The date was June 13, 2006 in Miami, Florida. The Dallas Mavericks were up 2 games to none against the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, looking to close out a relatively easy win in Game 3. The fourth quarter was about half finished, and the Mavs were nursing a sizable lead they had held for virtually the entire game. Neither game 1 nor 2 had been competitive, and the Mavs were toying with their prey in Game 3. At the time, the Mavericks had beaten the Heat six straight times, dating back to the 2004-2005 season and most of those wins had been blow-outs, too. Dallas mayor Laura Miller was busy back at home planning the parade route.
But then something funny happened: the Mavericks suddenly lost the ability to play competently in the playoffs. The floor dropped out from under them, and, to this date, nearly 2 years later, they haven't recovered. The same team that had beaten the two powerhouses of the Western Conference (Phoenix and San Antonio) suddenly couldn't beat anybody in the playoffs. The Heat went onto win Game 3. And then 4, 5, and 6 as well. Instead of a parade in downtown Dallas, Dwayne Wade started his own parade starring himself. To the free throw line.
At the time, I cursed Bennett Salvatore, the referee who called a bogus foul on Wade from half-way across the court at the end of Game 5 (which I attended). But, now I realize the team that I had been rooting for had already left the building. With 7 minutes remaining in Game 3, they checked out and never returned.
The following year, the Mavericks mounted a very impressive mirage during the regular season. They won a staggering 67 games, despite losing the first 4 in a row. Dirk Nowitzki was named MVP, and the city of Dallas was yet again primed for a run at the title. The playoff seeding favored Dallas in a very big way: unlike the previous year, they would only have to beat one of their rivals because Phoenix and San Antonio were on course to face each other in the second round. But the instant the ball dropped and the playoffs began, the strange, lifeless team that lost to Miami the previous year reemerged. Our first-round opponent Golden State had barely even made the playoffs and, after they had dispatched the zombie-Mavs, were hardly challenging to the Utah Jazz in the second round. But, for some inexplicable reason, the Mavericks were unable even to mount token resistance.
Fast forward to today. The Mavericks didn't bother with another 67-win mirage this year. Instead, they half-heartedly sleepwalked through the regular season, promising this time they would finally revert to the fine form they had displayed in the opening rounds of the 2006 playoffs. We Mavericks' fans turned on our televisions to cheer on our 7th-seeded team, hoping beyond hope that the real Mavericks would finally come back to us.
But if the first four games of this current series against the New Orleans Hornets -- a team that we had beaten 21 consecutive times coming into this year; and a team that hadn't won at Dallas since 1998 -- are any indication, the magical run through the 2006 playoffs is all the Mavs are going to give us. With Devin Harris traded away, Jason Kidd getting older by the second, and two first-round draft picks lost to the New Jersey Nets, the window on the Mavs' championship aspirations appears to have shut and sealed itself. Our chances to see Dirk Nowitzki hold the Larry O'Brien trophy over his head are becoming maddeningly slim.
It is truly painful to remember back to June 13, 2006 when that seemed inevitable. I much prefer the Rangers' style of losing. They show their colors early and often, so we fans know to not get our hopes up.
1 comment:
All right so that was heartbreaking a few days ago when I first read it. Now... well it's still heartbreaking. I didn't watch the game tonight because I knew what would happen and I only now looked at the news on the internet.
I guess I'm not really surprised. I've gotten so used to them losing that I wouldn't expect anything different. But this year is just... different. They're going to tear this team apart, as well they should, but that means that Dirk has a small window to win a championship. I don't know if I'm alone in this but I was almost as heartbroken seeing Nash's picture next to Dirk's, saying he'd been eliminated too. I guess they still are like Stockton and Malone in some ways.
I don't find it fun... pretty much at all to watch these Mavericks. And yeah, if I didn't totally love Dirk, I would not be watching. I guess I was completely spoiled by coming in on the 2002-2003 season when everything seemed so promising... but really these Mavericks have no heart. I remember believing Nash, Nowitzki, and Finley would win a championship together just because they were that damn stubborn. I still wonder that. I think the fact that Cuban let Nash go still bothers me more than our loss in 2006. (Guess it could be that I was at camp and missed it, to some extent).
I know I'm completely rambling... it is 2 am... but anyway, that was a great post. Exactly how I feel. It was so much more fun when we were the team that got knocked out of the playoffs because we were too young or something like that. This totally sucks.
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