The greatest week in NBA history?

Wow.  Just wow.

You could make the claim just for the games alone, which for the most part have been spectacular.  We're definitely at a point now where we can say that this is the greatest first round of the playoffs in NBA history - Five of eight series going to seven games, and one going to six that was just as dramatic as those five.  Close games, overtime games, games with controversial calls, games with amazing performances and games with head-scratching performances - this round has had it all, and now the only worry is whether the rest of the playoffs can possibly match it.

Oh, and then there was that little thing that Adam Silver did the other day - banning Donald Sterling for life.  He may, as Jimmy Fallon pointed out last night, look like the guy from "American Gothic" come to life, but with his decision this week, Adam Silver has cemented his position in sports history, after just a few weeks on the job.  If he isn't Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, then the magazine needs to really take a long and hard look at what that award is all about.

And yes, the afterglow of Silver's decision (and the decisive nature by which it was delivered) will dim with time, as people recognize that no, this in and of itself will not end racism in the NBA, and in fact could lead to a lengthy legal battle that lasts until well after Sterling has died.  Let's face it - we don't really know yet that Silver had any legal basis for what he did, although one can assume that the NBA legal staff spent a few hundred hours combing every nook and cranny of the NBA constitution and bylaws to ensure at the very least that they weren't standing on legal quicksand.  And yes, appearing in today's Sacramento Bee was an op-ed claiming that the "thought police" have won again, that Sterling had every right to hold whatever abhorrent beliefs he saw fit and still own (and make billions from) an NBA team.  And there is the very real issue of privacy, and whether we are all at risk of having our private comments thrown into the public domain because of the ability of today's technology to do just that.

But let's set those things aside for the moment.  What Adam Silver did this week was take a moral stand - he did what had to be done; he did what was right.  25 years ago, Greil Marcus wrote that a riot in San Francisco, lawless and dangerous as it was, was the only proper response on the night after Dan White was excused of his crimes.  This week, Adam Silver may not have had the legal basis to make the decision that he did.  But it was the only proper response, and for that he should be lauded.  He should be thanked.

What Happens to the Clippers Now?

Right about now, Adam Silver has got to be wondering what he did to deserve this.  The NBA is in the midst of the greatest 1st round of playoff games in its history, and what could possibly turn out to be the single greatest round of playoffs of all time.  And then Donald Sterling has to go and drop a stink bomb on the whole thing.

One can make a strong argument that the NBA deserves it, for allowing Sterling to stink up the joint for upwards of three decades now.  I don't need to repeat what has been written in numerous other places, but you've got to wonder what was going through David Stern's head when he nixed the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers a couple of years back, which paved the road for Paul's trade to the Clippers.  Which turned the Clippers around, which paved the road for Doc Rivers to join the Clippers, which turned the Clippers into, for the first time in their history, a legitimate title contender.  And it's not as if Sterling was turning over a new leaf while all this was going on.

And if this first round has proven anything, it's that everyone (well, not Charlotte, and probably not Chicago) has at least a dreamer's chance to grab the trophy this year.

So what happens now?  Obviously, Sterling has to go.  But does the NBA have the ability to force him out?  That seems like a debatable and open question.  But for all intents and purposes, the Clippers ceased to be a viable entity the moment that the Sterling tape hit the airwaves.  The sponsors are bailing, the players are protesting (in their own way; I thought what they did yesterday with the inside-out warmup jerseys was simple and effective), the legends (both current and former) are calling for immediate action, and the President of the United States has weighed in.  One way or another, the Donald Sterling era is about to come to an end.

It'll be interesting to see what the NBA lawyers can come up with (and just why is the NBA constitution confidential, anyway?) in the way of leverage, but whatever it is it's not likely, in and of itself, to force Sterling out.  But come on - who is going to want to ever play for that team again under the current circumstances?  It'll be a minor miracle if this current Clippers team - the same Clippers team that blew out the Warriors by FORTY points the night before the tape hit the media, if you were paying attention - can suck it up and stay competitive in this round.  I know they want a title and that's the whole point of playing the game and what they've dedicated their lives to, but come on - this is a distraction unlike any other they've ever faced, or will ever face again.  It's not every day that your employer says something that makes it very clear that he views you as an inferior part of the human race.  I'd find that a little hard to overcome.

