Look at the Losers: Dallas Mavericks

Gaaaah. 67 wins ... Dwyane Wade ... Golden State!! ... Dirk is "soft" ... Jason Kidd ... Avery Johnson ... Implosion. That's a very rough timeline -- storyline for the Dallas Mavericks over the past few years. The Mavericks got bounced for the second straight year in the first round, this time at the hands of the Hornets and the offseason questions are sure to be endless, while the offseason "answers" are sure to be aggressive and media-attention-grabbing. That's just how Mark Cuban rolls.

How They Got to the Dance: Dallas looked dead in the water immediately following the Kidd trade with New Jersey, which in and of itself was highly questioned in most basketball circles. They got hot in April though, winning five of their last eight, and held onto the seventh seed. It didn't hurt either that the Warriors decided to go 3-6 in April.

How They Got Bounced: The easy answer: Chris Paul is simply not mortal. The longer, and more conspiracy-styled, version is that Jason Kidd is secretly a huge clubhouse cancer and ever since he arrived in the deadline trade, the locker room was against Avery Johnson. You mix in a control-freak coach with a group of guys that don't want to listen and it's your standy recipe for disaster.

Can't Blame This Guy: Dirk Nowitzki had a huge series, averaging 26 points, 12 boards, four dimes, 1.4 blocks and only two turnovers per game. He single handedly won game three in Dallas, and all of this needs to be added onto the fact that he came back from injury early, shredded that "soft" label and did his damnedest to keep the Mavericks alive for as long as he could.

Summer Vacation Plans: They started redoing the vaca-house early, having already bounced Avery Johnson out of town. Again, I think he's closer to a scapegoat than anything, but that doesn't matter now. The team will look to reload for a championship run, most likely with Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd. People will talk about moving Dirk or really blowing this team up, a lot. But Dirk is Cubes' guy and Kidd and his contract aren't exactly tradeable. See: last year.