionate about will both be champions. Simultaneously. If there is any such thing as a sports' nirvana, that is where I will be if the Mavs win the championship.
Of course, with the Mavs advancing this far, all of a sudden everyone around me is a Mavs fan. Freaking bandwagon jumpers. I actually don't mind them all that much. It's exciting to be associated with a team that has a chance to win it all. I mean even I watched the Stanley Cup the two years that the Stars were there. So I can forgive most people for this. There is an exception though: anyone who has rooted for any other franchise within the past six years. I don't care if it's because your favorite player was there or you just thought Raja Bell was cute (and you know who you are). If you're one of those people but now claim to be a Mavs fan I would like to introduce your backside to the business end of my size 12s. (But even to THAT rule, I can understand certain things. For example, Tayo is from Minnesota and is a T-wolves fan. But more importantly, he is a basketball fan. And like most real basketball fans, the last thing he wanted to see was another Spurs/Pistons Finals. So he was pretty excited when the Mavs bounced San Antonio. Plus, and I say this with as little arrogance as I can, it's pretty hard to be around me and not get caught up in Mavs hysteria). But I also want to tip my hat to my brethren: the Rowdies who have cheered the Mavs since they played in Reunion Arena; since we went through the Roy Tarpley debacle (twice!); since they drafted Randy White over Tim Hardaway; since the Three J's imploded because they each thought they were the best player in the league (and that Toni Braxton wanted them and them only); since Quinn Buckner; since 11-71. This is for US.
Now, on to some business type stuff...
After the Spurs were knocked out, I was pretty certain that the Mavs would make it to the Finals. I wasn't overlooking the Suns (I said from the beginning, Mavs in six) but I just never thought that they had what it took to get past Dallas. I don't see Phoenix as a good team. Let me explain what I mean by that. I think that the Suns have the talent to win it all, especially if Amare Stoudemire can come back close to what he was. I just don't think they are a good team; at least not like I see the Mavericks or Spurs or, heck, even the Clippers as being a good team. Here are the Suns in a nutshell: they have a coach who has a unique offensive philosophy and they have the one player in the league who is best qualified to make this philosphy work. That's about it. The way the Suns win is by out-shooting their opponents. If they start off pretty hot, it's hard to beat them because in order to catch back up their opponents have to speed up the game, which of course falls right into the Mike D'antoni's game plan. But the reason I say that they're not a good team is because they can't win any other way. If you look at any NBA champion over the past 20 years (basically, since I started paying attention) every team that won had to win at least a few ugly games. Phoenix has yet to prove that it can do that. CAN the Suns win a championship with their style? Well, they've reached the conference finals two years in a row so they're not far off. I think that they CAN, but they'd have to make to the Finals and then somehow force their opponent to play at their speed for at least four games. I think it's possible, just not likely.
I also think that Steve Nash is slightly overrated. Is he a bad player? By no means. I was one of his biggest fans when he was here in Dallas. I remember back in 2000 when the Mavs were trying to figure out who to start at the point. My homie Rashad wanted them to start Howard Eisley. I told him that that was ridiculous. Eisley just looked better than he really was because he had played with two Hall of Famers in Utah. I knew then that Nash was a good player (although I never imagined he would become as good as he has). I had seem him play a little and knew that he had a live dribble, that he was a good shooter and that he had a knack for finding the open man. His problem was that during his first stint in Phoenix he had been stuck behind Kevin Johnson, Sam Cassell and Jason Kidd. Then when he finally got a chance to be a starter in Dallas, he got injured. When he was finally healthy and was able to start, he showed everyone what he could do.
That being said, do I think he's two time MVP worthy? Nope. Compare his past two seasons statistically with Jason Kidd's during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons and tell me exactly why Nash has two MVP trophies but Kidd doesn't. Oh, by the way...Kidd led his team to the Finals both of those years, somewhere Nash has never been.
You know how over the past 15 years any player who has the least bit of hang time and made more than one acrobatic layup/dunk has been labeled "The Next Michael Jordan?" Well, over the same period of time every white player over 6'7 with a decent jump shot has been called "The Next Larry Bird." I've seen 'em all: Christian Laettner, Tom Gugliotta, Adam Keefe, Keith Van Horn, Raef LaFrentz, Wally Szczerbiak, Mike Dunleavey Jr, Adam Morrison. And of course, Dirk Nowitski. And here's the crazy thing. Just like Kobe finally got to the point where we started thinking, "You know, it's really not that crazy to think that he's that far off being the next MJ" Dirk has used these playoffs to show that maybe we're not all insane for comparing him to Larry Legend. There are some minor differences, of course. Although he's drastically improved his passing, Dirk is still nowhere near Bird's league. On the flip side, Legend gives up three inches to Diggler. In height, you dirty mofos. On the surface Larry Bird and Dirk Nowitski have just one thing in common, and that is they are both tall white men who can shoot a basketball very well. But Dirk has finally given us another reason to think that the gap is closing.
