tbl
6/8/2006, 01:34 PM
Pretty good stuff. There's also an interesting stat that kinda blew my mind. I bolded it below...
Go Mavs!!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-finals060606&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Fantastic finish
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
June 6, 2006
Dan Wetzel
Yahoo! Sports Exclusive
I was in New York in April for the NFL draft. While I was there I met with some various people I know who work for big media companies and since the NBA playoffs had just begun to feature night after night thrilling performances (remember LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas?), I invariably shifted talk to the Association, one of my favorite things about spring.
I was ready to marvel. No one else was.
"Unwatchable," said an editor from the national men's magazine. "None of the players even try."
"Remember when the NBA was great?" said a producer from a national cable network. "It's just horrific now."
"Here's what you need to do," said the literary agent, "write a book about how the NBA stinks."
ADVERTISEMENT
I figure that if David Stern one day decides to just off New York Knicks owner James Dolan and brain trust Isiah Thomas and he gets the right jury, he might, just might, skate on justifiable homicide. Because, while the rest of the country has begun waking up to the idea that the NBA is (again) fantastic, in New York, where so many powerbrokers and opinion shapers operate, no one can see past the implosion at Madison Square Garden.
However, the NBA Finals, which are set to begin Thursday between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, should only serve to elevate the memory of a truly memorable spring that featured incredible individual efforts, back-and-forth momentum swinging series, a record number of close and overtime games and at least seven "a star is born" performances.
I hate to say I told you this was possible but, then again, not really.
If you watched the NBA this season, you knew something dramatic was possible. The league is in great shape. Everyone knows this – except, of course, in New York (or Boston or Philadelphia).
If the Mavericks or Heat were the Knicks, this would be hailed as the golden era of the NBA. But to be truly big, you have to be at least something in Manhattan. And don't start with the New Jersey Nets. To the suits of Midtown, the Meadowlands might as well be in Cedar Rapids.
Since Dolan doesn't seem interested in selling the Knicks or realizing that Isiah is the greatest reigning front office buffoon in sports (due to salary cap mismanagement he's made the signing of LeBron as franchise savior impossible), nothing dramatic is going to change.
However, there are signs of life. The action is being followed. There has been plenty of good pub in local newspapers. ESPN's broadcast of Miami-Detroit in Game 5 was the network's most-watched basketball game of all time – college or pro.
And now here come the Finals, which feature two new, likeable teams, plenty of old big names, some budding superstars and the following five irresistible storylines to grip all of America (except bitter fans in the Northeast corridor):
1. Last charge
Pat Riley and Shaquille O'Neal already have a bunch of NBA championships, but they got together to make one last run at a title, with Shaq even guaranteeing it when he signed with the Heat.
There is more than a bit of redemption possible here. Shaq gets to shove it in the Lakers' face by capturing a championship after owner Jerry Buss chose to keep Kobe Bryant over him. Meanwhile, Riley would have his offseason moves – and the circumstances that put him in place as Heat head coach – pay off big time.
2. A Hall of Famer is born
It seems likely that both Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade will one day be enshrined in Springfield, Mass., but one of the two will take a big step toward cementing that status early in his career with a NBA title. These are two dynamic scorers who are capable of taking over the game in countless ways and provide that old-fashioned "wow factor" people missed from the more recent champions, the fundamentally sound Pistons and Spurs.
Both Nowitzki and Wade are capable of hitting for 50. Both will torment defenses, especially in the final minutes. Both want the ball when the lonely moments arrive. These are two elite megastars meeting in the Finals, and that doesn't happen every year.
3. The owner
Usually Dallas owner Mark Cuban is presenting David Stern with checks – payouts for fines levied against him for storming the court, ripping the officials or ranting in his personal blog. Now the Mavs are four victories from Stern presenting Cuban, the most regular guy owner in sports (outside of the Green Bay Packers, who are literally owned by the fans), with the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Cuban has always been fun – a plus for the NBA with his passion, sideshow acts and reactions from the front row. Now he may prove he knows how to build a champion. And, if so, Mark – since we know you are reading this (he reads everything) and it was, after all, Yahoo Inc. that made you a billionaire – can we get an invite to the victory party?
4. The Little General
In his first full season as a NBA head coach, Avery Johnson has pushed all the right buttons and turned in a legendary coaching performance. He changed the Dallas franchise's identity by toughening up the Mavericks, imploring sound defense (enough to slow even the Phoenix Suns), helping Nowitzki rely less on the jump shot and making seemingly every right call for the past month and a half.
The NBA is and always will be a player's league, but Dallas isn't here without its coach.
5. A new champion
Since 1979, only seven franchises have won the NBA title, one of the most amazing stats in sports. The NBA has a strict salary cap and basketball is a game in which one single player can dominate games. Presumably, it would be a wide-open chase to the title, right? Nope.
Since the start of the Reagan Administration, it has been nothing but the Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, Bulls, Rockets and Spurs, with teams such as L.A. and Detroit having more than one run of dominance. Institutional might matters here.
During the same period, Major League Baseball, which supposedly features the least parity, has had 18 different franchises win the World Series (and they even cancelled the 1994 series). The NFL has had 13 franchises win the Super Bowl, the NHL crowning 11 Stanley Cup winners.
Neither Dallas nor Miami have ever won it all, so a new fan base will get to celebrate.
This means we have fresh blood, new hope and big memories from big stars coming. It should be great – a perfect exclamation point to an incredible spring.
It may even be enough for Manhattan to look past the Knicks' carnage and give the NBA its due.
Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Dan is the author of two new books.
Go Mavs!!!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=dw-finals060606&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Fantastic finish
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
June 6, 2006
Dan Wetzel
Yahoo! Sports Exclusive
I was in New York in April for the NFL draft. While I was there I met with some various people I know who work for big media companies and since the NBA playoffs had just begun to feature night after night thrilling performances (remember LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas?), I invariably shifted talk to the Association, one of my favorite things about spring.
I was ready to marvel. No one else was.
"Unwatchable," said an editor from the national men's magazine. "None of the players even try."
"Remember when the NBA was great?" said a producer from a national cable network. "It's just horrific now."
"Here's what you need to do," said the literary agent, "write a book about how the NBA stinks."
ADVERTISEMENT
I figure that if David Stern one day decides to just off New York Knicks owner James Dolan and brain trust Isiah Thomas and he gets the right jury, he might, just might, skate on justifiable homicide. Because, while the rest of the country has begun waking up to the idea that the NBA is (again) fantastic, in New York, where so many powerbrokers and opinion shapers operate, no one can see past the implosion at Madison Square Garden.
However, the NBA Finals, which are set to begin Thursday between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks, should only serve to elevate the memory of a truly memorable spring that featured incredible individual efforts, back-and-forth momentum swinging series, a record number of close and overtime games and at least seven "a star is born" performances.
I hate to say I told you this was possible but, then again, not really.
If you watched the NBA this season, you knew something dramatic was possible. The league is in great shape. Everyone knows this – except, of course, in New York (or Boston or Philadelphia).
If the Mavericks or Heat were the Knicks, this would be hailed as the golden era of the NBA. But to be truly big, you have to be at least something in Manhattan. And don't start with the New Jersey Nets. To the suits of Midtown, the Meadowlands might as well be in Cedar Rapids.
Since Dolan doesn't seem interested in selling the Knicks or realizing that Isiah is the greatest reigning front office buffoon in sports (due to salary cap mismanagement he's made the signing of LeBron as franchise savior impossible), nothing dramatic is going to change.
However, there are signs of life. The action is being followed. There has been plenty of good pub in local newspapers. ESPN's broadcast of Miami-Detroit in Game 5 was the network's most-watched basketball game of all time – college or pro.
And now here come the Finals, which feature two new, likeable teams, plenty of old big names, some budding superstars and the following five irresistible storylines to grip all of America (except bitter fans in the Northeast corridor):
1. Last charge
Pat Riley and Shaquille O'Neal already have a bunch of NBA championships, but they got together to make one last run at a title, with Shaq even guaranteeing it when he signed with the Heat.
There is more than a bit of redemption possible here. Shaq gets to shove it in the Lakers' face by capturing a championship after owner Jerry Buss chose to keep Kobe Bryant over him. Meanwhile, Riley would have his offseason moves – and the circumstances that put him in place as Heat head coach – pay off big time.
2. A Hall of Famer is born
It seems likely that both Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade will one day be enshrined in Springfield, Mass., but one of the two will take a big step toward cementing that status early in his career with a NBA title. These are two dynamic scorers who are capable of taking over the game in countless ways and provide that old-fashioned "wow factor" people missed from the more recent champions, the fundamentally sound Pistons and Spurs.
Both Nowitzki and Wade are capable of hitting for 50. Both will torment defenses, especially in the final minutes. Both want the ball when the lonely moments arrive. These are two elite megastars meeting in the Finals, and that doesn't happen every year.
3. The owner
Usually Dallas owner Mark Cuban is presenting David Stern with checks – payouts for fines levied against him for storming the court, ripping the officials or ranting in his personal blog. Now the Mavs are four victories from Stern presenting Cuban, the most regular guy owner in sports (outside of the Green Bay Packers, who are literally owned by the fans), with the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Cuban has always been fun – a plus for the NBA with his passion, sideshow acts and reactions from the front row. Now he may prove he knows how to build a champion. And, if so, Mark – since we know you are reading this (he reads everything) and it was, after all, Yahoo Inc. that made you a billionaire – can we get an invite to the victory party?
4. The Little General
In his first full season as a NBA head coach, Avery Johnson has pushed all the right buttons and turned in a legendary coaching performance. He changed the Dallas franchise's identity by toughening up the Mavericks, imploring sound defense (enough to slow even the Phoenix Suns), helping Nowitzki rely less on the jump shot and making seemingly every right call for the past month and a half.
The NBA is and always will be a player's league, but Dallas isn't here without its coach.
5. A new champion
Since 1979, only seven franchises have won the NBA title, one of the most amazing stats in sports. The NBA has a strict salary cap and basketball is a game in which one single player can dominate games. Presumably, it would be a wide-open chase to the title, right? Nope.
Since the start of the Reagan Administration, it has been nothing but the Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, Bulls, Rockets and Spurs, with teams such as L.A. and Detroit having more than one run of dominance. Institutional might matters here.
During the same period, Major League Baseball, which supposedly features the least parity, has had 18 different franchises win the World Series (and they even cancelled the 1994 series). The NFL has had 13 franchises win the Super Bowl, the NHL crowning 11 Stanley Cup winners.
Neither Dallas nor Miami have ever won it all, so a new fan base will get to celebrate.
This means we have fresh blood, new hope and big memories from big stars coming. It should be great – a perfect exclamation point to an incredible spring.
It may even be enough for Manhattan to look past the Knicks' carnage and give the NBA its due.
Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Dan is the author of two new books.