Spurs Dominate – Show Style & Grace

"You showed the world how beautiful this game is," Commissioner Adam Silver told the Spurs during the post-game award ceremony. It is what the San Antonio Spurs have done for the past decade despite being criticized by the media for having a boring and clinical style.

The Spurs have performed the same way for the past 10 years: Manu Ginobili splitting the offense either to lay up or occasionally jam the ball as he did in game 5 of this year’s lopsided finals, Tony Parker running the fast break, driving to the glass or tossing up a floater that glides over a seven footer swishing for two points. Tim Duncan’s classic turn around jump shot off the glass, and now series final MVP Kawhi Leonard who like Ginobili and Parker can do a variety of amazing things on the court.

R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich continue to put together teams that gel and perform at a high level. Danny Green, Ginobili, Parker, Leonard and new addition Paddy Mills all have the ability to shoot three pointers effectively.

The Spurs in perhaps the most dominant championship victory ever had the highest shooting percentage of any team since the advent of the shot clock. They shot 52.8% for the series eclipsing the 1991 Chicago Bulls’ 52.7%. San Antonio also had their 12^th win by 15 or more points, most ever in a post-season.

Whether it is a blocked shot, great rebounding or tough defense that produces the fast break, moving the ball effectively to find the open man, shooting threes, or driving to the hoop the San Antonio Spurs have played exciting basketball for the past decade. With their 5^th championship in place and a great cast of new players coming up in the ranks to join the big three (Duncan, Parker and Ginobili), the Spurs are poised for more championships and exciting ball for many years to come.

Nadal Ends Federer's ESPY Reign

After six straight years of finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the ESPY Awards, Rafael Nadal claimed Best Male Tennis Player for the first time, beating out both the Swiss and new World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the category. 

Writing on his official Facebook page, which has 7.6 million followers, Nadal said, "I want to thank to the ESPYS’ jury for having chosen me as the best male tennis player of the year. I’m very proud of receiving this award. It will help me to keep working hard not to disappoint those who have voted me :)"
Nadal had also been nominated for Best Male Athlete award, but was beaten out in online voting by Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. The German became the first non-American to win this distinction in the 19-year history of the ESPY Awards. 

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut won the ESPY Award for Best Record-Breaking Performance for their marathon match at Wimbledon, beating out fellow nominees Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, Brett Favre and the Connecticut Women’s Basketball team. Isner accepted the award from gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White on Wednesday evening at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, and immediately paid tribute to the Frenchman. 

“First off, I gotta say congrats to my opponent Nicolas,” said Isner, who won after 11 hours and five minutes on court. “He was an absolute warrior that day. You can’t fathom a match going 70-68 in the fifth, but somehow we did it. It was a pleasure to share the court with him that day.”

The 25-year-old American also thanked the fans, his team at Saddlebrook, and extended a special thanks to his trainer, Kyle Morgan. “Without him, I wouldn’t be able to last that long,” he said.

The first-round match stretched over three days, with the fifth set alone lasting eight hour and 11 minutes – 98 minutes more than the previous longest match on record. It concluded just in time to make the ESPY Awards cut, with nominations announced that same day. 

ESPY Award host Seth Meyers referred to the match in his opening monologue, joking, “By the time the match ended, the ball boys were ball men.”

Serena Williams, who was present at the ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers on Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, received the ESPY Award for Best Female Tennis Player.

NBA Finals Karma

 AP Photo/David J. Phillip

The Dallas Mavericks are the NBA champions. Karmically correct for a number of reasons. The Mavs worked hard, meshed like a championship team and displayed class in winning their first NBA Chamionship. The Miami Heat, surrounded by pomp and circumstance at the beginning of the season ended frayed and lacklustre displaying anything but in the last three games.

Miami’s season began with The Decision and a promise to win another championship adding Lebron James and Chris Bosch to their line-up. As the villains, the Heat were not gaining many additional supporters outside South Beach. With each game and each questionable interview by James, the Heat’s scrutiny under the media’s eyes only grew larger.

The Heat showed at times during the season their inability to gel as a team causing collapses during games and questionable losses. However, early in the playoffs it seemed the Heat found their stride only to lose it in the NBA Finals when the pressure was at its greatest.

The Dallas Mavericks meanwhile compiled a 57 –25 record - 5^th best in the NBA with no fanfare just hard work. They were criticized for their heart and some critics even foolishly suggested they would lose in the first round of the payoffs.

Wade and LeBron's decision to make fun of Dirk's illness on camera last week was more than a passing mistake. It was tasteless and childish, yet Dirk Nowitzki showed no concern for the comment by suggesting he needed no additional fuel on his fire to win an NBA Championship.

On Sunday night, after an absolutely abysmal 1-of-12, three-point first-half, Dirk Nowitzki did what LeBron James has proven he cannot: He embraced the enormity of the moment and chanelled every bit of talent and greatness he had inside of him. His second half was the thing of a champion, literally. He went off for 18 points, he shot 8 of 15 from the floor, and with the game close to begin the final 24 minutes of play, he assured through excellence and clutch play that it would not be as it ended.

In the end, it is not just the question of the frailty of LeBron James that was answered in obvious and brutal form as he vanished with a hollow look in his eyes at the ends of Games 4, 5 and 6 (Tuesday night, he scored three points in the tightly contested third quarter and seven in the fourth, most of them after the game was out of hand). James average 15 points per game over games 4, 5 and 6 and just 17 during the entire finals.

It was the question of the Miami Heat experiment, the idea of talent versus teamwork, of stars with an edge versus a team with absolute resilience that also found its answer.

"(Our team) made a statement that's a colossal statement," Carlisle said. "Not just about our team but the game in general. Playing it a certain way. Our team is not about individual ability. It's about collective will, collective grit, collective guts."

"This is a win for playing as a team on both ends of the floor, of sharing the ball, of passing the ball," Dirk said.

"I learned chemistry matters," team owner Mark Cuban said. "That it's a team game."

And the world learned this: Dirk Nowitzki is a better basketball player than LeBron James. Maybe Dirk is not more talented or more athletic. Maybe he is not more meaningful to the masses or marketable on behalf of big companies. But Dirk Nowitzki showed he was better.

There will be plenty of time in the days ahead to deconstruct the disintegration of the Miami Heat and enormous failing of Lebron James. But for now, for this moment in time just after the end of one of the finest NBA Finals in many years, it is enough to know that a true team won a championship. And that its leader is one of the game's greatest.

Dirk Nowitzki, the 2011 NBA Finals MVP rose above LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosch and the entire league.