[TheRifleman]

Do you remember when the Mavericks were a powerhouse before these last 2 years - when they were one game away from the finals?

1987-88:

The 1987-88 Mavericks maintained the pace they had set the previous season, slipping only two games in the victory column to a 53-29 record. MacLeod collected his 600th career victory on January 13 when Dallas beat the Indiana Pacers, with Roy Tarpley grabbing 23 rebounds in the game. Mark Aguirre and James Donaldson played in the 1988 NBA All-Star Game in February.

For the sixth consecutive season Aguirre led the team in scoring, with 25.1 points per game. Tarpley won the NBA Sixth Man Award by averaging 13.5 points and 11.8 rebounds.

Dallas enjoyed its finest postseason run in 1988. After dumping the Houston Rockets in four games and Denver in six, the Mavericks found themselves in the Western Conference Finals for the first time in team history.

All that stood between Dallas and the NBA Finals were the defending NBA-champion Lakers. The Mavericks gave the Lakers all they could handle in the series, but Los Angeles's playoff experience prevailed. The Lakers won the seventh and deciding game.

Anybody remember the score of that 7th and deciding game?

 

[TheRifleman]

Yes, the Mavericks got to the western finals and just 1 game away from the finals. They have never been there and your Nets are there! The connecting link = Jason Kidd, drafted by the Mavericks, let go by the owner before Cuban(who never would have let Kidd go and said so).....and Jason has taken the Nets where they haven't been, except when they were the ABA champs in the mid 70s.

I hope Jason does really well in leading his team in this finals - I sincerely hope he does. :yes:

 

[TheRifleman]

Originally posted by BizzyRipsta
as a nets fan, i thank you for that comment.

i wonder what things would have been like for the mavs if jason stayed on the team. weren't jason's off-court personal problems one of the reasons why he got traded (just like with the suns)?

No, that wasn't anything to do with his trade from Dallas to Phoenix. The old owner just didn't know what he was doing in those last months before he sold his team. He and his "management team" didn't have a clue as to what they were doing - but we did get Michael Finley in the deal. We also got Sam Cassell, whom we then traded along with Jimmy Jackson to the NETS for Shawn Bradley! Ironic, isn't it?

 

[TheRifleman]

Originally posted by Shaqs big toe


I thought it had something to do with a dalliance between Kidd-Jim Jackson-Toni Braxton... but I could be wrong.

Didn't Braxton used to play the three for the Mavs?

No, she just played the one and two!

I read & heard those smoke signals, too.

Who knows, maybe that old adage is true:
Where there is smoke, there is fire.

But I think it would take a whole lot more than some silly so-called triangle love affair to break up a team.

Especially when you consider at the same time - things like Robert Parish in court for beating his wife, guys into drugs(Tarpley), and so many other things that could have MUCH bigger consequences than that of a love triangle.

I think it took an owner who didn't know what the heck he was doing.