I'd Make A Lousy Fortuneteller

First of all, Dallas eliminates Portland in six.  Fuckin' yay.  My sanity cracked a little after Game Four -- when I said I'd personally watched this team blow bigger leads, I wasn't asking for a demonstration.  Dallas took the next game at home and won an elimination game.  In the Rose Garden.  Against a team that just owned them there during the regular season.

Dallas advances, from Portland to Los Angeles.  Felt like jumping out of the frying pan and into a volcano.

Before Game One, Fisher asked the regular contributors on DB.com for their series predictions.  Crossing my fingers behind my back, I said Mavericks in seven.  That was with grave reservations.  I mean, these are the Los Angeles goddamn Lakers.  Masterminded by Jackson, led by Bryant, anchored by Gasol, fueled by Bynum, backed by Odom . . .  I would've been happy with the Mavericks playing competative games.

Two days later, the Mavericks are up 2-0, the Lakers are showing clear stress fractures, Jackson's strategic mastery hasn't shown up yet, Kobe's trying to jump-shoot his team back into games, Gasol is putting up the most insipid double-doubles I've ever seen, the Laker bench is crumpling like tissue paper, and a lot of people who know a lot more about the game than I do are looking quite sheepish.

Dirk Nowitzki, the guy who's taken the lion's share of the crap for Dallas's postseason impotence, has outplayed Bryant in just about every way imaginable.  The Lakers cannot stop him.  Dirk might miss shots, but it's not because of anything LA is doing.  Jason Kidd owns the Laker guards.  Tyson and Brendan are doing a good job making the paint a minefield.  Los Angeles's bench, supposedly a match for Dallas's, has been AWOL.  And JJ Barea just embarassed the entire Laker team in the fourth quarter last night.  With LA unwilling to leave Dirk alone, JJ had all the room he needed to take the ball to the rack or drive-and-kick.


Yes I know it's not over.  But . . . it is.

The Lakers are capable of winning games.  The Mavericks haven't executed perfectly by any means.  But the Lakers cannot take back this series.  Dallas has reduced the Lakers to Kobe and Kobe's Audience, and that's not enough.  Already the forbidden word -- sweep -- is being uttered.  I wish to God I could be there.  The AAC is going to go bonkers tomorrow night.
-BJ