2026 World Cup: Ramblings on the Group Stage

= It has been cool seeing the world take to America. This country is amazing. It is also run by terrible people. This is true of many countries. In a way, it reminds me of 2018, which yes Russia is led by awful people and politically has done some awful things, but the Russian people themselves are fun, welcoming, etc. The US is like that but x10 in terms of largesse, in terms of variedness of locations and terrains and micro-cultures. Seeing the locals in Lawrence, KS take to the Algerian team, and so many take to Bucees or Bass Pro Shops, or even New Jersey diners. Yes, some of the twitter and instagram content is almost certainly staged or just for clout, but a lot of it has been so damn charming and wonderful to see - that this country, behind its awful macro-political environment, is awesome, charming, welcoming and unique.

= Its amazing the energy in teh stadiums. Yes, the ticket prices were too high (mostly a FIFA problem, rather than a US one), but still in the end the stadiums have been packed. I remember the jokes after the second game of the World Cup, a South Korea v Czech Republic match in Monterrey had a few open seats - so many European snobs taking to twitter about how this was a disaster. Instead, pretty much every match has been filled to the brims - colorful, regalia, loud, action packed, lovely. The fan experience seemingly has been amazing, from in the stadiums, to the various countries taking over districs in New York or Boston or so much else. The World Cup is the World's Party, truly, and I'm realizing this in ways I just never knew, or at the very least underestimated.

= I think it is fair to say the overall quality in terms of true stars or "Golden Generations" of this tournament is low, but has led to more scoring. We're on pace for a record goals per game. We've had more teams score 3-4-5 goals (even cutting it off through teh group stage, which had as many games as a 32-team world cup had in total). Truly, other than maybe i guess Argentina, or the continuation of France, there is no "Golden Generation" for one of teh top countries this time. It is truly as flat as it has ever been. Other than maybe Curacao, no team seemed unworthy of being here. The other debutantes all did reasonably well (to doing amazingly well, in Cape Verde and the DRC). It was a wonderful group stage in the base level of competitiveness of all the group stage matches has never been higher.

= The best example of this is Africa - for the last 3-4 World Cups, we've heard about the growing competitiveness of the African teams. Generally 1-2 did well, but the others underperformed. Well, nine of ten made the knockout stage. Yes, four of them through the 3rd place route, but then five made it the old fashioned way. Morocco has been as good as advertised, but the likes of Senegal, DRC, Ghana have all been quite good. And of course our old friends Cape Verde, who we should of course remember would've made it even in a 32-team World Cup. This has been the continents coming out party, a bit overdue, but better late than never.

= The 48 team thing - it is very true there were at least 16 more deserving teams that dont seem out of place. But the third place teams making it thing is difficult. From just the optics of it, to the incredible number of permutations it creates, none of which seem all that enticing. It wasn't great in the Euros either (16 of the 24 make the knockouts) and not great here either. Well, good news, because...

= It will go to 64, be it in 2034 or 2038 and I think that is a win-win - there are probably sixteen more teams of which thirteen or something will be well deserving. There's always going to be those bottome 3-5 teams or so, but because say eight of any new sixteen would go to Uefa or Comnebol, probably not. And even if tehre are a few more minnows - that is OK. There is no huge push to remove the #13-#16 seeds in March Madness, is there. And of course, the best part, of course, is we can go back to 16 groups, four teams each, and a clean top two make it.

= More fun that hosting a World Cup in home soil, is the timing of the games - specifically the night games. The fact there were three games that started midnight EST was super cool, the whole PAC-10 After Dark redux. It certainly gave some of these a March Madness or first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs type feel, with most days there being some World Cup football after midnight. Starting games at midnight was diabolically cool, though. That first game, Turkey v Australia, with "underdog" Australia winning was one of my favorite memories of the Group Stage.

= The US being good has certainly helped, but more than anything back to the first point - America likes a good time and likes visitors. 

= It's been amazing to see the stories adn twitter reports of how incredible people find our stadiums - and yes they are, but we're scratching the surface. It's like Europeans didn't understand taht there were 31 NFL stadiums all around 65,000 - 85,000 people, that host a sport that makes more money than soccer. It's funny that because of various cities declining FIFA's various commands - such as Chicago or Phoenix (probably the heat there too), but even stadiums in Vegas, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Cincinnati are all lovely venues worthy of a World Cup (remember this).

