FanPost

The Cost of Success

I am personally on summer break and have been for about a month. I don't start my job until Friday, so I've done what I usually do, obsess over the Mavs. Scrolling through my DVR, I remembered that i recorded Game 4 of the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals because I was not able to watch it live. After seeing the highlights numerous times and reminiscing of the Dallas Mavericks, I decided to watch this game today, with nothing better to do.

When the 2010-2011 season first began, The Big Three had just formed and there were exactly 1,953,713 other stories going on besides the world of MFFL. Sure Tyson Chandler had just been acquired for Ericka Dampier's contract, but there was nothing special about this Mavs roster going into the season. The Roddy hype was as high as ever, until he go injured, and everyone was just hoping to make it out of the first round.

The problem was that no one was expecting the Mavs do anything spectacular, meaning everything great that they did, was highly noticed. They were playing their typical basketball with their occasional beautiful runs, but there was that brutal, heart stopping stretch where both Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler, the two leading scorers for our most sexy team, went down with injuries. Fortunately for us, the better of the two is the one who would be returning.

As I was watching this game, everything positive that came out of last season at all, was seen in this game. Even though it may not have been as bright as it was at an earlier point in the season, but, nevertheless, it was seen. This ranges all the way from our bench play of the Hectic Hispanic, Abe Lincoln, or the classic JET, the bench for the Mavs had a phenomenal year. Oh, lets not forget the balding Serbian who went 6 for 6 in this game.

While watching the game, it was sad to see all the pieces that we lost: Dwane Cassey, Corey Brewer, Deshawn Threevenson, Peja, Tyson, Barea... ahh so many loses. It's like we went into war and won in a great fashion, but many casualties along the way. If you think about this in the same way I am, if the 8th wonder of the world did not have one of the single most glorious playoff performances in the history of the NBA, I feel there is a good chance that a large majority if the roster would be kept in tact with the hope of being able to go over the top this year.

As much as June 12, 2011 was one of the greatest days of my young lives, it was also a day where the realization would have been made: our team played incredible, therefore, those who performed well would be rewarded. Unfortunately this happened to too many of our valuable role players.

This truly was a glorious time in all our lives, but success does not come easy and many sacrifices had to be made.

Reader submitted. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial staff.