Miami, Charlotte, and Alonzo Mourning: A tale of two expansion teams

The Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats are scheduled to face off in game 2 of the NBA Playoffs on Wednesday night. This also marks the 25th anniversary for both teams, as the cities of Miami and Charlotte were awarded expansion franchises in 1988. Today's fan may look at that and say..."Wow...but the Heat are so good, and Charlotte is well....Charlotte."

And that's a fair assessment.

Since entering the league in 1888, the Miami Heat have amassed 3 World Titles, 4 Conference Titles, and 11 Division Titles. Not only has Charlotte never won an NBA Title, they have never won their own division....in 25 years!

What's really mind boggling about those stats? Any of us old enough to remember when they both entered the league would have bet the farm that Charlotte would have those titles today...not Miami.

And for good reason.

The Charlotte (Hornets) rose from expansion team to playoff prominence faster than any team that I can remember...past or present. They struck gold with back to back first round picks..Larry Johnson (#1 overall pick in 91) and Alonzo Mourning (2nd overall pick in 92)....and were off to the races. They made the playoffs that same year, and even scored a playoff series victory over the Boston Celtics. We all thought that Charlotte would be the team (and franchise) of the future.

Meanwhile in South Beach.....

Miami was a struggling  franchise...with few victories and fewer fans in the stands. They only made the playoffs twice in their first 8 years...and they failed to advance both times. Miami routinely struck out on draft picks....(see Ronie Seikaly and Harold Minor)...and seemed to be stuck in expansion mode for the first near decade.

Then it happened....the trade.

In 1995, new Miami President of Basketball Operations Pat Riley acquired Alonzo Mourning from Charlotte....and the fork in the road was planted.

Miami went on to become a consistent playoff contender through the late 90's. And in 2003, they draft Dwayne Wade in the first round...then comes Shaq...then Bosh...then King James himself?

Stop playin!

Meanwhile in Charlotte....

In that same time span...The Hornets managed to trade away Larry Johnson the following year, and the rights to some kid name Kobe Bryant for...get this...Vlade Divac.

I wish I was making this up.

So it's no surprise that the team would pack up and move to New Orleans in 2002. Seriously though, I am happy that Charlotte has a team again in the Bobcats...and that the city can embrace playoff basketball again. Miami is likely to beat Charlotte and advance, and the MVP should still be....Alonzo Mourning.

follow @plcolter

Grizzlies: New ownership gets last laugh...for now

On October 25, 2012, Robert Pera took over as the new owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. The team's post Pau Gasol rebuilding era was finally over, after reaching the playoffs in back to back seasons for the first time since his trade to the Lakers five years ago. New stars had emerged in Rudy Gay, Zach (Z-Bo) Randolph, and Pau's younger brother...Marc Gasol. The Grizzlies had a new identity (Grit & Grind), and there was genuine optimism in Memphis.

Then Pera started shaking things up.

It started on January 30, 2013, with the then shocking trade of fan favorite and leading scorer Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors. Everyone, including myself, was upset that the trade would happen in the middle of the season....in the middle of a competitive playoff race. Head coach Lionel Hollins was vocal in his displeasure...coining the now infamous quote that Memphis had "champagne taste with a beer budget" in a post game interview after the trade was completed.

We'll get back to coach Hollins in a minute.

In the trade for Rudy Gay, the Grizzlies acquired aging veteran Tayshaun Prince from the Detroit Pistons. That part of the trade also infuriated Grizzlies fans...who...including myself...believed that we just gave away a Ferrari for a station wagon.

Then the playoffs came.

The Grizzlies not only made it to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, the trade of Gay allowed point guard Mike Conley to flourish, along with Z-Bo and Gasol. With all due respect to Rudy, he is a phenomenal scorer but a ball hog. The offense opened up with Conley running the show, and the defense improved tremendously with Prince on the floor. Rudy Gay has since been traded again and no one in Memphis seemed to have noticed.

Now back to coach Hollins.

After three consecutive playoff appearances, a Western Conference Finals appearance, and an improved regular season record the past three years, head coach Lionel Hollins was essentially fired by management. This also infuriated Grizzlies fans, who saw it as yet another cost cutting move that would ultimately undo all of the hard work Hollins put into rebuilding this team. Assistant head coach Dave Joerger was given the job, and fans shook their head. After all....Joerger has no head coaching experience, and why mess up a good thing anyway?