= It's not just the US - the scenes in Canada, and specifically Mexico, have been excellent. The shots of Korean fans and Mexican fans signing arm in arms was wonderful. Mexico had World Cup fever showing up in the cities before the US even did, and I'm sure it has been lovely. Seeing those shots of the mountains behind the Monterrey stadium even led me to impulse book a weekend in Monterrey in teh fall after my next trip to our Mexico City office. Canada has long been a place with incredible local culture, people, sites, etc., and again just great to see them take to so many cultures. 

= Finally, get ready because it seems pretty inevitable that in 2038 the World Cup is coming back here. The ridiculous South America --> Europe/Africa 2030 version didn't just lock in Saudi 2034, but locks in US 2038. Of course, FIFA could change the rules and allow Europe to host again, but unless they do, US is happening. And honestly, the US can flex and host it in cities that didn't host it this time around - hell throw in Mexico and Canada too for a city. And to me this doesn't mean just going to the B-sites - hell we can do Chicago, DC, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tampa, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Denver. Let's get to planning.

Giannis leaving Milwaukee

I don't know why Giannis's saga of him leaving Milwaukee is effecting me, making me sad. Certainly, his run in Milwaukee had more than run its course. It was certainly time. We can chalk it to the macro of another NBA star fleeing a small market for the bright lights, but Giannis also chose not to flee multiple times before. Giannis also brought a Championship to Milwaukee. It seemed like the beginning of something bigger, but injuries be it to him (2023, 2024) or Khris Middleton (2022 - where they without Middleton barely lost to the eventual Eastern Conference Champs in Boston in seven games) exposed that the team never was all that great. They jsut had a singular talent, one that I do think we've all forgotten about too much. For that reason, I hope Giannis goes to Miami and balls out and reminds us all why he was a two time MVP, a defensive player of the year, one of maybe three men that can say they had a better Finals clinching game than the one Jalen Brunson just had. But that's for later - for know it is sadly mourning this era.

Look, I am no Bucks fan, so I'm not losing sleep over the Bucks being back to probably some sort of irrelevancy (though they have often been a competitive team in their history). But I do think we've been so tired of the will-he / wont-he drama of his exit, that we've forgotten just how cool the actual story was. Let's take a trip back to draft day 2013. Long known, and rightly so, as the worst NBA draft maybe ever - a young man named Anthony Bennett was taken #1 overall. There are some real dogs in that Top-15, from Bennett himself (arguably the worst bust ever - given he didn't ahve some offcourt reason he failed, he just sucked). But there was also Cody Zeller at #4, Alex Len at #5, Nerlens Noel at #6, Ben McLemore at #7, and the great Shabazz Muhammad at #14. And then, there at #15 is that name - Giannis Antetokounmpo. I had heard about him in sone draft coverage - with the comp being "he looked like Durant". Not taht he played like him, but this tall, gangly as shit Greek kid had the same dimensions as Durant. When he was drafted, I texted my main group chat that the Bucks drafted "Kevin Durantopolis" - this was one of my best lines. Got a ton of likes. Little did we know...

Giannis's rise wasn't meteoric. He got materially better each year for five years, in seemingly constant increments, turning that franchise from doormats into dominant forces. His Points per Game increases are just beautiful - 6.8 as a rookie, to 12.7 -> 16.9 -> 22.9 -> 26.9 -> 27.7, that last year being his first MVP in 2018-19. He did it again the next year. Some argued that it should've been James Harden the first year. No one really argued the second time. The 2018-19 Bucks were a great, great team - dominant through two rounds of the playoffs, taking a 2-0 lead on Toronto, before the Raptors won Game 3 in OT and won three more close ones to shock the 60-win Bucks.

Of course, the Raptors won 59 - this was no real big "upset", but was seen as Giannis failing. And maybe it was - he was not great the last four games (the rest of the team was worse), and the Bucks probably do beat the Warriors if you assume the same injuries. But whatever it did, it motivated them the next year. The 2019-20 Bucks were a sight to behold. They went 56-17 (it was the Covid break year). They were actually 52-8 before a 1-3 stretch right before lockdown, and that killed all their momentum. In the bubble, Giannis got hurt and the Heat beat them in teh second round, but had Covid not happened (which, admittedly is an earth-shattering type "what if") the Bucks might have done osmething phenomenal that year.

