Moment of Truth (1980 NBA Finals and 1987 NBA Finals) – 1) Magic Johnson in game 6 plays center with Kareem injured and scores 42 to win the series against Dr. J and the Sixers. 2) Magic makes a stunning 12 foot hook shot over Kevin Mchale with seconds remaining to win game 4 of the finals. The Lakers beat the Celtics in 6 games. Magic has 5 rings.
Moment of Truth (1987 Eastern Conference Finals) – Game 5, Larry Bird steals the ball from Isaiah Thomas and passes to Dennis Johnson with seconds remaining to win by 1 point. The Celtics go on to win that series in 7 games. Larry has 3 rings.
Moment of Truth (1988 NBA Finals) - Isiah Thomas scores 25 points in the 4th quarter with a sprained ankle to help keep his team in game 6 against the Lakers. Although the Pistons lost the game and the series, I have seen few single game efforts to match his. Isiah has 2 rings.
Moment of Truth (1994 NBA Finals) – Down 3-2 to Pat Riley and the NY Knicks, Hakeem Olajawon leads his team to two straight victories to beat Pat Ewing’s team. Hakeem has 2 rings.
Moment of Truth (Any Year, Michael Jordan) – No need to list his achievements as MJ or Air Jordan ALWAYS performed when it mattered. 6 rings.
Moment of Truth (2000 Western Conference Finals) – Down by 15 points with just over 10 minutes to play in the 4th quarter of game 7 to Portland, Kobe and Shaq rally back to win the game. They go on to win their first NBA championship. Kobe and Shaq have 3 consecutive rings.
There are many more of the aforementioned moments but one thing they have in common is that GREAT players perform in the clutch.
Let’s look at Dirk:
Moment of Truth (2006 NBA Finals) – Up 2-0 on an unimpressive Miami team and leading by 14 points in the 4th quarter in Game 3, Dirk does NOTHING to help his team close out that game. If they win that game, the series is essentially over and Dallas becomes NBA champions. 0 for 1 in his quest for a ring.
Moment of Truth (2007 First round playoffs) – After winning 67 games and stampeding through the league, Dirk ALLOWS his team to lose to a Golden state team that only qualified for the playoffs in the last week of the season. He makes only 2 shots in the final game. 0 for 2 in his quest for a ring.
Can you imagine MJ’s bulls losing round one after their 72 -10 season in the mid 90's?
I like Dirk’s game but his "Moment of Truth" moments cannot be ignored.
In an era with no supreme player like MJ, Bird, Moses, Kareem or Magic, Dirk had his chance last year to put a Greatness stamp on an already impressive career. What did he do? Allowed his team to get swept in the last 4 games of the 2006 NBA championship! Infancy.
This year, I expected Dallas to at least be in the finals as they had one of the best regular seasons in modern times. What did he contribute? Not much and made hollow remarks about being frustrated or disappointed! Infancy.
How about this remark Dirk? “I let my team down and played horribly this year and last year and I take total responsibility for it”. Next year, I guarantee that we will win the championship.”
Even if one has only a single "Moment of Truth" moment in a career, one must seize it. Dwayne Wade has had only one so far, but he annihilated it like a man on fire last year in the NBA finals. That is what CLUTCH players do.
To be fair there are many Dirks out there (past and present NBA) including Pat Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson and John Stockton just to name a few. They get a little more leeway since most faltered in the MJ era but they still had chances to perform and WIN in their "Moment of Truth". They didn’t and will forever be ringless. Iverson and Kidd will never win an NBA title unless they sign on with a Tim Duncan type team when they are over the hill and hanging around only for a ring.
Dirk is an infant now but he is fortunate in that he has time to DELIVER unlike the mailman Karl Malone. He has time to make his mark and BARK loudly unlike Sir Charles Barkley. He can even GLIDE into greatness unlike Clyde “The Glide” Drexler.
Will he?
He should being surrounded by a strong owner with a winning organization. Mark Cuban has done a wonderful job taking that team from nothing and making it work superbly. Maybe Mark needs to loan Dirk some of the fire and energy that has made him successful in technology and sports.
Dirk has talent around him.
Dirk has a good coach.
Dirk is tremendously talented.
The GREAT players perform when it matters most. Dirk has had relatively easy “Moment of Truth” moments thus far and failed miserably. The road never gets easier.
Maybe he should watch and learn from the Accenture advertisement with Tiger Woods.
It says simply “Go ahead, Be a Tiger”.
Gswede
Sunday, May 6, 2007
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