6 Thoughts
1) First of all, all credit where credit is due: The Dallas Mavericks are the champions, and they deserve it in every way. They were fantastic in the series - they won two games in Miami, which is all you need to know. Dirk Nowitzki is a fantastic player, and he is always a class act, win or lose; Jason Kidd is an all-time great point guard who is still savvy enough to help win ballgames; Jason Terry is a putz - but he played great; and even Dallas owner, Mark Cuban, whom I love to see lose - but only because he cares so much - deserves this because he is passionate, and he spends the money necessary to compete at the highest level. This Dallas franchise thought they were the better team in 2006 when Miami denied them a championship. This year, Dallas is the champion, and I can only imagine that it tastes all the sweeter for the wait. I am being truly honest when I say that I am happy for them. Congratulations to the Mavs! Out of respect to them, and in their honor, for the last time this year: Let's Go!
2) Look, we are mostly going to wrap up the season tonight, but just quickly, on the game: Miami got everything it could have asked for. As expected, back at home, the free throws flipped back Miami's way - they shot 33 to Dallas' 18. Tyson Chandler got into early foul trouble - that was predictable in Miami. More surprising, Nowitzki, for the most part, stunk the joint out, shot only 9-27. But with everything that went right, a couple of things went very wrong: Miami had already missed 13 free throws a minute into the fourth quarter. LeBron James found the missing jumper early, scoring a quick 9 points, but then was not quite assertive enough the rest of the night: his 21 points on 9-15 shooting with 6 assists and 4 rebounds was largely offset by his 6 turnovers. It wasn't the heroic night Miami needed from him. And besides Nowitzki, Dallas, for the second straight game, spread Miami out defensively and made shots. They finished 50% from the floor, and Jason Terry was the star of the game, scoring 27 points on 11-16 shots, many of them with LeBron covering him. Or trying to. Dwyane Wade was the best player in the series, but Nowitzki and Chandler were probably the second and third best. And it would be tough to argue that LeBron outplayed Jason Terry in the last couple...
3) Do I have any final thoughts on this whole Wade-LeBron-Bosh-The-Decision-Bump-Gate season? Yes, yes I do. In my mind, LeBron and Bosh came here for one reason, and one reason only: to help us win another championship. And by "us," I mean, of course, "Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, and me." Anything else is besides the point. I don't care what the media says, I don't care what the fans of the other teams say, I don't care what the players on the other teams say - none of it really matters on the court. In retrospect, though it often felt like torture - because every season often feels like torture to me - I enjoyed this season thoroughly because I thought we had a great chance to win the title. Right up until we didn't. Everyone else can spend the next however many months killing LeBron, killing Bosh, killing Coach Spo - that's whatever. Next year, again, I will think we have a great chance to win the title, and we'll see what happens. The only truly interesting thing I read about LeBron's struggles in this final series (and he was utterly brilliant in the two series before it) came today, in the New York Times, from Dirk Nowitzki (although I don't when he actually said it, and I'll have to paraphrase it). Dirk was widely seen as gagging away the 2006 championship, and came back the next year, had an even better regular season, then was terrible as the Mavs got beat in the first round by Golden State, in one of the biggest upsets in NBA history - for years he's had the reputation as "too soft," "not clutch," "mentally weak" - everything LeBron is getting now, and will get all offseason. Dirk, asked about the criticism LeBron has been receiving, said quietly and sympathetically, "Look - I've been getting hammered for 13 years; if we win the championship, at least I'll have one year where I don't." I love that - people love to make every game, every play, for guys like Dirk and LeBron a constant, ever-shifting referendum on their psyches, their "legacies," their careers. It's boring - to me, anyways, I guess some people like it. When the burden of proof is winning a title - and for guys like Dirk and LeBron, it is - there is going to be disappointment more often than there is going to be success. Dirk is a good example of perseverance for LeBron to follow. To LeBron, from me: Thank you for entertaining me this season - beating Boston and Chicago so handily was incredibly fun and exciting - and even more so, for giving a chance to win a title. And the same on both counts to Chris Bosh, Emcee Chalmers (fearless again tonight), and the rest of the crew. And to Dwyane and UD? They know - this is how we do - we're back at it next season. As long as you're here, I'm here; when you're done, I'm done.
4) Okay, okay, okay, enough sadness: it was a great season! We got to The Finals, could have won, didn't, but we still have a great chance to win next season! However, we don't know when that will be. The collective bargaining agreement between the players and the owners runs out before next season, and most informed parties expect a lockout ranging anywhere from "a few games" to "there will never be another professional basketball game played again in any of our natural lifetimes." So a lot of people are like, "How do you and M.Minutos end a season? And what do you in the offseason? And do you have any special plans if there is a lockout?" First of all, we ended this season like we have ended every season that did not result in a title. M.Minutos storms out of the room moments before the final buzzer so that she doesn't see the end of the game, and I turn off the television so I don't have to watch the other team celebrate. I promise you: as happy as I am for them, I will never see Dallas jumping around to celebrate their title! What series? Second, I take M.Minutos into the bedroom and make long, languorous love to her. By mutual agreement, she fantasizes about Dwyane Wade; and I fantasize about, well, also Dwyane Wade. Then, I don't read the newspaper or the internet or email or text messages for about four days, after which time, the world has moved on to other matters, and so have I. I perfected this strategy in the late 90s when every season the Heat would get eliminated by the Knicks in excruciating fashion - if I don't hear about it, it's pretty much like it never happened. As far as the offseason, we usually pick out shows we haven't seen, and then watch the entire series on DVD. Two offseasons ago, it was The Wire. Last summer, Dexter. This offseason, Breaking Bad. And if the lockout goes on a long, long time? Well, this may be premature, but I have an agreement in place with The Captain: if he ever becomes the athletic director for Notre Dame football, he will give me a one year contract to coach them for 5 million dollars. After that one season, if we decide we want to continue the partnership, we do so. If it doesn't work out, we part ways with no hard feelings. So I'll probably do some gameplanning for that, hire a staff, etc...I don't know that much about football, so I have a lot to learn...
