NBA Finals and other basketball thoughts.

Congratulations to the Miami Heat on winning the NBA title. They also helped me look good when I picked them to win in 6 games. That made me 15 for 16 in the playoffs and I think I may retire because I will never do better than that. The Mavericks can whine all they want about referees, the league out to get them, whatever. The reality is they didn't step up and execute in the fourth quarter of tight games. And Dwayne Wade did. There's your difference.

I personally didn't care much if Pat Riley won another title but I am very happy Alonzo Mourning won his first. I have been a big fan of Zo since he was a freshman at Georgetown. He is the toughest guy in the league and was the key to game 6. Here's a guy who had multiple career threatening medical ailments but kept fighting to get back and played his ass off every time on the court. I think you can make a strong case for him being the best undersized center of the past 20 years.

Here's another reason I like Shaq. He willingly acknowledges that the Heat are not his team. Not many other superstars, which Shaq is not, at least on the court, anymore would do that and gladly take to being "Robin to D Wade's Batman" as that twit put it to him the other night.

Is Dwayne Wade the best player in the NBA? It's an interesting argument and I say it only comes down to him and Kobe. We know Kobe has a killer instinct and now we know D Wade does too (though he did miss those two fre throws at the end of game 6). He just kills you with a smile on his face. Kobe plays better defense than Wade but Wade is more adept at getting his teammates involved. But Wade also has better teammates than Kobe. I'm sticking with Kobe for now but ask me again at the end of next year. As for other players in this argument I say the only other two I would give consideration to are LeBron and Tim Duncan, the guy everyone always forgets. Steve Nash may be my favorite player and the 2 time defending MVP but is not in the top 5 players in the league. Sorry Phoenix fans but it's true. MVP isn't the same as best player. If it was, Jordan would have won 12 MVP's.

I think Dallas blew their best chance for a title. The Spurs will be better next year with Duncan and Manu Ginobli healthy and the Suns are going to be unstoppable if Amare Stoudamire comes back at 85%. If Amare is healthy the Suns have to be the favorite.

All right, I like Mark Cuban and I think he is great for the NBA. He is a great promoter and takes every opportunity to meet with local media everywhere he goes. He's even been on Off The Record with Landsberg a few times. But I have to agree with my man Jason Whitlock that Cuban needs to be suspended. You can't go around acting the way he does when he loses it and expect it to go unchecked. His publicly ripping the refs, and yes they were not great in this series, can't be good for the league when it comes from an owner. His passion for the game is great but his over the top antics are not.

Can the fiasco that is the New York Knicks get any worse? Larry Brown likes to move around a lot and his ego is massive but the bottom line is the guy can coach. He took the Clippers to the playoffs twice for God's sake. That alone warrants his Hall of Fame status. There was no way in hell he was going to last under the ego and ineptitude that is Isiah Thomas. Thomas has made his post playing career a complete disaster to the point that he is the most hated person in NBA circles by the rest of the league. His reputation is completely destroyed and he will finally be held accountable now that he is coaching the awful roster he is 100% responsible for putting together. The Knicks will lose 55 games next year and he will finally be fired. Then superfan Spike Lee can make a horror movie based on Isiah's reign with the Knicks.

If the Raptors don't trade the number one pick in the draft, and I still would like to see it happen, they should take LeMarcus Aldridge from Texas. He'll be a solid pro for the next 12 years.