SAN ANTONIO – Truth is, we came to the Alamo City on Tuesday not to praise the Mavericks but to bury them.
It was supposed to go something like: Great season, guys. Tough luck with the big German. There is always next year.
But this team – the one that ripped off a near-record NBA season at the start, won a franchise-record 60 regular-season games and advanced to the conference finals for the second time in franchise – doesn't want to call this campaign a wrap. They really don't, not even with their best player suddenly mothballed with a bum knee.
In recent days, they said as much. The coach shrugged his shoulders and said they'd still try to compete. Steve Nash said you never know; anything is possible.
I didn't believe them. They gave it their best effort in Game 4, I was sure. Not only wasn't that enough, but it appeared to be so draining for a short-handed team that was about to play its 19th playoff game of the NBA's second season. It was absolutely impossible, I was sure, for a team that could only threaten to be successful by running and running and running some more.
But these guys somehow, some way, kicked the dirt away and right into the faces of folks like me who were certain they'd be doing nothing else come Thursday except heading to their favorite vacation spots.
These Mavericks did a lot of remarkable things this season, collectively and individually. But nothing tops what they did on the Spurs' SBC Center court Tuesday night. It was absolutely unbelievable.
After trailing all night, by as much as 19 for a stretch, they outscored San Antonio 29-10 in the fourth quarter to pull out as shocking a comeback win in recent playoff history as there has been, 103-91.
Where it came from is not a guess.
The Mavericks have a number of shortcomings that even they have admitted to. They don't have great defenders. They don't have much of an inside game or any great post players. They don't rebound very well.
But if there is one thing they proved this season, and underscored Tuesday night with an exclamation point at the end, it is that they have something that is intangible.
These Mavericks have fortitude. They have heart. They have guts.
And one day – who knows, maybe this season – it will serve them very well, in some sort of ultimate way.
It started with Michael Finley, as it always does. Steve Nash picked up on it from there. Eddie Najera chimed in.
They made the Spurs look like chokers. They made the Spurs' young budding stars like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and Stephen Jackson look like the inexperienced players they are.
They made Tim Duncan look like he may not be so deserving of that second MVP.
Ladies and gentlemen, Tuesday night's game was supposed to be over before it started. It looked like it was over for most of the evening.
Then, all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom. The Mavericks made it a contest, took a lead and never looked back.
The Mavericks shouldn't be able to pull off what for one night they appeared to ready to do, snatch this best-of-7 series from the clutches of defeat. The Spurs are better. They still have their best player, Duncan.
They shouldn't be able to beat the Spurs in the Spurs' house and prolong this season for another game.
But they did.
The Mavericks are undefeated this season at proving wrong those of us who've doubted them. Tuesday night was just their latest statement in defense of themselves. But it was the loudest.
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