 |
| Acht Meilen, The Dirk Nowitzki Story |
My brother recently made this statement about the NBA playoffs after Dirk's insane game one, "Dirk's storyline kind of feels like the 8 Mile movie." Not sure if he was looking any further than a goofy white guy trying to succeed in a profession dominated by African Americans, but that analogy has some great depth.
Dirk is obviously B-Rabbit. Losing the '06 finals was the choke at the battle in the opening scene. During Dirk's early years, Steve Nash was the Future to Dirk's B-Rabbit. Dirk's MVP season was his coming out party, similar to B-Rabbit going off in the cypher in the club parking lot. Losing to the Warriors in the first round, that’s B-Rabbit getting jumped I'm the parking lot. Dirk even had a crazy love interest just like Jimmy in 8 Mile! Now we're entering the final scenes of the movie. Blowing past the Lakers was B-Rabbit blowing passed Lickity Split. Now Kevin Durant and the Thunder play their part as Lotto; the battle is a little closer but B-Rabbit/Dirk will prevail. Once Dirk moves onto the Finals he'll face the villains, Leaders of the Free World/Miami Heat. Will Dirk make the Heat choke like Pop-a-doc did in the Finals?
When the Mavs went up 3-0 on the Lakers, I wrote that Dirk was just setting us up for his biggest choke. However, he quieted me by finishing off the sweep and he silenced me with his game one performance against the Thunder in the conference finals. Because of their polarizing owner, Mark Cuban, the Mavs have become a bit of a polarizing team. I'm not saying they are on the Lakers/Raiders/Yankees level of polarizing sports teams, however, despite being full of relatively nice guys; the Mavs have grown into a team you either love or love to hate. But these Mavs lead by Dirk "B-Rabbit" Nowitzki might have just become the teamAmerica
The Heat have been patronized for the way they snagged three of the biggest free agents ever. They've even started to embrace the Yankee type sports villain role. The Bulls are lead by what could be the least charismatic MVP ever. Watching D-Rose's MVP commercials where the ad execs have geniusly created commercials staring Rose without him ever saying a word solidifies that he has zero personality. When you make Tim Duncan seem as interesting as the guy from the Dos Equis commercials, you know you have the personality of a piece of wood. The Thunder seem to do it the right way and have a good young core of guys, yet, Russell Westbrook is starting to shoot the Thunder out if the hearts of basketball purists. All that’s left is the Mavs. An aging team much more loveable then the Big Three led Celtics ever were. On one team you have Jason Kidd, a future hall of famer who is some how third on the all time 3pt field goals (After finding this unbelievable information out, I can't look at Kidd shooting wide open threes the same. Do the other players in the league know he only trails Reggie and Ray on the list?). You have ever under appreciated, hard working Shawn Marion in the twilight of his career (as a Suns fan, I can't help but pull for him), Jason Terry, a consistently scrutinized player who has fully embraced the sixth man role. Deshawn Stevenson and his Abe Lincoln tattoos are one of the few dark spots on this team.
How can you not root for these Mavs? They seemed to have compiled pieces from all of the great running teams of the last decade. Jason Kidd from the run and gun Nets teams that made two Finals, Shawn Marion from the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, Dirk from the Nellie small ball Mavs, Peja from the C-Webb/Bibby Kings. Sure some of these guys are shells of what they were on those memorable teams, however, each player knows their role and is playing it perfectly on this Mavs team. They are a lovable bunch of guys and the fact that Cuban has had a self imposed gag order put on himself for the playoffs has made them all the more likeable. I may be one person, but without a dog in this race, the Mavs andB-Rabbit Dirk have become the team I’ll pull for in the playoffs.
Dirk is obviously B-Rabbit. Losing the '06 finals was the choke at the battle in the opening scene. During Dirk's early years, Steve Nash was the Future to Dirk's B-Rabbit. Dirk's MVP season was his coming out party, similar to B-Rabbit going off in the cypher in the club parking lot. Losing to the Warriors in the first round, that’s B-Rabbit getting jumped I'm the parking lot. Dirk even had a crazy love interest just like Jimmy in 8 Mile! Now we're entering the final scenes of the movie. Blowing past the Lakers was B-Rabbit blowing passed Lickity Split. Now Kevin Durant and the Thunder play their part as Lotto; the battle is a little closer but B-Rabbit/Dirk will prevail. Once Dirk moves onto the Finals he'll face the villains, Leaders of the Free World/Miami Heat. Will Dirk make the Heat choke like Pop-a-doc did in the Finals?
When the Mavs went up 3-0 on the Lakers, I wrote that Dirk was just setting us up for his biggest choke. However, he quieted me by finishing off the sweep and he silenced me with his game one performance against the Thunder in the conference finals. Because of their polarizing owner, Mark Cuban, the Mavs have become a bit of a polarizing team. I'm not saying they are on the Lakers/Raiders/Yankees level of polarizing sports teams, however, despite being full of relatively nice guys; the Mavs have grown into a team you either love or love to hate. But these Mavs lead by Dirk "B-Rabbit" Nowitzki might have just become the team
The Heat have been patronized for the way they snagged three of the biggest free agents ever. They've even started to embrace the Yankee type sports villain role. The Bulls are lead by what could be the least charismatic MVP ever. Watching D-Rose's MVP commercials where the ad execs have geniusly created commercials staring Rose without him ever saying a word solidifies that he has zero personality. When you make Tim Duncan seem as interesting as the guy from the Dos Equis commercials, you know you have the personality of a piece of wood. The Thunder seem to do it the right way and have a good young core of guys, yet, Russell Westbrook is starting to shoot the Thunder out if the hearts of basketball purists. All that’s left is the Mavs. An aging team much more loveable then the Big Three led Celtics ever were. On one team you have Jason Kidd, a future hall of famer who is some how third on the all time 3pt field goals (After finding this unbelievable information out, I can't look at Kidd shooting wide open threes the same. Do the other players in the league know he only trails Reggie and Ray on the list?). You have ever under appreciated, hard working Shawn Marion in the twilight of his career (as a Suns fan, I can't help but pull for him), Jason Terry, a consistently scrutinized player who has fully embraced the sixth man role. Deshawn Stevenson and his Abe Lincoln tattoos are one of the few dark spots on this team.
How can you not root for these Mavs? They seemed to have compiled pieces from all of the great running teams of the last decade. Jason Kidd from the run and gun Nets teams that made two Finals, Shawn Marion from the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, Dirk from the Nellie small ball Mavs, Peja from the C-Webb/Bibby Kings. Sure some of these guys are shells of what they were on those memorable teams, however, each player knows their role and is playing it perfectly on this Mavs team. They are a lovable bunch of guys and the fact that Cuban has had a self imposed gag order put on himself for the playoffs has made them all the more likeable. I may be one person, but without a dog in this race, the Mavs and
No comments:
Post a Comment