See, I have this theory that Larry Bird made a deal with God. He said, "God, I want to be a basketball player." And God said, "Ok, Larry. How about this...I will make you 6'9 but you'll have to work for everything else on your own." Larry agreed to it. And then he went out and held up his end of the bargain. Larry Bird was slower than a river running uphill and had a vertical leap that would sometimes allow him to jump onto a sheet of paper. There was no reason to expect him to become a Hall of Fame basketball player. But he had an indominatable will and work ethic. He knew he was better than you because he knew he had worked harder than you. Bird was one of the most famous trash talkers in NBA history because he knew exactly what he could do on the court and whether or not you had any hope of stopping him from doing it. It is this edge that allowed him to become a three time MVP and three time NBA champion. And it is this edge that Dirk has finally added to his game. Dirk Nowitski is the best shooting seven footer ever, and he's been that for years. But this year, thanks to prompting from Avery Johnson, a light bulb finally went off over Dirk's head and he realized that yes, he's better than you and yes, he can prove it. To wit:
*with some people were whispering that Pau Gasol might be better than Dirk, he went out and made sure the Mavs swept the Grizzlies in the first round;
*Dallas had to face the Spurs in the second round. The same San Antonio team that had been the Mavericks nemesis for years, had three championship trophies, and had the one player who kept Dirk from being the best forward in Texas, the Western Conference and, really, the league. So then Dirk goes out and proves that he's in Tim Duncan's class and leads his team to an upset of Duncan's;
*in the conference finals, the Mavs took on Dirk's best friend, former teammate and "two time MVP" Steve Nash. After suffering his worst game of the playoffs in a loss, Dirk came back to have his highest scoring game of the playoffs and led his team to a come from behind win.
And the best thing about all this? Dirk is doing it with a sneer. He's shown it several times during these playoffs: he'll get the ball in the open court, fake a jumper, drive to the hoop, score the basket and draw the And One. Then he'll pull out that goofy looking sneer that is his version of: "I TOLD you I'm better than you."
Think about that for a second. A European player playing with an attitude. That's only happened once before, when the late, great Drazen Petrovic used to score at will for the New Jersey Nets (I really do miss him, he was one of my favorite players to watch). Some people might add Detlef Schrempf to that list, but I eliminate him because he spent four years in an American college before going to the NBA. But Dirk is now a seven footer who can drain a three in your face, take you off the dribble, post up, find an open man when he's doubled AND is now a good offensive rebounder. I've said it before and I'll say it now: Dirk Nowitski is the most complete offensive player in the NBA today.
And now we're about to engage in the battle of American Airlines homes. The Mavericks gets homecourt advantage at the American Airlines Center in Dallas while Miami defends at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. I think that this may end up being one of the most exciting Finals ever. While recent Finals' may have been interesting or even intriguing, I think it's been at least 10 years since one was actually exciting. That was when the Bulls defeated Seattle 4-2. Remember that this was the same Chicago team that had won 72 games in the regular season and was supposed to just dominate in the playoffs. But then they met up with a scrappy SuperSonics team (that had won 64 games, so was no slouch) led by a still-in-his-prime Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp was he was still Shawn Kemp (translation for all you newcomers to the NBA: Shawn Kemp was Amare Stoudemire first, before the drugs and his inability to keep it in his pants destroyed him). Each game was closer than expected, but Chicago's experience, and some guy named Michael Jordan, prevailed in the end. I still remember thinking that, even though his team lost, Kemp should have been named MVP of the Finals.
Anyway, here's my prediction: exciting Finals, Shaq remaining rejuvenated, Dwyane Wade being frustrated early by Adrian Griffin and Josh Howard before realizing that they really can't stop him from getting to the rim, Dirk hitting shots from all over the court and Dallas' depth perservering. Yes, Dallas in 7.
GO MAVS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TITLE TAKEN
Lateef the Truthspeaker; some freestyle he did when he was here a few years ago
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment