It’s over.
Yeah, the series is at 3-1, but who are we kidding? It’s over.
Another 50+ win season, wasted.
How much longer do we as Mavs fans wait until we say “Enough!”
I’m done waiting and I’m saying it right now.
“Enough!”
Enough of the “we’re a veteran ballclub” B.S. How many times have we heard this the past few seasons, and especially this season? One thing (among many others) I’ve learned over the course of this series is that veteran experience doesn’t count for jack when compared to championship experience. Take a look at the Mavericks roster. Yes, that’s a lot of veteran experience, with all but two players with six or more years in the league. But take a closer look behind those numbers. How many championships are among those years of experience? That’s right, ZERO. Not a ring to be seen on the fingers of any players on the roster. In fact, as a franchise, the Mavericks have only been to the Western Conference Finals twice and the NBA Finals once since beginning their streak of 10 consecutive playoff appearances in 2000-2001.
Meanwhile, the Spurs have won three of their four titles over that same time frame. The constants for those Spurs teams are still on display in this series: Duncan, Parker Ginobili and Popovich. They know what it takes to win a title, as they have displayed three times over the past eight seasons. The Mavericks are still trying to figure it out, ten years later.
Enough with all of the jump shots. If you could point to a big reason why the Mavericks are still looking for their first title despite all of the regular season success of the past decade, look no further than the fact that this team still doesn’t have a dominant big man in the middle, even after ten years. Dirk is great, Hall-of-Fame caliber player, but if you’re asking him to play in the post, you’ve got bigger problems. Please don’t get me started on Erick Dampier, please let me know when he’s gone. Brendan Haywood was acquired in the mid-season trade, looked like the best center in Mavericks history for about a month then fell off a cliff, never to return to that level of play.
Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan have won seven of the last ten NBA championships. Any coincidence that they are also two of the most dominant big men to ever play the game as well? To even give yourself a chance you need a big man you can feed the ball to in crucial moments of big games. Instead, the Mavericks decided to run-and-gun their way to glory, a philosophy that hasn’t changed all that much over the course of ten years, despite falling short of a title year after year. I’m tired of this team being “what it is.” I want to see this team become a serious contender to win a title, which will not happen if the offensive philosophy doesn’t change.
Enough with keeping the core guys here. This is the hardest thing for me to say, but it’s time for Mark Cuban to take a long, hard look at things and consider blowing it all up. It’s becoming more and more obvious with each passing season that this team is built to win in the regular season and not in the playoffs. Sunday’s Game 4 was an excellent example of this, as the Mavericks built an 11 point lead at the half, then were promptly outscored by 18 in the 3rd quarter, only scoring 11 points in those 12 minutes. During that frustrating stretch, the soon-to-be-patented Maverick loss of composure we all come to expect at some point of a highly contested game reared its ugly head as they went about 7 minutes without scoring, giving up a 14 point lead in the process. Along the way, several Mavs players lost their cool, including Dirk who picked up a technical foul and ended less than a minute into the 4th quarter when Eduardo Najera picked up a Flagrant-2 on Ginobili and was ejected.
If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed and, dare I say has actually gotten worse over the years, is how easily this team falls apart when they are expected to do big things. It’s like a virus that infects the whole club when the spotlight shines on them. About the only way to change that is to completely overhaul the roster and get some fresh bodies in here. Since the possibility of that happening is less than zero, let’s hope the guys that are here next season take a good, long look in the mirror come playoff time and decide how serious they are about bringing a title to the Metroplex.
There’s so much more I want to go off about:
- Meaningless 50 win seasons.
- Inconsistency on defense.
- Coaching philosophy.
- So much more.
But I’m going to stop for now. Need to save something for when the Spurs make it official.
If this rant didn’t make any sense, that’s why it’s called a rant. It was in the heat of the moment. If you want to discuss further, leave a comment below or hit me up at anthony at dallasprosports.com.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I couldn't bring myself to watch game 5, even though I expected them to win. Contact me after the series with the Spurs is over and I'll let you know if I'm still interested in the Mavericks.