There's been a lot of talk lately about the Dallas Maverick's and their tear through the regular season.Eric Neel has an article at Page 2 about the Mavericks crazy, good regular season.
He compares their record to those of the great NBA teams, laying the claim, "they're going to belong at the table with the 1996 Bulls, the 1986 Celtics, the 1983 Sixers and the 1972 Lakers as architects of a truly dominant 82-game run."
He then laments the Mavs uninspiring qualities, answering his own question of why they seem to get to little love for their gaudy win total.
Cuban overshadows the, largely, uncharismatic players. When put up against the great Bulls, Celts, Sixers, or Lakers teams that had similar runs, they do fall short at the "IT" factor. Seen next to Nash's fun Sun's, or Detroit rage fueled us-against-the-world mindset, your eye does not follow the Mavs.
Henry Abbott at TrueHoop loves Nowitzki's game, but sees him as "not made for TV."
All of this is true. They have no dynamic personalities, they aren't overly flashy in their play. But I think the biggest problem is that they lost in the Finals last year. The teams they are being compared to all had serious, championship pedigree, and Dallas doesn't have that. Yet. If they were the defending champions, winning the way they have been this season, ESPN would be all over them. In a stocked Western Conference, despite their great play, I'm not sure if they will even make it to the Finals.
Plus, it's March Madness.
4 comments:
Losing two in a row puts them at 11 loses, and means our Bulls record is safe for now.
(That game tonight against the Suns was pretty damn exciting. I hope the world gets to see 7 more games like that between those two teams in the playoffs. The increased hearts rates in Dallas and Phoenix alone could power a small town.)
But no, Dallas doesn't have the pedigree those other teams have.
Perhaps nobody cares about the Mavs because they haven't won anything. All of those other teams have the benefit of retrospective nostalgia all culminating in championship moments. If the Mavs run off three in a row (which I guess is possible) then and only then can they sit at the table with the Bulls, Celtics, and Lakers. Until then they are just a team that had a great regular season. Even talking about how they stack up now is just an exercise in conjecture.
On a related note: Steve Nash (in a Reggie Milleresque performance) scored 11 points in the last 50 seconds to send it to overtime. He started his tear just after Dirk missed a free throw to ice the game, while the Dallas crowd shouted ironic chants of MVP. BRICK! I've never been a true believer of Steve Nash as the MVP of the NBA, but for one game I can admit he proved me so wrong. The best part was Mark Cuban shoving cameras out of his face as he stormed off the court. I wonder if he wishes Nash was still a Mav?
I just read the second part of your blog by the way, which for some reason didn't scroll right on my comp (the html). I also realize you said the exact same thing I did. Well done.
That game tonight was great, just great.
I hope they do meet in the playoffs.
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