Irony Board

I really want to get back to writing about the Suns, but I still have two days before the Spurs come to town and a week's worth of Schadenfreude brewing in my system. I simply can't move on until it's unleashed en masse.

1. The Mavericks, after their infamous Finals meltdown 11 months ago, were supposed to be focused, determined, hungry, etc. to get back to the Finals this year, they bullied their way through the regular season to secure the best record and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. They assumed that, with the restructuring of the seeding system, they would have the easiest road back as long as they finished at the top of the league. Which segues nicely into...

2. No one complained louder about having to go through two elite teams (San Antonio and Phoenix) last year than the Dallas Mavericks. The league listened, and seeding was determined strictly based on record starting this year, so a second place division team could still be seeded higher than a division winner with a lower winning percentage. A lot of good that does them now.

3. The Mavericks were probably the luckiest team in the league this season, making it through without any significant player-games lost to injury. Every team (except maybe the Spurs) suffered key injuries that cost them in the column marked "W" in the standings. They also touted their depth as one of their major advantages over every other team. They were beaten by a Warriors team that lost one starter to Don Nelson's doghouse, and that had two players (Baron Davis, Matt Barnes) playing on broken wheels (hamstring injuries for both). In other words, the deepest and healthiest team of the season lost to an injured team with no depth.

4. Ostensibly playing it safe at the end of the regular season, Avery Johnson held out three of his starters for his team's final match up with the Warriors, instead of playing for a win that would have knocked Golden State out of the playoff picture altogether. The word at the time in some circles was that Avery didn't want to give Golden State a chance to improve its psychological advantage over the Mavericks in case his team lost, and he didn't want to tip his playoff hand to Don Nelson should his team win. My feeling is that he didn't want to risk his team's fragile psyche by subjecting them to yet another loss at the hands of the team that has basically owned them for two years. They handed themselves a first round elimination on a silver platter.

5. The talk after game two was that the Warriors' star players (Davis and Stephen Jackson) lost their composure, and that would be their ultimate undoing. The Mavs, on the other hand, showed a great deal of poise by not letting questionable calls or physical play by the Warriors rattle them. When it was all said and done, it was the Mavericks who lost it and wilted under the pressure of living up to expectations that were set higher than they probably should have been. When they had a double digit lead, they couldn't withstand the storm of threes raining down from the Warriors' perimeter. And when they were down by double digits, regardless of the quarter, we could tell that the game was over by the lost gazes and "where am I?" body language of the Mavericks.

6. Dirk Nowitzki has been one of the league's golden boys this season, garnering MVP consideration from start to finish for his allegedly consistent play, supposedly improved leadership, and professionalism on the court. But it was the NBA's current resident bad boy bathroom smoker, Stephen Jackson, that set the standard of calm, businesslike composure in the Warriors' decisive game 6 victory. It was he of Palace Brawl infamy who showed that not all bad boys are all bad, and who was looked upon as the team's designated leader when Baron Davis could no longer shoulder the load. The Mavericks' leader? He shot 1-3 in the second half, when the Warriors opened up a can of Oak Town Funk on his team. As well, who was the undisputed MVP of that series and arguably the best player in the postseason so far? The oft-injured model of inconsistency himself, Baron Davis.

7. Anyone who has seen a Mavericks game on TV knows the drill. The fans sit placid in their seats, come raging storm or devastating earthquake. Up or down, running or being run out, the fans in Dallas have to be goaded by the arena's public address announcer into chants of "DEFENSE!" and "MVP!", or simply to "MAKE SOME NOISE!" An arrogant fan base who believes theirs to be the best team in the league, the one with the best home record, can't even muster up the sense to know when to stand up and cheer their own team on. Conversely, the Warriors play at Oracle Arena. (Thanks to my imaginary friend, Bill Simmons, for writing that brilliant piece on home crowds in the NBA.)

8. Remember how pundits and Dallas fans said all year that the Mavs were so good because "they can play any style" and can match up with any team?

But I think the most ironic thing is that I don't really care. Honestly, I have no sympathy for a team and fan base - so smug in their belief that the NBA loving world should genuflect and offer praise to the mighty Mavericks - that show absolutely no respect for other teams or their fans, and whose primary counterargument to anyone who criticizes their team with valid statistical analysis and observational research is "You're just biased against the Mavs!"

If they weren't so easy to despise, I just might feel sorry for them for another epic meltdown and disappointing season. How ironic.