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Now that Avery Johnson is gone, those of us left behind grope to explain what went wrong.

How could a Mavericks team that was five quarters shy of a championship less than two years ago find itself in this mess? How could a team so good fall so fast, and more importantly, who's at fault?

This theory won't appease everyone, but here it goes.

Maybe no one is to blame.

Maybe the Mavericks were never as good as they appeared.

Maybe postseason losses to Golden State and New Orleans more accurately reflect where this team stands than its glorious drive to the Finals.

You think I've been smoking something from Josh Howard's off-season stash? Then answer this. What was J.D. Salinger's best novel after Catcher in the Rye?

Or what about M. Night Shyamalan? I bet you believe the director lost his touch after The Sixth Sense.

He didn't lose anything. A director's best effort – or a coach's for that matter – doesn't have to come later in his career.

The Mavericks played for a championship. That doesn't make them a championship team.

Many of you buy into Mark Cuban's marketing campaign that his team was the rightful champion. The Mavericks owner succeeded in convincing his base that Miami didn't win the title. His team had it taken away by a vast conspiracy among the league's officials.

Johnson, Cuban and the Mavericks established a level of expectation for themselves in that magical season that they were not equipped to handle from the standpoint of talent or temperament. The perception of how good the Mavericks had become exceeded the reality.

Let's look back on that postseason. The Mavericks opened by beating a Memphis team that has yet to win a playoff game. The win over San Antonio was impressive, but it did come in the off year of the Spurs' every-other-year-championship plan. The Mavericks dismissed a Phoenix team in the Western Conference finals that was without Amare Stoudemire.

Miami? The Heat is worse off now than the Mavericks.

None of this minimizes what the Mavericks accomplished. But history puts what happened in a different light. It was an unusual season.

And yes, I'm ready for the rebuttal. If the Mavericks weren't a special team, how did they come back and win 67 games?

My retort: A team can have a special season. That doesn't make it a special team.

The Mavericks dominated the regular season with determination and preparation. But more is needed to succeed in the playoffs.

It takes strategy and the ability to adapt. It takes players who have the talent and mind-set to impose their will on a series.

Don't mistake me for a Johnson apologist. He is culpable for what has happened. So are Cuban and Donnie Nelson.

And Dirk Nowitzki, along with everyone else on the team.

A confluence of personalities, talents and timing came together two seasons ago to create a season that's unlikely to be duplicated. It was a perfect storm.

That's no reason to trash Johnson or anyone else for what's happened since.