The NBA postseason is long. It’s pretty much another season on the end of the regular season. However, this year’s NBA playoffs and finals have reeled off a series of captivating, and sometimes improbable, events that have made it the most compelling playoffs for a generation.
Because lists are fun, here are 21 things I’ll take away from, and always remember about, this NBA season:
1). The Memphis Grizzlies were the eighth seed in the Western Conference. They thoroughly outplayed and beat the San Antonio Spurs (the team with the best regular season record in the league) by playing a similar style to the 2005 championship Spurs.
2). Brandon Roy provided one of the most unbelievable and heart-warming quarters of basketball in Game 4 of their first round match-up against Dallas.
3). Derrick Rose revealed himself to be one of most humble and genuinely down-to-earth superstars since… since… well, forever!
4). You can always count on Chris Paul (provided he is fit).
5). You can’t always count on Pau Gasol. Especially when there are women involved.
6). Kobe Bryant is on the downward slide of his career. It’s sad, but true.
7). The Lakers went down like chumps. The Bynum clothesline on JJ Barea was the biggest cheap shot since Mike Tyson saw Evander Holyfield’s ear and thought, “Dinnertime!”. It was a sad end to the coaching career of the great Phil Jackson. Jackson definitely had a look of, “I knew I should have retired after last season” during the final quarter of their Game 4 against the Mavericks.
8). That Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will either become the most electrifying duo in NBA history or implode in a Garnett-Marbury style bust-up… or kill each other.
9). After dislocating his elbow, Rajon Rondo had to play with one arm and still outplayed Mike Bibby and Mario Chalmers.
10). LeBron James remembered how to score and perform in the clutch… and then forgot again.
11). Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, one of the most controversial and outspoken owners the NBA has ever had, stopped talking to the media… and people started liking him because of it.
12). A German became the most beloved player on “America’s team”.
13). I (may) have fallen in love with Dirk.
14). JJ Barea always looks worried. What is he worried about? Is he wondering where his smoking hot girlfriend is all of the time?
15). Dwyane Wade clearly became the Heat’s main man.
16). LeBron James is simultaneously the most unfairly criticised and fairly criticised person in sports.
17). The finals were absolutely engrossing from start to finish. The games were close (close games make good games) and the sub-plots, like cough-gate, fueled the drama.
18). 2.64 seconds after the buzzer sounded to end Game 6 of the finals I started to feel sorry for LeBron… 0.01 seconds later I stopped feeling sorry for him when I remembered ‘The Welcome Party’, which was like a couple having a wedding reception 11 months before they say “I do” and exchange rings.
19). Good triumphed over evil.
20). Mark Cuban slapped NBA Commissioner David Stern across the face upon accepting the championship trophy.
21). At the end of the season LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh walked out on their contracts with the Miami Heat in order to start their own team in the newly formed CIBA (Cayman Islands Basketball Association). The team is to be called the Botabano Stingrays. Joining them in their quest for a CIBA ring will be their buddies Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Karl Malone, Chris Webber and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (for salary cap reasons – plus he follows LeBron anywhere).
Okay, so maybe only 19 of those are true. I’ll let you decide which ones are false. I’m sure Kobe fans will be choosing number six.
All of this leads to crowning the Dallas Mavericks the 2010-11 NBA champions.
In many ways Dallas are the most deserving champions in several years. A veteran team that truly embraced being a “team”. They have worked hard (Dirk Nowitski’s shooting practices could easily be part of a German army boot camp) and they certainly haven’t taken shortcuts.
The fact that the Mavs became “America’s team” and defeated the evil Heat makes them all the more well received.
However, the real evil for NBA is now the cloud of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations hanging over this summer.
Despite the most watched and talked about seasons in years, all the momentum for the league will be lost if a swift agreement between the league, owners and players cannot be reached. A lockout is on the cards and that could mean losing games and possibly, in the worst case, a whole season.
If an agreement is reached and the Heat’s ‘Big Three’ stay together, then my money would be on Miami going on a frightening “everyone is against us” tear through the 2011-12 NBA season a la the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. 70 wins wouldn’t be out of the question.
Whether El Heat can win the title will depend on whether they can shake the demons of these playoffs.
But for now, let’s bask in a great season with deserved champions. Congratulations to Dirk, Kidd, Terry, Carlise, Cuban and the whole Mavericks organisation; the Good Guys.
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Ridiculous yet again from the Mavericks star!
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