Game 22, Dallas Mavericks host Oklahoma City Thunder

Theme: Shiny Toy Guns, "Le Disko"
Game Info: Hello little boys little toys

Argh! The sad sacks of the NBA; why were they allowed to lead for three fucking quarters?!? Why were they not beaten to within an inch of their lives? Guys . . .

- We won all right. Took some moderate to serious heroics from certain parties to do it though.

- The Viva Barea! period's lost a little of the shine. Only six points, but five assists. DLord, aka The Good King of Numbers, runs down some stats and concludes that JJ isn't nearly the defensive liability one would think. To be honest, the math behind Efficiency Ratings is over my head. I'm going to have to reread The Arbitrarian's columns over at HP, this time with a couple of Algebra and Statistics texts close to hand.

- Dampier had four free throws in the first quarter and bricked all four. It's getting so I'm covering my eyes whenever Damp or Diop go to the line. Please don't make me hate you, guys. I don't like hating you.

- For Four-String, I sing from Sgt. Pepper -- It's getting better all the time . . .

- Seats for Soldiers was cool. The courtside lower bowl seats were all full of vets, either wounded in combat or currently on active duty. The really nifty thing? The Organization extended the invitation to some servicepeople from Oklahoma City, so the Thunder got to play for their guys too.

- Kevin Durant has either climbed over the rookie wall or he got cut a break from the Basketball Gods at the expense of my Mavs (again).

- The Thunder aren't on pace for Worst Record Ever, Durant and Jeff Green look like they're comers, and to be completely fair it's not like the expectations are high for them this year. I think they'll finish the year . . . well under .500 but with a base to build upon. I feel most sorry for Seattle basketball fans. It's not their fault their franchise got shipped out of town via Pony Express.

- We got outrebounded again. Considering the schedule and considering the lack of consistent hustle (God I hate that word!) I'm worried.

- We need J-Ho back. Sooner, not later. I don't know if he was present last night. Given his tasteless remarks regarding the anthem over the summer, his absence wouldn't've been a shock. I hope he was present though, hat off, head down, mouth shut, ready to take whatever disrespect the soldiers had to give.

- Our Jet decided to turn it loose. 28 points, six assists. Hold onto me, pretty baby, if you wanna fly . . .

In The Wash: Oh yeah, Dirk. Well he got a hero's exit from the game in the fourth, with 39 points to tie his season high so far. Given how everyone else looked, I didn't think he'd be out long. Sure enough the Thunder, to their credit, refused to die. So back he came about twenty seconds later. Poor guy, operating under the delusion that he'd only have to play thirty minutes per. The Mavericks, where Hop On Dirk And Hang On happens.

He took thirty shots, and I am perfectly okay with that. His line from the game looks a little something like this:

46 points. 17-30 shooting, including 2-4 three-point shots. 10-10 free-throws. 8 rebounds. 4 assists. 2 blocked shots.

You spell that M-V-P, guys.

Final: 103-99, Mavericks
-BJ