Foreign Players Make Out Big In Mass Exodus Overseas

By Krystina Lucido

The NBA has officially been in lockout for 29 days, and instead of coverage heard during the NFL lockout about positions, demands and time expectancies, NBA players are taking a stand, showing league executives they don’t need an in-home league to play ball.

Starting with Deron Williams signing with Besiktas, a small mass of players followed, either signing contracts with international teams or at least considering the possibility should the lockout continue into the season as expected.

Keeping your face out there, continuing to make money playing a game you love, avoiding the loss of momentum -- there are plenty of reasons to play overseas as opposed to waiting out the inevitable here in the States. But who makes out best in his scenario?

Basketball made a huge outburst internationally, especially since the previous NBA lockout, which took place before the 1998-99 season. In 12 years, NBA Global boasts representation in countries including Africa, the UK, China, Canada and more. Though it has made such progress, international pride still holds more weight in most of these countries than anything else.

Players hailing from foreign countries have an advantage in the current mass exodus to international basketball waters. They stand to gain the most financially and in notoriety. It will be interesting to see when the tables turn and Serge Ibaka is the most popular player on the floor over Dwight Howard.

Paul Shirley understands what playing in Europe is all about. Author of the book, Can I Keep My Jersey?, this self-proclaimed basketball vagabond played for 11 teams in nine years, seven of which were international. Even though he never quite reached the status of a Kobe Bryant, his knowledge of the international basketball culture is well-documented.

"As far as the treatment of the players goes, it is true that if you're in Russia, I think (Andrei) Kirilenko is going to be a bigger name than whoever might go, Chris Paul or something like that," Shirley said. "I guess if the players are big enough, if by some miracle Dwight Howard wanted to play in Europe, I suppose he would be a big enough name that he would be the star there. But there is a lot of nationalism and loyalty to a home-grown talent and I don’t know if Americans can compete with that."

NBA commissioner David Stern has always pushed for a basketball culture to grow internationally, but the business aspects of the game in foreign countries are vastly different than what American athletes are accustomed to. Besiktas, for example, was already found to be involved in a futbol-fixing scandal and their funds were frozen as a result. Any player that previously played for an international team knows the luxuries are not nearly the same as the ones given to the basketball elite back in the States.

In his book, Shirley recounted multiple stints with international teams who housed him in small, unseemly living quarters and were late making payments for his services. The grass is certainly not greener across the Atlantic.

"I'm still owed like $53,000 from that team in Greece and another $15,000 by the team in Spain," Shirley said. "A lot of the money that's bandied about is theoretical. It's kind of like talking about the debt crisis, none of this is real. So it comes to actually getting teams to pay up; I think it will harder than people realize."

However, international players know this and are comfortable with it for three reasons. One, they are most likely not the culprit, since they are from these countries and would be treated well by their brethren. They are also reaping the benefits of already being internationally known and respected in their countries for playing in the NBA, which means if they return to actually play in their country, they are heroes. And they don’t even have to worry about making it onto a team.

American players are the ones who should be concerned. There is a cap on the number of American players that can be on one team, usually capped at two, though some teams extended that rule to three.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets relaxed a little bit, maybe this year," Shirley said. "But in general, I've been watching carefully to see who gets these jobs because there just aren’t very many jobs. It's not necessarily fair, but it makes sense. The leagues want local interest in the game. If they just shipped over 12 Americans, there wouldn’t be as much interest, but it does cut down on the availability of jobs pretty quickly."

International clubs will not have nearly the amount of resources necessary to absorb 32 NBA teams into their coffers, but even the ones they do will be experiencing immense pay cuts. The face time players will get for their personal brands will prosper, but most of the tangible benefits they are used to receiving will remain unattainable.

Read my full interview with Paul Shirley.

Rookie School With Gilbert Arenas

By Payton Wales

With the lockout upon us, the NBA cancelled a lot of its summer events, none more important than the Rookie School, a place where all NBA rookies go to learn about how to manage their new life. Money, groupies, work ethic, social media, etc. are all topics covered in the school.

Now, with the lockout, there isn't going to be a class. So it's up to the veterans to school the newbies on how to act in the NBA, and who better to teach than the master himself: Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas.

