Tag: National Basketball Association

Cuban couldn’t stick to silence after Mavs’ WCF triumph

Vociferous Dallas owner Mark Cuban understandably couldn’t resist exulting in his team’s Western Conference Finals series triumph over Oklahoma City Wednesday night.

Since the beginning of the playoffs, we’ve been , who has been seen or heard little during the Mavericks’ run to their first NBA Finals berth since 2006.

After Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said he would prefer for his boss to take less of the spotlight before semifinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Cuban has kept his mouth shut.

That is, until Wednesday night.

He side-stepped the question of why he has been so quiet and then thanked the fans at the American Airlines Center for their support.

But then, we saw the old Cuban emerge — if only for a few seconds.

Cuban couldn’t resist punctuating his speech by screaming “We ain’t done yet!”

Dallas fans then responded with chants of “Beat the Heat.”  

Cuban has been one of the biggest villains for Spurs Nation over the years with his comments about the city of San Antonio and disdain for the Spurs franchise.

Has there been enough of a change for Spurs fans to forgive his previous missteps as they revel in a championship run for another team from the state?

Or would they like to see the Mavericks lose in four games in the NBA Finals to whomever emerges from the Eastern Conference?

Shaq hangs up his cape

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

The great center Shaquille O’Neal on Wednesday closed the book on a pro career that produced four NBA championships, one MVP Award, three Finals MVP Awards, 28,596 points, 13,099 rebounds, 2,732 blocked shots — and 5,317 missed free throws.

The 15-time All-Star has not yet officially informed the Boston Celtics, the last of six teams for which he played in 19 seasons, of his plans. But his announcement was enough for NBA commissioner David Stern to issue a statement expressing gratitude for all O’Neal had done for the sport.

A press conference is scheduled for Friday in Orlando.

An Achilles tendon injury that limited the 7-foot-1, 325-pound O’Neal to just 37 games this season led him to the conclusion it was time to hang up his size-22 sneakers.

“I’m going to miss the competition,” he said Wednesday on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” “I’m going to miss … the chase for the ring. I’m actually going to miss everything.”

One thing O’Neal won’t regret: having to go to the foul line, where he made only 52.7 percent of the 11,252 free throws he attempted during his career. His free-throw struggles once led to a memorable exchange with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich before, and during, the opening game of the 2008-09 season.

Angry that Popovich had employed the “Hack-A-Shaq” defensive tactic in the Spurs-Suns first round playoff series the previous season, O’Neal called Popovich’s liberal use of fouls “cowardly” and promised to make the coach “pay for it.”

Popovich’s response was sarcasm:

“He said that? Why, I’m going to put him in a head lock and give him a Dutch rub, right in the old head lock, and he’ll pay for it, right in the old head lock.”

Then Popovich promised to consider fouling O’Neal on the very first play that night.

“Life is short,” he said. “We might as well enjoy ourselves.”

A dedicated prankster, O’Neal always enjoyed himself. So when Popovich ordered guard Michael Finley to foul him the first time the Suns had the ball, O’Neal glared at the Spurs’ bench, then cracked up when he saw a grinning Popovich giving him a thumbs-up.

Regarded by most as one of the top five centers in basketball history, O’Neal burst onto the national basketball scene during his high school days in San Antonio. The stepson of a U.S. Army sergeant stationed in the Alamo City, he led Cole High School to the 1989 Texas 3A state championship.

He went on to play three years at LSU, leaving after his junior year to enter the NBA draft. The No. 1 overall selection, by the Orlando Magic, he was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1992-93 and led the Magic to the NBA Finals in his third season. He left Orlando to sign a free-agent contract with the Lakers in 1996.

In eight seasons in Los Angeles, O’Neal enjoyed his greatest success, winning three straight Finals MVP Awards as the Lakers won titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Amid widespread reports of disharmony between O’Neal and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat after the Lakers fell to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Finals.