No worries, they did it the next. We'll probably lose the 2020-21 Bucks to the annals of history, a random 1-time Champion in a run of one-time Champions, but without the legacy of the Celtics, Knicks, Lakers or Warriors, and not even a great story in that they beat an even more random finalist. The 2021 Finals being a matchup of the Suns and Bucks doesn't feel real, but it was, and Giannis put together one of the all time finals (which also is being forgotten). It wasn't just the clincher, that immaculate 50-point game where he managed to astonishingly go 17-19 from the line, but it was his block in Game 4, and his alley-oop to close out Game 5. He was that series. He was the best player in the World. His will, and the Bucks development team, made this scrawny little Durant-lite into a one of a kind monster.

Sadly, of course, the story didn't end there. They remained good for years, but the supporting cast that was overrated, in retrospect, never got better. Age, injuries and then short-sighted decisions (the Jrue for Lillard swap, which granted Giannis did ask for) ended any real chance of a second ring. But do we need one? Shouldn't we jsut celebrate that Giannis brought a title to Milwaukee in a sport built for a city like Milwaukee to not win?

The comp to make is Jokic - another transcendental superstar who was not a top pick, who slowly year by year just got better to the point he was back-to-back MVP and won a title in a non-traditional market, where we are slowly realizing it will probably be his only one. Injuries cost him other great shots - particularly in 2021 and 2022, when a potential title-worthy team was short-circuited by Jamal Murray's ACL, which then cost him the next year. For Giannis, it was often his own injuries. These are the stories we should be celebrating - both have been the alpha in their places or 8-10 years, won multiple MVPs, a title, other deep playoff runs and been just great players throughout. That's about all you can ask for.

There is a chance Giannis comes back, stays relatively healthy (he'll probably be never fully healthy again), and the Heat do great. There is a chance we are underestimating a future Hall of Famer who has a legitimate claim to being a Top-30 All Time player. Hell, in his half-season last year, he had a crazy good campaign statistically. But he'll be doing it in Miami, and that is just a bit sad. Not because he chose to leave - he earned if after thirteen years. But because we don't know when Milwaukee, or a similar type market, will find the next Giannis. That's their only real route - they found one in the midst of the bleakest draft ever, and he turned to a monster and they won a title. Mission accomplished - you ran the good fight, Giannis - we'll see you in Valhalla (Miami).

The 2026 NBA Finals - Rambling Thoughts

It was only five games, but five of the most closely played (though not well played...), dramatic, insane games featuring record comebacks, all time gaffes, all time moments and so much more. Of course, it all ending with capping off the Knicks, the damn Knicks!, winning a title. So much to say, about the winners, the losers, and of course, this magical city. So little cohesion, between my own thoughts and the sports world's thoughts, to do this with any structure other than just some rambling thoughts....

= Oh to have been in the city on Saturday Night - even in Hoboken. That celebration was going to be insane any day of the week, but make it Saturday Night, with no one having to work the next day, and a city that has a 4am last call anyways, and you were going to get something special, but in the end also so wholesome as well. The impromptu crowds singing Empire State of Mind, or the Fuck Trae Young chants, to so much else. That was the biggest party New York has seen in decades.

= The only two things I was kidn of there for was the Yankees 2009 World Series win, which was a huge celebration too in the city, and of course the day Osama Bin Laden was killed, which started around a similar time of day (11pm) but of couse was a Sunday, and somehow just as fun. Then again, I was in college at NYU for both of those things. The Knicks thing wasn't just drunk 18-22 year olds, but reveling 15-65 years old.

= As for the game (I'll get back to teh New York thing latter - this is going to be in random order throughout), it is just amazing how the script played the same each time. We talk a lot about teh Spurs blown leads, and they did blow leads of 15 or more in three different second halves (Games 1, 4, 5), but whats crazy is in every single game they led by 10+ in the first quarter itself. The Knicks couldn't start strong the entire series. Other than Game 4, which of course the Knicks still did win, the Knicks chased down that first quarter lead by halftime, then saw the Spurs go up big again, and just do it again. Hell, even in Game 3, the Knicks recovered to lead by seven at halftime, only to see the Spurs comeback in that one. I don't know why the Knicks couldn't start well, but their ability to chase the Spurs down became comical.