Why is he the master, you ask? Well, because nothing says maturity and a grasp of the NBA lifestyle better than bringing loaded guns to the locker room for a practical joke and then a couple days later making fun of the whole event in front of a live audience during player introductions. It was a stay-classy moment if ever we saw one, and that is why we are ecstatic he will be teaching our rookies.

Today, we have two lessons from Agent Zero. Perk up your ears, kiddos and listen.

Lesson One: How To Treat Your Plethora of Dates

Below is a diagram of how your date should go, according to Gil. Don't forget to use social media to berate your date, and as always use your smart phone to take a picture of the hi-jinx so you can show the world exactly what you are talking about. Let's take a peek below as Agent Zero takes us on one of his blind dates via Twitter:





This is a perfect example of how your date should go, rookie. Don't let anyone like your mother or father tell you otherwise because, honestly, how would they know? Are they millionaires? Do they play basketball for a living? Do they have a black card? Did they ever get more women than Wilt on an off day? No, so ignore their advice and listen to Uncle Gil. Follow the rules below.

1. Don't let them think you respect them.
2. Make sure the world knows you don't respect them.
3. Treat them as you see them, in this case, like a prostitute.
4. Berate them as much as you can, women like that and it's sure to get you some action.

-- To be fair, people, the girl does look like a homeless Thundercat in that shirt. And what the hell is the blue thing supposed to be? Is that an Arch-Reactor? Is she wearing an Ironman suit? I mean, if there was an Ironman suit that looked like a character from the stage play Cats. I'm not so sure Gilbert did the wrong thing here. Regardless, let's move on to the next lesson.

Lesson Number Two: Organizing Women in Your Smart Phone

This was another lesson provided by Agent Zero via Twitter. Let's see what he has to say?

 

 For those of you that need a closer look, here you go:

 

The lesson is pretty clear here. For optimal satisfaction, organize your phone as such. Some things to note while you look through this list:

• Out of the 107 girls on the list, he only respects one. I'm going to assume its a family member and leave it at that.
• Notice how there is not a list for "Plays Hard to Get" or "Girls I'd Date." That's because, as an NBA athlete, these categories should not exist for you, unless you are Doug Christie, in which case you only have one number in your phone anyway. I doubt his wife even allows him to keep his mother's number in his phone.

Now remember, Gilbert is just giving you the blueprint here, but there are obviously many different categories  by which you can list your conquests. Be creative, and if you are a pro, like Agent Zero, you should have your own stable of career NBA hoochies in no time.

Next weeks lesson: Password Protecting Your Phone, Multiple Phone Usage and special guest Shawn Kemp will stop by to teach you how to avoid your child support payments. School's out for the day.

-- It's obvious Arenas hasn't learned much, if anything, from his downfall in Washington, but can you get mad at him for this? At least he is being honest, and if he is joking around, he is blasting us for stereotyping players and that is just as good. It's no surprise this is what an NBA player's phone looks like. For that matter, I doubt any of the women are surprised either. They know they are on these lists and they know they aren't the only women in these players lives. Almost all of them, I said ALMOST, are not there for love anyway. They want the free ride, the fairytale. If you don't believe me, go google some of the sites out there dedicated to promoting groupie behavior among today's young women. OK... old women too.

As far as I'm concerned, if you are going to ride Arenas for this and say how bad it is, then you need to call out the hundreds of thousands of women who are willing to be on this list. Trust me, if you pick any 10 women you know right now, six of them would sleep with a pro athlete just to do it. If they were all married to a normal guy, I'd say at least four still would. And that, my friends, is the truth of the matter.

So is Agent Zero really wrong to put this up on Twitter? I say no.

Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

By Payton Wales

Let me start this off by saying I'm not familiar with the continuum of good ol' Cap. Sure, I've read some of the different comic series he has been involved in, but never to the extent that I could be considered an aficionado. I say this so if I miss something or agree with something even though it isn't historically accurate, you nerds ... er ... people don't attack me. After all, I am one of you. A nerd, that is.

The First Avenger takes us through the origin story of the pint-sized Steve Rogers and his transformation into our hero, Captain America. Set in World War II, The First Avenger takes us on a nostalgic ride through the time period while showing there were evils far worse than Hitler in the heart of Germany during the war and, of course, our hero is here to vanquish them all.

