Not sure if I'm the only one that feels this way but this is something that has been bugging me for quite sometime. Every time our championship season gets any attention, all you hear is "Dirk carried the Mavs in 2011."
Yes Dirk was our superstar and at the time we had no other all stars, but I'm tired of the media making it seem like we had a bunch of bums on the team that gave Dirk zero help. When in fact, the sole reason we won every series is because we played a well rounded team game rather than relying on our star especially like Miami tried. Terry, Kidd, Tyson, Marion, JJ, Stevenson, Peja, etc all contributed in ways that if you were to remove just one of those guys from the team, I really don't think we win that chip. Am I crazy for thinking that?
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Hard to disrespect a team with a title, unless it’s that bubble title. Or the one the refs gave away in 2006. Or maybe that one last year.
You’re crazy for thinking that everyone believes it was a hard carry job by Dirk instead of a phenomenal show of leadership by Dirk
The real ones know and that’s all that matters.
No, you’re not crazy. But I think some of this comes from the comparison of who they played. Miami had just acquired James and Bosh. While you and I both know the contributions of a Stevenson, Marion, or Cardinal were invaluable, it doesn’t hold weight against what Miami had on paper. And also what sells better than David and Goliath.
i think it’s more of a way to elevate dirk in the conversations of generational talent relative to ppl in his era like kobe, tim, KG, pierce etc.
the 2000s generation was largely measured on number of rings. it’s more to emphasize that dirk didn’t play with or need an all star to win his ring, so he should be recognized higher than others. because dirk didn’t have a two-way game as a power forward, especially then – his reputation was penalized more than others prior to his championship.
i think the narrative is to promote not all rings are weighted equally vs dismissing or not acknowledging the talent on our team. i think even dwayne wade admitted (and so have a lot of professional players) we definitely had a better team & had the coaching advantage .
it was also the the fist ring to go against the players movement that some have argued really degraded the quality of the NBA product.
I’ve only ever seen posts and videos about the hardest road to championships talk about the Mavs 20111 run. I think most absolutely respect it but few just talk about it because, other than Dirk, the winning team had no other super stars. Every champ after that had more stars, bigger names or current MVP-level stars. It’s not people disrespecting the team and more that the other champs after were just more top of mind.
After the Mavs, it was 2xHeatles, legendary Spurs with Kawhi, splash bros Warriors with MVP Steph, Lebron/Kyrie Cavs, more Warriors with KD, Kawhi Raptors, LeBron/AD Lakers, 2xMVP Giannis Bucks, Warriors again, 2xMVP Jokic Nuggets, super team Celtics, Super (young) team Thunder with MVP Shai.
Dirk’s MVP was 5 years before his Champ and no one else on the team was even a current all-star.
Seems like you’re creating an issue when there isn’t one.
Jet was huge. Bring him home, Kidd.
I rarely see Jason Kidd get mentions for his contributions for that chip run.
You make a valid argument. But, Dirk did put ’em on his back in Miami. Definitely not alone, but he met the moment.
ive never seen anyone act like the team was a bunch of bums that dirk carried, as opposed to dirk playing/leading at a phenomenal level despite not having a supremely talented supporting cast as most championship winning superstars have, as well as facing some very talented opponents (the only team that the mavs were maybe more talented than was the trailblazers)
I see it as more of them saying Dirk was the primary target, which he was. That said, if the Mavs had failed that year, all of the narratives would have been about HIS failure.
The real ones know that even Ian Mahinmi gave them some big minutes in game 6 when Brendan Haywood was hurt that series.
Look it up now, he made two big jump shots that game. First one was a-la Dirk one footed fadeaway in 2nd quarter. Second one was a buzzer beater to push the lead to 9 end of 3rd quarter.
That entire playoff roster contributed to them winning for sure. Down to guys like Corey Brewer that played well in game 2 vs Lakers in a 2 point win. Brian Cardinal being a pest everywhere. Peja sniping Lakers. Barea dominating finals. JKidd hitting big shots vs Blazers. Chandler cleaning glass all playoffs.
What a great team.
I think this team was disrespected *internally*.
How we let Tyson walk after *winning* is insane.
Im still not over it tbh.
Yesterday JJ Barea got a shout-out in the Super Bowl halftime show