The NBA season has been settled. Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks on a well-deserved championship. It cost me a free steak, and I have to endure a good friend in Dallas who has experienced his version of the Rapture, but I believe the result is just. The Mavericks were the better team in this series. They played hard, they played fair, they were consistent, they were resilient, and they didn't mock their opponents (yes, I was upset with the coughing jokes).
Although it is personally disappointing to see the Miami Heat not measure up, it does not take away from their accomplishments. It has been a long and hard year. The three superstar players and their surrounding cast had to learn to become a team. Their coach had to learn to be a better leader. And they all had to learn to block out the incredible amount of noise surrounding them.
Their work is not yet done. Pat Riley correctly pointed out that it took him several years of coaching the Lakers to win his first championship. Michael Jordan did not win it all in his first year. In fact, many teams require several seasons of seasoning to reach the top.
We live in a televised fishbowl. We expect to sit in our living rooms and receive instant gratification: the climax to the story should happen within the next 58 minutes. The Heat was supposed to instantly come together, set the NBA record for fewest losses in a season, and then roll to the championship while making it look easy.
This is not reality. Especially for the Miami Heat. This team, as well as the rest of us who live in the real world, require more than one year to mature, develop, and acquire the depth needed to reach the top. This was the real reason they lost to the Mavericks. Just ask Nowitzky and Kidd who invested years of sweat, toil and tears to hoist the trophy.
The Miami Heat will be fine. Everyone on the team will learn from this. And, hopefully, they will use that knowledge to mature some more and bring home a championship.
