Vikings-Cowboys

Y'know...'Go Cowboys', but this might be one of those seasons N.F.L. fans should just sit back and watch history. Brady's on pace (a phrase that should always be taken with a grain of salt) for, what, 62 TDs this year?!? That's the way (49 - 28) a good team (Patriots) should beat a bad team (Dolphins).

Yesterday was a crummy win for the Pokes. Just seemed that way to me. They were lucky Minnesota fielded the QB they did. Oof, if that dude wasn't nearly costing his team a safety, he was throwing at the knees of his receiver, as if to get rid of the ball, when the receiver had a step on the defender and could have made a first down.

The easy part of the Cowboys' schedule looks to be behind them. I don't remember many penalties, but it seemed like there were a few questionable decisions. Newman's punt return where he kept running back and Barber's run where, once he ran a yard past the first down, he ended up three yards behind it. I can look past the latter more than I can the former.

@ Philly, @ N.Y., Redskins...I'd be content if they came out of that 2-1 the way they're playing. 8-2, after all, isn't bad.

Patriots-Cowboys

As a casual fan (didn't read any recaps yesterday), I didn't come away all that dispirited from the game Sunday. Two of their biggest concerns were simply exploited by a superior team: pass coverage and penalties.
They did a good enough job containing Moss, but at the expense of (again, without knowing the stats) a good game from Stallworth and Welker abusing them underneath. He showed them that they have to be good covering allll areas/zones. Pass defense was something I was hoping they were working on since Week 1.
And the penalties, aye yiy YIY! My first thought: for all the "right fit at the right time" commentary about Phillips, aren't excessive penalties the kind of thing that follow an easy-going coach, as opposed to a drill sergeant? That, to me, was the worst part of the game.

They played true to form. They were all over the field, hustling and whatnot. They could be a diamond whose rough edges simply need smoothing. I was impressed to see them close to 4 by halftime, and take the lead in the 3rd quarter. But their defense helped the Patriots prove that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. They wore the Cowboys D down. The Pats last two scores looked like they came against a tired defense. I can't help but wonder if a few more 3rd down stops and a few less (offensive) penalties would have contributed to something less than a 21-point final margin.

I Have Cooled Down

Earlier this week, a friend of mine asked me if I had "recovered (from the Warriors series". I told him, and others, that I was 'washing my hands of them'. I remember telling The J midway through Game 6 that 'if they lose tonight, I'm finished with them'.

I was just telling The J that it doesn't seem like the Mavs have a sense of history. I mean, collapsing last year when you're 6 1/2 minutes from a 3-0 Finals lead is one thing. Then they proceed to burn through the following regular season to compile the 6th best regular season in NBA history. They won 67 freakin' games, for pete's sake!! They actually looked, and had to have most of the league thinking that they were going to have to be killed, and killed again to be forced from the playoffs.

Not only do they become the 3rd 1seed to go out in the 1st round, but the bend over to a team that won 25 fewer regular season games...and didn't even qualify for the playoffs until the last freakin' day! And THAT is something they contributed to by playing full strength against a Clippers team with whom they would have matched up better against in the 1st round. And as if that wasn't a questionable coaching move, you adjust your starting lineup in Game 1 to better match up to the freakin' 8th seed??!? As good as Avery has proven himself so far as a coach, those turned out to be really crappy moves.

To clarify, I won't just start following another team. A writer from the Detroit paper said a Mavs fan will want "to go nowhere near a sports bar for the next 6 weeks" because of who's likely to be left in the WC playoffs: their top 2 rivals in the Spurs and Rockets, the Steve Nash Suns and Don Nelson's Warriors. I guess that means I successfully made the transition from Mavs fan to NBA fan a long time ago. No, I just don't plan on buying the NBA Package next season so we can watch all their games (regardless of the fact that The J's impending hiatus from working might probably preclude us from doing so anyway).

With regard to the start of the Jazz/Spurs WCF Game 1 tomorrow, I remember a writer saying he wishes they'd have had cameras (papparazzi?) outside Tim Duncan's house the night the Warriors eliminated the Mavericks since he was probably celebrating.

Tell me there's not a grain of truth to that.

They win, win and win some more

George, a dude I work with and with whom I bounce off a lot of back-and-forth NBA talk, sent me a YouTube of Draft Day 1998, when the Mavs traded Robert "Tractor" Traylor to the Bucks for Dirk. Seeing as how one can become lost in that website as if rediscovering the internet, I perused some other Mavs stuff, most notably anything having to do with the Western Conference Semis against the local team last year.

I started thinking I hope the way they are playing is just one of those inevitable marches to the O'Brien trophy. Win streaks of 12, 13 and 14, with one of 8 thrown in since opening 0-4. Huge wins over the Spurs, Suns and Jazz, 4 of the 6 on the road. Etc. Etc. Just when I think 'Yep, this would be the prime place for the win-streak to end (San Antonio, Houston, Denver, Minnesota),' they win. And this pace that they are on I see as distinctly different from the pace the Pistons set early on last year. I believe they faded in part they had a new coach and were adjusting to playing a different style. Ben Wallace didn't seem happy because they started giving more attention to the offense, though not necessarily at the expense of their superb defense. The Mavs do not have that problem. They have been learning and building Avery's system for almost two years now. They are committed to it because they believe it can work.

And why shouldn't they believe, given the results thus far.

