Congrats to the World Champion Dallas Mavericks (shudder . . .)

For the first (and hopefully last) time, I found myself rooting for a team from Texas tonight, as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 105-95 to win their first championship.

Maybe it was because they beat The Team That Must Not Be Named in the conference finals. Maybe it was the three former Sonics coaches sitting on the bench. Maybe it was local kid made good Jason Terry and his crazy-ass airplane antics. Maybe it was because they were playing the most hated team in basketball.

Regardless of the reason, congrats to the Mavs for all of the above. And let us never speak of it again.

1996: The Last Great Season

As this year's NBA Finals wind down, Percy Allen takes a bittersweet look back at the last Finals I actually cared about, the epic 1996 Sonics/Bulls battle. Nate McMillan gives a heartbreaking "should-woulda-coulda" breakdown of the series:

Unable to play because of back spasms, McMillan took a cortisone shot before Games 4 and 5 to relieve the pain. The Sonics won both games and forced the series to return to Chicago.

It was the last time McMillan would play, as Seattle fell 87-75 in Game 6.

"You go your whole career playing basketball and now you have this opportunity to be on the biggest stage in your life — it doesn't get any better than this — and you can't play," McMillan said. "Why? I just kept asking God why. I know that if I could play — had a little confidence at that time in my career — I could have an impact.

Sigh . . .

Read the whole story at The Seattle Times.

Seattle Sonics Do It

I'm ashamed to admit that I've never heard this song before. Luther Rabb was a (relatively) well known Seattle musician in the 1970s, and apparently this song was THE song to celebrate the Sonics' championship season (which ended, coincidentally, with a victory over Washington 32 years ago today).

Anybody have access to the song that they could share with us? If not, I'll track it down on LP and find a way to upload it to the site. Seems like an important part of Sonic history, no?