So will Magic prevail?  The Lakers legend owning the Clippers?  That would be entertaining, but I guess I have to ask out loud whether L.A. really needs two NBA teams.  I bet right now there are a lot of folks who would be very interested in seeing the Seattle Clippers set up shop.

What a disaster.  Here's hoping that Sterling just goes away.  Soon.

Long live the Kings

 

Last weekend, Pops Racer and I attended our first Kings game in almost two years, and it was like old times - mostly because they played about as poorly as they did in the final few years of the [Family Name That Shall Not Be Mentioned] era.

It was their second game in the span of 24 hours against Portland, which is always a tough gig.  But then again, Portland faced the same challenge, and certainly looked fresher and better organized on the court than the men in purple and black.

I absolutely agree that building the team around DeMarcus Cousins was the right move, but he still does a lot of dumb things on the court.  In the first five minutes of the game, he picked up a stupid loose ball foul, and then a second foul by moving into the lane at the last second on a shot that he had absolutely no chance of impacting, much less blocking.  Bam, bench time.  Grab some pine, meat!

All of which is to say that it will be a long road back, and from the early returns, a return to respectability is the absolute best we can hope for this year.

But on a bright note, we did see a fan make the half-court shot to win a car...only the second time we've seen that, and we've been to close to 200 games.

Instant Classic

But do you know what this feels like? To see one of your idols succeed at the expense of another? To see a team that deserved it so much lose to another that deserved it just as much? To see both teams go from miles ahead to inches ahead to, ultimately, just enough to cross the finish line? Somebody has to lose. And, somehow, that is why we all win.

- Patricia Lee, Grantland

And that pretty much says it all.  There is nothing more exciting than watching two elite teams play at the top of their respective games for a championship trophy.  And even though each individual game was not a classic, the series definitely was.  It's probably too early to opine on where the 2013 NBA Finals stands in the pantheon of great NBA series (the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Kings and Lakers is tough to top for sheer drama), but there's no question it was one of the best of my lifetime.  Off the top of my head, the only one that comes to mind as a competitor for the crown is the 1984 classic between the Lakers and the Celtics.

What the 1984 and 2013 series have in common is that they both felt like a classic heavyweight fight - two great champions beating the living daylights out of each other in the center of the ring, with neither being able to sustain momentum for very long.  I've watched the Thrilla in Manila (the third Ali-Frazier fight, for those not steeped in sports history) many times on YouTube, and there is a classic moment early in that fight that tells the entire story.  Ali has come out blazing, clearly thinking that he needs to get this thing over with and get the hell out of Dodge before the oppressive heat and Mr. Frazier expose the fact that most of his skills have eroded to the point where he is barely recognizable from the unbeatable legend sent into exile 8 years earlier.  And he is absolutely pummeling Frazier, and Frazier is doing nothing in return.  Until a moment at the end of the third round, when Frazier uncorks one of his patented left hooks right onto Ali's chin, making Ali step back with the pain, and suddenly you see a look on Ali's face that says "oh my God, this guy isn't going away."  And thus ensued what remains to this day perhaps the most savage beating that two boxers have ever inflicted on each other - in all likelihood, changing the trajectories of both lives.

The players on Miami and San Antonio probably feel the same way this morning.  After that fight in Manila, Ali was heard to say that the experience was "the closest thing to dying that I can think of."  One can only imagine what must be going through the heads of Tim Duncan - who has made that little hook shot a million times, except last night it wouldn't go down in the desperate closing moments - and Manu Ginobli, whose flashes of typical brilliance were, in the end, washed away by horrible shots and horrible lapses in judgment that led to turnovers.  And yet, there was Ginobli near the end, still shooting when others like Danny Green appeared to be scared to even touch the ball, dropping a rainbow three that was like a spear through the hearts of the Miami fans.

