1 year ago today the Dallas Mavericks were NBA champions

The 2011-'12 Dallas Mavericks may have been Thunder food in this postseason, but one year ago today they were America's Favorite Team after they prevented Miami Heat G/F LeBron James, G/GM Dwyane Wade and F Chris Bosh from winning the first of their 15 consecutive NBA titles.

On June 12, 2012 the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Heat in Miami 105-95 to win their third consecutive NBA Finals game and end the series, 4-2.

It was Jason Terry, not Dirk Nowitzki, who led all scorers with 27 points. Dirk had one of his worst games of the playoffs; he was 9-of-27 from the floor, and 1-7 from 3. But he finished with 21 and 11, and was named the Finals MVP.

Of all the developments that occurred during these Finals, the most memorable was Terry calling out LeBron after the Game 3 loss and then out-playing the King the rest of the series.

Take a look at how dramatically different the box score from the Mavs' final game of the 2011 season compares to the final game of their 2012 season.

Mavs 105, Heat 95 June 12, 2011
Shawn Marion, F      35 min, 12 points
Dirk Nowitzki, F      39 min, 21 points
Tyson Chandler, C   30 min, 5 points 
Jason Kidd, G        36 min, 9 points
JJ Barea, G           30 min, 15 points
Bench
Jason Terry G       34 min, 27 points
Brian Cardinal      12 min, 3 points
DeShawn Stevenson 13 min, 9 points
Ian Mahinmi         11 min, 4 points
Peja Stojakovic  - dnp, coach's decision 
Brendan Haywood  - dnp, coach's decision
Corey Brewer  - dnp, coach's decision 

OKC Thunder 103, Mavericks 97 May 5, 2012
Shawn Marion, F        35 min, 9 points
Dirk Nowitzki, F         40 min, 34 points
Brendan Haywood, C   25 min, 4 points
Jason Kidd, G        38 min, 16 points
Jason Terry, G      43 min, 11 points
Bench
Vince Carter, G      20 min, 8 points
Delonte West, G     18 min, 3 points
Ian Mahinmi, C         14 min, 10 points
Brandan Wright, F    6 min, 2 points
Brian Cardinal  - dnp, coach's decision 
Kelenna Azubulke  - dnp, coach's decision
Yi Jianlian  - dnp, coach's decision
Roddy Beaubois - dnp, coach's decision 

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Even with Deron Williams, here are the numbers why the Dallas Mavericks should fear the Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder made my earlier prediction of another Spurs' NBA title look stupid by winning four straight in the Western Conference Finals for their first ever NBA Finals appearance.

Seattle must be thrilled with these developments.

Watching the Thunder methodically destroy the Mavericks, Lakers and Spurs in this playoff run it seems that Oklahoma City could have the league's nexty dynasty.

David Stern must be thrilled with this development. His New York Knicks can't win a game yet the flea-market Thunder are rolling.

Even if your Dallas Mavericks can sign Brooklyn Nets guard Deron Williams this offseason and put him next to Dirk Nowitzki, we should all be scared to death of the Thunder for the next few years.

Here is why:

Kevin Durant, age 23, signed through '15-'16 (unrestricted fa in 2016)
James Harden, age 22, signed through '12-'13 (restricted fa in 2013)
Serge Ibaka, age 22, signed through '12-'13 (restriced fa in 2013)
Kendrick Perkins, age 27  signed through '14-'15 (unrestricted fa in 2016)
Thabo Sefolosha, age 28, signed through '13-'14 (unrestricted fa in 2015)
Russell Westbrook age 23, signed through '16-'17 (unrestricted fa in 2017)

Can the Thunder afford to keep this nucleaus together? Having Durant and Westbrook locked in are the keys, now the trick will be able to convince James Harden to stick around. It does appear, however, this team is loaded for an extended run at the top of the Western Conference.

 

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Does Rick Carlisle's new contract include a guard from New Jersey?

In the first move of what should be one of the busiest summers in recent memory for the Dallas Mavericks, the team re-signed "free agent" head coach Rick Carlisle to a new contract today.

Had to be done. He wins. A lot.

Per Star-Telegram Mavs' "man" Dwain Price, this is a four-year deal. Carlisle was paid $4.5 million last season.

Despite radically different rosters with the Pistons, Pacers and Mavericks, Carlisle consistently wins games. He is 479-325 in his career with an NBA title.

How much more successful he will be with the Mavs for the forseeable future largely depends on what other moves are made this summer.

