The Bills are to The Jazz as The Eagles are now to…….The Mavericks?
The Dallas Mavericks just finished their 10th straight 50+ Win Season and made their 10th straight Playoff appearance. Unfortunately, it all means nothing cause they have nothing to show for it but one NBA Finals appearance.The Mavs had the best road record in the regular season and were late favorites to dethrone the Champion Lakers once Cuban made moves for Haywood and Butler late in the season costing him $40 million. But instead, we get them losing in the 1st Round for the 3rd time in 4 years. Gross.
In last night’s comeback, Dirk scored 25 of his 33 in the 2nd half but with San Antonio’s Hill striking back, the Mavs just seemed to run out of steam. After the double header on TNT, Charles Barkley showed his lovable ignorance by claiming that the Cavs will win their series with the Celtics at a 4-1 pace. Damn fool. But somewhere in the mix of all his babbling he made a good point in reference to the situation in the Dallas front office. Charles made it clear that this isn’t a team that needs to be “blown up” and reassembled, all they need to do is “tweak” the team a bit. And it’s true. The majority of the pieces are there, they just need to be moved around in a manner that makes them more efficient in the clutch. Maybe one more trade, one more addition or subtraction to the rotation and they’re back in Championship contention. They have a phenomenal owner and an above par coach, they just gotta be “tweaked a lil”.
Dirk, who can now exercise his player option next season, has always been quick to assure audiences that he would be staying in Dallas. That was until last night where he went on record saying “I haven’t really thought about my future, I guess I have some time now to think about my future and think about my options.”
Damn. Like that?
If the Dallas Mavericks ever wanna try out other professions and explore their options, they can always pick up those fishing poles…….God knows they’ve got the experience.
As many of you may already know, I’m a full-time LeBron James “exposer”. I have always intended to unveil the truth and claim full credit for being one of the few to have said it all along, “LeBron James just isn’t that good.” Unfortunately, only time will be able to prove me right but until then I have Round 2 of the Playoffs. My Boston Celtics have stepped up and gotten their shit together. They said farewell to Dwayne Wade and the Heat last night, sending the team fishing and possibly Wade to Chicago next season. Boston’s game is on point and because so, they were able to wrap up that series in 5 games and now have a little resting time as a reward. And boy do they need it. Cleveland on the other hand has kinda been playing like shit to be honest with you, with James basically carrying them past an outmatched Bulls team. Now I know the odds are stacked against Boston and that my money would be safer by betting on Cleveland to advance but in the back of my mind I know that Boston at their best is a team that can win this series with even Cleveland at their best as well. The thing is, which Boston team will show up? They play horrible at home and still have age and arrogance hindering their performance every night. The upside to this, is that THIS IS THE TIME to step it up and run on all cylinders, something we all know they’ve been putting off till the last-minute. So if the Miami series is any indication of how Boston plans to come out, then I’m not a worried man, not at all. But I won’t forget for one second that Cleveland and Miami are two totally different monsters.
For the short time that we’ve had Momma There Goes That man running, we’ve had a couple of running series titled “The Best of the Best of the Best” and “Beasts We Love.” I’ve faithfully made sure at least one of those were posted once every week of our existence. For this week, however, I’m combining the two in the same post in honor of Dwyane Wade’s performance Game four of the Celtics/Heat series.
I know that Miami has no shot at advancing to the next round. That was a given going into this series considering that Wade would have to win four games going one-on-five against one of the better defensive teams in the league. That just isn’t happening. But we all had to know that Wade winning one by himself was in play – and in play it was in Game 4.
Wade’s 46 point explosion was spectacular to watch, it was vintage Flash doing the things we love watching him do and doing some things he only does on “one of those nights,” including hitting FOUR three pointers in a row. When he hits two consecutive, we have the tendency to believe that he’s, at the very least, heating up (no pun intended), but his 46 against the Celtics was other-worldly (or maybe it was for me as a born Celtics hater).
Whether or not you’re a fan of Wade’s, you have to respect his grind. He could have easily give up knowing his teammates are a collection of items you find of value menus and swap meets. He’s relentless in the way he attacks other teams, knowing that, if he gets things going, he has a punchers chance at leaving the arena with a win…
Oh, and then there was that dunk on Kevin Garnett. That. Fantastic. Classic. Dwyane. Wade. Dunk. I didn’t get to catch the game live, and I checked my twitter feed well after the game had ended, so I had no idea it was coming when I watched the replay. Goodness gracious! I’m usually a fan of Kevin Garnett, but he’s annoyed the living shit out of me this postseason and I couldn’t be happier he got one dropped on his head (and yes, I hope LBJ drops one on his head in the second round, too).
I hope he finds some better teammates this offseason. The playoffs can use more than just five (yeah, the series is over) games from Flash. So there you have it, ladies and gents. Dwyane Wade is the Best of the Best of the Beasts We Love.
Categories: Beasts We Love, Best of the Best, General NBATags: Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Playoffs are in full swing and some teams are already trying to wrap up their series to get some of that ever so needed rest in between rounds. And just like with any first round brackets, you’re usually gonna have alot of the same ‘ol same ‘ol but sometimes us fans will be lucky enough to witness a few surprises early in these match ups. Here are my TOP 5 MATCH UP SHOCKERS:
5. ) Boston/Miami
Most felt that Boston could not “turn on” their engines when playoff time came around much less roll over their first round opponent but they not only “turned on” their engines, they did it with a glimmer of their 2008 season. Last night though Dwayne Wade came out like a man possessed and threw up 46 pts. as if somehow saying farewell to Miami.
Interesting.
4.) Cleveland/Chicago
The Cavs are the majority favorites to win the title this year but the Chicago Bulls, although outmatched, still wanted to make Cleveland work hard for their second round advancement. Chicago is notorious for taking teams to the edge and pushing out 7 game series where there shouldn’t be 7 game series.Although Cleveland took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Bulls yesterday, I still get a feeling that Chicago will suck out another win over Cleveland and force a Game 6.
3.) San Antonio/Dallas
San Antonio seemed all but dead upon arrival in the Playoffs. And Mark Cuban beefed up is already talented team to assure the league they were serious about title contention. So what the hell is going on here? Well the Spurs have figured out a formula that includes, experience, will, teamwork and the proper blending of new blood and seasoned vets. And lets not forget the priceless leadership of Coach Pop. Who thought we’d see the Spurs and Lakers in the 2010 Western Conference Finals?
Not my ass.
.
2.) Utah/Denver
With Okur and AK-47 out, what on Earth were the Utah Jazz supposed to do?Denver has plenty of length to throw out at Utah but even with the Jazz shorthanded they’ve managed to take a 3-1 lead over a frustrated Nuggets squad. Bottom line, Denver needs their coach and clearly do not function well without him and that’s a shame. We wish you a speedy recovery Coach Karl but can’t help to wonder how different things would be if Denver hadn’t lost you. Remember, the Nuggets were at one point the favorites to come out the West and finally arrive as the long awaited “Laker Killers”.
1.) Oklahoma/ Los Angeles
I can’t say enough about what Kevin Durant and Thunder are doing out there to Kobe and the Lakers. We knew this would be an exciting match up and we knew this young squad would tire out the Lakers a lil bit. But not many predicted that they could even win 1 against the defending champs much less tie up the series at 2 a piece. The Lakers are playing downright terrible basketball and Okalhoma is definitely capitalizing without a moment’s hesitation. Such is the benefit of having “nothing to lose”. Oh how exciting Game 5 will be!
Dave E. Gold
Phillip Barnett