= The last point also ties into this one, that the whole "The Spurs led for 72% of the series" thing is well overblown. I mean, factually that is true, but also a factor of the Spurs getting the big lead each game. Basically, the Spurs massively won the collective five first quarters, but the Knicks won the other three quarters collectively - so you can as easily say that the Knicks won 75% of the quarters over the series. The Knicks just shat the bad at the beginning, but by the second quarter on, they were nails.

= At some point, I'll write a whole piece on the magical brew that is Jalen Brunson, King of New York, but a quick hit-list of the other guys who made this team so fun to watch, so easy to root for (again, this is true for the general public despite this being NEW YORK). 

    = From Karl-Anthony Towns who fought so many soft allegations, raising his game to outplay Wemby through two games, all the time giving love to his mother up in heaven who tragically died of Covid in 2020 (among a few people in KAT's family that he lost). 

    = To OG Anunoby, who couldn't play during the 2019 Finals due to Appendicitis, and then gutted out on one leg in Game 7 two years ago against Indiana, to the injury scare against the Hawks, but making it out healthy and humming in this series, a person who was a conceivable Finals MVP candidate.

    = To Mikal Bridges, who will never have to hear the fact that he was traded for five first round picks, No one will care about that, even if we already shouldn't given where those picks have ended. Bridges sacrificed a lot of personal stats taking the role he has (well compensated to do so, of course), and made it work.

    = To Mitchell Robinson, who of course is now well known as the longest tenured Knick, a crowd favorite despite his horrendous free throw shooting. One of the gerat moments in the series was when he somehow hit both of this free throws on a trip in Game 3, one of the loudest moments in the garden.

    = I could go on - from glue guy Landry Shamet, to three-ball man Deuce McBride who had some huge moments in prior series, to Jordan Clarkson who didn't play much in the playoffs but had big moments throughout the season, to Josh Hart being the best small man rebounder I've ever seen. The Knicks were likeable, underdogs and just fit together like glue

= On the otehr side, a quick couple notes about the Spurs - first on Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle, who will only get better, and will make a great, championship level starting backcourt once they decide to bench or trade D'Aaron Fox. Harper plays so smooth for a 20-year old; he was arguably the Spurs best player in a lot of the series (or at least made it a closer discussion than it should have been with Wemby). Castle is an impossible cool, boss-like player. If he ever develops a jump shot, the league may true and well be cooked.

= Let's get to Wemby, who in the end had a good series, and a magnificent playoffs, and will likely win an MVP over the next couiple years, and almost certainly a Finals at some point in his life, but this finals was a black mark for him. There's him tiring out in many games by the second half. There's his continued weirdly physical outbursts and borderline dirty play. There's the quick exit from the court without shaking anyone's hand (which I'm shocked isn't getting more airtime). Then there's the times he got caught in the moment, the quick, unneeded shot in Game 2 which came before the turnover and foul on the pass. There's the missed free throws in Game 4 and a couple more in Game 5. This was not a good series for Wemby, but one he can absolutely learn from. He probably will, but there is a bit of Icarus there for him this year.

= On Fox, yeah, he was a disaster for much of the series. Especially in Game 5, where it was ridiculous that not only Mitch Johnson left him out there so long, but that he was such a prominent part of the play calling. But let's not forget as the Spurs were close to blowing Game 3, Fox had the biggest shot of the game to put the Knicks away for good. He was a key part of their one win. He was also good in teh Western Conference Finals. It seems clear Harper will overtake him, but I think we are all kicking a man too much when he's down.

= Anyway, back to funner topics, namely - Mike Brown. I, like most, found the move to fire Tom Thibodeau a bit rash last year, given he took the Knicks further than they've gone in 25 years. But Mike Brown is a better coach for this group, and maybe just a better coach period. Now, it is hilarious to remember the Knicks trying to pry away like six other people first, but they landed eventually on the perfect person.

