Stop me if you have heard, or seen, this scenario before: a very good-looking female has the unfortunate luck of being the least attractive of her friends.Years go by, and she watches her friends get married, while she is forced to pretend that her friends’ happiness isn’t at least a little disheartening.
Sound familiar? It’s the plot of probably 100 chick-flicks.
Well, this year, the story of “the bridesmaid” has entered the NBA playoffs. I introduce to you the Dallas Mavericks.
Skipping the players on the team, the franchise as a whole represents being good, but never the best. It has averaged 56 wins a season over the past 11, and has finished with no fewer than 50 in that time span. Simply put, Dallas has been a model of consistency since the start of the new millennium.
Unfortunately for Dallas, being consistent doesn’t always lead to titles. The Mavericks only trip to the finals was in 2006, and they blew a two-games-to-nothing lead over Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat and lost in six games. The next season, it looked like another run to the finals was inevitable, but the Mavericks wasted their 67-win season by becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round since it was changed to a seven-game series in 2002.
Being a Dallas fan had to be devastating – to know that you are great, but never the best.
