June 28, 2001: The Kidd-Marbury Trade

June 28, 2001: The New Jersey Nets trade Stephon Marbury to the Phoenix Suns for Jason Kidd. This is a classic "my headache for your headache" trade, as both had been divas unable to move their teams out of the dumps.

Marbury, the youngest of 5 brothers who had starred for Abraham Lincoln High School in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, had played 1 season at Georgia Tech, turned pro, was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, and was immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. For 3 years, he underachieved with them, before being traded to the Nets. For 2 seasons at the Meadowlands, he was still an underachiever, and came to be regarded as a bad influence on the team, a "clubhouse cancer."

Kidd came out of Oakland, stayed local by going to the University of California, playing 2 years with them. He was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, and was traded to the Suns after 2 years. He was a Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, and an NBA assists leader, but wasn't getting along with his teammates.

How did the players react to their respective changes of scenery? Marbury made an All-Star Game with the Suns, but they tired of his act after 3 lackluster seasons, and he went on to the Knicks, becoming one of the few players to mess up two teams in one market.

He last played in the NBA with the Boston Celtics in 2009 -- the year between NBA Finals appearances for them, winning in 2008 and losing in 2010. He was only 32 when he played his last NBA game. Of course, none of his highly-touted brothers played in the NBA, although a cousin, Sebastian Telfair, did. From 2010 to 2018, Marbury played in China's league, and went on to coach there.

In his 1st season with the Meadowlands team, Kidd led the Nets from a hopeless 26-56 to 52-30, their 1st Atlantic Division title, and their 1st NBA Finals. He got them another Division title and Finals berth the next season. He got them another Division title the next season. He got them to the Playoffs the next season. He got them another Division title the next season.

In other words, the Nets had done more in 5 seasons with Kidd than they had done in the previous 25 years without him. Never in the history of team sports has one man made that much difference that fast. So this may have been the most lopsided NBA trade since 1956, when the Boston Celtics traded Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley to the St. Louis Hawks for the rights to Bill Russell.

After the 2008 season, the Nets, in the process of moving to Brooklyn, traded Kidd back to the Mavericks. Now a respected elder statesman among players, he helped them win their 1st NBA Championship in 2011. He played one more season with them, and then one last season with the Knicks, 2012-13.

He then retired, and crossed town to the Brooklyn Nets, coaching them for a season, then 4 with the Milwaukee Bucks. He won a 2nd ring as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and in 2021 was hired as head coach of the Mavericks.

He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players, and had his Number 5 retired by the Nets.

*

June 28, 2001 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-2 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Armando Benítez started the bottom of the 10th inning by walking Andruw Jones, who stole 2nd. After he got Chipper Jones out, manager Bobby Valentine ordered him to intentionally walk Keith Lockhart and B.J. Surhoff, to load the bases and set up the double play. But  Javy López hit a grand slam to win the game.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Florida Marlins, 6-5 and 8-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bobby Abreu hit home runs in both games.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-0 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre in Toronto). Sidney Ponson pitched a 2-hit shutout. In his final season, his streak well over, Cal Ripken did not play.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Todd Ritchie pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, while 2 relievers completed a 6-hit shutout.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-3 with a walk. Dmitri Young went 4-for-4. Sammy Sosa went 3-for-4.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Tony Gwynn, in his final season, did not play. Rickey Henderson did, but only as a pinch-runner.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Anaheim Angels, 6-3 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-4 with a RBI.

* And the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies, the Houston Astros and the Montreal Expos were not scheduled. 

June 12, 2011: The Dallas Mavericks Win the NBA Title

June 12, 2011: The Dallas Mavericks win their 1st NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat, and avenging their defeat in the 2006 NBA Finals.

The Mavericks began play in 1980, at the Reunion Arena. They reached the Playoffs for the 1st time in 1984, and reached the Western Conference Finals in 1988. They tailed off, and won just 11 games in 1992-93, and 13 in 1993-94. It took until 2000-01 for them to make the Playoffs again.

The next season, they moved into the new American Airlines Center, and reached the Conference Finals in 2003. In 2006, led by German power forward Dirk Nowitzki and guard Jason Terry (known as JET because of his initials and his speed), they won the 1st 2 games of the Finals, but the Heat won the next 4 straight. The Mavs won just 1 Playoff round over the next 4 seasons. They had little trouble scoring, but their defense wasn't very good: The joke became that they should be called the Allas Mavericks, and their best player should be called Irk, because they had no D.

But in 2008, Mavericks president Donnie Nelson (son of former Celtics star and Mavericks head coach Don Nelson) hired Rick Carlisle as head coach, and brought back former star guard Jason Kidd. In 2009, the Mavs added forward Shawn Marion. For 2010-11, they acquired forwards Peja Stojaković and Caron Butler, and center Tyson Chandler. They were ready.