One thing I can say with certainty is that those last two games were absolute classics.  In past years, I've rooted against the Spurs in the Finals, for no particular reason except that they were the prohibitive favorite.  I've never rooted for this version of the Heat, although I've come to terms with what Lebron did and have the utmost respect for him, as well as guys like Shane Battier, Eric Spoelstra, and Pat Riley.  So it's not as if I had any real stake in the outcome.  But watching those two games was excruciating in the same way that watching the Giants in the World Series and the 49ers in the Super Bowl was excruciating.  There was never time to even take a breath - those two games were never over, not until the final buzzer sounded.  Body blow followed by body blow - two of the greatest players of my lifetime, along with at least four other future Hall of Famers, spiced up with a dash of young studs like Kawhi Leonard (talk about poise) and old geezers like Battier, somehow pulling a performance for the ages out of his hat when, unless I missed something, he hadn't contributed a single thing to the Heat effort in Games 1 through 6.

The two best teams.  The two best coaches.  Two of the greatest players.  Wonderful competition.  It really doesn't get much better than that.  And if you asked them today, they'd probably be open to making it a Best of 11...or 13.  The only thing that would stop them in the end would be their bodies.

Sacramento Horror Story

I have no idea whether David Stern's mother is still alive, but I have a feeling he spent at least part of his Mother's Day wondering what he ever did in his life to deserve the Maloof family.  I get that what Stern is doing in his efforts to keep the Kings in Sacramento is probably against most (if not all) of the precepts of business, but in my book he deserves credit for recognizing that franchise hopping destroys the soul of professional sports.  And yeah, maybe Sacramento didn't deserve its team either.  I don't remember shedding a lot of tears on behalf of Kansas City fans at the time the Kings moved out here. 

I have no idea what will happen in the next few days, and there's a small part of me that just wishes they'd leave and let Sacramento figure out some other way to redevelop the shameful stretch of K Street that would be transformed if a new arena was built downtown.  But damn it, if they do end up leaving, I hope every sports site and pundit across the country recognizes that what is happening here is wrong.  They won't write books about the Kings because we're not Brooklyn and have never had a group of players to match the boys of summer (but then again, no one ever has), but if we do lose the Kings it will be just as much an injustice as when the O'Malleys stabbed Brooklyn in the back and took their team to Chavez Ravine (not right away, but close enough).

And at least the O'Malley family knew how to run a business, turning the L.A. Dodgers into one of the most successful and lucrative franchises in the history of professional sports (strong enough to survive Frank McCourt, baseball's version of the Maloofs).  But the Maloofs?  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but based on the evidence at hand I'd have to say that the Maloof boys (and they are boys, never having matured into men) have run every golden egg they've ever been handed straight into the ground.  I'm not sure if "evil" fits, because to call someone evil makes an assumption that the subject at hand at least has some sense of what he/she is doing.  These guys are like the worst frat guys you could possibly imagine.  Living on mommy and daddy's money, partying like it was going out of style, flaunting their wealth in the most distasteful ways one could imagine.

What did Sacramento do to deserve this?  Oh, we supported a horrible team for years, leading the league in consecutive sellouts during an era when approaching .500 was considered a successful season.  The entire world (well, maybe not L.A.) fell in love with the great Kings team of the early aughts, and then the Maloofs embarked on their little family project to see how just how successful an enterprise they could turn into garbage.  And now that they've gouged the town and the fans for everything they had, they can't resist taking one last jab at the city, because to accept the bid would mean that...hey, get this...they might actually have to go out and work for a living.  You know, like the rest of us do, except we're not paid millions and we're actually held accountable for our performance.

If the NBA Board of Governors or whatever highfalutin name the billionaires who run the league call themselves agree to ship the team off to Seattle, then it will be a dark day for professional sports.  Because the almighty dollar is what it's all about, I'm prepared for the worst.  But I can't help but think that there's an owner or two out there thinking to themselves right now, "I get what these guys are trying to do, but let's face it - they're just a bunch of dicks, and we don't owe them a damn thing."

Game 6

I can't remember another year when both Conference Finals were turned on their head in the span of a week the way that it's happened this year.  A week ago, you could have gotten some pretty good odds betting on the Thunder and the Celtics, and now the former will be playing for the championship and the latter just might be joining them in the Finals tonight.

