First things first, congratulations to the Mavericks. There isn't an NBA team, other than the Lakers, that I wouldn't have been cheering for against Miami in the Finals, but they quickly became a team worth cheering for. I've been a Jason Kidd fan since his days at Cal, and so it's great to see him get a ring, but it wasn't until this postseason that I developed the proper appreciation for Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks play team basketball, are humble and business-like, and are worthy champions. Sure, they have DeShawn Stevenson, but no team is perfect.
So, I said I had some advice for the Heat. It's probably not really correct to call it advice -- I'm not sure it can be advice, anyway, if they'll never read it. But I'm among the few who isn't surprised that Dallas beat Miami in this series, and, especially amid all the post-Finals chatter from the talking heads, I want to take a minute to explain why.
So much of the discussion surrounding the Heat this season focused on whose team this was. Is it Dwyane Wade's team? Is it LeBron's team? To their credit, there was never any real fighting about it, though there was never a resolution, either. Moreover, they never embraced the idea that it whose team it was is irrelevant when it comes to putting the ball in the hole. A discussion of who a team belongs to is relevant for leadership purposes only. You win basketball games as a team. It's a lot subtler than saying "Wade is selfish" or "LeBron is selfish." To me, the Heat just don't yet "get" what it takes to beat an excellent basketball team in a championship series, the same way Kobe Bryant didn't "get it" until the fourth quarter of Game 7 in the 2010 Finals.
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, particularly the Chicago series, LeBron seemed to take over at the end of games. Then the Finals started, and after Wade turned in two outstanding performances in Games Two and Three, talk started shifting to how Wade was taking over, since he had succeeded in the Finals before.
That mentality, even if it's not motivated by selfishness, is destructive. When everyone one is so focused on who is getting the ball, the guy who gets it has a tendency to keep it. And if Wade has the ball and LeBron is just standing around, or vice versa, then there's no Big Three to speak of. Putting the ball in one guy's hands -- putting the responsibility of winning on one guy's shoulders -- minimizes the impact of his teammates, and when one of those teammates is one of the five best players in the league, that's a serious problem.
I'll never forget an interview that Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen did early in the 2007-2008 season (it may even have been before the season). The ESPN interviewer asked the newly-formed Big Three who would get the ball in a final shot situation. Pierce, the career Celtic, and Garnett, the much ballyhooed new arrival, both answered "Ray." And Allen said, simply, "the open man."
I recognize that the Heat don't have the luxury of turning the keys to the car over to someone like Rajon Rondo, and that the ball necessarily must more often than not be in the hands of James or Wade. And I recognize that early-season injuries to Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller prevented what could have been Miami's most effective five-man unit from ever jelling. But if you watched and listened to the Heat all season, you never would have gotten the impression that "the open man" was an answer James or Wade would ever give.
I'm not going to delve into any specific post-game comments that the Heat players made. But Magic Johnson talked after the game about how the Heat needed to get into the gym over the summer. To me, that misses the point. Miami didn't lose this championship because their stars didn't shoot well enough. Teams have won championships with less than what the Heat have. But it won't be until how they figure out to play together that they'll get their ring. And the first step is a culture shift. Until they truly embrace basketball as a team game, I predict I'll be posting "King Nothing" more or less the same time every year.
***
Hey Doc, where you been?
Nearly two months without a post, which means I missed the entire playoffs. My apologies. I got busy with graduation, and, frankly, I think the Perk trade broke my spirit a bit. I was absolutely convinced, before the Perkins deal, that we were going to win the championship, and I believe in my heart that without the trade, we would've.
I had written, in my head, an end-of-the-season, "this is a dark chapter in Celtics history" post, but it didn't feel right to post it. I considered ceasing this blog altogether, letting its lifespan last as long as Boston's real championship window. But then Doc re-signed, and quitting didn't seem appropriate. But now that I'm studying for the California bar exam, I haven't had a lot of time -- or any time -- to blog.
I don't really know where I'm headed in life at the moment. I'm taking the bar in July, but I don't have a job lined up yet. Assuming I get one, I may very well have to stop blogging, or severely cut back on my game-watching and writing frequency. If I can't find one right away, on the other hand, I may try to create a more comprehensive basketball site and fold this one into that one. And, of course, there's a real chance of a shortened season, or even no season, next year. We'll just have to see.
In the meantime, I'll probably check in with a post or two before and/or after the NBA Draft, since I'm such a sucker for it. Other than that, barring big news, I probably won't update this site, at least not until August, when the bar is over. Thanks for following me this season.
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