Mavs Starters Can't Finish in Denver

 ESPN Box Score

I’m sitting in my living room with the DVR stopped on the last bucket of the game. I can’t believe that it went down like this. I went from sure they were gonna lose, to sure they were gonna win, to unsure of anything, to depressed.

Both the Nuggets and Mavs are back in the Pepsi center after a games last night in which the Mavs won by 2 against a weak and young Sac team and the Nuggies lost a close one to the GSW in a Monta Ellis bucket fest. Obviously its much easier to make the transition coming into your own house as witnessed by the first quarter. The little mavericks started the game with Dirk, Tyson, Predrag, Jason and DeShawn to toy around with this lineup. DeShawn is our “stopper” and Melo has been playing out of his gourd lately (see HERE) so this made sense. Good news, we neutralized Melo in the first quarter; bad news is Bauncy Chillups (pronounced BAHN-see) decided to go crazy. To start the game off the Mavs look sluggish and terrible on defense. My roommate (not a dude or an NBA fan) says “They’re moving so slow, why is no one running hard?, not like the college guys.” I had to explain to her the 82 game monster that is the NBA season and about how talented the entire NBA is and so on.

Mavs Win 10th Straight

The Mavs have achieved their second double digit winning streak of the season.  A feat only matched by the San Antonio Spurs at this point in the season.  Tonight matched a veteran Mavericks team with a very young Sacramento team.  The difference was extremely obvious in the starting lineups, with the Kings most veteran player, Beno Udrih, in his 7th year while the Mavs youngest starter, Tyson Chandler, is in his 10th year.  The total years of NBA experience for Sacramento is only 15 years compared to the Mavericks' staggering 55 years.

The Mental and Physical Off Season for Pro Ball Players

In early to late September, in towns and cities all over North America, about 6,000 minor league and big league baseball players are paying their last month of rent, shipping extra gear home, packing cars full of belongings, and foremost, wrapping up another long season and thinking about recovery.  From extended spring training to the the "bigs", baseball is becoming more of a year long undertaking than a seasonal sport.  Because of these "marathon" seasons, recovery is not only for comfort but must occur for maximal production. 

What happens if the Rangers trade Young?



Is Mike's run with the Rangers over?

 Up until a few days ago, all rumors of Michael Young not being satisfied with his "super-utility/designated hitter" role have been publicly denied by most involved with the club and Manager Ron Washington has been insistent that Young would be an integral part of the Rangers' attempt to repeat as American League champs in 2011.

Now, Young has gone public with his trade demands. He cites being unclear about the intentions of the club in their dealings with him as the main reason that he wants a trade. Nolan Ryan has confirmed that the Rangers are indeed willing to accommodate Young's demand, but he also states that the Rangers are going to need equal value in return for him or they won't do a deal.

I must admit that I've loved having Young be a part of the Rangers organization for the past 10 years, but when a player who is considered your "clubhouse leader" and your "heart and soul" says that he no longer wants to play for your team, then you need to trade him. In fact, this is the second time that Young has demanded a trade after being asked to switch positions (the other time was when he was moved to third base). If Young is so "team-first", how come he keeps making trade demands when the team tries to better itself at the expense of what he wants? If you're getting paid over 13 million by your team, shouldn't you be willing to switch positions if they ask you to?

Peja Watch... and the Cavs Chance at History

Two weeks ago the Mavs fandom was pretty depressed.  We had risen to the highest of highs watching a streaking team widely regarded as one of the few real contenders, only to have all our hopes and dreams crushed as the team fell apart with injuries to our top two players.  With them out, the rest of the guys looked very suspect and when our superstar hobbled back resembling a mere mortal all hope was lost.  Oh the wonders of a good win versus the Celtics.  Now, with 8 straight wins, things are starting to heat up again in the D-Fdub.  Peja looks like he could round out our starting 5 nicely and when Roddy B comes back (read more about that HERE) we might have enough pieces to be considered contenders again.  Tonight was all about our introduction to Peja and, in a distant second, rooting for history, as the Cavs fought to avoid setting the NBA record of 25 consecutive losses.

The Neighbors We All Have

Family "walk"

Family walks are the perfect way to spy on your neighbors.  With the wife and kids in toe, nobody suspects that you are really on a reconnaissance mission in their front yard.  It's amazing what you can learn as you pretend to be enjoying the nice weather with your beneficiaries.  Besides providing cover, I have found it is also necessary for my helpmate to be around just in case we are confronted by a neighbor... to feed me names.  You can only refer to a man as dude, bro, neighbor, man, guy or friend 9 or 10 times in a row before he will figure out you don't know his name.  A nice smile and a wife-fed name drop can start your count over.

Mavs top Bobcats, push streak to 8

Dallas avoided a letdown after the big win last night against Boston by jumping on Charlotte early.  They kept the pedal down, never let up and coasted to an easy 101-92 W, pushing their overall win streak to 8.  The Mavs are still the only team in the league the Bobcats have never beaten.

The story of the night was Tyson Chandler's return to the team that traded him to Dallas for basically nothing. 
After spending most of last season injured and barely able to crack the starting lineup in Charlotte, TC has played like an all-star for Dallas while turning the Mavs into a legit contender.  He played with great energy all night despite not getting to sleep until 6am after the comeback against Boston.  Dirk led the team w/ 25, JET tossed in 21 off the bench, and Tyson added 15 boards along with his usual hand-full of sick dunks.