Meanwhile, the melodrama otherwise known as the Miami Heat has reached new levels of absurdity this year.  Forget all those ads on TNT for the new "Dallas," this series has all the drama you need.  There seems little doubt at this juncture that Erik Spoelstra will be coaching for his job tonight, but one has to wonder whether his men have the mental mettle to pull one out in territory as hostile as can possibly be imagined.  The Heat made the mistake of thinking that they could win a title without earning it, and Dallas last year and possibly the Celtics this year are teaching them a painful and difficult lesson.

And even if they do survive this Boston series, will they be able to match the surging Thunder, who have already proven that they're not intimidated by Hall of Fame talent? 

But that's getting ahead of ourselves.  Miami will be playing desperation basketball tonight, and we may witness a level of intensity that we've never seen before, but it says here that - bouyed by the crowd and their remarkable road win on Tuesday -the Celtics will win to set up a Final that seemed unthinkable just a week ago.

The Series

It's been exactly ten years now, so I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on what was certainly the greatest NBA Playoff Series of the decade, and one of the greatest of all time - the 2002 Western Conference Finals, between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers.  They say that the pain of a close loss takes a long time to go away, and for Kings fans, this series was a testament to that notion.

It was the kind of series where you think about individual quarters, even individual plays, and wonder if just that little something had turned out differently, then perhaps the outcome would have been different.  And make no bones about it, this was the real NBA Championship Series in 2002.  With all due respect to the New Jersey Nets, they would have gotten swept by the Kings as well.  That year, the Kings and Lakers were that much better than the rest of the league - and certainly that much better than the Eastern Conference.

Heading into the series, I was skeptical of our chances, even though we had a better record (61-21 vs. 59-23) and therefore held the home court advantage.  The Lakers had handled us pretty well in the regular season, winning 3 out of 4, and as the old saying goes, when it gets down to brass tacks you have to BEAT the champ - the champ isn't going to lay down for anyone.

I have clear, distinct memories of all seven games.

The first two games played in Sacramento were almost unbearably tense, but little did we know at the time that they were nothing compared to what was to follow.  The Kings lost the opener on a Saturday, which meant that they absolutely had to win Game #2 on the Monday night.  They pulled that one off, and then for some reason there was a 4-day break before Game #3.  That game was played on a Friday night, and I remember that we were having dinner at my mother-in-law's house, and that I kept pinching myself because very time I checked the score, the Kings' lead grew.  At one point they led by 27, and even though the Lakers put up a spirited comeback in the 4th quarter, the Kings won by 13 to reclaim home court advantage.

And then things got really interesting.

I can now say with confidence that Game 4, played on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, is the most painful sports loss I've endured in an entire lifetime of watching sports.  And those who know me, know what that means.  This one hurt, and it hurt a lot - even more than the Giants falling to the Cardinals in 1987, or the 49ers being tripped up by the Giants in 1991.  This game was a dagger in the heart. 

In the first half of that game, the Kings picked up right where they left off in Game 3, blowing the Lakers off the court to the point where the fans booed them off of the floor at halftime.  And then, the inexorable comeback began, point by point by point until the lead was down to 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, and then to nothing with less than two minutes to play.  Final play, Kings up by 1, missed shot, rebound punched way out towards mid-court, Robert Horry picks up the ball...game over, dagger in the heart.  For months, and I do mean months, after that game, I'd wake up in the middle of the night and see that play, over and over again.  Ball punched out...right to Horry...shot...nothing but net.

But if anything, Game 5 was even more nerve-wracking, and back-and-forth battle that only meant the Kings' season, because after letting Game 4 slip away, you knew darn well that they weren't coming back to Sacramento if they headed down to L.A. down 3-2.  And thanks to a brilliantly executed play by Chris Webber (assist) and Mike Bibby (3, nothing but net) off of an inbounds play with less than 10 seconds remaining, the Kings escaped with a one-point win.