First things first. I'll be honest, Captain America isn't going to be the action-packed thrill ride Ironman was. That's not to say it doesn't have its fair share of action, but this movie chooses to focus more on the story and the era it takes place in, something that gives this movie charm, especially compared to the CGI/whizzbang-heavy Thor and Green Lantern. Captain America does have it's share of CGI, but it manages to almost seamlessly blend it into the the atmosphere of the movie.

The cast also plays a massive role in bringing this movie to life. Everyone has hit their marks in this piece. I did struggle with Chris Evans as Captain America just a little bit, but it had less to do with his acting and more to do with what I was bringing into the film from his previous movies. After I got past my own preconceived notions, his performance became more real to me.

Haylee Atwell does a great job as Peggy Carter, the strong-willed soldier and love interest of Rogers. The best thing she does is not overplay, or underplay for that matter, her role. This seems to always be a problem in the superhero movies and it's affected even the best actresses. For whatever reason when we try to bring a woman lead from a comic book to the screen, it just doesn't translate well. Maybe it's the strong yet frail nature of those characters. Maybe its the fact that a woman in real life cannot live up to the ... ahem ... amplified features of the comic. Regardless, Atwell nails the complexities of the character.

Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as Colonel Chester Phillips. His deadpan delivery gives the movie the edge and comedic relief it needs. Another great performance is given by Hugo Weaving and the Red Skull, leader of Hydra, archenemy of the Captain and the world for that matter. It's nice to finally see Weaving's face again in a movie ... er ... sorta. The last one I can remember seeing his actual face in is probably the Matrix Revolutions.

This movie is one of Marvel's gems upon many misses. It delivers enough action to keep you entertained while delivering an origin story that can still hold the public's interest. Although, at this point, I think we can safely eliminate the origin story as the starter movie, especially rebooting from the origin. Do you hear me, The Amazing Spiderman? The First Avenger delivers the goods while helping to establish the blueprint for successful comic book movies in the future.

As good as Catain America was, it was not without its flaws. The movie teetered on being too long and even had a song and dance routine that prompted me to turn to my friend and say, "OK I get it. Can we stop now?" The plot of the movie itself was good, not overly ambitious, and from everything I can tell, stuck to the mythos of the comics. But as the movie approaches finality, some small plot holes, or "illogical WTFs" as I like to call them, do appear. I don't want to give away too much, but I'd really like to know what was actually wrong with that plane. Seems like they skipped an explanation as to why it had to be landed right there. At least tell me there is something wrong with the plane's navigation.

All in all, The First Avenger was an enjoyable ride, giving us a sense of nostalgia while providing some insight into why a character like Captain America was important to the American public during World War II and even beyond.

Captain America: The First Avenger should give you  exactly what you are looking for in a summer movie: a lot good, some bad and worth your $10.

Rating: 3.5/5 Dribbles

Metta World Peace Is Here To Smash All You Knew About Ron Artest

Photoshop by Payton Wales

By Payton Wales

Change is good. It may be cliche to say, but the thing with cliches is they are called that for a reason. In this case, the cliche, like most, holds plenty of truth.
 
Now, the change is coming for a player many once considered the black eye of the league. A player that, for almost his entire NBA career, has quietly but visibly battled his personal demons, and recently chose to open up to the world about his demons, bringing to light a subject many in the media and general public chose to ignore. Brushing them off as ploys to get attention or, even worse, the rantings of a lunatic, someone whose sanity would discredit the validity of the issues he had brought to light.

For Ron Artest, this is the case. His list of quirky behavior, starting all the way back to his first years as a pro in Chicago, is a long one. His campaign to work at Circuit City in his down time as a rookie, his outbursts on the court, his elaborate hair and, of course, the massive brawl in Detroit where, if truth be told, Artest was more protagonist than the antagonist he is now portrayed.

But that's how the media portrays Artest, and that is how the public receives him. Crazy, off his rocker and foolish. And, oddly enough, that is just how he perceives most fans, ignorant to think he should be held to some lofty, politically-correct standard that they put on our athletes, foolish because they chose not only to look at the highly-publicized negatives but failed to scratch away at the surface to see the positive accomplished by that same person.



