Who Knew?

Oooohhhh, So THAT'S How You Do It...

Well, it took until the fifth game of the season, but the aliens who took the Dallas Mavericks have returned them and have replaced the panty-waists that have been playing in Dallas uniforms. The two wins our heroes have put together seem to have the team in better spirits. Eddie Sefko of the Morning News referred to it as an "identity crisis." That's putting it kindly. It is hard to consider the Phoenix win a "quality win" with the way they have been playing. Apparently Steve Nash has a Sampsonesque situation on his hands, what with the shorn locks and the losing record. But, it is still Phoenix, and it was still an NBA road win over a team that took the Spurs to overtime in a game the Suns should have won just a night or two before.

But, the win over Portland was pretty good: a road win over an opponent who is playing well, and who has some very good young talent. Anyone who watched the game probably saw the incredible play near the end when Portland had gone into desperation mode, and was trying to get a steal or foul and stop the clock; Devin Harris had the ball up very high on the right side and jumped up toward the center of the court as if he were going to make a pass to the left side, but made a sterling no-look pass to the lane where Stackhouse caught it alone and passed to Dampier alone for the throw-dunk. It took the air out of the chubby Zach Randolph and the Blazers.

Ahhh...so nice for things to be returning to normal. But, the Mavs have four losses already, and will need to win 12 straight to match last year's record when we got our fourth loss.

That's The Problem....Normal...

This is what gets me about this team. They will give up a lead faster than a Democrat turns off Fox News. In both wins Dallas had double digit leads that they completely gave up. They seem to have this default setting where they shut down and coast anytime they get up by 10 or more points on a team. There is just no killer instinct. In Portland, they gave up a big lead in the second half, and had to work to finish the game. In Phoenix, they went up by 11, then went down by a basket or two, before coming back, and again in the second half.

This has been a chronic problem, with this team, going all the way back to the debacle against the Lakers a few years back (sorry to bring that up). But none of us has to think back very far to remember being up two games to none, and up 13 points with 6 minutes left in game three before the wheels came off. And they came off. The bottom line is that something's got to change. Avery's got to inject something in these players; not just a desire to win, but to win big--a desire to beat teams badly, and finish them off when they're down.

Scattershooting

Anyone watching Tim Duncan? He is clearly in midseason form with his crying at officials. His bug-eyed fish face and pleading hands are honed to playoff-perfection. It humors me that they call the new "no-crying" rule the "Rasheed Rule" and not the "Spurs Statute." Little Timmy has brought whining to an All-Star level.

I can't help but wonder: does Chris Kaman get offended by those Geico commercials with the Cavemen?