But so were the Heat. They still had Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas from their 2006 title. Since then, head coach Erik Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley had added Jamaal Magloire, Mario Chalmers. Just in the preceding off-season, they had added LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Juwan Howard and Mike Miller. And, in midseason, they added Mike Bibby. Building a superteam was the intention. And they would have home-court advantage, hosting Games 1 and 2, and, if necessary, Games 6 and 7.

To confuse things, the teams' arenas had the same sponsor. American Airlines is headquartered in Dallas, so it made sense for them to sponsor the Mavericks' home, the American Airlines Center. But they also sponsored the Heat's home, the American Airlines Arena. It has since been renamed the Kaseya Center. But this was the first time a Finals -- aside from the single-game format of the Super Bowl -- was held entirely at 2 different venues with, for all intents and purposes, the same name.

The Heat won Game 1, 92-84. But the Mavs found a road win in Game 2, 95-93. despite Wade scoring 36 points. The series moved to Dallas, and, despite Nowitzki scoring 34, the Heat stole home-court advantage back, 88-86.

Because of the next 3 games, and the NBA team owners locking the players out, delaying the start of the next season, the Heat didn't win another game that counted until the following Christmas Day. The Mavs took Game 4, 86-83. They took Game 5, 112-103.

LeBron made his 1st 4 shots in Game 6 in Miami, and the Heat led, 20-11. But Carlisle switched the Mavs to a zone defense, and they went on a 21-4 run that proved decisive. They turned the Heat's 1st 6 turnovers into 14 points. But the momentum shifted again, and the Heat went on a 14-0 run to retake the lead.

With 6:25 left in the half, the momentum shifted again. A midcourt fight during a timeout led to technical fouls for Haslem and Chalmers, and for DeShawn Stevenson of Dallas. From the start of the 3rd quarter until 1:49 left in it, LeBron didn't score at all. A buzzer-beater by Ian Mahinmi at the end of the quarter put the Mavs up 81-72. They led for the last 22 minutes of the 48, for a final score of 105-95.

Nowitzki went straight to the locker room in tears, but came out for the trophy presentation. Which was a good idea, since he was named the Finals' Most Valuable Player.

Carlisle had won an NBA Championship as a player, with the 1986 Boston Celtics. He became one of the few men to win a title as a player and as a head coach. Kidd hasn't done that yet, but he won one as an assistant coach, with the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers -- featuring LeBron James.

The Mavericks went for broke in 2011, and they made it. But they may have used up all of their good luck: Although they have remained a Playoff perennial, they didn't win another Playoff series until 2022, by which point Nowitzki and Kidd were retired, and Kidd was already in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nowitzki becomes eligible for the Hall in 2023. (UPDATE: He was elected that year.)

But the Heat were built to win multiple titles. They did win titles in 2012 and 2013, and reached the Finals again in 2014, their 4th straight trip. But they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. LeBron then went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and led them to 4 more straight Finals -- 8 straight Finals for him. But they only won 1. Then he went to the Lakers and won in 2020, beating the Heat, who were making the Finals without Wade for the 1st time.

UPDATE: The Mavericks do not have a team Hall of Fame, but they have retired numbers:12, for 1980s and '90 guard Derek Harper; 15, for 1980s guard Brad Davis; 22, for 1980s guard Rolando Blackman; 24, for 1980s forward Mark Aguirre, and 41 for 2000s and 2010s forward Dirk Nowitzki. Blackman, thus far, is the only Maverick who has been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

*

June 12, 2011 was a Sunday. This was also the day that the HBO TV series Game of Thrones proved that no character was safe from death. I have a separate entry for that event.

The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 5 and 6. The Boston Bruins went on to beat the Vancouver Canucks in 7 games. Football was out of season. And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-1 at Yankee Stadium. Freddy García was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Curtis Granderson went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs. But there were no home runs.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Chris Capuano was the winning pitcher. The Mets scored all their runs in the last 3 innings, including home runs in the 9th by Scott Hairston and José Reyes.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Ryan Howard went 3-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-6 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 14-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Red Sox got home runs * from David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Adrián González. Jon Lester was the winning pitcher.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins, 5-1 at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Miguel Olivo hit 2 home runs. Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5 with an RBI. For the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera went 1-for-1 with 3 walks.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers, 6-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 10-8 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Washington Nationals beat the San Diego Padres, 2-0 at Petco Park in San Diego. Jordan Zimmerman pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, striking out 10 and walking just 1, but he was not the winning pitcher. The Nats scored 2 runs in the 9th, on Danny Espinosa's sacrifice fly and Laynce Nix's single, so the winning pitcher was Todd Coffey, who pitched a perfect 8th. Drew Storen finished the 5-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels, 9-0 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Vin Mazzaro pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Blake Wood finished the 5-hit shutout.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at AT&T Park 

(now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

May 31, 2002: The Sacramento Swindle

May 31, 2002: Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals is played at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings, 106-102. Shaquille O'Neal scored 41 points and had 17 rebounds. Kobe Bryant added 31 points in support.