Everyone questioned his sanity when he thanked his therapist after winning the championship. One of the last things expected to be heard from any male, and probably female, pro athlete, let alone a certified tough guy like Artest. But there he was, baring his soul to the world. The response, "told you he was crazy." For the record, Artest suffered with depression and anxiety disorders his entire life. The fact that he can admit it in today's society is a credit to his character.

Of course when Artest announced at the beginning of the 2010-11 season he would be donating more than half of his season's salary to various children's mental health organizations as well as auctioning his NBA championship ring for the same cause, people did all but institutionalize Artest.

So when Artest went to the county clerk in L.A. June 23 to put in an application to change his name, people were bound to have something to say.

Metta World Peace would be the new monkier and one the public would scrutinize well before it understood it.

Once news of the name broke, all the same accusations came up. He is crazy; he just wants attention, typical athlete narcissism. Except that's not what the last few years have been about at all. His actions throughout the last year have been about everyone but Metta World Peace.

Bringing to light a subject as taboo in sports society as depression and anxiety wasn't for his benefit. He didn't auction off his ring or donate several million dollars for attention. He did it so those who are less fortunate than he will get attention, receive help and maybe even respect.

Maybe the goal of world peace is unobtainable, but it is a beautiful thought and a beautiful goal. Maybe it doesn't have to be world peace in the literal sense. Maybe Metta World Peace is just trying to encourage everyone to find the peace within themselves. Maybe he is just trying to encourage thought.

Maybe Peace has it right. Maybe society is all twisted up and at war inside. The obsession with violence, hate, drama and destruction is seemingly unprecedented. We celebrate and follow musicians with names that depict violence, sex, murderers, weapons, money and historical crime lords. We love to watch reality TV, a constant reminder there are others out there more damaged than ourselves. Not to mention most of the movies out now celebrate death and gore as if it should be common place in everyday life.

Maybe it does make sense then to label Metta World Peace crazy. To try and mock someone  who represents the opposite of what so many love and enjoy in this day and age. How dare he stand for something good and positive after so many years stumbling around as our champion of tomfoolery and violence, a court jester now trying to be a knight.

Maybe Metta has had it right the whole time. Maybe everyone else is crazy, maybe everyone else is slightly unhinged. After all who among us would give up millions and a championship ring for nothing in return but the knowledge that you made a difference? Would everyone not consider that person crazy?

The perception may be Metta World Peace is crazy, but to the people he has helped, inspired and given hope to, he will forever be the opposite. For them, Metta World Peace is exactly what his name means.

Besides maybe, just maybe, you have to be a little crazy to be exceptional and give the world something great.

More Questions Than Answers Left Behind After the Finals

Photoshop by Payton Wales

This NBA season was brilliant, seriously, just brilliant. It couldn't have played out better, and not because the Whore of Akron lost in the Finals. Honestly, I would have preferred he lose to the Sixers but that's just me.

This season was about more than LeBron James and the disgusting amount of media coverage that followed him. It was a great coming-of-age story for players such as Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.

For others, the year was a taste of bitter sweet reality. Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton, Derek Fisher, Yao Ming and Vince Carter are drawing near the end of their careers, seemingly making way for a new generation of talent to take their rightful place.

But that didn't happen. See I, like most of the world, thought three things were going to happen.

1. The Lakers or the Celtics, the old guard for discussion sake, would win the title and maintain their hold on the league for another year.
2. If not the old guard, then definitely someone from the new. (I'm referring to Miami, Oklahoma City, Chicago or Portland. All very capable of winning it and ushering in a new era.)
3. Ke$ha would, hopefully, fade into oblivion.

I, like the rest of the word, obviously struck out on those assumptions.

None of that happened. Instead, a new champion from the old guard was crowned. And that champion left with more questions than answers when it comes to the future of the NBA.

It was thought this would be the year James solidified his position as the best player in the NBA. Instead, he shied away from the title, disappearing in the Finals. Maybe he cracked under the pressure, maybe he isn't the player everyone thought he could be, maybe this just wasn't his year, maybe, to hear LeBron tell it, God just didn't want him to win this year.

Without James, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose managing to place an imprint on the league during the Finals, fans are left wondering who will be the dominant team and players of the future. It's not that the Mavericks can't repeat as champions, but somehow I don't see a dynasty coming out of a team who's two or three years away from pudding time, at least by NBA standards.