Hopefully Carlisle has a "Deron Williams" out clause in his contract, or something to that effect. As good of a head coach as Carlisle is, this is a player's league. If the Mavs don't acquire a D-Will, or another high caliber scorer and a more legit interior presence, Carlisle won't make it the duration of this deal.

Keeping Carlisle around is a positive first step for the Mavs this offseason, but now it's time to start adding players.

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USA basketball chair Jerry Colangelo politely counters Mark Cuban's anti-NBA Olympic stance

DALLAS - Don't think Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is going to show up at the U.S. Olympic Summit here at the Anatole Hotel. Maybe he will start the "Occupy Olympics" movement.

There is no bigger detractor of the NBA's involvement in the Olympics than Dallas Mavericks Prime Minister Mark Cuban, who thinks the Olympics are a for-profit business that exploits free labor.

Team USA basketball chairmen Jerry Colangelo responded to Cuban's feelings this morning.

"The ownership has the right and the platform to express opinions. I would say that there is another side to the story," Colangelo said. "What we have done with our program has brought great value to the NBA as a whole. As a good partner in the NBA every owner should recognize that that added value has added something to their franchise. So there is always two sides to every story.

"I think the best story the NBA had when we marched to the gold medal in Beijing (in 2008) was us. And that's worth a lot."

Colangelo is right. Unlike 2004 in Athens when that team won bronze, and was universally despised both at home and abroad, the '08 team generated nothing but positive vibes. That was an easy team to cheer for.

Colangelo later added: "In the sense the players are very valuable assets, there is no question about that. And the NBA gains by the success these players have on the international stage. We are in a global economy. The NBA has been at the forefront of dealing with the global market place. The participation and sucess of the players has brought great opportunities for the players and the NBA in its marketing efforts around the globe."

Translation: Mark, your pocket his heavier because of the Olympics. Deal with it.

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Whom to prefer less Dallas Mavericks - Erick Dampier or Brendan Haywood

DALLAS - There was some quiet scuttle going around the Dallas Mavericks' peeps immediately after the Game 4 loss to the OKC Thunder that the team may use their amnesty clause to make Brendan Haywood go away.

It's just talk.

Since signing a six-year, $55 million deal in July of 2010 with the Mavs his popularity has steadily dropped. The Mavs acquired Tyson Chandler not longer after giving Haywood that extension, which really didn't help his case.

When Chandler left to the Knicks it made Haywood the starting center that he wanted to be. But nothing he did made people not long for the days of Chandler.

Around halftime of the Dallas Mavericks' playoff finale against the Thunder a fan wondered aloud, "I was hoping maybe Brendan Haywood thought it was an 8:30 start so he would miss the game."

In 54 games during the regular season, Haywood averaged 5.2 points and 6.0 rebounds and 1 block per game. During the playoffs, he averaged 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 15.3 minutes.

Hawyood will turn 33 in November, and despite his imposing frame - 7-0, 213 pounds - he really is a quality backup bruiser disguised as a starting center. He's a role player making big coin. 

But he is not Erick Dampier. Depsite both men projecting just an ish attitude towards the game itself, and fighting what appears to be indifference, Dampier was a far greater disappointment to the Mavs than Haywood. Dampier came to the Mavs in an Avery Johnson-approved sign and trade deal with the Warriors in 2004 and promptly frustrated both the Mavericks and their fans until he was dealt away for Chandler.

The Mavs acquired Dampier to be a quality starting center.
The Mavs acquired Haywood to be a quality backup center.

 

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The end: OKC Thunder close out the Dallas Mavericks, who now begin Deron Williams vigil

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks won the 2011 NBA title because they closed out games better than any other team. They were kicked out of the 2012 playoffs because they could not close out a single game.

Oklahoma City Thunder 103
Dallas Mavericks 97

Thunder sweep 1st rd series, 4-0.

OKC guard James Harden finished with 87 points ... that's not true. It just felt like it. Harden actually scored 29, including a driving layup with 10 seconds remaining that gave the Thunder a five point lead. The Mavs were out-scored 35-16 in the fourth quarter.

I blame the refs. And Lamar Odom.

"We knew with this roster it was a long shot," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "It wasn't our year. It just wasn't our time."

The Mavericks led by 13 points - their biggest lead of the series - going into the fourth quarter on Saturday night. For the third time in this series, the Thunder closed out a close game in the final minutes whereas the Mavs were unable to create plays, get stops, or make shots.

