This was certainly not what we expected.

The Oklahoma City Thunder?  Perhaps.  The San Antonio Spurs?  OK, we’d buy that.

But I’d attest that there was absolutely no one (at least in their sane mind) who believed that the Dallas Mavericks would defeat, and even sweep, the Los Angeles Lakers – who, mind you, had the home court advantage in the series.

Breaking down the box scores would be virtually useless in determining the demise of the Lakers.  The reasons that the Mavs are headed to the Western Conference Finals is three-fold:

1.  Phil Jackson did nothing to illustrate what many believe – that he is a coaching mastermind.  The Mavericks stole Game 1, after a meltdown of unusual proportions from a team with an NBA championship pedigree. L.A. also let Game 3 slip out of its grasp late in the final quarter. And in a game that would be declared a must-win by sheer definition, the Lakers were dominated from the opening tip in Game 4. Nowitzki consistently damaged Los Angeles, but Jackson did nothing out of the ordinary to slow down the big German. P.J. has to take the fall for not making adjustments to prevent Dallas from taking full advantage of their sole mismatch. The Lakers knew that the Mavs would also rely heavily upon its shooting, and Dallas did so without much resistance. Wide open looks seemed to be the theme, and there is absolutely no excuse for that when a team is down 0-3 in the series. So, Jackson needs to bear his part for the lack of preparation, adjustment and motivation of his team.

2. Too much finger-pointing caused the Lakers to crack at the seams.  With every loss, there’s a theme – Who’s to blame? Was it Kobe Bryant not passing the ball? Or not being aggressive enough? Was Pau Gasol playing too soft once again? Did the Lakers pound the paint and get production from Andrew Bynum? Was Derek Fisher too slow and old at the point? Was Lamar Odom too inconsistent? Reporters fire many questions away at losing teams, and its imperative that the responses don’t insinuate that the team’s weakness lies within any one specific player. Phil and his team often entertain these questions far more often than they should, damaging team chemistry and focus.

The Lakers' self-critical nature may have curtailed their attempt at a three-peat.

3. What was the Black Mamba doing?  Kobe Bryant had an expected stat line in the series opener, putting up 36 points on 29 shots. But after somehow letting the Mavs walk out of the Staples Center victorious, the media attention shifted to focus on the fact that Bryant had zero assists – and that the Lakers weren’t exploiting their obvious advantage in the paint. Game 2, Kobe came out and gave a concentrated effort to distribute the ball – in particular passing the rock into the post. Even after falling short in Game 2, Bryant played with the same passiveness when the series moved to Dallas. Today, Mamba showed some signs of life in the first quarter (13 points), but the Mavericks had shot the Lakers out of the building by halftime. It almost seemed as if Bryant was pulling a Gilbert Arenas – not shooting the ball to spite his coach and his naysayers – as if to say “look what happens when I’m not aggressive”. In addition to that, Bryant failed to save the Lakers with his usual array of late-game heroics that we’ve been accustomed to. Clearly, there was something bothering Mamba, and I’m not buying that it was strictly the Dallas defense.

Although, we’ve become used to witnessing nothing but success from the Lakers, there’s certainly no reason to blow up this team. Their core of Bryant, Gasol, Bynum and Odom remains one of the best in the league based on their combination of size, skill and experience. A few pieces to increase the team speed and quality depth would help put L.A. back where we’re used to seeing them.

But as for now, enjoy two more rounds of the NBA postseason without Jackson and the Mamba.

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