Compile that with the looming lockout, and the wonder begins on where the league is headed in the near future.

It's obvious the generation of James, Durant and Rose will be the future. But when will they pry it from the dying grip of Kobe Bryant (Lakers), Kevin Garnett (Celtics), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas) and Tim Duncan's (Spurs) dying hands.

Or maybe the better question is who will pry it from their hands?

The Miami Heat would seem most likely to become the team of the future, even with this year's failure. Although it could be said this year wasn't a failure at all. Many pundits did not pick them to reach the Finals, let alone get past the Celtics. But the Heat overcame lofty expectations, overcame the large amount of scrutiny and pulled it together by the end of the season to make a rather superb run to the Finals.

Doing it again is a whole separate affair. Teams in the East have gotten a taste of what the Heat are serving and they now have some idea of what it will take to stop them. That's not to say Miami can't get better as well, but their cap space is minimal and they still have a few holes to plug.

Miami will have to make sure they stay ahead of the pack. The Bulls, Knicks and even the aging Celtics are only one player or two away from giving the Heat massive problems next year. Top that off with the upcoming CBA and what limitations it may put on maxed-out teams like the Heat, and you will be sure to find some financially smart teams keeping pace with Miami's super team.

While on the subject of the Heat, Lebron James' name is inevitable to come up. The subject may be worn out, but the questions are still there. Who will James become?  He hasn't shown to be the player everyone labeled him: the next MJ, the next Big O, half Magic-half Michael. Maybe everyone had it wrong. Maybe he is more like Dominique Wilkins. Maybe we shouldn't label him at all until he establishes himself in some way.

The Heat will not win a title. At least not in the next two years, if at all. It's going to take a lot of work and there is just too much that can happen while they are trying to put it together. Dwyane Wade has a lot of miles on his body, the team has limited cap space and Chris Bosh seems lost, even when he is putting in work. The league and its players are just as pissed about the super union as the rest of America. If the Heat can embrace that bad guy role and Riley makes some magic happen with their salary cap, they may have a chance.

With all that said, who is next to step up to the proverbial challenge?

As much as I want to say the Lakers will regain their dominance, I really think it's Oklahoma City. They have the nucleus in place and are a bench player or two away from cementing their place in history. The Thunder have the cap space and and trade pieces to make some moves, and on top of that, they are versatile. They are getting stronger year by year and noticeably learning on the fly.

What could knock them out of contention? Injuries would be a major cause and the possible bad apple in the famously family-oriented locker room. There are already rumors Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have some co-existence issues. But, on a team like this, that can be easily fixed.

If the Thunder have a good draft/offseason, a championship could be on the horizon for the Oklahoma Skyline in the near future.

The Lakers will have something to say about this though. LA is not young, but they are not old, despite the stories. Derek Fisher may look old, but that's because he is a bench player in a starting role. It has been time for him to take a backseat for awhile and this upcoming year may be that time.

This middle-aged -- at least by NBA standards -- group of misfits will need to get younger at the point guard position rather quickly. They have done a good job of drafting some size at the power forward and small forward positions for the future and, baring injury, Andrew Bynum should be a dominate center for the next decade.

Drafting a point guard with athleticism and good defensive ability will be important. (This actually happened as this column was being written.) The second part of returning to form will either be getting Shannon Brown to become a consistent producer or trading him for someone who will produce.

The third factor that could help the Lakers is a lockout. A lockout will help the Lakers as well as the Spurs and Celtics. An extra month or two to rest, get treatment on ailing injuries and rehab will help the aging and injured stars on these teams. The Lakers, who are younger than the Celtics and Spurs, would stand to reap the most benifit from this time off.

But why will the lockout serve the older teams more than younger teams. Young teams need offseason mini camps, instruction and guidance. Whether it's learning new plays, a new defense or just adding more weapons to the team's general arsenal, a young team needs extra time to implement this things. Older teams with veteran players find it easier to implement these changes, if they need any changes at all.

The Lakers don't have many holes, and they are very capable of returning to the throne. The question is will they make the right moves to do so? With a new coach in tow and more rest this summer than any of these players has seen in the last two years combined, the Lakers should make a solid run at it. Add in a small lockout and that road will become a little bit easier.