And then, the travesty.  The less said about Game 6, the better.   I don't believe there was a conspiracy, or anything like that.  But I will say, and there are plenty of neutral observers out there who will back me up on this one, that Game 6 of this series was the worst-officiated playoff game in the history of the NBA.  Bad enough that conspiracy theories became semi-believable.  It's a miracle that the Kings came as close as they did to winning the game, given the striped obstacles they faced that night.

And then, Game 7.  My dad and I were there, and even though we lost, it was one of my favorite sports memories.  The intensity inside Arco Arena that afternoon was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.  And unfortunately, the Kings - who had been a great free-throw shooting team all year - picked this game to go 16/30 at the line, far below their season average.  Even with that, the game went into overtime, but when Divac fouled out early, there was no way the Kings were going to prevail.

At the time, we thought we'd be back.  But it never happened, and now we're looking at what will quite likely be the Kings' final season in Sacramento.  If that happens, if nothing else we'll have the memory of having played in one of the greatest series of all time. 

And in some alternate universe somewhere, perhaps that Horry shot does hit off the rim.

"The Emancipation of Talent"

SI.Com's Zach Lowe has a post up today that provides a behind-the-scenes look at how "The Decision" came together, almost a year ago now. When I first read it, I couldn't get past this comment from Mark Dowley, former partner at the William Morris Endeavor agency:

Ari Emanuel [co-CEO of William Morris] called me and said, “What do you think of the idea of doing the show?” And I really liked it. I like the whole notion of the emancipation of talent. ..."

The emancipation of talent? Is that really what "the decision" was all about?

Wiktionary defines "emancipation" as follows:

"The act of setting free from the power of another, from slavery, subjection, dependence, or controlling influence."

Again, I ask: Is that really what "the decision" was all about?

At this late date, I really did not think it was possible to make the pitiful charade known as "The Decision" look any worse.

But it looks like I was wrong.

Turning Down the Heat

There's all sorts of great stuff over at SI.com today about the failures of LeBron and the Heat, but not surprisingly, Joe Posnanski gets the nod for best piece.

The best single point, however, should probably go to Michael Rosenberg, who wrote the following:

James said after this Finals loss that "I pretty much don't listen to what everybody has to say about me or my game or what I've done with my career," but this is the same guy who tweeted last year, "Don't think for one [minute] that I haven't been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!" So it's a bit late for him to say he doesn't care.

Hate in sports never lasts forever. At the tail end of his career, I found myself rooting for John Elway in the Super Bowl, even though I had pretty much made fun of him for close to 17 years. So there will probably come a day when I will be able to root for LeBron, and perhaps even be happy that he wins a championship. None of that changes how I feel right now, which is somewhere between "ecstatic" and "joyous" that the Heat got their arses handed to them by a team that indeed did look like they wanted it more.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

...for another year, at least. The Miami Heat have failed to win a championship.

I'm sure it's not healthy - or even sane, for that matter - to dislike a team as much as I disliked this year's version of the Miami Heat. I mean, come on - this team even made me root for the Los Angeles Lakers, and that is saying something.

But from beginning to end, this was a team that was built to be hated. And so it's especially satisfying that, unlike New York Yankees teams similarly built in the past, this particular team could not overcome the pressure of expectations to win the championship that they all so desperately desired.

But you have to give credit to the Dallas Mavericks. They won this championship. While nearly every game went down to the last minute, the Mavericks consistently beat the Heat when it mattered most. They may not have had the superstardom of their rivals, but they now have the trophy, while LeBron and Dwayne and Chris and the rest of them are like the rest of the league, waiting until next year for another shot at it.

And next year, the expectations will be even higher.

Game 5 Preview

Here I'm turning the commentary over to my Dallas correspondent Craig, longtime friend and basketball aficionado (and big fan of the Mavericks, of course). It doesn't bruise my ego at all to say that his understanding of the game is unquestionably deeper than mine. He makes some good points here...I guess we'll see just how good in a few hours!

The core challenge of the series from a Mavs perspective is related to the simple fact that the Mavs have great offensive players and great defensive players, but not one Mav is great at both. Whereas the Heat’s best offensive players are also their two best defenders. This reality forces the Mavs to have to make difficult decisions about personnel at all times. It is always a compromise of one or the other. I think Carlisle has been masterful at this.

