Photo by: Clarion
In the most improbable sweep in NBA history, the Dallas Mavericks shocked the world, knocking out the two-time defending NBA champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, 122-86.
As impressive as the feat of beating the champs, what’s more impressive is the fact that the Mavericks came out of nowhere to hand Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson each their first sweep of their careers.
Jackson, a 13-time NBA champion (11 as a coach), is the best coach to ever sit on the bench, yet, as he moves into retirement, his career ends on the sourest of losses.
Bryant is the most successful player of his time, yet he is out of the postseason, heading home much earlier than expected.
Although it’s not Kobe’s fault, it is his team, he didn’t help it from a mental and physical collapse on Sunday afternoon, disgracing the Lakers organization. As Andrew Bynum stabbed his elbow into J.J. Barea, earning an ejection, ESPN’s Mike Tirico called it “the most bush league thing I’ve ever seen.”
The point to be made about Kobe isn’t of doubt; rather, it’s a question of the future of the NBA. The league is getting stronger at its youth–Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose are 23 and 22, respectively.
As strange as it will be not seeing LA in the Western Conference Finals – they’ve been there the last three years – what’s most alarming about the upset is that Bryant let his worst postseason losses come at the feet of an inferior Dallas team
Furthermore, the 2011 Mavs are the team that derailed Jackson’s quest for a fourth three-peat. The legend has three already – 1991-1993, 1996-1998, 2000-2002 – and has coached two of the best four players of all time.
For those of you who don’t think this loss to Dallas carries some weight, please rewatch the series. In every game, an overachieving Dallas team out-shot, out-hustled, out-rebounded and out-smarted LA.
No team in the past 10 years can say that about playing LA in the postseason. Sure, Kobe and the team have struggled, but they are the team of the 2000-2010 decade easily, while the Mavericks are a club notorious for choking or coming up short in the postseason (see: the 2007 loss to No. 8-seeded Golden State).
What really stands out though is Dallas’ ability to pass the ball (more than 50 assists combined in games three and four) Looking forward to the rest of the postseason, I have to say no team left in the field shares the ball as well as the Mavericks. Somehow, Dallas is the top dog in the West, and respect needs to be sent their way.
They are a dangerous shooting team, knocking down 20 of 32 three pointers in their game four blowout, where Jason Terry set a NBA record bombarding the Lakers with nine three-pointers. Peja Stojakovic added 6 more, teaming up with Terry to set a duo record mark.
Frustration seeped into LA’s DNA and they became a non-confident team, a shell of the two-time defending champion status they brought into the series.
It’s a shocking upset – one of the best ever – and leaves the NBA playoffs in upheaval, because a new team can win the championship. However, what really comes from this loss is where the legends of Bryant and Jackson now stand. Although they’re not exactly the ones to blame, they are the faces of one of the greatest Lakers teams of all time. And this is arguably the most painful loss in franchise history. It wasn’t supposed to happen this season, but the Lakers are in upheaveal.
