"You were right about this team," O'Neal picked up his drink as a token of thanks to Hansen. "They display qualities I've never seen in my entire career."
"It's rare for you to give such high praise," Hansen was slightly surprised.
In fact, his impression of the Mavericks that year was limited to the Finals and their games against the Heat, because those games gave rise to memorable memes like the 'eight point disarmament'.
As for the rest, he hadn't paid much attention, otherwise he wouldn't have overlooked such a classic playoff series as the 5-4 comeback.
"Thanks to Kobe and his Lakers for causing this team to undergo a wonderful transformation," O'Neal said with a laugh.
He still loved to diss Kobe.
But that statement sounded so familiar, didn't it?
According to O'Neal, the Mavericks actually didn't play as well as expected in the first round, leading 2-0 at the outset.