The season is over. The Dallas Mavericks completed their mind-blowing sweep of the Lakers on Sunday with a 122 to 86 humiliation of the defending champs. From early in the second quarter the game was never close, the Mavs dropping bomb after bomb from long range to tie an NBA record for most three-pointers in a playoff contest with 20. Jason Terry shot 9 of 10 from behind the arc, Peja Stojakovic 6 for 6.
The only drama in the final period came from a pair of Laker ejections. First Lamar Odom was shown off for throwing a half-hearted upper-body check at Dirk Nowitzki. Less than a minute later Andrew Bynum got tossed for leveling Jose Barea with a forearm. It was a hugely embarrassing scene for the Lakers organization, which now faces an offseason of recriminations.
Phil Jackson will step down as head coach. For a guy who won five championships as a Laker, today was a horrible way to go out. Today also marks a low point in the Laker career of Pau Gasol, who was completely ineffectual in this Dallas series. The entire team bears responsibility for this debacle, but Pau's regression from All-NBA force to wholly owned subsidiary of Dirk Nowitzki was especially hard to comprehend.
The Mavs head to the Western Conference Finals to face either the Memphis Grizzlies or Oklahoma City. And for the first time since 2007, the Lakers will spend June at home.