Thursday, June 01, 2006

Lead Us To Victory, Dirk.



It is the refrain of teams who need wins when they have the luxury of having a Superstar. Sure, everyone needs to play well, and sure, this is a team game, but, big man, this is why we pay you what we pay you, and promote you like we promote you. This is why #41 is the most popular jersey in any sport in this city. This is why we flew in David Hasselhoff.

Never have the Mavericks needed Dirk to be Dirk like they do tonight …At least since last time we said this, the night of Game 7 last series…


"How many nights is our main scoring threat going to be 3-for-13?" Jerry Stackhouse said. "I don't think that's going to happen [again]. He's proven that."
Nowitzki said the Mavericks have to remain calm in this situation. And he knows it starts with him.

"I gotta come out a lot better in Game 5," Nowitzki said. "The series is tied. It's not time to panic. We just have to win two games. I don't feel the pressure that I have to score 30 for us to win every night. We're a balanced team."

Perhaps. But often it's Nowitzki who can tip the scale in the Mavericks' favor.
The first order of business is to get back on the boards. Nowitzki was averaging 17.2 rebounds in the five games before the 106-86 blowout loss. He'd been going to the offensive glass – even against the fast-breaking Suns – to the tune of 5.3 per game in the first three matches of the series.

"Hey, when they put a small guy on me like they've been doing, I have to be active and get my hands on the ball any way I can," Nowitzki said. "It's not really any different mindset for me.

"If the ball's in the air, I have to go for it. It's like that with the whole series. Nothing's going to be given to you. We're going to have to go out, be strong and take it."

Be strong and take it. Hard to think of any better advice for Game 5.


Koronka gets shelled, but the Rangers beat Oakland 3 out of 4, and Seattle 2 out of 3 ….That will help you win a bad division…

Meanwhile, in a rather shocking move, The Rangers appear to trade Phil Nevin just to trade him …sure they get Jerry Hairston, Jr, back, but something tells me this is far more about Nevin, Jason Botts, and cash…Here is some Chicago perspective of Mr. Nevin:


"I completely look forward to being in Chicago," Nevin said. "(The Rangers) honestly helped me out quite a bit. ... I will take nothing but positives from here. Nothing bad happened."

The 35-year-old Nevin wasn't happy when he was traded from San Diego.

"The last time I was traded, it was a different emotion," he said. "I was leaving a place I had been at for a long time."

Nevin, 35, is hitting .216 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs for the Rangers. He opened the season as Texas' cleanup hitter but had fallen out of favor with manager Buck Showalter, who has been using rookie Jason Botts as part of a designated-hitter platoon with Nevin.

"I'm more of a National League player. The designated hitter deal is not something I like doing every day," Nevin said. "My first reaction was the tradition of Wrigley Field -- it's probably one of my favorite places to visit."

Nevin has been unable to pull himself out of a month-long slump. He hit .278 with seven homers in April but is batting only .139 with two homers in 79 at-bats in May.

"The way Phil played out of the gate in April, he probably would have been impossible to acquire in a trade like this," Hendry said.


Cowboys cut Kalen Thornton …And I didn’t lead with it…

Edmonton is already trashing itself …despite still being 4 wins from a Cup…Ah, Canadians…


Outside the airport terminal, where the Oilers' charter flight returned, RCMP officers kept watch over hundreds of fans, spread out over a kilometer. Their cars were parked on grass fields, ditches and wherever else they could find room.
But on Whyte Avenue -- Edmonton's main hockey party strip, also known as the Blue Mile -- workers had to clean up after a night of hard partying turned to vandalism.

"I'm very disappointed that people in our city would act like that," Mayor Stephen Mandel told CTV News.

"It's really quite disgusting to see someone not being able to control themselves. It's a hockey game, it's not life or death."

While most of the 30,000 fans flooding into the area were well-behaved, things started deteriorating quickly as the night dragged on, CTV's Erin Isfeld Isfeld said early Sunday.

"We're definitely on the verge of a riot right now," she said at one point. "For the last three hours, we've had fires being set in the middle of Whyte Avenue ... anything and everything that will burn. They're throwing their clothes on them."
Firefighters doused the fires -- and the crowds -- from rooftops. Eventually, police in riot control gear escorted them to put out some of the small fires, she said.
Around 3:30 a.m. local time, Edmonton police -- buttressed by reinforcements from the city of Camrose and RCMP from around the province -- pushed the crowd off Whyte Avenue, Isfeld said. "They essentially forced them to go home."

In the end, 15 people were arrested. Supt. Mark Logar called the behaviour of some fans "totally inexcusable."




Our buddy’s big day is today: Spell Well, Samir Patel


Samir Patel of Colleyville soared through the opening three rounds of the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday and remained a strong favorite to win the prestigious educational competition before a prime-time television audience Thursday night.

With his parents, Sudhir and Jyoti Patel, seated in the front row, the 12-year-old contender successfully spelled "grandrelle," a two-ply yarn made by twisting together two singles of contrasting color, to advance to the fourth round later in the day.

Earlier, he easily conquered "adiaphorism," which means tolerance of actions or beliefs not specifically prohibited in the Scriptures.

"I just wanted to get my word and get it over,” said Patel, who tied for second place in last year’s contest. "In 40 hours, it’ll all be over and it’ll all be done.”


This Cop doesn’t know the anthem very well

Did you listen to the Hardline last night? Who is Jim Goldstein?



Rusty pulls the shocker

The impossible to believe story of Chris Berman’s lovelife

Sorry, kids. All blogging done last night as the dentist is killing me again. My teeth and my hair listed as weaknesses on my scouting report.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

first reply bitches!!

