The Jail Blazers and the Nash-Nowitzki Mavs were two of the most interesting teams of the early 2000s. The Nash and Nowitzki pairing with Don Nelson at the helm pushed offense to new heights as the rest of the league lagged behind. The Jail Blazers had one of the most interesting motley crews in league history led by Rasheed Wallace. In 2003, these teams made history as Portland became the 3rd team to ever forced a Game 7 after going down 3-0. Alex and Gabe breakdown Game 7 of that series, the legacies of these teams, and talk a lot about Arvydas Sabonis and Bill Walton. Subscribe to our newsletter on substack: ballthroughtheages.substack.com.

Show Notes

* Here’s the Sabonis video where Alex found the comment about Sabonis being “Nikola Jokic trapped in David Robinson’s body.”

* Speaking of Robinson, here’s a clip of Sabonis destroying him in 1986.

* The fat baby named Alex Lange that we mentioned did end up getting healthcare, but there’s a new Alex Lange who is pretty famous and we’re not sure why.

* CORRECTION: It was actually Ross Perot Jr. who sold the Mavs to Mark Cuban.

* Read Dirk talk about the Mavs break-up with Steve Nash where Dirk calls him “Nashy” the whole time.

* Bill Simmons’s preview of the 2003 playoffs is a fun re-read.

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