There were so many great storylines in the 2011 NBA Finals — LeBron James’ The Decision leading to Miami Thrice, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry trying to kill the ghosts of 2006, Jason Kidd trying to get his first championship ring at 37, the ridiculous hotness of JJ Barea’s girlfriend, and more. What will you remember from this year’s finals?
For me, it was refreshing seeing a true team win the championship. So much attention has been paid to the Miami Heat’s 2.5 superstars. The New York Knicks have been getting a ton of press for pairing Amar’e Stoudemire with Carmelo Anthony. A lot of fans were thinking that it’s a two-star minimum to be successful in the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks proved that theory to be incorrect. The team rode one superstar, played fantastic team defense, and used excellent ball movement to win it all.
Also, it was funny watching Dirk dash to the lockers to cry instead of immediately celebrating with his teammates. Ha!
That I missed the entire season for the first time the Mavs won.
I'll remember it for this:
this picture made me laugh
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/860/24703422…
go ahead and embed it ray, i know you want to lol
David Stern giving the trophy to Mark Cuban.
Sadly, he didn't smash it over his head.
You know what? I'm over it. We still have the trophy from 2006 (Shaq & Wade era), an Eastern Conference Trophy, and a great team. I take a lot of satisfaction in how far the Heat got. We beat Boston, Chicago, and Philly in an awesome playoff run. I enjoyed all of the games I went to. It was a lot of fun watching all of those home wins in the post season.
By the first three games, it looked like Miami could take Dallas, but somehow, we just ran out of gas and the better team won. It's O.K., because, frankly, I didn't even think the Heat would get that far. Since LeBron and Bosh announced that they would be coming to Miami, I doubted that they would even make it to the playoffs since there were a lot of egos on the team and I know firsthand of how difficult it can be to manage and get productivity out of those egos. I think that we did really well for a group of guys with so many new faces on the team.
My hope is for the Heat to take this series loss and use it to fuel them for next season. If they learn how to play well and consistently for the entire 48 minutes, they will get the trophy. I hope it's the Lakers (or Dallas or San Antonio). Also, LeBron is clumsy. Anyone who compares him to Jordan has either never seen Jordan play or is a few light bulbs short of a house. LBJ travels, he walks, and (most frustratingly) he tries to draw the foul instead of trying to make a basket whenever he goes for a layup, which is just plain bad. Is he talented? Yes. Do I want him contributing to my team? Yes. But, MJ was much more fluid and graceful. He had the talent and the moves. He did not extrude the raw, brute power associated with LBJ. MJ was more like a bird: dancing, weaving, shooting, and flying around other players instead of through them and it worked very well.
@Nightshade;
Nobody will deny that what he did with that TV reality thing was asinine and arrogant. Since I didn't really know about it or see it, I can't comment on the actual viewing. From what I've heard, it was a dickish thing to do. I understand that people are mostly upset not that he left Cleaveland, but how he left Cleaveland. That said, he's still an overall great basketball player and at least he can keep his ego in check on the court. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people that hate him would like to see him play for their own hometown team because those people will recognize that he can help the hometown team get to the finals. He can do this because he is a talented player and is not selfish on the court.
Lastly, I have done some pretty dickish things when I was 26 as well.
-M
He's 26 and didn't have the college experience. He's going to say dumb crap.
The Lebron bashing is taking away from a sweet Mavericks run. It also reminds me a little of the Tragic Magic bashing.