If you went into any New York City bar to catch the NBA Finals, or even just heard bits and pieces of conversations on the street, you may have thought it was the Knicks going toe-to-toe with the Heat, not the Dallas Mavericks. Places were packed, people were loud and emotions ran high. The Finals have a tendency to do that. For a few weeks in June, when there’s not much else to watch, these games capture the hearts of sports fans everywhere. Heck, New Yorkers even split sides during the Celtics–Lakers matchups, but this particular Finals felt different. Not once in my life as a sports fan have I seen such overwhelming support for one team. Never in my life have I seen casual basketball fans so heavily invested in the complete failure of the Heat and in the utter triumph of the Mavs.
Sure, people hated the Yankees of the late-90s, and as they won year after year hatred of them grew. But somehow, deep down, fans were still excited to see the Yanks dogpile on the pitchers’ mound every October. Did anyone really love Tim Duncan‘s Spurs dynasty? No. But did we respect them as champions? Yes. We had to. These teams were composed of veteran guys who did things the right way and paid their dues. Even though it seemed boring at times, it felt right to see them accept championship trophies.
So when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh formed “Super Friends” last July, then celebrated prematurely in a dry-ice and firework filled arena a day later, then claimed to be on their way to multiple championships, we as NBA fans called them out big time. Why should LeBron get to leave Cleveland? Why should Bosh get to leave Toronto? Why should Wade get a bailout from a crumbling situation in Miami? These are the questions we pondered. As fans, we felt that LeBron and Bosh hadn’t paid their dues. Eight agonizing years in Cleveland with little help from the front office, or his various second-rate teammates, was, in our minds, not enough to warrant a change of teams. Unless of course, he came to your city. But as these Finals proved, and as Dan Gilbert tweeted, there were to be no shortcuts.
Championships often come down to who has the mental edge. Who wants it more? Who has paid their dues? Rather than pry around LeBron’s brain to find out what it was that made him “choke,” let’s remember that the Mavericks paid their dues. It was said at one time no European player could ever lead his team to an NBA title. Dirk Nowitzki, the 11-time NBA All-Star and one-time MVP, dismissed that claim. It was said that the NBA was no longer a place for pass-first point guards. Enter 38-year-old Jason Kidd, who looks like he might even have a few years left in him. It was said that a little Puerto Rican guy from a small school in Boston couldn’t crack an NBA roster. Hello, J.J. Barea. And lest we forget Shawn Marion and Jason Terry – guys who we wrote off as being past their primes; as being players who we would have loved to have on our fantasy teams in 2005, but in 2011, not so much. Well, these guys paid their dues, played with a mental edge, and are now all NBA champs.
In his post-championship press conference, Mark Cuban said that the Mavs were willed on by “billions” of supporters across the world. Fans, like ballplayers, need a mental edge too. As much as we all hated “Super Friends,” I think deep down, our respect for the Mavericks players and their quest for a championship outweighed our deep-seeded hatred of the Heat. As the ringless years of LeBron’s career keep adding up, pretty soon we will start to have sympathy for the guy, and pretty soon we will hope that he escapes the famous doghouse of MVPs without a championship that Charles Barkley and Karl Malone reside in. Until then, however, he will still be paying his dues.
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