The Fall of Rome...

[Metsis]

Well, that's what I like to call this phenomenon...

As you all probably know Rome used to have huge provinces back in the day and used to rule over numerous nations. Its military might was something that was unparallel, but as with all such things, an end must come...

What does this have to do with NBA basket ball... Well, the all mighty team in the NBA is like the vast nation of Rome... It seems like these dominant teams are subject to falls such as Romes... The Lakers are a good example of this that happened just a few years back. They had it all, the dominant center, absolute monster scorer from the perimeter and two future hall of famers to boot, but it all didn't go according to plan. And in the end, the in-fighting destroyed the kingdom. Mainly Shaq and Kobe and Jackson to name the main culprits... So the dominant kingdom had collapsed.

The same thing happened to the Bulls when Jordan retired for the last time from the Bulls uniform... Everyone left the sinking ship and it took Chicago a good 6-7 years to be anywhere near a play-off team.

But again, these are all ancient news...

To the point... Mavs 2007 and Pistons 2006... Those were two teams that really seemed all powerful during the season, but turned out to be less so during the play-offs. Why did this happen? How could a 67 win team lose to a team that hardly got into the play-offs... That needed each and every last game of the season to clinch the final berth. How could a 67 win team lose to those guys?

The answer is human... This happened like all the great and famous falls in human history it all starts within the human being itself... The eigth seed Warriors were playing play-off games a good dozen games before the season ended. They knew they had to play their hardest to get it... While Mavs were pretty much on "cruise control" for the time after the all-star game. It was easy and the wins just kept on piling up. It is easy to lose your mental focus in this situation and its easy to settle for the level of play, since you keep on winning anyway, so why bother to play any harder... And when play-offs came around, you had one bunch who was so dedicated that they could reach the conference finals for all I know and one team that was stuck on "cruise control"... Mavs didn't know what hit them since they weren't paying attention. Mavericks really didn't play all that well in the final games of the season either and their game kept on corroding. Then in the play-offs when that game is supposed to be "switched" on, they tried to flip it, to find out the switch was corroded through and now poor Nowitzki is standing there at MVP podium with a rusted up switch in his hand accepting a trophy that is rightfully his, but it just has to hurt all that more because of the mental lapse.

A human being is lazy at its heart, thats why we have come up with all these gadgets to ease our lives... Thus the lazy human being might not want to practise as hard since you are already better than everyone else. Competition is the key to all this... Warriors were basically fighting for their lives the last 10 games of the season and that easily carried over to the play-offs, and since now they were literally doing so... I am now afraid that the Jazz will have a field day with the Warriors in the second round since the initial emotional momentum is gone for the GSW...

Boy has this become a boring topic, but hold on, theres more...

The old teams that won 60-70 games in the 90s and 80s were truly that much better than everyone else... There's a big difference... Those teams had big stars on the bench as well since you can only put five guys on the court at one time. Now you can have 2-3 top tier guys on a team and the level of the rest of the team pretty much determines how you do in the long run... Since you no longer have these ultra powerful teams that are head and shoulders better than the rest, all teams need to get a mental boost for the play-offs... Thus winning a lot of games now, is a lot more dangerous thing than what is has been in the past. Winning takes away the edge of the group and its the coaches main job to make sure that this does not happen! Avery Johnson has failed at this twice already... He has to keep the Mavs hungry and try to make them hungrier and hungrier all the time. A year ago, the Mavs were supposed to cruise to the title after beating Suns in the Western finals... And they did win the first two 2 games with such ease that the edge wore off... And all of a sudden here is D-Wade taking over the series. It didn't happen because D-Wade all of a sudden found some miracle super powers in him self, but because Dallas had a mental lapse and didn't recover to put the Heat away. Dallas failed due to the fact that Avery Johnson didn't keep his team focused enough to pound the Heat 4-0 like they should have.

And the Mavs lost 4-2 to the Warriors now, because of the very same thing... There was no passion in the Mavs game during those 6 matches. Dirk only had a slight flare of his stardom in game 5, but that wasn't even nearly enough. When you compare to the ravenous dogs the Warriors seemed to be, it wasn't even close to a tight match up... Mavs mental game needs an upgrade...

Winning is great and good... Too much winning isn't what it used to be anymore... No one will ever be like the 80s Lakers and Celtics... A team simply cannot be built in such a manner anymore. While the salary cap has made this extremely difficult, I say that the heart of the problem is the people behind all this. Who wouldn't like to put together a team filled with stars today? The problem is that the stars know their worth and the fact that they need to fill up the stat sheet to hold onto their star status... Thus a star brimming team would easily fall to the infighting and blaming and the fact that they need their "family fed"...

People always see their point of view and that point of view is always the best in their opinion. And if things are done in another way or that someone feels left out or not getting his "fair" share, they will rebel. And this is why all big things will fall...

Just like Rome did...

[Gedas]

A great article, trully

There were some very good points back there, but I do not think that you can put everything on the determination factor. I think there are a lot more things, perhaps not as important, that can decide the winner.

[Dean]

That was excellent, i read every single word, loved it all and agree 100%.
Kudos

[Metsis]

A great article, trully

There were some very good points back there, but I do not think that you can put everything on the determination factor. I think there are a lot more things, perhaps not as important, that can decide the winner.

