I haven’t written about sports in a while on this blog, mostly because there have been other things on my mind, partly because I try not to think about the Cubs too much. Today however I can’t ignore the end of the 2010-2011 NBA season, which happened last night when the Dallas Mavericks raised the trophy. It was an exciting end to a season that took my love of the game to a whole new level. It was simply the best season I can remember.
Back in October, I decided to spring for the NBA’s online package so I could catch the Chicago Bulls games. I had a feeling the Bulls, built around its core of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, would be a force this season. I liked the off-season signings and looked forward to seeing how things developed. Meanwhile, the buzz was all about LeBron James and Chris Bosh leaving Cleveland and Toronto respectively to join the Miami Heat. Everyone seemed to hate the Heat for these moves, although I’m really not sure why (after all, in baseball Cliff Lee joined an already-loaded Phillies staff in the offseason and received almost no criticism whatsoever), I guess it was because people were under the impression James was leaving his hometown. He wasn’t, by the way. James isn’t from Cleveland, he’s from Akron. There is a big difference. Still, the NBA had its biggest villains since the Detroit Bad Boys teams. Boston and Orlando also seemed strong in the East, while the West looked like a showdown was looming between the Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs and the up and coming Thunder.
I bought the NBA package so I could watch the Bulls games online, but as the season progressed some wonderful things started happening. There were more really good teams and usual. It wasn’t long before you realized there were a full eight teams, four in each conference, that had an honest shot at winning the title without it being termed an huge upset. Eight teams that were legit contenders? That’s rare in any professional sport, yet that’s what was happening. The matchups were tremendous. Any combination of Boston, Orlando, Chicago, Miami, L.A., San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Dallas was exciting, and it seemed there was a game among them every night to watch. Atlanta and Memphis were scrappy and fun to watch too, and even the trainwreck that was the New York Knicks piqued the fans’ interest. Denver traded away its biggest star and got better, making a late-season run. In Utah the longest-tenured coach in American pro sports quit and the team jettisoned its star guard, shockingly bottoming out after almost two decades of being in the mix. Phil Jackson, winner of more championships than anyone else, suffered his first playoff sweep in his retirement season.
Even bad teams were intriguing. Blake Griffin’s dunks became youtube sensations and Stephon Curry’s shooting for the Warriors lit up highlight reels, while Kevin Love became a rebounding force not seen in years in Minnesota. We entered an absolute golden age of point guards. Rose (eventually the league’s MVP), Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, John Wall and Russell Westbrook were all young players who could take the ball upcourt and make things happen, making the NBA a wide-open game the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years. I believe there are more good young players in the league now than at any time in the past.
Plus, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, the elder statesmen of the league’s point guards still showed moments of brilliance. Even Manu Ginobili took the Spurs from a low post grinding team to a perimeter-shooting bomb squad and won the West. It was fascinating all year long. The fans recognized it too as ratings were up nearly 30% on ABC, with ESPN and TNT showing double-digit increases as well, even when Miami wasn’t on the bill.
The Heat had its ups and downs, but when they were good, they were amazing. They were athletic, fast, yet still tough on defense. They got past Boston and Chicago to get to the Finals, and there they met the Mavericks, who had come out of a wild Western Conference playoff picture where the Memphis Grizzlies of all teams almost managed to upset everyone’s apple cart.
It led to a Finals series in which game after game came down to the final minutes, with more than one coming to the very last shot. Dallas was deeper, Miami more athletic but top heavy. After the big three, there wasn’t that much there. The defensive toughness that stopped the Celtics and confused Rose and the Bulls fought hard but had no answer for the brilliant Dirk Nowitzki, who solidified his spot as one of the 25 greatest players in league history. The Mavericks even countered Miami’s toughness. The one knock against Dallas had been that they were soft. But in a terrific move the Mavs dumped the albatross of Erick Dampier for Tyson Chandler, a huge center willing to do the dirty work and do it with a flat-out mean streak. Chandler took Miami out of its game, making slashers like Dwyane Wade and James think twice about going to the basket (not that they never did, but they were careful when Chandler was in) and keeping Bash outside where he did less damage. The main difference was that Bosh will never be a member of the Charles Oakley All-Tough-Guy team, while right now Chandler might be the team’s captain.
Combine that with James’ reluctance to step up and deliver in the Finals (he seemed to defer to Wade despite him crushing Boston and Chicago earlier in the playoffs) and the Mavericks began to chip away and the Heat’s confidence. By the end of game six, it was gone. The key possession came with four minutes to go. Wade had the ball and drove inside, where he ran into Chandler. He passed outside where his teammates took turns swinging it around the perimeter, passing up open shots before Wade got it back and sent it to Mario Chalmers in the lane. Chalmers dribbled, jumped in the air, and passed up another open shot to dump it off to Bosh under the basket, where it was picked off by Dallas for a turnover. Almost every member of Miami shied away from the big moment. Dallas smelled the blood in the water and finished the Heat off with good shooting down the stretch.
A combination of lack of depth and lack of guts in the Finals doomed Miami, where people will now spend months making fun of their pre-season "Big Three Party," which now smacks of pure hubris. As Wade, Bosh and James wandered stunned off their home court in defeat, the Mavericks celebrated their first championship. So many members of the Mavs had been to the Finals and lost, and the postgame celebration showed they knew just how important the moment was.
Speaking of moments, it gave us one more, one every NBA fan was curious about, as David Stern was forced to congratulate his very own problem child, Dallas owner Mark Cuban. The usually bombastic Cuban was uncharacteristically quiet, brushing off a postgame interview and pushing the spotlight back to his players. He even had Stern give the Larry O’Brien trophy to the team’s original founder.
The NBA had delivered some of its highest quality basketball in decades, and it started from opening night (Boston defeating the Heat in a playoff-type atmosphere) all the way through a thrilling regular season and playoffs. There were main plots, subplots, surprises, great coaching, falls of old contenders, the rise of new one and a talent level that may be the best in league history.
Sadly, the momentum may not carry over into next year. Like the NFL, the league is headed for labor strife in the form of an impending lockout, and it could be a long one. I’m hoping they work it out, although I think there’s a far greater chance of a shortened or missed season for the NBA than for the NFL, but that’s another post. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the teams will be ready to take the court for another amazing run in the fall.
For now, I just want to be grateful to the NBA for renewing my love of basketball, and for a season I’ll never forget.
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