My favorite example, which has been completely misinterpreted by the vast majority of “experts”, is the insertion of Barea into the starting line-up for game 4 (and I presume the rest of the series). This decision had nothing to do with trying to get Barea in earlier and everything to do with managing the minutes of Marion. Carlisle has drawn the logical conclusion that he needs to have one of Stevenson or Marion on the floor at all times and Marion can’t play over 40 minutes consistently (as he had done in Game 3). That simple problem requires that he play the two guys together less minutes. So, if you take Stevenson out of the starting line-up, who do you put in? Only two choices there, Barea or Terry (who also can’t really be on the court at the same time for very long). Terry is clearly better coming off the bench (and you definitely want him in when Dirk is out), so, tada, Barea becomes a starter. Brilliant.

Another funny strategy debate I am hearing from the “experts” is Miami’s lack of use of its “small” line-up. This one cracks me up. In previous series’ Miami has had success with Bosh, Lebron, Miller, Wade, Chalmers/Bibby. So, naturally, folks are suggesting that Spoelstra is being outcoached by Carlisle because he is missing this obvious opportunity. I think Spoelstra is wise not to make this move and here is why: Dallas only has one center with the quickness necessary to contend with Miami, Tyson Chandler and he is playing fantastic, but needs more rest than he has gotten the last two games. Carlisle would absolutely love Miami to go small. I bet Chandler would be off the floor so fast, your head would spin. It is just the move he needs to get him rest. Suddenly, Cardinal could be a viable player for more than a couple of minutes.

The best thing that happens during the third quarter for the Mavs is for the Heat to make a few bail out, late in the shot clock, long baskets out of an isolation play. In all of the last three games, the Heat have gotten away with some poor possessions in the third quarter when either Wade or Lebron have made tough shots after dribbling for several seconds. The result can be very disheartening when the shot goes in after a great defensive possession, but it doesn’t seem to get the Mavs down. More importantly, it encourages Miami to play that way later on, which they seem prone to do anyway.

I didn’t really think Lebron was disengaged down the stretch, but I would have described him as passive. Everyone seems to focus on what he didn’t do on the offensive end, but I thought his bigger drop off was on D. Suddenly Terry looked quick enough and he got by Lebron 3 or 4 times down the stretch. That seems more like tired than disengaged to me.

I think the Mavs found something in the 4th quarter of Game 4, and I believe it may carry them forward successfully. A few more pump fakes as the Miami defenders close out, and guess what, you can go by them and open up their defense. Once you get them having to make quick decisions on the move, some holes show up. Cardinal did that perfectly on one play. All we need is for JKidd to occasionally finish a play and it can all come together.

The Finals

After four games, I’d say that this series has a chance to go down as one of the greatest in NBA Finals history. What happens in the last next 2-3 games will go a long way towards determining that, but right now I can’t remember a series since the 2002 Western Conference Finals where every game has been so nerve-wracking. Last night’s game was a perfect example – it was a classic game of runs, with both teams struggling to impose their will on the other – and, for the most part, failing to do so. The ultimate story of Game 4 was Lebron’s disappearance from the ranks of the scoring, and now there is a pressure on his shoulders that few athletes in the history of the sport have felt.

Objectively, there seems little doubt that Miami is the stronger team. If their superstar triumvirate is hitting on all cylinders, it is really hard to beat them. So far, Dallas has done a great job of neutralizing Lebron, and if they continue to play defense like that, they have a shot. Both teams will be playing Game 5 as if it were for all the marbles, because in a sense it is. From this point on (and even before last night’s game, for that matter) it’s “must-game city” for the Mavericks, because I can’t imagine them being able to win 2 in Miami.

I still think Dallas can win this thing. We’ll know for certain after tomorrow night.

The Finals

Wow.

And that is why you never turn off a sporting event before it’s over. Because no matter how dire the situation may seem, there is always a chance.

99 times out of 100, the Miami Heat win that game. Tonight, they didn’t. You can call it what you want – great defense by the Mavericks, poor shooting by the Heat, whatever. Because I’m highly biased and find myself rooting hard for a Dallas team for the first time in about 40 years (believe it or not, there was a time when I rooted for the Cowboys), I prefer to think of it as a rare combination of arrogance and hubris that doomed the Heat. The game was over, so they stopped playing their game.

