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Mavs may be in great position to thwart the Spurs after all

Posted on April 25, 2014 by rowdycmoore

This was supposed to be the ultimate humiliation. An easy four game sweep for the San Antonio Spurs to prove what a worthless endeavor it was to get back in the playoffs and that tanking worse than the Sixers to fight for the right to draft an untested college freshman was the better way to go.

Oops.

The dream of so many to see the Mavs swept away in the first round came to a crashing halt Wednesday night, thanks to the Mavs’ 113-92 win in Game Two. The team that had lost 10 straight overall to San Antonio simply schooled them on their home floor, picking off balls everywhere and getting so many contributions that they easily won despite another subpar game from Dirk Nowitzki.

While some can grumble that they could have gotten two wins in the Alamo City had they not fallen apart late in Game One like so many times before, the truth remains that the Mavs got the split in San Antonio that they had to hope for. And now this series heads to the AAC with Dallas being the team that, except for six minutes, has been the better squad overall.

That doesn’t mean we still can’t be concerned about Game One slipping away. History has shown it almost always comes back to bite teams that lose a game in a series that they seem to have had won. The Lakers and Heat never recovered from early blown losses to the Mavs during the 2011 playoffs.

But maybe, just maybe this is one time that such a blown game could be a benefit more than a negative.

The Mavs have a bad trait of blowing big leads late – that everyone pretty much knows about. But unlike the regular season, the Mavs get to face that same team immediately again with evidence as to what they did wrong – and what to correct against this same team.

And while the Mavs can look back at the video and think that they could be up 2-0 in this series, the Spurs can look at it and see something worse. Just like the Ducks have against the Stars, they have not played well at all this series. And they’re in worse shape on the scoreboard that the Ducks were after two games.

And now they have to find a way to completely turn things around with the next two games in hostile territory. If the Mavs win Game Three on Saturday, this Spurs team could be in a lot of trouble.

This may be just overreacting. After all, every Western Conference series is currently tied or has the underdog with the lead in games. Does that mean all the top seeds are going to fall? Not likely. With how spread open the league is getting, we still may see the top seeds advance in the end; we just shouldn’t expect easy sweeps by the highest seeds in the first round anymore.

Like it or not, the Spurs historically are still among the best at adjusting. Even Dirk admits the Mavs have not been great at defending the home court this season. And expecting them to force more than 20 turnovers again may be asking too much.

Still, when you take into account that four number one seeds have gone down in the first round since the league expanded the round to best-of-seven (including both the Mavs and Spurs) and that the lower seed advanced the last three times these two met in the playoffs, saying this is still a gimme for the Spurs is way too premature.

We know this series ain’t ending in four now. And one way or another, it’s likely gonna last a lot longer than that.

Goodnight, it’s great to have the playoffs back in Dallas.

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Please Spurs, just go away

Posted on April 19, 2014 by rowdycmoore

Warning: The following has been written from the perspective of the extreme bias of a die-hard fan and may or may not be intended to be taken seriously.

Last year, seeing the Dallas Mavericks NOT be in the playoffs was painful. Now that they’re back, I’d say the time has come to not be objective. The playoffs are supposed to be about passion, so the time has come to be biased as all get out.

So I’m putting that all out at the risk of severely ticking off a few acquaintances and even a few relatives.

I am sick to death of the San Antonio Spurs.

I want the Mavericks to win this series almost as badly as I wanted to beat Miami in 2011.

If disaster occurs and the Spurs advance, I will root against them in the next round and the round after that. And if we get another Spurs-Heat Finals – well, that’s like choosing between Godzilla or Gigan; it doesn’t matter because whoever wins is going to devastate your city.

I hate the Spurs fans and how they claim their team represents all the good in the NBA. No, they don’t. They represent what’s wrong with it.

I hate the fact that the Spurs built this run of championships by the shadiest, most underhanded way possible: They intentionally tanked a season. How David Robinson, who is supposed to have such high moral standards, agreed to ever play for the Spurs again after they forced him to sit out the rest of 1997 with “back issues” I’ll never know. The Spurs should have been stripped of that draft pick and several others for what they did, and instead they got one of the last number one picks to actually be a franchise player. As a result, teams tank left and right nowadays to try and get the next Tim Duncan despite no such player being available, flushing all credibility for the league down the toilet.