Too bad; this was not the way for Mavs guard Jason Terry to end his career with this team. He can be a free agent this summer, and it does not look like the Mavs will re-sign him.

For the third time in this series it was not a lack of effort that did the Mavs in. The Thunder were just better.

The Mavs enter an offseason that is all about Deron Williams.

If the Nets guard signs with the Mavs as a free agent this summer, this flushed 2011-'12 season is justified as money well spent. If D-Will remains in New Jersey, or signs with a team other than the Mavs, then what were we doing?

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Back on Dec. 13 all of the signs were there for the Dallas Mavericks that this was coming

On Dec. 13, the Dallas Mavericks had their media day. I wrote this ...

DALLAS - Lamar Odom said one thing you want to know, and one thing you need to know.
What you want to know is that Odom plans to keep his reality TV gig, meaning theKardashians will be coming to Mavericks games.
"That's what I do," Odom said Tuesday morning at the team's media day.
What you need to know: "If [the Mavs] thought winning a championship was hard, defending it is tougher," he said. "It's tough. If any team can do it, this one can."

We care about these things.
We should also care about how much longer Dirk has. How many more prime years does the greatest player in the history of the franchise have remaining?

"I don't know that question is that important to anybody but you," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle chided me. "You are talking about something that is in the future."
Coach, Dirk is 33. Don't worry about the future when your Hall of Fame forward turns 34 in June. You just go with the now.

The hyper-compressed NBA season is near, and we should all plan on the Mavs again being "around it" as one of the few teams with a legit chance at the title because of Dirk. But to expect them to win it again is a bit much because their actions were about the future rather than today.

"Dallas let the goods get away," NBA analyst Chris Webber said Tuesday during a conference call. "Tyson Chandler is the reason they won the championship. He was a game changer.... First of all, they proved me wrong; they won a championship last year. Why would you change that? In my opinion, Tyson Chandler was the Defensive Player of the Year. He made the most impact

"For all the years we watched Dirk, he's always been great, so I don't want to say he didn't get better last year. The difference last year was not Jason Terry; it was Tyson Chandler."
Mavs GM Donnie Nelson and Prime Minister Mark Cuban earned a few years' worth of appreciation and latitude from this town and the basketball world for putting together the title team. They did it, and it was nothing but fun. Most NBA cities would kill for a run like that.

Their decisions to bring in Odom, Vince Carter, Brandan Wright and Delonte West may offset the departures of guys like Caron Butler, J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stevenson. This roster is deep, versatile, capable and will win a lot of games. There may even be some upgrades in those moves. These are go-for-it-now decisions that suggest they know their future is today.

The decision to let Chandler go does not.
Athletic, active 7-foot men are not plentiful on this earth; so, when you get one that can actually play, you keep him. He was the best center in franchise history. There was a reason the Mavs traded for Chandler only a few weeks after locking up Brendan Haywood two summers ago and then he became the starter - Chandler is better.

How can the Mavs possibly replace what he did? As presently constructed, they can't. Haywood is a big body who can guard the interior reasonably well, but Chandler covered more ground than anyone on the team, and altered what the other teams could do.

The Mavs can only duplicate his defensive presence if they land Dwight Howard, who according to an ESPN report, is willing to be traded only to the Mavs, Nets, Magic or Lakers. Don't hold your breath Superman will actually come here. Ever notice that big-time free agents always love the Mavs except when it comes time to sign with the team? (That's another column.)

Letting Chandler go made the most financial sense as the team tries to be cap-responsible in two years when the new NBA rules really become punitive for the franchises that exceed the limit.
The rub is that Dirk is 33. To do anything but keep Chandler is to not give Dirk the very best chance at winning another title. Modern-era NBA history says there is only one guy to be The Man for his title-winning team after this age, Michael Jordan. This includes Magic and Bird.

Dirk may be able to hit 20-footers well into his 80s, and he may be in wonderful condition, but he will be this age for not too much longer. When he gets old, and he will, that's it. Assume when he's done we won't see his replacement for another decade.

But that is the future, and Carlisle and the Mavs aren't worried about that.
Except when they are, which is why Chandler isn't here, which is why asking the Mavs to defend their title may be tougher than even Odom thinks.

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Dallas Mavericks' defense of NBA title never had a chance

As much credit as Mark Cuban deserves for helping create an NBA championship team, he deserves equal parts blame for helping to destroy it. He had one more year of Dirk Nowitzki in his prime and he elected to take one of the best NBA players ever and surround him with a collection of old guys and disguise it as "going for it".