Popovich likened the change to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

O’Neal added a fourth championship ring to his collection when the Heat defeated the Mavericks for the 2006 title.

One of the most colorful players in league history, O’Neal dabbled in both entertainment and law enforcement. He released a rap album, “Shaq Diesel” that went platinum, and appeared in a feature film about college basketball, “Blue Chips.”

He was sworn in as a reserve police officer in Los Angeles, Miami and Maricopa County, Ariz.

He also was fond of giving himself nicknames, including Shaq Fu, The Diesel, Superman, Shaq Daddy, The Big Aristotle and The Big Cactus.

After he signed with the Boston Celtics for what would be his final season, he dubbed himself The Big Shamrock.

He has asked his fans to come up with a new name for his retired persona, expressing disappointment with the early leader: The Big 401K.

Buck Harvey: Blurry, but Bosh still finds his way

DALLAS — Chris Bosh told them it was coming. He told them he could see the Mavericks’ body language, and what would happen when the Heat ran the play.

Bosh even told Udonis Haslem which Maverick to screen.

And when it all happened?

When Bosh got the pass and made the biggest shot of his basketball life?

“It feels good,” he said afterward, when it had to feel better than that.

Bosh had never won an NBA game in his hometown before. And early in his first Finals game in Dallas, he saw the trouble ahead.

He saw that through one eye. In the first quarter he took a finger to an eye and fell to the court. With Bosh on the ground, the Mavericks raced to score and built what would be their biggest lead of the game.

The moment summed up his image in Miami. Next to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, he’s been the fraction in the “Two and a Half Men” show.

Game 2 was part of that. Then, he was asked to defend Dirk Nowitzki, and Nowitzki drove past him for the game-winning basket. Bosh shooting only 4 of 16 that night didn’t help, either.

Some in San Antonio might remember another Bosh ?? failure. In the 2001 Class 4A state championships, starring for Dallas Lincoln, he fouled out in a 2-point semifinal loss to Lanier.

But there’s another side to his life, and his next season at Lincoln showed that. Then, he led his high school to an undefeated season and the state championship. That was the first team from Texas to finish a season ranked No. 1 by USA Today, and that was also the last time Bosh said he was as happy as he has been this year.

“As far as camaraderie, working together and having fun on and off the court,” Bosh told the New York Times, “this has been the first time I’ve experienced anything like it.”

So he’s enjoyed this season, even when there were times he clearly struggled. That’s why Sunday, even with his vision blurred, he could see how everything fit together.

“We knew this was not going to be easy,” he said. “I think it’s just symbolic of our season .?.?. it was quite fitting I got poked in the eye. You just have to keep coming.”

Bosh was fortunate that Wade kept coming, with a performance similar to the one he put on against the Mavericks in 2006. Bosh was fortunate too, that Haslem defended Nowitzki on the last play this time.

“He stayed down,” Nowitzki said of Haslem, “and made me shoot a contested shot.”

The game before, Bosh didn’t.

Still, what happened with about 40 seconds left shored up Bosh’s reputation. Miami called time, and Bosh all but announced what would happen next.

Haslem talked about that in the locker room afterward. Bosh told him: Get the pin down on Nowitzki, and I’ll hit the shot.

“We run the play all the time,” Bosh said, “and I kind of saw Tyson’s (Chandler) body language, and I saw Dirk’s body language. You could kind of tell what they’re about to do, especially when Dwyane and LeBron are running screen-and-roll. They both turn their head, and I told (Haslem) who to hit .?.?. I knew I was going to have an open shot.”

That’s the Bosh who was in the National Honor Society at Lincoln, and who chooses to read a book before games to relax.

Yet even when everything happened as he thought it would, as James threw a smooth pass to him, Bosh needed to complete the play.

Any worries?

“That’s his sweet spot,” James said.

When Dallas had never been that before for him in the NBA.

bharvey@express-news.net