The questions for the Celtics this offseason are many. They are obviously old. KG and Paul Pierce seemingly ran out of steam in the playoffs, and whether Celtics fans want to admit it or not, something happened to the team's chemistry when they traded Kendrick Perkins. Can they get it back? Sure. It's a new season on the horizon, but they will have plenty of holes to fill.

Jeff Green was not the answer they thought he might be, and Troy Murphy is, well, he is stiff when it comes to production. Add the free agency of Glenn Davis, who virtually disappeared (virtually because physically you can't hide a man that size) and you will have some serious gaps to close.

Getting rid of Davis may be an option, and they will surely need to find someone better than Troy Murphy to help out in the paint. But make no mistake, the Celtics will be competitive, and in a title hunt, so long as the Fabulous Four are playing together, and after what the Miami Heat did to them, this year they will have plenty to play for.

The rest of the league still has questions, too. How will the lockout play out? Will the CBA force teams like the Heat to get rid of a player like Chris Bosh? Will the Heat ever sell out a game and stop pumping in crowd noise? Can the Grizzlies find a way to keep Marc Gasol and keep their team on its meteoric rise? Will James become the player we expected him to? Will we see another dynasty in the upcoming decade? And, of course, who will be the next player to step up to the challenge of being considered the greatest ever?

One thing is for sure, there will be plenty to argue about and look forward to this upcoming year. Lockout pending, of course. If any questions were answered this year about the direction the league is headed, it's this one: The NBA has once again risen to must-see TV, a league where almost anything is possible and the days of claiming things are watered down are long gone.

Finally! A Ring to Remember

Photoshop by Payton Wales

MIAMI -- For one group of wily veterans, June 12 will be the day that cemented their basketball legacies. For Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki, the night's victory also added the extra sweet taste of redemption. On the other side of the spectrum, LeBron James left more questions than answers.

When it was all said and done, the Dallas Mavericks hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy far above their heads after defeating the Miami Heat, 105-95, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. It was the first championship in the Mavericks 31-year history.

"Tonight, we got vindication," Terry, who led all scorers with 27 points, said after the win. The vindication Terry is talking about is the 2006 NBA Finals in which he and co-star Nowitzki lost to the Miami Heat in questionable fashion.

"I really still can't believe it," said Nowitzki, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Game 6 win. "We worked so hard and so long for it. The team has had an unbelievable ride."

Nowitzki also took home MVP honors, averaging 25.8 points and 10 rebounds over the course of the Finals.



The win also provided a slew of veterans with their first taste of a championship. Among them, Jason Kidd, Peja Stojakovic, Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stevenson, Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood made up a variable who's who of ringless veterans. That void is now filled, specifically for Kidd, who has been chasing a ring for 17 years, falling short twice in New Jersey. It's a career validation many of his contemporaries, including the great John Stockton, never obtained and one that puts him firmly into the conversation of best point guard ever.

For the Heat, the loss had the opposite effect for most of its players, specifically the ever-polarizing James, who scored 21 points and was left wondering what went wrong. He seemed to have a look of disbelief as he quickly shook hands and left the court. Dwyane Wade, who had been hurt in the previous game, seemed to be healthy, scoring 17 points in the loss. Chris Bosh, 19 points, and Mario Chalmers, 18 points, rounded out the scoring for the Heat.

James, who had fallen under a lot of scrutiny from the media and public, found himself labeled a vanishing act and rightfully so. In Game 4, James disappeared from the scoreboard, posting the lowest scoring total of his career with only 8 points in the game.

James followed that performance with a triple double in Game 5, but it was a quiet one as James seemed disinterested and discombulated, especially in the fourth quarter where he managed to score only 2 points. James' lack of scoring became a pattern that would continue throughout the series, playing passively even when his team was losing or other teammates, such as Wade, were injured and benched for a majority of the game.

The failure of the Heat had most of the American public in a tizzy, seemingly drunk off Miami's inability to keep their promise of seven-straight rings for the city. But more so than the Heat's failure as a collective, the media and public seemed to thrive on the failure of James, who 10 months earlier had turned his free agency into what some would call a circus of arrogance.