= It will never not be funny that the Knicks finished the playoffs 15-1, and the one game they lost is the one that Trump decided to come to. In the end, stories from the game did make the added security measures seem a bit overblown in how much trouble they gave people, and it seems the city was anyways going towards a little more enhanced security around MSG anyway, but still - Trump chose a reason to insert himself in a cool trend and just killed it, fell asleep and then nicely fucked off for the next two games where the Knicks went back to winning. I 100% believe it was karma that this was the game the Knicks lost.

= I still can't believe that 16-3 run, or more aptly the 15-1 finish. We can say whatever we want aroudn level of opponent, but the Spurs are a great team and the Knicks turned them away in five. Sure, five close games, but their clutch time play is one of the bigger edges the Knicks have - an edge they rarely needed for the prior eleven games given how dominant they were. I will never get over them running train for 11 games with the best point differential over an 11-game span in NBA history. It was mesmerizing to watch.

= What I love most about this Knicks title is that we aren't immediately crowning them as an impending dynasty - probably a first for a winner since the 2022 Warriors, because they already were one. It happened in 2021 with the Bucks, 2023 with the Nuggets, 2024 with teh Celtics and of course last year with the Thunder. It would've happened had the Sprus won. But this time we can just enjoy this, I don't think even Knicks fans will really see themselves as the favorite next year, and I don't think Knicks fans care. This team was perfect for this year. Granted, I can easily see them getting back to the Finals, but they were healthy, all in their primes (some at the later stages of that prime) and it just worked - much like the 2021 Bucks (who looking back were a far older team than we realized) or most notably the 2011 Mavs (granted, the Knicks aren't that old). Just a perfect team.

= Back to the New York thing to wrap this up. I think its overstated that there are more Knicks fans than Giants fans or Yankees fans (definitely at the end of the day, football is just more popular than basketball) but it is definitely true that the Nets don't even register. There is one basketball team. There is no vocal minority of basketball fans mad that their cross town rivals won. That allows for this all-timer type of party - a bueatiful weather on a Saturday, Summer night helps (vs when the Giants beat the Pats). And of course, the 53-years - which I forget what podcast it was who made teh graet point that while 53 is not 86 (Red Sox), realistically, it's basically the asme - a vast majority of Knicks fans have never seen their team win. It all came out over these last two months and more specifically last two weeks. I couldn't help like and bookmark tweet after tweet about the incredible scenes. I will cherish those forever to see my city, the world's best city (yes, I mean that) having such a good time.

= It did get me thinking what is the next example of this we can see - where a metropolis explodes in such unbridled exuberance. Now, I'm not thinking about say Buffalo if the Bills were to win, because it is too small (granted, the scenes will be amazing!). I'm also not thinking of say Philadelphia fans who will burn that city even if the Eagles win now their third - but Philly was probably our msot recent example of a team winning a long awaited title with teh Eagles first win - and of course Chicago with the Cubs and Boston with the Red Sox previously. I have two specific answers: one is Chicago with the Bears. I still say Chicago is a football town above all else and it has been now 41 years since 1985, with only a few close calls since. That city will go insane if the Bears win a Super Bowl. And the final one is probably the closest analogue to the Knicks - what will the scenes be in Toronto if the Leafs ever do win the Cup. It's up to 60 years next year (1967). It is the sport Toronto cares about the most. Hockey is to Toronto what Basketball is to New York City. It will be the best thing in the six if it happens, and even though I have no affinity to them, in the spirit of how amazing this Knicks run was, I'm now fuily behind wanting to see the Leafs win a cup (and honestly, all Canadian hockey teams are eligible for this at this point). That's probably the best way to end this - wanting more to see that level of civic celebration again.

The Best Combined NBA & NHL Finals Ever

There's a good debate going on that through four games the 2026 Stanley Cup Final is one of the best ever - an insane series that has featured a team coming down from at least two goals down in every game - a game that has been tied with four minutes to go in each, that has had two OTs, that has every team score at least three goals in every game - a first in decades. It has been insane, some of the most incredible hockey we've seen. There is a very good argument it has been the lesser of the two finals going on right now.

The NBA finals through four games has also been incredible, featuring two one point games, two others that were tied with two minutes to go, that has featured some insane shots and threes adn defense adn runs and atmosphere. And of course, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. And again, there is an argument this is the worse of the two series.

