Not only does the 2011 Mavs title remain the best moment I've experienced as a sports fan, it's one of the highlights of my life. But well before the Mavs beat the Heat's super team, they almost beat another super team. Before I was born the Mavs lost to the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the Western Conferece Finals. That's right. Aguirre, Blackman, Harper and company pushed Magic, Worthy, Kareem and their crew to the brink of elimination. For the longest time, the Mavs game 6 win at home was the best win in franchise history. I had heard about it but had never seen it. I found it in 13 parts on YouTube so I sat down and watched…
PREGAME
*Brent Musberger leading the TV coverage.
*Right away you can hear the Reunion Rowdies blasting "BEAT LA!" (Audio)
*The rim and backboard would shake upon contact
*Tommy Heinsohn with some generic analysis about giving 100% (Audio)
*I don't think anyone really gave the Mavs a chance…it was as if it was cute they were still hanging around, at least based on narratives spun on air.
*James Brown was the sideline reporter!
*10 years later A.C. Green would play for the Mavs.
*It's crazy to think that the Mavs could compete with a team that ran out Magic, Worthy, and Kareem in their starting 5
1ST QUARTER
*Just 2 refs
*Short shorts are coming back so can we please bring Kareem's rec specs back into fashion?
*Imagine watching a game without the score and time bug on the screen?
*Tommy Heinsohn thinks Mark McGwire plays for the Mavs (Audio)
*Musberger said that James Worthy wouldn't jump off of his left foot—I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that (audio)
*John McLeod looks like Henry Winkler except with a little more of a 'fro
*It is interesting how they discussed floor spacing originating from moving the ball in the paint and back out. These days we talk about shooting as a way to create spacing but that just wasn't as much in their minds in that era…and watching the game, it is amazing how often they post and re-post. In the half court, guys would often straddle the 3-point line or play inside of it as opposed to now where guys hang beyond or well beyond the perimeter.
*Detlef Schrempf didn't play in Game 6
*Watching the skyhook within the flow of the game and not just highlights is fun.
(Midway through quarter, Mavs led 18-10)
*The goal for the Mavs was to go inside to Donaldson to make KAJ work or get a good midrange look
*Worthy with 12 of LAL's first 18. Playing hurt. Noticeable with the limp
*Mark Aguirre was barely a factor in the first quarter
*Heinsohn encapsulating offensive strategy in 1988 (audio)
LAL 26-25
2ND QUARTER
*Brad Davis enters the game and doesn't look like he belongs. Turns it over, almost turns it over, then commits a bad foul.
*There are tons of possessions in which the Mavs have all 5 guys inside the perimeter
*Lakers were so good in transition
*If you watch a game now, an "outside shot" is always a 3. Then? It is a mid-range or a long 2.
*Danny White was the big celeb at the game (at least, as shown on the broadcast). My guess is the Forum had a few bigger names…(AUDIO)
*Musberger keeps calling it the NBA Championship Series and not the "NBA Finals" even though it was known then, as it is now, as the NBA Finals
*We are midway through the 2nd quarter and I don't think either team has taken a 3-pointer…
*Sam Perkins with the rat tail look
*Mark Aguirre had a non-existent first half and got 3 fouls midway through 2nd quarter.
*With the way they're talking about the Mavs' rebounding you'd think they were a bunch of elementary schoolers trying to get a rebound against grown men…the Mavs were +33 on the boards that series entering the game.
*"The Mavs have three low-post options and they don't know which one to select" -Heinsohn…you'd never hear that today. (not to sound like a broken record)
*How good could Roy Tarpley have been had he stayed on the right path? Dang
*Mavs did a great job against Magic—Sam Perkins and Roy Tarpley, mainly—forcing him into bad decisions. He had 6 turnovers in the first half (and finished with 8).
*Rolando Blackman with 18 first-half points and was doing whatever he wanted. Really impressive to watch.
DAL 53-50
3RD QUARTER
*Mark Aguirre comes out swinging with an early bucket and so does Magic…both guys had bad first halves.
*Sam Perkins hit a 3 on the second possession of the 3rd quarter…the Mavs wouldn't hit a 3 the rest of the game. Finished 2/6
*"Tickets for this game have been scalped for upwards of $250-$300." -Musberger (Audio)
*Brad Davis just didn't have a good game at all.
*Magic Johnson started to turn things around in a big way in the 3rd quarter.
*Don't get me wrong…I like Brad Davis just fine…but is he the worst player have his jersey retired by a team?
*Tarpley was able to score inside and outside really well, especially for his size, relative to the era and how people scored the ball.
*If you were wondering, the "Bulls**t" chants you hear when fans don't like a call existed in 1988…
*Kareem didn't take a single shot in the 3rd
DAL 82-80
4TH QUARTER
*Worthy got his 22nd and 23rd points on the first possession of the final quarter…he'd score just four points the rest of the game. Byron Scott got points 26 and 27 on the second possession of the final quarter and he didn't score the rest of the game.
*Sam Perkins hit a long 2 to give the Mavs a 5 point lead with 9:41 to go. Lakers called a timeout and it was at this time the Mavs played "Mony Mony" inside Reunion.
*Mavs got up 8 with 7 and change to go. Lakers were cold after the first couple possessions of the quarter.
*Mavs started doing to the Lakers what they did to other teams and that was push in transition and attack
*This was Tommy Heinsohn's first year as an analyst, I believe, and boy, was he super generic guy
*Magic's vision was unreal. After a bad first half with some turnovers he was on point in the second half creating for his teammates at an elite x10 level.
*Michael Cooper hit his second 3pter to bring Lakers to within a point, 99-98, with around 3 minutes to go.
*Derek Harper was so calm and tough as the chief ball-handler.
*Classic Kareem baseline sky hook to bring Lakers to within 2 with 1:45 to go. Pretty, pretty move.
*Aguirre had 19 points in the second half and came up huge with an offensive rebound outback to give Mavs 104-100 lead. Had he not, Lakers would have had ball down 2.
*Lakers with ball down 2 and Perkins played great D against Worthy to keep him from scoring.
*Blackman misses jumper and Lakers have it with 11 seconds left down by 2.
*Mavs forced ball out of Magic's hands quickly. Lakers rotated around really well and Worthy had a good look but Donaldson closed out well and altered the shot. Was almost like Worthy panicked.
*Uwe Blabb looked really serious as a clapper.
*The refs added a second after Donaldson's first FT…odd
*Lakers get ball back with 2 seconds down by 3.
*Mavs fouled before the shot to keep the Lakers from getting off a 3. That strategy existed in the 80s!
Big win for the Mavs. Up until 2006, probably the biggest win in franchise history. A few of my takeaways…
*Not only did they take the eventual champions to the wire in a conference finals series, but it was the dominant Lakers with whom they went toe-to-toe. Wow.
*It's amazing how the game has changed.
*What could have been with Roy Tarpley.