Oh, and Duncan? Yeah, I’m sick of him too. His legion of fans in San Antonio love to claim how he’s this class act. This is a guy who believes he has never committed a foul in his life. He’s probably still pouting over that blocking foul he picked up in an AAU game 20 years ago.

I’m sick of the Spurs’ offense, which can best be described as “Cure For Insomnia.” The Spurs have the talent to be one of the most high-flying teams out there, and yet they intentionally try to play the most boring, sleep-inducing brand of basketball in history. Are the rumors true that every Spurs player gets fined if they score 100 in a game, even if they win? The way they play, they might as well go up and down the floor waving middle fingers at the crowd to say “we don’t give a f*ck about you.” They’re lucky to be playing in this era, where you can win with defense and absolutely nothing else. The Lakers and even the Celtics of the 80s would put up 150 on them every night.

I hate how Greg Poppovich is considered some great genius. Especially because he sits players on select games, once again proving this is a team that completely doesn’t care about the people that pay their salaries. Pop, you do know that there’s a very good chance that someone, especially when you go on the road, is watching your team for the first and maybe only time in their life and did so in order to see Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobuli (though for the life of me, I don’t know why), and you frequently deny them that chance on the claims that you have to keep players rested for the playoffs? If these guys aren’t conditioned enough to handle a full 82-game schedule like so many others are, maybe it’s time they pack it in.

I hate how their fans whine and complain that the league is out to get them because they’re “small market.” Excuse me? You ended up winning the draft lottery twice in 10 years, and you think the league is conspiring against you? Your star player whines every singe time he gets whistled, yet he almost never gets T’d up. You’ve brought home the trophy four times, and yet you constantly claim the league is actively trying to deny you?

You didn’t lose the title last year because of biased officiating or any other act on the part of the league to ensure LeBron and Co. got another ring. You lost it because your coach was stupid in Game Six. You had the chance to step on the throat and end it in that game, and what does Pop do? Start the fourth quarter with his worst lineup possible, allowing the Heat to creep back in. Then, in a tighter contest late, he keeps Duncan on the bench when you need defense and rebounding more than ever, leading to TWO offensive rebounds on missed free throws that turned into three pointers for Miami. You got complacent and didn’t go for the kill shot, like the Mavs did to that same team two years earlier.

When the Spurs lost in the first round in 2011, it looked like it might be the start of the end of this dark era. But sadly, thanks to a lack of good young talent flowing in to challenge the status quo, this old, unentertaining bunch gets to keep plodding on and turning more and more people over to hockey.

So please, Mavericks. Shock the world and send the Spurs home whining and crying just like you did in 2006.

Because I’m just sick of them.

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Mavs’ Carlisle has right mindset of playoffs over draft

Posted on April 16, 2014 by rowdycmoore

Rick Carlisle appears to be one of the few NBA coaches out there that has the full confidence from management, so it seems likely that, no matter if certain radio hosts accuse him of having “the personality of a knife,” he will be on the Mavericks’ sidelines for quite a while longer.

That means he has the freedom to help make sure his roster is primarily contained with players he trusts to play. So there won’t be a ton of young players wearing Dallas jerseys for the time being, as it’s clear Carlisle doesn’t put a lot of trust in them – see the playing time of Shane Larkin and Ricky Ledo for that.

So it shouldn’t be that surprising that the Mavs’ coach has flat out said he’s not concerned with how the Mavs’ return to the playoffs will almost certainly cause them to be a non-factor in this year’s NBA Draft.

If the Mavs finish with one of the top 10 records in the league, they lose their first round pick to Oklahoma City as part of that infamous Lamar Odom trade that all parties are wanting to forget as soon as possible. And the dearth of good teams in the East makes that almost a given even if the Mavs finish with the eighth seed in the West.

Carlisle’s response, according to the Star-Telegram?

“Who cares? This draft ain’t that good. It’s more important to be playing this time of year and competing than worrying about the 20-something pick in the draft. That guy ain’t going to help us much next year, regardless.”

Rick, I love you even more.