Ever since ESPN/ABC and TNT got back into the hockey game five years back, wwhich has e've basically had the Stanley Cup Final and the NBA Finals run in parallel, alternating days.. Weirdly, the current TV deals has it where ESPN/ABC has both one year, and I guess NBC and TNT will have it the other year, but overall, we get them back to back, which has somehow only increased how good these series are. There is no time to rest, before we ingest how good one NBA game is, hockey is dropping its puck the next day. So far, the closest we've come to having two good series in a year is probably 2022, when the Lighting and Avs in hockey, and the Celtics and Warriors each went to six games. But other than that, its been one good and one bad - be it last year where hockey ended early, but the NBA went seven, or the prior year when it was the opposite, it is hard to get both good both years... until now.

It is so rare to get two series this good that both feature the best of the sport, and the silliest of the sport. Arguably, neither series has been all that well played, at least by the standard of their sports best - but both teams have been equally loose, equally wild, equally silly. That's how you get four straight games with a team blowing a two-goal lead on the hockey sidhas e (even if the Knights won one of those). And how you get four games where the Spurs blew a 12+ point lead, even if they won one of those. You can say that is a commentary on teh Spurs, but in Game 2, the Knicks nearly blew a 14-point lead with four minutes to go, which if anything would have been a bigger collapse than what the Spurs did in this most recent game. This has been wild, if only that the games have been a bit unvarnished, a bit "real".

The thrill of seeing these back to back has been unreal, in the best ways and again with it basically being on back to back nights in parallel, you get this great crossover. Each feeding to the next. Both series are getting their best ratings in years. For the NBA, this makes sense - the Knicks alone being in the finals taps into the biggest media market in the country in a way the NBA hasn't had the ability to do in 27 years. For the NHL, its weird that this series featuring two untraditional markets in Carolina and Vegas would draw so well. Part of it is the hockey has been thrilling and close. Part of it has been the carryover effect from the Olympics (which is absolutely a thing). At the end, though, some of it is just some folks watching ESPN one day watching basketball, and deciding to watch the hockey the next day.

In the end, neither of these series may go to seven games. Hell, the NBA finals may end in five - but even if it does, it will still be remembered forever. Not only because that means we have a New York Knicks team winning the finals, which is still a bit crazy to conceptualize, but we've had some amazing games. The Stanley Cup Finals may end in six, but it will still end that way setting numerous records in terms of mutual goal scoring and comebacks. However this ends, this will have been a glorious two weeks of watching these two sports toss it back and forth, and show again why these two sports deserve each other in the best way possible.

Re-Post: Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 1: Game 5 of the 2011 NBA Finals

I started the Nostalgia Diaries series nine years ago, and the first one talked about a game taht was already at that point six years old. Now it is 15 years old. It was the best played game in a series that was generally well played (if too defensive), in one of the most energized finals, the first of the Heatles. At the tail end, after Jason Terry hit one of the great Heat Check threes in Finals history over LeBron, Jeff Van Gundy said "This is one of the best Finals games I've ever seen", and I think 15-years later, it still remains one of the best I too have ever seen.

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Let's take a trip down memory lane, to a place in time that was recent enough to be this decade, but long enough ago to when the Warriors were a mess of a franchise, the world hadn't heard of Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Rose was the reigning MVP, and Dwight Howard probably should have won it. Yes, now all of these diary entries can start with a similar 'back in the day' lineup of events not to have occurred yet. But this really was a different time. LeBron James was the most hated athlete in America. The Mavericks were the perennial chokers who with a band of random aging ex all-stars thrown together like the Expendables fought back against the Heatles for the good of America. It all crested in one of the best NBA finals games ever, a back-and-forth, dagger-filled game of multiple 'Bang's' a signature 'Hand down, Man down!' and the world of basketball coming together behind Dallas as it took on the world.

37-year old Jason Kidd had never won a title. Jason Terry was 33, Peja Stojakovic was 33, Dirk Nowitzki was 32 and Shawn Marion was 32. But in NBA terms, after tons of deep runs they were all, in normal terms, in the great twilight of their effective NBA careers (Nowitzki excepted, of course). That they, with a 28-year old Tyson Chandler, and aging role players in Deshaun Stevenson and JJ Barea, could beat the Heat seemed impossible. They won Game 2 of the finals with an all-time quick-hit comeback, goign on a 20-3 run to end the game after falling down by 15 with six minutes left in the 4th quarter. They won Game 4 by playing a ridiculous level of defense. Actually, the first four games of the series were defined by defense. No one scored 100 points in a game. Hell, no one even scored 30 in any quarter until Game 5. It was 2-2, entering Game 5, back in the days of the 2-3-2 series. Dallas needed that game. Miami wanted it. Dallas won it, in the best way possible.

