Sort of... I mean, you can "thank" Cuban for pulling the trade but Rick Carlisle was really the disciplinarian.
hi allMy playoff cliff notes:
Starting with the Southwest:
Fuck Houston. Seriously, those are some seriously fair-weather fans and they were terrible, shitty fans all year long. They flipped the fuck out on Parsons for... what? Taking a ridiculously superior offer that Houston wouldn't match? Get angry that he didn't show loyalty to some random city that happened to draft you and pay you rookie dollars for 3 years, while never escaping the first round. Yeah! HATRED. But also, I fucking hate The Beard© and.. just.. that city fucking sucks. Fuck they.
SAS - Timmie will retire when he feels his shoes have been filled. Short term that's Lamarcus Aldridge. Long term that's Anthony freaking Davis. I believe that Pop staying around is entirely based on his beloved son.
Also... I'm the biggest Davis fan outside of Louisiana. Holy fucking shit. I've been a Mavs/NBA fan since 89/90 and I've never seen anything like this.
I truly didn't give GS much care until they mauled Memphis. Yeah yeah, great shooting, decent defense... but I just saw them as a Nate MacMillan era (coached) Supersonics. I didn't buy into them. Memphis, however, scared the hell out of me. I honestly thought that they were superior to GS, and maybe with a healthy Conley, they would have been. However, GS blew them up. C'est la vie.
Dallas. Shrug. We're at the end of the Dirk epoch, and it's time to ACTUALLY rebuild. We're in a good spot for that because there's only like 4 players on the roster, and a lot of great talent out there. It's sad... and it's time. Dirk will likely play for another 2-3 years and he'll be a solid role player and locker-room leader. But he can't be the #1 or even #2 guy anymore. What a run though!
Rest of the west:
GSW - Go Golden State. Y'all won in an offense-first method that, for once, didn't drive me fucking crazy. I'm talking about the Dwayne Wade / James Harden / Russell Westbrook method of driving recklessly into the lane, hopefully drawing a foul, and then shooting 20+ free-throws a game. Yay! Harden scored 33! What a heroic performance! Ugh, he was 19/20 from charity. WHO FINDS THIS FUN??? People call Dwayne Wade the 3rd best SG of all time completely based on this method. Shoot the fucking ball. Play like Curry! Shoot it 8' outside of the 3-point line, totally contested with the confidence and swagger of a 10' open jumper. Money. This was fun to watch from start to finish. I'll take a pair of solid defenses battling it out any day. But the new 'offense' of the players I listed above (among others) is ruining the game for me. More GS please.
LAL - LOL x11ty
POR - shrug. They're like a 2002 Mavs' squad. Potential, but their best players will all leave before putting something serious together. And they don't have an uber-loyal German to build around.
LAC - smoke and mirrors. I don't buy them for a second, nor do I care.
The rest: don't care. MIN, DEN, PHO, LAC, SAC. Yaaaaaaaaaawn and not going anywhere anyway.
The East:
Cavs were up 2-1 and seriously could have been 3-0 without most of their starting roster. I'm NOT taking anything away from GSW here because they truly deserved the championship. However, that simple fact is a terrifying testament to the power of the King. Dellavadaofovauaaea? WHO? Whatever... I don't really have any care either way for who won that. But I was utterly blown away by Lebron's performance.
Atlanta - slightly more legit than LAC, but just as much don't-care.
Miami - LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLZ
Chicago - I hate watching the Grant Hill story repeat itself in Derrick Rose. so... much... talent...
Toronto - that first round was tough. Y'all were the better team but HOLY SHIT they imploded.
Philly - my sleeper pick for continuing to do nothing.
Boston / NYK / Brooklyn - no hope, no chance, no care.
umm... there are other teams in the Leastern conference? Go Wizards? Hooray Magic!? Yay for Milw...
actually, that Greek kid at Milwaukee is kind of amazing. I swear I watched him:
Get the ball at half court, nearly standing still.
Recognize his lane was open
Take 3 steps (from HALFCOURT)
Score a lay-up.
Does he have a 60" inseam? How does he do that? Cool game and I'm keeping my eye on him. I'm never going to learn how to pronounce or spell his last name though. I give up.