The Ballad of Dirk and Cuban: This is the End...

"This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end."

The Dallas Mavericks are officially D-O-N-E. Yup, the Hornets just put the finishing touches on one of the finer ass whooping's in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs. However, more importantly they most likely put an end or in better words slammed shut the window for Mark Cuban and his buddy Dirk. Ironically, the third and original mate in this trio Steve Nash, may also see his Championship window slam shut in a few short hours -- or by the time you read this sentence. Of course, some still hold out belief the Suns are going to duplicate what the Red Sox of 2004 did. Consider me a skeptic, but disregard we ever had this dialogue if that happens.

Where was I? Right, Dirk and Cubes are soaking in a pool of depression on this eve. Dirk will probably abort the locker room, do his usual "we got outplayed" speech for the media and move quietly into the night. Perhaps, some ice cold adult sodas and a bender are in store for the big German. Who knows? However, Cubes will probably plug into his lab top in isolation and start another "fireaveryjohnson" blog. Needless to say, he won't be plugging away on "Blog Maverick" for the time being and that's probably a good thing. There are no fingers to point, no blame to bestow on anybody outside of themselves.

Can Dirk be fully blamed for the demise? Probably not, but the dude still wears the superstar pants in that locker room and facts are facts -- he couldn't get this team out of the first round the past two seasons. It's fair to assume the Mavericks window actually was slamming shut back in the 2005 Finals. If Dirk hits a couple free throws and steps up in Game 3 this point is moot. And we'd have never had to hear the referees raked over hot coals, despite them handing Wade and the Miami Heat the NBA title. Anyhow, that's another story.

Nobody can argue with a straight face that those painful moments didn't alter the course of the Mavericks destiny as a franchise. As the saying goes, so close, yet so far. The Mavericks never fully regained confidence and/or swagger and it's carried over. Talk about a curse? So where do they go from here? Well, that's the million dollar question that the skeptics, analysts and experts will seek to define in the next few days. After that, all will be forgotten about the Dallas Mavericks for this season...at least.

What is evident is that no contender can hover around greatness for longer than 4-5 years without ultimately achieving a Championship. Eventually the wear and tear of failures sinks in and they just can't grasp what they once had. Arguably, the exact same scenario could be happening to the Phoenix Suns right now and (deep sigh) -- my beloved Detroit Pistons. It's hard enough to sustain greatness, let alone be competitive year and year out when ultimately the end result equates to just coming up short. After a good 5 years of coming up short that can mean only one thing...FAILURE.

As we've seen with the Detroit Pistons, boredom sinks in and it's all downhill from there. Is that what happened to the Mavericks? I'm not so sure. They just weren't good enough, tough enough or quick enough to handle the upstart Hornets. And thus, they must step into another off-season of questions. However, one question that certainly won't ever be asked will be "is this the end of Cubes and Dirk?" Mark Cuban made a choice that he was going to ride shotgun with Dirk as his superstar. It hasn't worked out the way he expected. And now, he's got to tear it down and build it back up from scratch to see if somehow another alternative will work.

Of course, that "other" alternative will have Dirk's imprints all over it. However, it's now more apparent than ever that Dirk needs some re-tooling to take place around him. Yet, will he still be the centerpiece of the franchise? Or better yet, should I say will be the Superstar that Cuban continues to ride to success or to another ultimate failure. If we've learned anything over the years...Cuban is not ready to give up that dream. So now, we'll wait, watch and listen to rumblings about the future of the Mavs.

However, Dirk and Cubes shouldn't worry...give it a few days or maybe a few weeks and the Suns and Pistons may very well be faced with the same questions. Yup, time for some introspection and challenging one's beliefs. For now, goodnight Dirk and goodnight Cubes...sleep it off. We'll all forget about you soon enough. So close...

This is the End.