Almost immediately, there were allegations that this game was fixed by the referees. In 2008, as part of the scandal that involved him betting on games he had officiated, fired NBA referee Tim Donaghy said that two of the referees in this game were told to fix it so the NBA and televising network NBC could make more money on a Game 7.

The officials for this game were Dick Bavetta, Ted Bernhardt and Bob Delaney. Bavetta holds the record for most NBA games officiated, with 2,635, having never missed a game from his 1975 hiring until his 2014 retirement. Early in his career, he was considered one of the worst refs in the game. He decided to do something about it, and practiced with Summer league games, such as in New York City's Rucker League. By 1986, when he was assigned to officiate a Playoff game for the first time, he had begun to be regarded as one of the best referees.

And yet, in a 2002 article for ESPN, Bill Simmons named the worst officiated games of the prior four years, alleging that the games involved either extending a series so it did not end quickly or advancing a large market team for the NBA's benefit. All seven games named had been officiated by Bavetta. It should be noted that Simmons is a Boston Celtics fan, and is usually full of... highly questionable opinions.

Bernhardt was best known for a 1996 game where he called a foul on Dennis Rodman, who then head-butted him and was suspended for it. Delaney seems an unlikely candidate for corruption: He was a New Jersey State Trooper who successfully infiltrated the Mob, and worked his way all the way from high school games to the NBA Playoffs.

In this Game 6, the awarding of fouls resulted in the Lakers shooting 40 free throws overall, a whopping 27 in the fourth quarter alone, and the Kings' big men were plagued with foul trouble: Between them, Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Scot Pollard, and Lawrence Funderburke were called for 20 fouls, Divac and Pollard both fouling out.

Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post, already co-hosting Pardon the Interruption on ESPN with fellow Post columnist Tony Kornheiser, wrote, "I wrote down in my notebook six calls that were stunningly incorrect, all against Sacramento, all in the fourth quarter when the Lakers made five baskets and 21 foul shots to hold on to their championship." Wilbon pointed out that Kobe Bryant did not get a foul called on him after elbowing Mike Bibby in front of an official.

Two nights later, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, the Lakers won Game 7, 112-106 in overtime.

Also on May 31, 2002, the NBA's Eastern Conference Championship was won. The New Jersey Nets defeated the Boston Celtics, 96-88, to win Game 6 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, and win their first NBA Eastern Conference Championship. After 26 years of trying, they were in their first NBA Finals. They did this despite none of their players scoring more than Kenyon Martin’s 16 points, and former Net Kenny Anderson scoring 18 for Boston.

What guard Jason Kidd did with this team in 1 season, taking them from one of the worst teams in the league to a Finalist, is one of the greatest achievements any NBA player has ever had.

Given the Nets' history to this point -- they had won just 1 Playoff series between 1977 and 2001 -- this should have been the most remarkable NBA story of the night. But it wasn't, because of the perceived Sacramento Swindle.

Was the Lakers-Kings Game 6 fixed? Did NBA Commissioner David Stern, and NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol, want the Lakers in the Finals rather than the Kings? It would be easy to say, "You do the math": There are 13 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and only 2.5 million in Sacramento's.

But that theory doesn't hold up for the East: There are 13.2 million in New England, and, while the Nets are part of the New York Tri-State Area, the New York Knicks have always held the vast majority of those fans. So if it was fixed for the Lakers, why not for the Celtics?

The Kings, previously the Rochester Seagrams (1923-43), the Rochester Pros (1943-45), the Rochester Royals (1945-57), the Cincinnati Royals (1957-72) and the Kansas City Kings (1972-85), still have not been to the NBA Finals since 1951. From 2002 to 2021, the Lakers made it 6 more times.

*

May 31, 2002 was a Friday. Football was out of season. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings pretty much settled their "rivalry" with the Colorado Avalanche by winning Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, 7-0 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. Derek Lowe outpitched David Wells. Jorge Posada had 2 hits, including driving in both Yankee runs with a home run, but the rest of the team only had 4 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 6-5 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. Rey Ordóñez, not known for his power, hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-7 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Gerónimo Gil hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Roberts with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 13-9 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-0 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Bartolo Colón allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. How many Braves pitchers does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? Apparently, 4: Greg Maddux, 2 hits over 5 innings; Kevin Gryboski, none over an inning and 2/3rds; Kerry Lightenberg, 2 over an inning and 1/3rd; and Chris Hammond, striking out the side in a perfect 9th.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 10-7 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Royals got 3 straight home runs in the top of the 11th inning, from Carlos Beltrán, Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Diego Padres, 12-1 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.