Until that series, Dallas had never really been an underdog, a place where the crowd had to get behind their raggedy team, but playing the Heatles changed that, and that Dallas crowd was all in, from the beginning with a quick start by Dallas giving them a 15-6 lead. Miami came back, but never pulled away, and the crowd was riotous the whole way through. What defined the game was what the crowd cheered for more than anything, a complete, unmistakable, before-its-time barrage of threes.

Dallas finished the game 13-20 from three. This is in a pre-Warriors, pre-Rockets era when that was fairly unheard of. Each one was better than the rest. There was aging, balding, custodian-like in every way Brian Cardinal, to DeShaun Stevenson mean-mugging a pair, to Jason Kidd, to so many others. Some were just audacious. Jason Terry hit a bank three off balance falling backwards. JJ Barea hit a pair, including one of the highest-arcing threes I've ever seen. If ever there was a three that could compete with the height of Barea's it would be the one that Dirk Nowitzki hit a few minutes later.

The Heat came to play as well. Mario Chalmers, before he became the starting PG for two title teams, high three threes. Mike Miller added a few. This was the year before the Heat really figured out their rotation, when hilariously, Juwon Howard and Mike Bibby were rotation players. So many small moments in the game stay with me the few times I've rewatched, but nothing more than this being an intersection between the game as it would become (jacking threes from all over) to the game of the past that I'm really nostalgic for (Peja, Kidd, Terry, Matrix, Bibby, etc.). The first half was an incredible back-and-forth run of threes and jams and fast breaks, ending with Dallas up 60-57. The pace slowed in teh second, but the intensity remained and the legacy grew.

The Big 3 of course made their mark in such different ways. LeBron only really took the alpha dog role in Miami the next year, and in this series you had to wonder who was the actual alpha. Wade was far better than LeBron in the 2011 Finals, and this game featured that odd dynamic to a tee. Wade injured his hip in teh first half, and twice needed to recede back to the Heat locker room for treatment. He twice came back, fueling Heat runs both time. LeBron was healthy, but mentally impaired. He continued arguably his worst playoff series of his career. James was absent, so often standing behind the arc catching and passing off the ball in one continuous motion. His few drives seemed lazy and uninspired. James learned so much from this series, never taking a playoff series off in his life again. He learned, we all did.

The game hit its apex late in the game, with the Jason Terry three heard around the NBA world. The Mavs were up 105-101 but a few stops and the Heat had a chance. Haslem walled off and denied Nowitzki well, leaving the Jason's Kidd and Terry to pass the ball back and forth. With the shot clock hitting five, Terry pulled him, dribbled a few times and launched. Launched it over James, over the NBA aristocracy that was supposed to make the season a foregone conclusion, and nailed in. Breen gave an All-Time bang. JET, despite saying he wouldn't do it until the series was over, ran down the court, arms extended in his trademark pose. He popped the Jersey. He earned it. The Mavericks as a whole earned it.

The game returned to Jackson pounding James defense in a way only he can ('Hand down... Man DOWN!') and Van Gundy called it the best finals game he had ever seen. Van Gundy isn't one for hyperbole but he was right, this was truly a special game. It was still to date, the last stand for the old non-Big Three / Superteam driven NBA. With a style that would become in vogue but a team far from it, the Mavericks showed what depth, what drive, what passion could do. They would wrap things up in Game 6 in Dallas in a surprisingly easy road win, but this game was the true legacy one. It was a show for a city that embraced basketball for years getting their due, with a handful of players who have Hall of Fame cases collectively getting theirs.

