Is This For Real?

We are saying goodbye today.  Goodbye to one of the best tandems in the NBA.  Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant are no more. 

Am I the only one who is completely surprised that it was the Dallas Mavericks who did the honors of showing the Lakers the door.  In sweeping fashion no less.  Dallas is the known underdog, the underachiever who never truly lived up to expectation.  Los Angeles always did what everyone expected them to do.  Not this time though.  This was the Maverick's time to shine.  With a close out that consisted of a 36 point blow out in the final game, the Mavs have shown that they can in fact bring it when the bright lights are shining. 

Now what does this mean for the NBA?  The Lakers are gone.  The Spurs are gone.  Who knew that the best the league could hope for is to have the Oklahoma City and Miami markets in the finals.  Seriously, tell me David Stern won't start tackling referees if its starting to look like a Memphis-Atlanta NBA Finals.  After such an awesome first round of the playoffs,  the second round just doesn't have the fun and the drama we were all hoping for.  With a lockout looming, this needs to be one of the best finals ever to show everyone why we need to get a deal done.

So where do the Lakers go from here?  Do we blow up the roster?  Is Pau Gasol not what we thought he was?  Do they need a more legitimate number 2?  Is Andrew Bynum really just a trade chip made to get Dwight Howard?  I feel as if none of these questions matter but i still think they need to be asked with the uppers in LA. 

Dallas has advanced and we have Memphis and OKC in the other series.  That is what is left of the west.  Hopefully the east will bring the star power for the finals or we are going to see a major ratings drop than what we thought we were going to see at the start of these playoffs.  We all know Mr Stern is not a fan of any of this, but I sure am.