So How Long Do We Wait Before We Push The Panic Button?

Oh and Three

Let's all admit it: we all thought we had the better team in the Finals last year, but we had doubts. Okay, right now you're thinking I haven't gotten over The Collapse...and you're right. It still hurts. But there is no question we had the better team, and that's why it hurts.

Here's the rub: when The Collapse was fully underway after Game 4, the doubts began to sink in--not just to the fans, but the players. You know they did. And guess what:

...the doubts are still there.

There is really no way to explain it otherwise. How else could a team show such fortitude in the waning minutes of the San Antonio series, the toughest series that this franchise has ever endured, only to show weak knees and doubt against a substantially weaker team in Miami?

So What Does This Mean For This Year?

Well, that's a good question. You would hope Dallas would come out, and in the word of Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction reference), show some "fuuuurious anger" to start this season. You would think they spent the summer reliving The Collapse, and quietly jacking themselves up mentally. You would have expected the team to come out kicking butt when they hit the floor in the home opener in a "message game" against a San Antonio team that they dispatched with such intensity only a few months ago.

They didn't.

Tonight Dallas fell to 0-3 after losing at home to Golden State...Golden State. Congrats to Don Nelson on another win to add to his list of wins that will never include an NBA title. Whoop de freakin' do. Don't get me wrong: I appreciate all Nelson did for this team. But, it was clear in his last full season here that he had been here too long, that the drunken sailor routine on the sideline was tired, that what was actually holding the team back was him. As soon as he left, we went further than ever before. Now he can get Golden State to the second round of the playoffs and no further.

But I Digress...

Back to reality. 0-3. I had the pleasure of going to Houston to see the game Saturday night in the Toyota Center. I did my best to get the team fired up...I offered to let each of the players sign my wife's pants before the game. My wife is hot, so it should have worked. Maybe it messed things up. Nah, she's hot.

We left the Houston debacle with a sinking feeling: something's wrong here. We sat by Donnie Nelson during the game, and afterwards I sat with him for a minute to discuss. He looked like I felt...like 40 miles of bad road. He said something interesting: "We've been through tougher times before." I didn't think about it at that moment, but I did later. It was just one loss, right? But it wasn't. It was two very bad losses to start the year--the year immediately after The Collapse. It clearly seemed to Maverick fans like a hangover from last year...because it is. Donnie knows it too. Everyone in the organization is telling themselves everything is okay. But it's not.

The day after the debacle at Houston, the team knew it was not just an ordinary 0-2 to start the season. It was worse. They knew it so clearly that they called a players-only team meeting to hash things out. It didn't work. They hit the floor against Golden State--Golden State--and laid another egg.

I just don't see the emotion, no fire, no swagger. There is only uncertainty and timidity. You see it. I see it. It looks like...like...

...well, like the last three games of The Collapse.

Enough Knee-Jerk Reactions

Okay, so perhaps I'm knee jerking a bit. But, it took the Mavericks 12 games to get to three losses last year. This year it took 3. Their first three games last year included wins at Phoenix and at home against San Antonio.

Yeah, maybe it's knee jerking. But if we are having this conversation about 10 games from now, it won't be.

Quick Blog note:

I got the pleasure of meeting Mark Cuban in person (finally) in Houston, and told him I was the author of this blog. I know he'll read this, and I know he won't be real happy with me for being the sports-pessimist. Mark, I'm sorry for being a downer. Trust me, I still have my season tickets, and I'm still your guy.

Thanks for signing my wife's pants. Isn't she hot?