Arthur

Anonymous said...

Please, PLEASE, please tell me that someone had some audio fun and dubbed the vocal track over that policeman video. There is no way that could have been legitimate. If it was legit, he's lucky another policeman didn't pull out his revolver and go ahead and put him down. That was unbelievable!

Oh yeah, go Mavs! As I said all along, Mavs in 6.

Kip in Burleson

Anonymous said...

Well, you can't put sexy, danger as a weakness on your scouting because you're with me, leather.

Flaco said...

That is so funny about Berman

You guys think that Berman uh..."calls the game" so to speak when he's uhh....you know?

I suppose one could make a "fastest 3 minutes" (Half time SNF) joke here...

Unknown said...

SA-MIR - SA-MIR - SA-MIR
spell that shit!!!

cracker1743 said...

Some people aren't content to let the game be played on the court instead of in the stands. Stay classy, Phoenix.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/specials/playoffs/2006/05/31/johnson.wife.assault.ap/index.html

Anonymous said...

this is for you, Jay.
This story has a major "upside". JD hasn't hit his "ceiling", yet.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2006-05-31-young-gms_x.htm

Unknown said...

samir is getting crazy tv time. he just got interviewed by that spare ex-mtv guy chris matthews (or whatever his name is).

Anonymous said...

Dude's name is Chris Connolley. He used to be an MTV spare I think and now does all sappy ESPN stories that are intended to make you cry.

Sorry for being late to the party, but is the Berman story the reason why Neil Everett was suspended for a week? I heard that he was suspended because during a highlight, when talking about a great glove save in the outfield, he yelled "You're with me, leather!" as the guy caught the ball. If that's true, that's so genius and he's now my favorite ESPN SportsCenter anchor.

Man, I don't know what to think about this game tonight. There's part of me that thinks that Tuesday night was a total aberattion and that everything will be peachy tonight. But, even though we've won two games, the Suns have lead at halftime in all but the 1st game, they have carried the 2nd quarter in every game, played close in the 3rd and then dominated the 4th twice and fell apart in the 4th twice. Please oh Mavs, talk me off the ledge tonight with a nice win. I'm tired of the close calls, I want the Mavs to win by 30. This close game stuff is killing me...

Anonymous said...

Dude's name is Chris Connolley. He used to be an MTV spare I think and now does all sappy ESPN stories that are intended to make you cry.

Sorry for being late to the party, but is the Berman story the reason why Neil Everett was suspended for a week? I heard that he was suspended because during a highlight, when talking about a great glove save in the outfield, he yelled "You're with me, leather!" as the guy caught the ball. If that's true, that's so genius and he's now my favorite ESPN SportsCenter anchor.

Man, I don't know what to think about this game tonight. There's part of me that thinks that Tuesday night was a total aberattion and that everything will be peachy tonight. But, even though we've won two games, the Suns have lead at halftime in all but the 1st game, they have carried the 2nd quarter in every game, played close in the 3rd and then dominated the 4th twice and fell apart in the 4th twice. Please oh Mavs, talk me off the ledge tonight with a nice win. I'm tired of the close calls, I want the Mavs to win by 30. This close game stuff is killing me...

Anonymous said...

Here's the lowdown on Everett's leather suspension...

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/neil-everett/

Anonymous said...

Forgive me but...I dont understand the "leather" reference.
Somebody please help.

P1 Mike

Anonymous said...

Dear Diary - Today was the last day of my first life - so I decided to drink all of the tree's in the courtyard - then the orange slice slipped on the banana peel during part IV of the great chase... wow did you notice that...Lizard Ball is for all and then you have a Dutch Oven... Wayman out.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean we want the series to go 7 games now? Then, the Mavs would get him back for game 4 instead of 5. I'm not thinking it does, but just a thought.

Flaco said...

Come on now, this is a total non issue. I know Mbenga played a couple of minutes vs Duncan, but seriously..

If they can handle Duncan they can handle Shaq. Shaq is not going to hurt you any more than Duncan did.

Don't kneejerk about Mbenga.

Be scared of tonight.

Go Mavs

Anonymous said...

I think Yoda speaks well on this Phoenix series...

"Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are."

"Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."

"Always in motion is the future."

"Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice"...(1st Nash and Amare, now Nash and Diaw? Perhaps Nash is the Sith Lord!!!!)

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you."

"Reckless he is."...{Stackhouse)

"You must unlearn what you have learned"...(take it to the hole, big man...no more fade aways!!)

When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good, you will not...(has to be talking about Armstrong!)

Anonymous said...

Your crazy mannnnn..... your crazy

Unknown said...

go rangers.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bob...how 'bout this for a discussion tomorrow...Dirk is the #1 Dallas Sports Stud.

Who else comes close? TO? Bledsoe? Tex? There is no contest...Dirk is the Aikman of the aughts.

p1dean

Anonymous said...

Back at 1:25/1:26, I accidently double posted that these close games are killing me and that I was hoping for a 30 point blowout. Well, I'll take 17. What a heck of a game by Nowitzki. The point about being a Dallas stud may be one worth having. They needed a huge game from a stud, and they got it. Aikman delivered every time and as Dirk has matured, he's getting there. Wow, that game was amazing. He literally was unstoppable all game long. After starting out 6 of 14, he ended the game on a 8 of 12 run and hit 10+ free throws along the way. And that 3 ball to get him to 50 was awesome...

All that being said, all this does is guarantee that we get one more game at home no matter what. Let's see if the Mavs can grow that killer instinct that they've needed all playoffs long. Let's knock that team out on Saturday night!