Business as Usual

The Dallas Mavericks are the Western Conference Champions-- did so just a little pass 10:20 on a Wednesday night in Downtown Dallas, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 100 to 96.

That's pretty much all anyone needs to know about the game... no need to go into detail how the Mavericks came from 8 points down in the 4th quarter, and really never had control of the game until the final 3 minutes. No need to talk about Jason Terry, Dirk Nowitzki, or Tyson Chandler, no need to explain how the Dallas Defense was able to shut down Kevin Durant and Westood in the final moments.

What you DO need to know is what happened during the celebration....

Oh wait! THERE was NO Celebration! Let me explain.

Something was missing from the usual flair, especially if you were at the American Airlines Center in 06 when the last time the Mavericks held the title of Western Conference Champions, the streamers, the confetti, the pumped up music, all of that was then... what was last night?... SUBDUED!

OH there was no Streamers from the rafters, there was no confetti being floated down to the floor, the music was majestic, and the ceremony was very matter of fact, even the on court presentation of the Conference trophy, was just business like.

So what does all this mean... it means that the Mavericks have set their sights on one goal and one goal only-- to WIN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP and nothing else matters.

Listen to the players, from JJ Barerra and Jason Terry, to Dirk, they all pretty much said the same things in their after game quotes... it was good to beat the Thunder, but there are FOUR more games to win before they will consider what they have accomplished to mean anything.

EVEN BEATING LA in four strait games, which this franchise has NEVER done before in the post season, but that was just business as usual for them.

So the outcome of the Eastern Conference finals will determine who the Mavericks will meet in the finals, the Bulls who have six trophies in their show case, but lets face it, that was the Jordan era of basketball, the Miami Heat which has ONE, and that was when they beat the Mavericks in 06, but this is not the same team, in fact neither team is the same, the only constant is that both Duwayne Wade and Dirk Nowitzki were both on their respective teams then, but that was 5 years ago, and there are lot of changes for both.

So when they start, the finals that is, it will remind me of something that happened 40 years ago with another Dallas sports franchise that took the exact same approach as this Maverick team.

in 1971, the Dallas Cowboys, had come off a lost to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V, and in doing so, Tom Landry and the team decided that the next season they would just go about their business and win the games and establish themselves with the workman's like attitude... wining their playoff games, including a rematch against the San Francisco 49ers at Texas Stadium for the NFC Championship... they didn't light up cigars, or pour champagne on themselves , they just went about the game as if it was another game... until they beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, then you see photos of Bob Lilly lighting up a cigar, along with John Niland, and the champagne showers on Bob Hayes and Chuck Howley, this was the penultimate of their season....

Well the Dallas Mavericks have a chance to place themselves in the same spot, a similar position, beat the team that they face with business like mechanics, take care of what they need to do, no hype, just play your game, stay with in yourself and watch the final seconds tick away with you in the lead and the fourth game in the bag.

THEN let the confetti fly, and the streamers fall and the champagne flow... because then the Mavericks will have deserved their right to be called CHAMPIONS!

Just a thought