There’s an old saying that a 7-game series doesn’t really begin until the home team loses a game. Well, we now have a series. And now, even though the series is tied and there is a ton of basketball yet to play, the Miami Heat find themselves with their backs against the wall. In the span of seven minutes, the story of this series changed from “Lebron’s Redemption” to “Miami can’t close the big games.” So now it becomes just that more difficult for the Heat to pull it off.

We’ll see. Right now, this series reminds me a lot of the 1984 series between the Celtics and the Lakers. To this day, I think the Lakers were the better team. They came this close (hold up thumb next to forefinger) to sweeping the series. And yet, they lost in 7, because the Celtics took advantage of every little mistake the Lakers made, and turned those mistakes into victories. The Mavericks strike me as a team like that. And that’s why I think they will win, even though they may not be the “best” team.

Purple and Gold Meltdown

For 20 years, the standard of bad sportsmanship in the NBA has been the behavior of the two-time defending champion Detroit Pistons in 1991, when they gracelessly walked off the court without even trying to acknowledge the Chicago Bulls, who had swept them in the Eastern Conference finals - on their way to the first of their six NBA titles during that decade.

Well, the Pistons can breathe a sigh of relief, because after today's 4th quarter debacle, we have a new standard bearer for bad sportsmanship. Two, actually - because it isn't fair to lay this one on the entire Lakers team. But there's no doubt that Lamar Odom and (especially) Andrew Bynum will deserve the lumps that they take in the public and the media tomorrow, and probably for the rest of the playoff season - and into next season, and beyond. I only wish I could have seen the look on Magic Johnson's face in the studio on the Bynum cheap shot - because clearly, Magic was already distraught simply from the Lakers' inability to do anything in the first half to stop the Mavericks' offense.

And what an offensive exhibition it was. My only complaint is with Peja Stojakovic...really, Peja? You couldn't make just one of those in the fourth quarter of that fateful game against the Lakers in June 2002?

I jinxed the Mavericks a few years ago, so I will refrain from saying anything about their chances to go all the way this year. Let's just say that I like their chances as much as anybody's at this point.

The Last Time?

Tonight's game may have been the last Sacramento Kings game I ever see in person. We have one more ticket, but I suspect that work obligations will keep me from going.

But if it was the last game, at least we went out in style, with a 129-119 win over the Golden State Warriors that felt very reminiscent of a game from the 1980s.

It was a good crowd, it was an exciting game, and it was fun. And if it was the last one, then here's to 26 years of good memories.

Odd Feeling

So the Lakers are playing the Heat tonight, with the latter team in a free-fall that has generated some of the best sports stories in months. Tears after regular season losses! Superstars at loss to explain what is happening! A country rejoices!

The odd feeling I have is that I'm thinking that I'll be rooting for the Lakers tonight. It's been a long time since that happened.

Farewell Kings?

It now seems inevitable that the Sacramento Kings will be finding their way to Anaheim, sooner rather than later. Sacramento will join the likes of cities like Baltimore, Brooklyn and Seattle, all of whom have had sports franchises ripped from their midst for no particular reason other than avarice and greed. And even though I’ve held a share of a season ticket since the very first season, I’m close to the point of not really caring.

I’ve probably seen an average of 7 games per season since the beginning, which amounts to almost 200 games over the course of 26 years. In that time, I’ve had the honor of watching in person such great players as Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin MacHale, Kareem, Magic, Kobe, Shaq, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Isiah Thomas, Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan…the list goes on an on.

It’s been a fun ride, full of memorable moments. If you’ve paid any attention at all to the NBA over the past quarter-century, you know that for years, the Kings were among the laughingstocks of the league. But even then, every game was an event, every game was a sellout. There was a brief period of respectability in the mid-1990s, led by the great Mitch Richmond (and I’m glad he got a ring, even if it was for the Lakers). But then they got awful again, and when the strike hit in 1999, our little group was on the verge on just giving up completely.

