Dallas and Boston find common ground

By David Mullen

What do Dallasites and Bostonians have in common? 

Not much really.

They don’t look alike, talk alike, eat the same food, drink the same beer, drive the same cars, read the same books or have the same political viewpoints. Dallas is landlocked. Boston is surrounded by water. No one has ever confused Carrollton with Cambridge, Southlake with South Boston or Highland Park with Hyde Park. Dallas has the West End. Boston has the North End.

Come to think of it, Dallas and Boston have nothing in common. Until now.

On the morning of May 30, residents in two of the most rabid and notorious sports towns in the U.S. woke up “lost in the blues.” Not the kind of blues found in Memphis, New Orleans or Chicago. Being lost in the blues is experiencing a state of sadness, melancholy and temporary depression. 

Being lost in the blues is caused when your dreams are unceremoniously shattered, triggered locally by a perplexing performance by the Dallas Stars in the NHL Western Conference Finals and a late season tanking by the Dallas Mavericks, and in Boston by an exercise in underachievement by the Boston Celtics and a stunning first round playoff knockout by the previously invincible NHL Boston Bruins.

A serious case of being lost in the blues often comes without warning. The Stars were a well-disciplined, well coached team all season with a balance of young stars like Jacob Robertson, Jake Oettinger and Miro Heiskanen and the veteran leadership of Joe Pavelski and captain Jamie Benn. That is why it was so out of character to see Benn cross-check Vegas captain Mark Stone just 1 minute, 53 seconds into Game 3 of a Stars 4-0 loss to the Golden Knights. 

Benn said it was a “heat of the moment” play. The Stars and the fans emotions turned cold. The uncharacteristically cheap shot earned Benn a match penalty and a two-game suspension in a series when he was needed the most.

No slight on Vegas. They played excellent hockey by frustrating the Stars scorers early in games with an airtight defense. The Golden Knights offense managed to score early in games as well. Despite wins in Games 4 and 5 without Benn, the Stars looked deflated, and overcoming a 3-0 series deficit proved impossible. The Stars that took the ice in Game 6, losing 6-0 at the AAC, looked like no Stars team all season. They were listless and defenseless.

The Mavericks, a team fans were led to believe were in it to win it as evidenced by their gutsy run to the 2022 Western Conference Finals, decided to fold under no pressure. 

First, they traded for Kyrie Irving on what appeared to be a move that would solidify a playoff run. In the 20 games with Irving, the Mavericks went 8-12 and wunderkind 24-year-old Luka Doncic showed the maturity of someone half his age.   

When they made a trade in 2019 to acquire Kristaps Porziņģis from the New York Knicks for three players and two first round picks, the 2023 pick was Top 10 protected, which really means bottom 10 protected. For the Mavs to retain the pick, they had to miss the playoffs by losing their final two games.  They obliged.

The Mavericks went from the Western Conference Finals to forced futility in one season. The NBA fined Mark Cuban and the Mavs $750,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league.” But worse, it was “conduct detrimental to the fans.” Tanking is not the way we do things in Texas. 

The No. 2 seeded Celtics seemed like a lock to make the NBA Finals when they faced the eight-seeded Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami had shocked No. 1 seed Milwaukee 4 games to 1 and dispatched the New York Knicks in six games, but Boston had the “Big 3” of Jayson Tatum, Jaylyn Brown and Marcus Smart and a deep bench.  

Stunningly, Miami took a 3-0 series lead against Boston. But Boston won the next three games to tie the series and had Game 7 at home. 

The Heat, craftly led by head coach Eric Spoelstra, guard Jimmy Butler and a cast of undrafted overachievers, destroyed a lackadaisical and questionably coached Boston team. Miami faces the heavily favored Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals on June 1. 

The Bruins set an NHL record for wins and points in a season and faced the No. 8 seed Florida Panthers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. “I mean, Miami is a wicked cool place, but what do they know about ice hockey?” Boston fans thought. The Panthers knew enough to best the B’s in seven, skate through the Eastern Conference playoffs and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals to face Vegas beginning Saturday, June 3.

For two weeks in June, Miami will be the unlikely sports capital of the world. Teams in Dallas and Boston have been eliminated or “Gone Fishin’” as the NBA on TNT crew likes to say. The Celtics and Bruins are probably not booking fishing expeditions off the Florida Keys. 

Dallas and Boston have finally found one thing in common. Thanks to overconfidence, uninspired play or, in the case of Benn and the Mavericks, questionable ethics, the devoted Dallas and Boston fans are united in being lost in the blues.