Sonics/Mavs, mmm hmm

In a season with many notable highlights, from keeping their collective foot on the Suns' throat to asserting that it is also appropriately on the same Spurs body part, from Josh Howard's ascendance to the fact that every player has made marked improvements from last year, last night claims it's place amongst such highlights. After all, what does it say about your team when the 10th-11th guy on the bench can come on and put up 34, go 7 of 10 from beyond the arc and still pass up the 11th and 12th such shots when a lane to the basket opens up? And, oh yeah, throw in 7 boards.

Mavs/Bulls, oh well.

Not that they won't lose a few highly competitive, non-stinker games, but I hope that was they only real stinker we see from the Mavs for a while. Pew! It started out somewhat ominously when Josh missed his first 3 jumpers. OK, there weren't all that highly contested, but no biggie. When he started missing those little push shots he always seems to make from the paint, that's when I started to think this game might indeed prove to be the one that would prevent a 14-game win streak (the Kings, Sonics, Grizzlies [2] and Wolves are next, with the only road game being in Memphis). Oh yeah, the Bulls, particularly Ben Gordon, seemed to be hitting every shot the Mavs were missing. All that combined is probably why the game started out 23-6 with barely two minutes to go in the 1st quarter.

Josh never really found his rhythm, going 0-10 and not hitting his first shot until his 13-14th attempt. Stack provided some lift off the bench, helping Dirk keep it as close as possible, within 6 at half. Defense and a couple Dirk 3s got them as close as 79-76, but after that, it was almost as if the defense just gave out under what the offense was doing, or not doing, at the other end.

I saw four things contribute to the loss last night, the least of which was the Bulls defense, which was only marginally better than the Mavs', which itself gave up too many uncontested 3s. Not too much credit can be given to the Bulls D when the Mavs just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, as my Dad used to say. That contributing factor should have prevented the third; poor shot selection. I was conflicted. As open as they were, my knee-jerk reaction was 'Take it'. It just wasn't their night. The last reason they lost, which was only slightly more relevant than the Bulls D, was some of the shots the Bulls hit. A couple by P.J. Brown stand out. Dirk seemed to be playing good D on him, it's just that a couple of his shots seemed meant to go in.

Just like most of the Mavs shots seemed destined not to.

It's That Time Again

(Originally posted: 11/01/06)
My basketball-sounding-board coworker George told me yesterday he doesn't think the Heat will repeat as N.B.A. Champs this year. If they can't get any more motivated to play than they did last night, when they received their rings, I'd have to agree.

This is what I said to him in response:

They (the Heat) remind me of the 91 redskins. I guess it's the age, and at that I can only think of Mark Rypien. But I agree. I just hate (strong word) that it can't be said anymore that multiple All-Stars on one team (after seeing it tried in Houston and in L.A.) don't work. Damn. Then, who wins the east?

Detroit? Doubt it, not after Wallace's departure. Even though Nazr is a bit better on offense (if only by default), the drop off in defense, while not precipitous, overwhelms that aspect.Cleveland? Maybe, but I wouldn't’t put money on it. If Varejao continues to improve, and Hughes and Ilgauskas can stay healthy, they'll be up there.Chicago? I'd put them at least up with the previous three.New Jersey? See last remark. Kristc should get better. Probably depends on Kidd's health, age.Orlando might be a sleeper.

The West:It's kinda funny when I remember McGrady has never made it out of the first round. I'm not sure I would include them amongst the top four: Dallas, S.A., Phoenix and L.A.C. McGrady's health problems seem to have been the non-contact variety, and that doesn't sound promising.The Mavs are hearing, and will no doubt continue to hear, how few have lost in the finals and then gone back to win. True, but 3 of the most recent examples had to face the Shaq/Kobe Lakers (the Nets) and the Michael Jordan Bulls (the Jazz and TrailBlazers). Is there any team out there that compares to either of those three teams? They improved over the summer just how a team in their position should, with tweaks. I would bet on them winning 60+ games this year. I wouldn't be surprised if they started the season like Detroit started last year. Only, the Mavs would not have dragging them down the same thing i.e. new coach, a philosophical shift and some consequential conflict.
The Spurs are healthier if only counting Duncan (save for Frenchie's recently sprained ankle). I just hope they don't have to rely too much on their bench. As Horry said, they're "an old athletic".
Will there be as many balls to go around in Phoenix as there have been $$s? No wonder there was talk about trading Marion. I have a gut feeling they are bloated. I think in a rematch, they lose a playoff series to…The Clippers. If Livingston is as good as I read (I don’t remember seeing too much of him last year), they could wind up in the conference finals.

Uptime for Downtime

(Originally posted: 12/06/06)
A couple thoughts after watching last night's Mavs/Nets game.

One, are the refs calling traveling particularly tight this year? It seems tightest when a player fakes, either with the ball or his body (or both), one way and goes the other. It has gotten to the point that, even though I'm skeptical the player took an extra step, I know he's going to get called. It just does not look like the pivot foot has been lifted. I need to check the rules (heh, yeah right, whenever I do everything else I need to do).

Two, as entertaining as it is when the Mavs are smoking and raining in shots from all over the place, whether beyond the arc or in the paint, and just befuddling their opponent, I'm more impressed when the get a double-digit win the way they did last night. At first, I didn't think their defense was all that bad (nor the Wizard's all that good) the previous night in D.C. 'The Wizards just can't miss,' I thought. But last night, they looked more aggressive defensively. And Dirk seemed to get more aggressive on the defensive end, particularly on the boards, the more his shots missed. Then, almost as if in payoff, his shots started dropping toward the end of the game, to put the Nets away. In sum, Dirk took over.