The Villains of Vegas

The Vegas Golden Knights are playing in the Stanley Cup Final, and are if anything somehow the betting favorite. A sleeping giant all year, one that always had really strong underlying numbers despite having awful luck, they awoke fully when coach Bruce Cassidy was fired with eight games to go in the season, repalced by John Tortorella. The Knights suddenly didn't lose in those eight games, avoided a scare against the Ducks, and then ran roughshod over the heretofore clear best team in teh league. The 2026 Knights are a fun story, but the fact that this is their third trip to the Cup Final in nine years of existing, and a whole other host of issues are putting a dark, Golden Knights gray-themed cloud over everything.

Let's start with one clear point, the Vegas players, with one (huge) exception I will talk about, are mostly blameless. We can quibble about Mitch Marner's drama in leaving Toronto and shitting on them on the way out, but whatever. On the ice, he's a great player who is finding another gear. There are a lot of generally talented and likeable players on the team, from Mark Stone, healthier than he has been in years, to Jack Eichel, to youngsters like Dorofayev and so many others. But everything about Vegas the organization is just tough to deal with right at this second.

Let's start with maybe the most ridiculous thing going on right now, which is the saga of teh Vegas Golden Knights not letting fired coach Bruce Cassidy interview for the Edmonton Oilers job. Yes, I get that the Oilers are a division rival, but I just don't understand how the Knights should be able to block someone they chose to fire. I get that technically tehy gave him some other FO role or something, but this just wreaks of the "we don't have to play by teh rules" approach that they've had for years now. How no one has made a bigger deal out of this is beyond me.

Then there's the signing of Carter Hart, one of the Canada Hockey guys who went on trail for sexually assaulting a woman. Yes, they were found not guilty, and a level further than just standard "not guilty" (though critically, not "innocent") but there was a lot of weird stuff that went on in that trial even outside of anything to do with the players. Most of the five players caught up in that have been persona-non-grata in the league. They all got suspended for a while. No one touched Hart, until the Golden Knights had goalie trouble, and of course Hart has repaid them by being brilliant (it always works out for the worst people).

We can go further on this, both micro - like them not speaking to the media, which resulted in a big fine and losing a 2nd round pick (honestly, good on Bettman there). And then macro, like their repeated playing aroudn with the salary cap / LTIR rules when it came to Mark Stone. Yes, many other teams did something of the like, including memorably the Lightning with Kucherov in the 2020-21 season, but teh Knights did it multiple years in a row with the same player without even the least shred of guilt.

Finally in my list of greivances is yes, the cold ruthless way they've churned through players. Now, to be fair, by all reports they are an extremely accommodating franchise to current players, but the second a player outlives what they feel his usefulness to be, by god to they go for the jugular. The first and most memorable example was Marc-Andre Fleury and the famous back-stabbing photojob by his agent after they traded for Robin Lehner. At the time, people were mostly in the "come on Marc, grow up" camp, but little did we know that was the first in a series of cruel, cold, calculating decisions. Now, most of them have worked - its why this team has made its 3rd Stanley Cup Final with a roster that includes just three of the misfits from the first season, but its also led to a lot of sour memories. 

None of this matters if you are a Vegas fan, and more than that, a fan of the NHL at large. Vegas's success out of the game, and more than that even, their continued success, is a story worth celebrating for the league. They took the jump into Las Vegas before anyone (a city that by 2031 or so will likely have all four major sports), and I've read a lot of reports that Vegas cares about the Knights more than the Raidres, adn certainly will more than the A's (if that even happens at this point). I would dare claim they'll remain more popular than the NBA team. The NHL moved first, and it has paid off spectacularly creating a singular event-like atmosphere there, as the team's game production has leaned far into the things Vegas affords you. Still, you just wish you could like the organization a bit more.

Eight years ago I wrote about Vegas when they made that first Cup Final, and wrote largely that I was fine with that fact. I awsn't jealous of this upstart team making a final. It helps when I had watched my favorite team win a few by that point. I thought it was cool that the NHL had this magical story, and the Knights that year were one. The second that second year, when they traded for Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, becuase they rightly realized their first season was still a bit of a fluke, and they became this ruthless, never-ending series of trades, signings adn cap machinations, it quickly became less magical. In 2018, I wasn't mad at Vegas for making the final, but was greatly hoping they wouldn't win, mostly because I wanted Ovi to get his cup. There's no Ovi on the 2026 Hurricanes, but still - for the good of all of us, Vegas, just lie down. Especially since god knows what a loss in teh final will convince their ownership and leadership to try next.