Not everything, but my point about getting overconfident and perplexed by your own game can lead to a mental state where you are accepting the things that are happening so that they are happening on their own and as if you had no part in that. The teams are so equally powerful now, that this mental collapse can destroy any teams hopes of making a long play-off run. The 80's Celtics and Lakers played through seasons like these and advanced to the finals with "seeming" ease just because they simply were better than the rest. But it's not like the Mavs were a way lot better than the other competitors this season... Or any other team in the recent years.

I don't have time to look it up, but after the Lakers triple, how many teams with the best record in the league have won the title? I'm betting 1 at max... Surely not the Heat a year ago, or this years champion either.

This is a trend that I've been following the last 4-5 seasons... The story that the season doesn't matter, is not totally wrong. The season gives you time to setup your team to be at its hungriest at the right time... The challenge needs to be there, in order to be as mentally sharp as you need to be... The Lakers in 2004, were supposed to be a slam dunk for the title, but a Detroit team with no superstar just crushed them. They believed the hype themselves...

[Matt]

i didn't read it all but you made some excellent points.

I guess my own view is that both Detroit & Dallas had things essentially wrapped up by the time April came and their was nothing to play for. Players lost focus and by the time the playoffs rolled around it was too late to get back into it.

In Dallas case, they faced a GSW that was much better than their 42 record implied. Key players missed significant injury time, but when together they played great. Not to mention they stormed into the playoffs as the hottest team.

[Metsis]

i didn't read it all but you made some excellent points.

I guess my own view is that both Detroit & Dallas had things essentially wrapped up by the time April came and their was nothing to play for. Players lost focus and by the time the playoffs rolled around it was too late to get back into it.

In Dallas case, they faced a GSW that was much better than their 42 record implied. Key players missed significant injury time, but when together they played great. Not to mention they stormed into the playoffs as the hottest team.

About the Mavs collapse, it was exposed a year ago that smaller athletic slashing players can cut the team up... They had trouble with the Suns without Amare... And the fact that they couldn't beat Warriors this regular season at all... To me, that is a glaring clink in the armor... Like going to a medieval war and wearing no helmet... Someone will clobber you on the head and its over...

They Mavs were shown this problem last year, by Warriors, Suns and in the end Wade, but yet, they failed to cover the hole during the off-season and couldn't find a way to deal with such players effectively the entire season. Although this is probably something that they hope people will not notice, but a Golden State team that is essentially slashers tore the place apart...

Anyone remember that LeBron James dunk from the season, where he cut from the "BASELINE" of all places to the basket and basically threw one down on Mavs center (I can't remember who it was) and Nowitzki. That was probably the dunk of the season... It had incredible hangtime and incredible power even after that hang time... Look it up in YouTube if you can't remember.

Wade broke down the entire Mavs defensive line last year... And he isn't some super demi-god from Hell or anything, but a slashing guard... And you and I all know that there are plenty of those around.

This apparent hole and the fact they haven't been able to cover it with anything is the biggest mistake the Mavs did all season. Sure they won tons of games, but come play-off time, if you have a glaring weakness in your defense, the opposing coach will try to exploit that, if he's any good at all.

This added to that whole mental thing and it's actually surprising the Mavs won two against the Warriors... And that required a mental lapse from the Warriors and some Dirk heroics to pull off the second one...

Mark my words... Basket ball is mostly a mental game... You know what they say about rebounds...

[maes]

That series was a really interesting and unique approach...i don't think anybody except Nellie would have the genius or cohones to play Mikael Pietrus at C against a 67 win team.

For me, 90% of this upset goes to Nellie. He's the master of many NBA innovations, the Point Forward concept that the Bulls used so much, the smallball concept with Run TMC. It was amazing the Mavs couldn't make a simple adjustment and take advantage of the glaring weakness of an all-guard lineup...Dirk can't post-up worth a damn. That's also why they seem to lose to the Suns (where Marion guards him), and they also lost two to the Bulls i think, who also smallball.

For Mavs fans, i think it has to hurt knowing they once had Nellie and Steve Nash and Finley...all of whom are still in the playoffs.

[[Q]]

you made some good points, Metsis. nice to see you still hanging around

I think that Dallas was pretty dominant this year, but it's not like they loss focus, I think it was more of the fact that they played the one team they can't beat. Nellie is a great basketball mind and he obviously knows his old team well.

[Jing]

Hm. excellent points.. Espically that point of the teams in the 70's and 80's having stars, or really effectively role players on the bench whereas nowadays teams have just 2 or 3 superstars while the rest of the team is eh.

Though I agree with Q that being the former coach of the Mavs definately could have some advantage. Teacher beats student.

[Lamrock]

Whoa, best topic in a while. I agree with the article. I think you hit the nail on the head.

I wish this would happen to the Spurs.

[Anthony15]

Whoa, best topic in a while. I agree with the article. I think you hit the nail on the head.

I wish this would happen to the Spurs.

Which seems like it is, they do have a tough road ahead, but experience will get them past the Suns.

[Matt]

About the Mavs collapse, it was exposed a year ago that smaller athletic slashing players can cut the team up... They had trouble with the Suns without Amare... And the fact that they couldn't beat Warriors this regular season at all...

true, but they at least should have beat the Warriors....but they neither controlled the boards or played at their own tempo. Not to mention certain people failing to show up....i mean Austin Croshere comes into Game 6 and launches 3 shots the first 2 mins he's on the court.