When asked if the criticism off the court was bothering him, James said, "Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that."

The quote drew the immediate ire of the American public and became the focus of the social media landscape, including one last jab from his previous employer, Dan Gilbert, via Twitter: "Congrats to Mark C.&entire Mavs org. Mavs NEVER stopped & now entire franchise gets rings. Old Lesson for all: There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE."

The night belonged to Dallas and not everyone on the Heat was too bitter to show respect to the champions.

"All I remember is telling those guys that they deserved it," Bosh said. "Hands down, they were the better team in this series. ... All we can do is just admit it and move forward."

Dallas started the game with an early deficit, going down by 9 points with just more than six minutes to go in the opening quarter behind a poor shooting performance from Nowitzki who hit only one of his first 12 shots. But the Mavericks would close the gap behind the marksmanship of Terry and take the lead by the end of the first quarter, 32-27. The two teams exchanged the lead one last time late in the second quarter before  regaining it by the end of the first half.

The Heat made runs at the Mavericks' lead over the next two quarters, each time being thwarted until finally, with 2:27 left to go in the fourth, Nowitzki hit a 17-foot jumper, giving the Mavericks a 10-point lead. The Heat would not threaten the lead again as many of their fans headed for the exits.

Mark Cuban gave credit and praise in the ceremony that followed to his team, coach and the fans, in particular the ones who made the trip to South Beach and made up well over a quarter of the night's attendance. Cuban made it his personal mission to exchange hugs and handshakes with every one of those fans before concluding his night in the American Airlines Arena.

The rest of the Mavericks hoisted the trophy above their heads and gave loud yawlps of victory while enjoying the moment they had fought so hard to obtain, one that no one could take away from them. The Mavericks center Tyson Chandler summed it up best.

"We had no champions on this team,"  Chandler said. "And we walked away with a team full of champions."

All of the Lights

Photoshop by Payton Wales

MIAMI -- This was not where the Miami Heat thought they would be when this series started. Flying back home to Miami not for a parade, rather for Game 6 in a series they are down 3-2.

If you ask the Heat, they would say they should be up in the series 3-2. If you ask the Mavericks, they would tell you they should have won this already 4-1.  The Mavericks may have a case though.

Game 3 was riddled with bad calls in favor of the Heat, including a buzzer beater at halftime that, upon further review, was a backcourt violation. The shot covered the margin of victory for the Heat and gave them a 2-1 series lead.

Truth is this series has been one of the closest in years. Both teams fought for every second of every game, giving viewers the feeling of an epic tug-of-war. The Mavericks, who started the series heavily depending on superstar Dirk Nowitzki, have come together as a team, playing better defense and increasing their scoring in every game.

The Heat, who looked to be unstoppable after Game 1, sputtered in the last two games, finding it hard to keep up with the Mavericks' late-game charges. LeBron James has seemingly lost confidence in the last two games, proving ineffective and almost nonexistent in fourth quarters, a far cry from his dominance in the Eaastern Conference Finals.

To add injury to insult, Heat guard and team leader Dwyane Wade severely injured his hip in Game 5, limiting his minutes and effectiveness as a scorer. Miami's role players have done a good job keeping them in the last two games, but their efforts have not been enough.

Tonight, there is an air of finality to the game for the first time in this series. Tonight, the Dallas Mavericks can close out the Heat, ending the hype and making waste of all the pomp and circumstance that started almost a year ago with "The Decision."

Tonight, all of the lights will be shining and these two teams will finally feel the full-on pressure of the Finals.

The Mavericks will know the pressure of closing out the Finals against a team fighting desperately to stay alive, a team trying to prove there is more to them than rumors of collusion and bad decisions, that they are more than two superstars and Chris Bosh, but rather a collection of like-minded individuals with good chemistry and a respect for team.

For the Heat, they battle not only the Mavericks, but also the American public. A public that wants them to lose, a public that has been disgusted with the hype, the media coverage and arrogance the Heat have garnered. Tonight, the Heat have one game to keep their dream alive and earn the right to play one last time, to prove the critics, the media, the Mavericks and America wrong.

Tonight, there is no place left for either team to hide. Tonight, it's now or never, and tonight we will see it, right before our eyes, under all of the lights.