And then something wonderful happened. They signed Chris Webber, they drafted Peja Stojakovic, they signed Vlade Divac, they traded for Mike Bibby, and they gathered a supporting cast whose overall talent far exceeded the sum of their individual parts. I’ll never forget how much fun it was in the spring of 1999, attending a playoff game against the Utah Jazz. I remember saying to my dad, as we were having a little tailgate party in the parking lot, “It’s May, and we’re still playing!” And even though they lost that series, it was clear a new day had dawned. And that moment climaxed with the wonderful 2001-02 season. Since they did not win the championship I know I have no right to say this, but almost ten years later, there is still no doubt in my mind that they were the best team in the NBA that season.

But they couldn’t prove it, falling painfully short in an epic 7-game series against the Los Angeles Lakers. I think it was the single greatest NBA series of my lifetime. Every game was dramatic. The seventh game went to overtime, and it was only the fourth best game of the series. You had Game 6, which will forever live in infamy in Sacramento, where the Lakers mauled the Kings with impunity and were never called for it, and the Kings got whistled every time they breathed on the Lakers. You had Game 5, where Mike Bibby drained an unlikely three near the end of the game to send an entire region into a frenzy. And yes, you had Game 4, a game I had nightmares about for years, a dagger to the heart from Robert Horry that one could now say forever altered the course of a franchise. And so we lost.

And even though the next few years were great, it was never quite the same. They were always in the playoffs, but they never again advanced as far as they did during that magical season of 01-02. And in those seasons, they priced an entire generation of potential fans out of the arena. We have good tickets, and before you knew it, those $19.50 tickets were over $90 apiece. We could afford it, although we dropped down to 4 or 5 games a year, but I’m sure hundreds if not thousands of others could not. And the atmosphere inside the arena was never quite the same.

And when they got bad again, those fans never came back. Ticket prices have dropped quite a bit, but the arena is never full, and on many nights the fans appear disinterested. The magic is long gone. And the Maloof Brothers, whose primary talent appears to have had the luck to be born into a family with a lot of money, are ready to cash out, and move on to a city that has a nice arena.

The Maloofs deserve credit for what they achieved in Sacramento – they built a great team. But they did not build a great franchise, because that was already here. Essentially, they’ve ruined a great franchise, and when (if?) they leave, they will deserve the disdain directed at them by the fans of Sacramento, who have really done nothing wrong.

If they leave, I will shed no tears. I'll be sad, but I'll always have the memories. Memories of 26 years of games, sitting there with my dad, or my mom, or my brothers, or my wife, or my uncle, or my cousin, or my sons.

CAVALIERS BEAT THE LAKERS

Nothing more. Just that.

Year 26 - Sacramento Kings

My dad and I went to the Sacramento Kings game last night, and it was a disconcerting experience - not the fact that the Kings lost to the Lakers, which was expected, but the fact that almost half of the crowd was Lakers fans. If there was ever a clearer demonstration that the Kings have not yet won back their fan base, that's it, right there.

I don't want to say that we're getting old or anything, but when we first started going to these games, dad was 50, and I was 25. Now I'm 50, so...you do the math!

This is action from the 4th quarter, with Kobe at the line. To give you an idea of the tenor of the crowd, there were chants - loud ones - of "MVP! MVP! MVP!" that could be heard at this moment.

What Did LeBron Accomplish?

SI's great Joe Posnanski lays it all out.

An excerpt:

And after entering what should have been the two most glorious months of his life, LeBron James comes out of it having collapsed in the playoffs. He signed with a team that already has its No. 1 star… and for $30 million less than he could have gotten. His hometown hates him so much there’s footage on television of fans burning his jersey. The papers and Internet are now filled with stories about how he’s unpopular, unfeeling, a traitor, afraid of the bright lights. He’s widely viewed, at least for the moment, as the petulant and narcissistic star on one of the most ill-conceived television efforts in the history of sport. And his King James brand suddenly doesn’t look so great anymore.

That’s one heck of a magic trick, isn’t it? It’s sort of like he ACTUALLY DID saw a lady in half.

Perhaps the most classic "WTF?" moment in the history of sports?