The Mavericks never had a real chance to defend their NBA title.

Oklahoma City Thunder 95
Dallas Mavericks 79 

Thunder lead this series 3-0. Game 4, which is not necessary, is Saturday night in Dallas.

No NBA team has ever won a playoff series down 0-3. 

"They threw a great game at us and we needed to be a lot better than we were," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said after the game.

There is no way in hell these Mavericks will become the first. This is an old team that knew the score before this series began, and once they fell behind 0-2 they were done. There is pride, then there is foolish pride. 

"The Mavs just aren't good enough to beat OKC," TNT analyst Charles Barkley said after the game.

Back on Dec. 13, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle chided me when I asked him about Dirk Nowitzki being 33, nearing the end of his prime, and the team not electing to re-sign so many parts of the title team. "I don't know that question is that important to anybody but you. You are talking about something that is in the future."

He is right. I was.

The problem now is this is what the future looks like: Down 0-3 in the first round, and an old team preparing to turn another year older.

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The Dallas Mavericks should start Ian Mahinmi

DALLAS - Was going to wait on this until after Game 3, but considering your Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team is down 0-2 against the OKC Thunder this has a post-haste feel to it.

I ASKED Dallas Mavs coach Rick Carlisle how he felt about the production his team has received from the center spot in this series.

Mr. Carlisle said: "I don't know the numbers off the top of my head."

Here you go: Brendan Haywood is averaging 3 points and 3.5 rebounds in the first two games.
Ian Mahinmi averages 7.5 points and 4.5 boards.
Third center Brandan Wright, who provided some energy in limited minutes during the regular season, appears lost so far. 

Carlisle continued: "Our centers combined were very productive during the regular season and were a positive factor for us. They have done some good things in this series and we want those guys to be active and generate extra possessions for us and have a physical presence. They are very clear on what we are asking of them."

After watching starting center Haywood play 10 minutes and collect 2 points and no rebounds in Game 2, and then seeing former Mavs center Tyson Chandler win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, it has become rather apparent that Ian Mahinmi is the better man in the middle for the Mavs.

The Mavs never run a set play for their center, and if that guy scores it's on putbacks or bunnies. They want defense, rebounding and high effort. They get that from Ian Mahinmi.

He's more active. He can cover more ground. He's more athletic. His upside his higher. Haywood is a decent bruiser type off the bench, but appears to be easily taken out of the game.

"It all started early on in training camp when we knew Tyson wasn't coming back. I knew my role was going to be bigger and throughout the year I have been getting more and more confidence," Mahinmi TOLD ME. "I am comfortable in those situations now. I feel the confidence of my coaches and my teammates now."

 

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The reality: The Dallas Mavericks are really trying & it really doesn't matter

(Special thanks to my computer for crashing last night)

 If the Dallas Mavericks weren't trying you could easily bag on this team but effort isn't the problem.
And when effort is not the problem then there isn't much you can really do.

OKC 102
Mavericks 99

Thunder lead 2-0. Game 3 Thursday night in downtown Dallas. 

1. A great series, either way. Neither Game 1 or Game 2 featured any type of big lead, so no massive runs were required to keep these close going into the final five minutes. This has easily been the most compelling series of these NBA playoffs.

2. This from Mavs play by play man Mark Followill: "4 games in OKC this year, 4 times in the final minute the Mavs have led and 4 times the Thunder have won." This is what we call a trend.

3. Turnovers very late in the games have killed the Mavs both times. In Game 1, Dirk had a couple late. In Game 2, the Mavs led 97-96 with 1:51 remaining when Jason Kidd's pass was stolen by Kevin Durant.

4. Vince Carter had a dog game (2-of-9) but how he hit that one-handed, fadeaway jumper over a defender to give the Mavs a 97-96 lead with 2:17 remaining was incredible.

5. Brendan Haywood now owns the worst contract on the Mavs. He is a starting center in name only. He played 10 minutes and despite standing 7-feet tall managed to grab zero rebounds. He is managing to make Kendrick Perkins look great.
Mavs backup center Ian Mahinmi has more energy, and more upside than Haywood. Mahinmi finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes.

5. Russell Westbrook version 20.12 is a lot better than Russell Westbrook 20.11. He's averaging 28.5 points on 52% shooting in this series. Mavs have no chance if that keeps up. Meanwhile, Durant is averaging 25.5 points but on 34% shooting. He is 15-of-44 in this series.

 

 

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