Tuesday, May 10, 2011

On Historical Context, or Why I Can't Say Dirk Is In The Top Ten

In my opinion Dirk Nowitzki is King Of The Whole World, but that's not the question being asked.

Coach Carlisle went on the radio yesterday and stated his opinion that Dirk is one of the top ten basketball players ever to play the game.  The NBA has a little radio-button poll on the front page, with Yes, No, and Maybe, with voting pretty evenly split between the three.

Here's my problem -- I can't answer that question.

I have no historical context.  I'm not like a lot of the guys over on DB.com's Boards who're involved in the sport on the amateur or professional level and have been for many years.  My contextual knowledge goes back three years and four months and is focused primarily on the Mavericks.  That makes it impossible for me to wade in with informed opinions about the history of this sport of baskets and balls.

For example, someone made the statement that Kobe Bryant's 81 point game (22 January 2006 versus the Toronto Raptors) was a more impressive achievement than Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game (2 March 1962 versus the New York Knicks), because Bryant's Lakers were on their way to a loss and Bryant went superhero, while Chamberlain just kept taking shots in a blowout victory.  I can't make a statement one way or the other, because I haven't seen either game.  Likewise I can't contribute much to the Chamberlain v. Russell arguement, or the Bird v. Magic arguement, or His Holiness The Jordan, Best Ever (Why or Why Not) question.  And it's not all about debate fuel -- I've read columns about the mind-blowing-coolness of Julius Erving, but I've never seen any of his games.  From what I've read, that's a deprivation; he was just that fucking cool.

I'm not looking for the Complete Archives Of Basketball To This Point.  I'm not that obsessive.  But it would be nice to be able to order a tape or DVD or download a video file of some complete games from those great moments in history type deals.  Highlights are designed to reinforce opinions and text doesn't get the point across quite the same way.

Why watch when you already know the ending?  For the same reason I've read The Stand a couple hundred times -- because the beauty is in the prose.
-BJ

Make That A Really Lousy Fortuneteller

Nobody outside Dallas -- and damned few inside of it -- thought the Mavs would win the semis against the Lakers.

Nobody at all thought this would happen.

The dust has settled and the Western Conference Semifinals is over, Dallas Mavericks 4, Los Angeles Lakers 0.

Dallas is playing their best basketball at the right time, and it hit Los Angeles like a Dran-O cocktail.

Or here's a more elegant analogy -- the Lakers have been one of the diamonds of professional sports.  But diamonds are brittle and if you hit them right they shatter.

After Game Three, the uneasy murmur was that, if any matchup could produce the NBA's first ever come-back-from-three-down playoff series, it would have to be the Lakers and the Mavericks.  A defending champion . . . a Kobe Bryant led defending champion . . . a Kobe Bryant led defending champion whose legendary head coach is sailing off into retirement . . . c'mon, they wouldn't just roll over and die, right?

Right?

The 2008 Finals was the first Final series I ever watched, and I was deeply impressed by the sheer level of fuckitall displayed by the Kobe-led Lakers during Game Six.  So I foresaw Game Four going one of two ways.  Either the Lakers would unite, make the necessary adjustments (steer more offense through Bynum, do a better job defending the three), put up their best possible fight.  For pride, for the sake of their coach, for a chance -- however slim -- to take back control of the series, for the right just to play another game.  Or they'd pack it in, zombie-shuffle through the game, and Dallas would blow them to kingdom come.

Final score, 122-86.  Kingdom Come now has a crater on the far side surrounded by shreds of purple and yellow fabric.  It's the first time Phil Jackson's ever been swept in a series; an ugly ending to a proud career.

Add injury to insult.  A couple of the Lakers decided they didn't want to wait until the final buzzer to leave the arena.

I'll tackle this sequentially -- in the fourth quarter Lamar Odom got fouled in the act and went to the line.  After his first free-throw there was a pause in the action; the refs had to consult on something.  Odom flicked the ball at the hoop and Dirk swatted it.  Words were exchanged.  No techs.  You don't see it on the broadcast because the ESPN guys had cut to a graphic.

When Dallas went on offense, Odom got on Dirk and shoved him off balance (thank God, Dirk didn't fall over).  The ref, seeing this for the dick move it was and trying to contain a situation that was getting uglier by the minute, called a Flagrant-2 and tossed Odom out of the game.

Later, JJ had the ball and drove it for a layup.  Andrew Bynum elevated, and instead of going for the ball he cocked his elbow and caught JJ in the ribcage, just under his right arm.  JJ crumpled and went fetal.  It took him a few minutes to get up.  The ref immediately ejected Bynum, who left the court alongside (of all people) Ron Artest.  As he was leaving, Bynum shucked out of his jersey and sneered at nothing.  Postgame comments boiled down to, "We were getting embarassed, so I clobbered somebody."  This isn't the first time he's done this either.  According to The Word, he put Gerald Wallace in the hospital earlier this year.

The NBA needs to slap this clown down hard.  Keep hammering the point home that the butcher shop era is over.

So, let's cut it to basics.  Our Dallas Mavericks -- the guys that smart money picked to get flushed out of the first round by Portland -- have swept the defending champions.  As a special added bonus, the soonest the Western Conference Finals can start is Sunday.  A whole week off!
-BJ

Friday, May 6, 2011

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