The Ultimate Question Is A Joke, Guys

When it comes to fresh grist for the rumor mill, this one's a doozy. Allen "The Answer" Iverson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the Memphis Grizzles. He's returned to his home in Atlanta to attend to a family situation (details unspecified).

Obviously I hope any family issues are resolved quickly and I hope he and his kinfolk are all okay. The vicious streak comes out whilst speculating on Iverson's future as a player in the NBA. He's signed a one-year deal for considerably less than what a former MVP should be worth, he's played 13 years, last season he was a ruinous nonfactor -- whoever on the Pistons' end signed off on the Billups-for-Iverson deal should be drug out into the street and shot -- and the general consensus is there's been, well, a failure to communicate between Iverson and Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins. Iverson still thinks of himself as a starter, Coach disagreed, Iverson got pouty, Coach got testy. Fail on both ends, gentlemen. (There's something to be said for Coach Carlisle's poker face; unrest stays behind closed doors where it belongs.)

He's given the Grizzlies no reason to miss him while he's gone and no reason to welcome him back if and when he returns. Congratulations, Mr. Iverson, you've just FUBAR'ed your NBA career. After this season, nobody's going to want to touch you. There are no suitors waiting for your agent's call, nobody's going to take you on as a mentor to an up-and-coming young team, there are no veteran squads that view you as a missing piece, there is no market so starved for attention and revenue that they'll take you for the ticket sales. You've systematically screwed up each of those scenarios over the past few years. You, sir, are just not worth it.
-BJ

I Love It When Life Hands Me Animaniacs Riffs

All right, game last night against Toronto. More detailed analysis later, after I've had a chance to watch the vid. What's going through my mind right now is a 30 second blurb shown on one of my favorite cartoon shows as a kid.

(smooth Narrator Voice) It's time for another Good Idea, Bad Idea.

Good Idea
Double-teaming Dirk Nowitzki.

Bad Idea
Double-teaming JJ Barea.
-BJ

PS: Welcome back, Josh! We missed you.

Game 5, Dallas Mavericks visit New Orleans Hornets

Theme: Concrete Blonde, "Bloodletting"
Game Info: Baby, I'm the walking dead.

I really didn't need to see that.

One of those missed free throws at the end -- just one -- would've done it.

Instead, we come down to earth with a resounding crash. Dirk followed last night's I Am A Scoring God performance--

Well. I'm too shocked to be mad. Gimme a couple hours. Suffice it to say, even when his shot's not dropping -- and God knows it wasn't tonight -- you want him on the floor at crunch time. Instead, he was politely invited to leave the floor with two and a half minutes left in regulation.

If there's anybody who should be owed an apology for effort wasted, it's Dampier. My hand to God, he did everything short of walking on water to help the Mavericks win. Second double-double of the season, all of the Mavs' second chance points.

There's pride salve to be had in all of this, of course. Second night of a back-to-back, Chris Paul's a hard player to bottle up, et cetera et cetera et cetera. If it helps get the collective shit together, use what's needed. But that's all it is, is salve. We blew it.

Borrowing from Kay; by such achingly small things are lives made.

One free throw.

Final: 114-107, Hornets
-BJ

PS: Chris Paul's an asshole. It hasn't come totally to the fore yet, but it will. Seriously, he's a veteran player in a man's league. Why is he taking his complaints to all the refs like a kid trying to get a Yes out of Daddy when he got a No out of Mommy?

Still Enjoying The Moment . . .

The Organization put a recording of ESPN's radio broadcast of last night's fourth quarter on the website. Chuck Cooperstein and Brad Davis have the call.

Savoring the moment . . . aaaaaand . . . moment's over.

The team flew straight from the game to New Orleans last night. According to Followill they got to the hotel about 4 AM EST. I can only imagine what the wakeup calls must be like. "Okay, so what do I do if the seven foot maniac doesn't respond to a light tapping on the door?!?"
-BJ

Game 4, Dallas Mavericks host Utah Jazz

Theme: Noisuf-X, "Hit Me Hard"
Game Info: Hit me hard, hit me fast.

Let me paraphrase an actual exchange between me and Rick the A-Man (he's the fella that tallies up Kidd's assists in back of Section 113):

Me: (groaning after Dirk misses a shot)
Rick: Yeah.
Me: The boy's starting to worry me.

At the end of the third we were down by sixteen. Offensive breakdown, nobody could hit anything. I think Dirk's total by then was eleven. There goes the Longest Active +20 Streak In The NBA (if you discount the postseason, where his PPG dipped a bit during the San Antonio series). "This is what going mad feels like," I said.

Then the fourth quarter happened. It started with an and-one, and . . .

Really, Matt Moore over at Hardwood P says it best -- the boy went Nova.

I was there. I saw the whole thing.

He had eleven going in. He had 40 coming out. The 29 points scored in the interim -- most of those coming in the final seven minutes -- are a Dallas Mavericks record for points in a quarter. Seriously, this is his stat line just for that quarter:

29 points, 7-8 shooting, 14-14 free throws, 5 rebounds, 2 assists (one of those was to Kidd for his fifth wide-open three), 1 block, 1 steal, zero turnovers.

Re that exchange . . . bad me. Bad, bad me.

Final: 96-85, Mavericks
-BJ