Then the season started.

Credit coach Joerger for keeping his team together through the rough 10-15 start, the loss of Gasol for 23 games, Tony Allen for 27 games, and a host of other injuries along the way. He did a masterful job of tweaking the lineups in their absence. The Grizzlies finished 40-17 to claw their way back (pun intended) into the playoffs for a record fourth straight season. Nice job by you, Mr. Pera.

But now comes the playoffs.

The Grizzlies narrowly avoided a dreaded first round encounter with the San Antonio Spurs, and optimism is once again running high in the Bluff City. But should the Grizzlies get bounced out of the first round in unspectacular fashion by the OKC Thunder, then you can expect everything I just wrote to be thrown out of the window. Such is life in a basketball town, Mr. Pera.

follow @plcolter

Pacers looking eerily similar to 90's Knicks, 2000's Kings

The Indiana Pacers came within a game of dethroning King James and the World Champion Miami Heat in last year's Eastern Conference Finals. Two years prior, the Pacers lost to the Heat in six tough, hard fought, physical games. Last year's series was also brutal, putting the stamp on the league's most bitter rivalry. Indiana's obsession with beating Miami was evident from the onset of the season. Everyone from the head coach to the team mascot proclaimed the only thing needed to beat Miami was to have home court advantage throughout this year's Eastern Conference playoffs.

Translation... Indiana was obsessed with having a better record than Miami this year. 

If the Pacers are not careful, they will turn into the New York Knicks of the early 90's....or the Sacramento Kings of the early 2000's.

Or have they already?

The New York Knicks of the early 90's were in a bitter rivalry with Michael Jordan...and his Chicago Bulls. MJ knocked off the Knicks in 2 physical playoff series on his way to his first two championships. The second title run included a game seven victory over New York. The game was in Chicago. I remember then head coach Pat Riley stating that New York would have won if that game seven was in Madison Square Garden, and vowed to ensure that was the case should the teams meet again.

Well...they did meet again the following playoffs, and as promised, the New York Knicks had home court advantage. After taking the first two at home (see John Starks infamous poster dunk), MJ and his Bulls took the next four on his way to the first of two 3-Peats.

In 1999, a young upstart Sacramento Kings squad took the Shaq-Kobe led L.A. Lakers to five first round games (the first round was only five games then). Prior to tip off, Sacramento burned a Lakers jersey at mid court at both their home games (3&4). Both were wins. A disrespected Lakers team dominated in game 5, and the rivalry was on. L.A. won the title that year. The following season, the two teams met in the semifinal round, and the Lakers swept the Kings on their way to back to back titles. Shaq threw a parting shot that year by calling them the Sacramento Queens.

But I digress.

Needless to say, an embarrassed...but highly talented Kings squad set out to earn home court advantage throughout the playoffs the following year.

Translation....Sacramento was obsessed with having a better record than L.A. Anyone see a trend here?

Well as fate would have it, the two teams met yet again the following playoffs. This time in the Western Conference Finals. And this time...Sacramento had the number one seed. After being up 3-1, the Kings lost in heartbreaking overtime fashion in game seven. And that game was in Sacramento, not L.A. Kings fans are still screaming foul for the game six officiating, and Lakers fans are still screaming 3-PEAT!!!!

What do all three of these teams have in common? They all put the rivalry above the ring. The Knicks, Kings, and now the Pacers, have put all of their resources into beating just one team, and not every team like champions should. The danger with placing your energy entirely into the emotion of the rivalry, is that you cannot sustain that level of emotion for seven games. Notice the Knicks and Kings held series leads before being eliminated. The Pacers also led the Heat before being ousted two years ago.

In a desperate attempt to jump start things, the Pacers benched all five of their starters against the lowly Bucks Wednesday night, in anticipation of knocking off the Heat on Friday night in a battle for the number one seed. Well...the rested Pacers starters were steamrolled by the World Champs.

Maybe conceding the number one seed could help reverse the curse for Indiana. Then again...after watching them play over the last month...maybe not.

follow @plcolter