The Daily Nickel

1. Ranger's Get Back That Loving Feeling- It got a little tough to watch the bats go quiet towards the end of the recent road trip, but they returned to form in the first game of the homestand.  Beltre has started to perform and Young and Moreland are still hot.  The D-Fdub also noted that Julio Borbon was absent from the resurgent lineup... coincedence?  No.  In an incredibly out-of-touch take on the game Angels manager, Mike Soscia, claimed that his team was not that far off... apparently he hasn't noticed the gaping hole at the bottom of their lineup, with guys I've never heard of batting 7, 8 and 9.

2. Mavs-Blazers Game 2 Preview- There seem to be 2 camps stemming from the Game 1 Mavs victory. 1- The Mavs got lucky in the sloppy win and were saved by the refs and a Jason Kidd shooting night that has never happened before and won't ever happen again, or 2- The Mavs got lucky in a sloppy game, including the worst 3rd quarter of NBA basketball ever, and still won... just think what will happen if they play a decent game.  The D-Fdub is divided on the success of the Mavs resting on a significant contribution by JET or a significant reduction in minutes.  Hopefully, we get to see one of those 2 options tonight.

3. Mavs to Play 5-on-6- In a crushing blow the Mavs drew Danny Crawford as lead official for tonight's game.  The NBA claims that it is pure coincedence that the Mavs are only 2-16 (.111) in playoff games officated by Crawford (vs 46-41 (.529) in playoff games he did not referee).  The D-Fdub doesn't believe that the officials determine the outcome of every game, but a snapshot of the free-throw differential in all the Game 1's played in 2011 proved a great indicator of victory.  Also, Danny Crawford sucks.


4. Tuff Juice Still Optimistic for Return-  There was a thought at one point that the Mavs were performing to less than their full capabilities with the possibility of falling to the 4-seed and delaying a LA matchup until the 3rd round when Caron Butler might be able to return to action.  The potential to gain the 2-seed lured the Mavs out of their tank, but perhaps they were also impacted by the accelerated healing of Tuff Juice, who is optimistically eyeing a 2nd round return.

5. This Kid Does Horrible Push-Ups-