5) Okay, we don't want to say goodbye for the season down in # 6, so we'll do it here in # 5. Worst moment of the season? Well, if we had lost in the finals to Dallas, it probably would have been that - since that never happened, it was definitely the night in Miami when we lost to Portland, at the tail end of a five game losing streak. Miami had lost four games in a row in excruciatingly ridiculous fashion - bizarre collapses, bad calls, heroic shots by the other team - and came out against Portland and played exceptionally hard and well, Dwyane and LeBron combined for like 70 points, and the Blazers still pasted them. It was the one time I thought, "Oh, no - maybe we just aren't good enough. I mean, that's kind of our 'A' game, and they waxed us." I remember just sitting there, looking at the tv, feeling doubt for the first time...A couple of nights later, Miami beat the Lakers, then Memphis and the Spurs, and I never felt that way again. Not even in the Dallas series, if it had ever happened. So that was the worst feeling. The best feeling? Everytime I had this conversation by email, text, or in person - it happened a lot, and it was usually about # 6, and it usually went like this: "Remember that time you wrote about --------?" "No." "Remember? You said something like ---- --- ------?" "Not really, no." "How can you not remember what you wrote?" "Oh - because I probably just made it up." Like, it always makes me feel good when I get a reminder that people read the blog because I don't usually think about it that way - in my mind, it's just for me and M.Minutos. And 2010 was such a difficult year for me - I was tired, mentally-breaking down, and had to suspend the blog for a while mid-season, while I worked out my troubles in therapy, and elsewhere. And I remember feeling better at the beginning of 2011, and telling my therapist about the blog, and that it makes me happy. And he was like, "Well, why don't you start writing it again?" And I thought about it, and I was so happy and relaxed partially because I was sleeping more, and feeling better about my life, and I remember saying to The Captain, "What if I bring back Dos, and then I hate it, and have to stop it again?" And he goes, "Who cares?" And that made me laugh, and I was, like, "Yes, let's write the blog again." And then when people read it, and even if they only enjoy the basketball parts, which some people do, and even if they only enjoy the # 6, which some people do, it is still a good feeling. Not a good feeling - a special, great feeling! So thank you to everyone out there, even if you only read this one post - it means a lot to me. And while 2010 was one of my worst personal years, so far 2011 is one my best, and in some small way, everyone who reads Dos Minutos has contributed to that. At the end of every season, I am always so tired of staying up late to write it, that I always assume that I won't bring it back the next season, but tonight, at least, I feel pretty lucky to have it, and pretty good - so who knows? This was the greatest four month run of basketball I've ever had: Connecticut won the Big East tournament, then the national tournament; O.Minutos led his team to the 9 year old championship; and the Heat got to within two games of an NBA title - if I don't bring Dos back, I'm worried I'll jinx this run of good fortune. If we've learned anything this season: Always respect the power of the jinx!
6) I spent 5 hours today on a boat with some friends and 10 nine year olds hopped up on Doritos, fruit rolls ups, and ice cream, shuttling back and forth through the intercoastal to a sandbar called "Beer Can Island." You do the math. When I lived up north, I assumed that living in Florida is kind of like being on constant vacation - and, by the way, it is. I feel totally lucky that in five minutes, I can be at my friend's house, hopping in his boat and jetting out into the Atlantic. Which raises a question I often get asked by friends who are still up north: When are you going to buy a boat? And the answer is: Never! And the reason is: I am too lazy! I am happy - thrilled - to go out on your boat with you, a few times a year. Just know that as soon as we hit the dock at the end of the day, I am out of there (like LeBron in the fourth quarter of a championship game - ouch!). I am not staying to help you take stuff off the boat, I am not helping to wash it down with the hose, I am not carrying all the empty beer bottles I drank to the recycling bin - Jesus, I just spent 5 hours out in the hot Florida sun! I am tired, and I need to go home and take a nap! Which is exactly what I did today! Man, I love Florida - the sun, the sea, and friends with boats!!!
Annnd, that's it - that's a wrap on the season! If you are lucky, I won't bring this blog back whenever the new season starts! Either way, if you need me until then- I already told you: I'm going in to wake up M.Minutos now TO MAKE LONG, LANGUOROUS LOVE TO HER!!! And if you do need me, it has to be non-basketball-related. Because. I. Am. On. Vacation. Beginning. Right. NOW!!! SEE YA!
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