CRITICAL MASS

For those who have read the blog before, you know I have been on blog-vacation for a long time. This may have had something to do with the fact that the Mavs have kept my blood pressure down since about week three of the season by winning at a record setting pace. No, the Mavs still weren't getting the respect league-wide and in the national media that they deserve, but they were winning.

And that begs a question: do they deserve that respect?

Let The Playoffs Begin

That's what we've been saying around here for the last month or more. We watched our team torch through the league and clinch the division and a playoff spot not with days to go, with weeks to go! Earlier in the year you heard a lot of different things from national media types; some said this was the best team in the NBA, while others never believed, though they thought Dallas was "very good."

But as the season wore on, and now that we are facing a disaster in the first round, I wonder: was this season the result of Dallas being so much better than everyone else, or was this season what any good NBA team could do if their coach and players just put out quality effort every night? In other words, if San Antonio just never lost focus, could they have done what Dallas did? Is this past season the result of superior talent, or just a full effort every night?

"Let the Playoffs begin," we all said. Then we will see the real Mavericks come to life. THAT'S where we belong: in the Playoffs!

Here We Go Again

But now we have reached critical mass. The Mavs have demonstrated that something's wrong...something has gone amiss on our way to our coronation that should have taken place last year. A mere three games into this series and we have to ask it: are we really that good? Right now, how do you like our chances against Phoenix? Right now, how are you going to feel about that MVP award if Dirk gets it? You gonna agree with that? You gonna feel good about it?

Here we are at a "character moment," which is territory Dallas fans know all too well. Just like in the NBA Finals a mere year ago, we have dropped two games to an inferior opponent. Perhaps the word "inferior" should be in quotes. We have watched a team with fewer wins and less talent take the Mavericks and humiliate them. Yes, humiliate them. We seem to have no answer for a team that every other team in the league handled quite well, and we are trying to catch up to them.

Our players are playing scared, timid, and, again, relying on jump shots far too often. Critical mass, again. But why? By now we have all heard about all of the records we have set, what teams with this many wins have done -- win it all. No team that has ever had a regular season like this has not won it all, much less, gone out in the first round. Now, it seems we are going to spend a huge amount of effort and energy just getting out of this series, if we can do it at all. How is that going to affect us in the next round, if we even get there? What has this already done to our team mentally?

I have said it before: the greatest players rise to the occasion in the biggest games. Well, our MVP has a chance to demonstrate where he belongs.

And our chances are slipping away.