Carlisle just blurted out what I have been saying for a while now. Everyone has been talking about how supposedly so much more loaded this upcoming draft is, especially compared to last year, which resulted in three of the top five picks failing to score even five points a game (yeah, yeah, beating a dead horse). How oh so convenient it is that this would be the year the Lakers would bottom out and be in position to find the next Kobe and, once again, why the Mavs would be more proud of a supposed first-round exit over getting some young gun guaranteed to shine alongside Dirk and single-handedly turn the Mavs back into championship contenders.

Why? Because the Mavs have a better chance of making the Finals with the eight seed than finding the next Dirk in this or any draft for the foreseeable future, and that’s just the truth.

I have people saying that nowadays, you’re not getting an impact player if you aren’t in the top three to seven picks. I’d argue not even those picks are a guarantee. Regardless of what the hype machine at ESPN says, this is still a draft loaded with freshmen out the wazoo. And that’s not a good thing.

Most players that have NBA caliber dominate in high school with almost no real competition. Whether it would be coming straight out after that or after just one year in college, that’s simply not enough of a playing resume to completely determine if someone truly has what it takes to make it at the highest level. Because it’s not just about what you have, it’s about having the intelligence and maturity to know how to use it to your full potential.

And the truth is that almost all of these freshmen come in thinking they’re going to dominate the NBA just like they dominated high school, thinking there will be no need to put in extra effort. And they find out too late that their toughest high school opponent wouldn’t be a 12th man in the NBA, unable to recover and turning into yet another basketball version of David Clyde.

Just ask Michael Beasley, who, after leaving Kansas State after one year, has been cut by one team and traded twice in six years and now wonders if he in fact made the right decision.

The days of getting Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing or even Tim Duncan are long gone. You’re far more likely to end up with a Michael Bennett or Greg Oden than a Kevin Durant.

Hence why there is very little turnover nowadays between the teams in the lottery and in the playoffs. The Hornets and Kings are once again looking at ping pong balls while an aging San Antonio roster is again looking at the top seed in the playoffs.

This is why new commissioner Adam Silver is highly considering changing to a two-year rule. I would personally prefer finding a way to turn the D-League into a true minor-league development system.

Either way, Carlisle has the right mindset for now. With a seemingly ageless Dirk playing alongside Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon, the Mavs are a playoff team and would have a top seed if they were in the East. They admittedly still need to find another Tyson Chandler-like presence in the paint to seriously be a title contender again.

But they’re more likely to find that through an off-season trade or signing after whatever happens to them in the postseason.

They’re not likely to find that in a class of 20-somethings most likely to be bust over boom.

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Larry Brown Has Moody Madness Returning to SMU

Posted on February 19, 2014 by rowdycmoore

Published on Yahoo Voices

And mine was published BEFORE Sports Illustrated released its article on SMU!

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Larry Brown Can Make Things Change at SMU

Posted on January 24, 2014 by rowdycmoore

Larry Brown is definitely in new territory running the show at Moody Coliseum. After the guy isn’t used to fans being satisfied with simply playing a ranked opponent tough.

“You walk around here and people congratulate you after you get beat, that’s pretty strange” he said of the days after the Mustangs lost to Louisville. “You’re in Lawrence, Kansas or Westwood or Chapel Hill, they have a heart attack after every loss.”

That comes with the experience of playing and coaching at the highest levels. The experience of being the only basketball coach in history with an NCAA and NBA championship. You don’t know the meaning of moral victories.

And that is exactly the type of attitude needed if things are going to turn around on the Hilltop. And after less than two years, it looks like things already are.

With Tuesday’s win over Rutgers, SMU’s team already matched its win total from last year. With 15 wins already and at least 13 games left against the likes of Memphis, UConn and Louisville again, the path is set for SMU to build a good enough record to get into that magical field in March one way or another.

It’s not just the fact that other coaches within the American Athletic Conference are saying SMU looks like a Tournament team this year. Could DFW actually have a program that could be able to aim for the NCAA Tournament every single year?

Well, that’s what Larry Brown’s mission was when he took over this program. Some people who have been jaded by decades of college basketball mediocrity might be hard to convince. But you just know someone like Brown would love to prove them wrong.

Ask him, and he’ll tell you he can look into players’ eyes and see when they know they can win. He saw it in the players at Louisville and Cincinnati when the Mustangs traveled there. And little by little, with each victory, that look is starting to appear in his own players.

This is naturally a different animal that he’s dealing with in Dallas. Whether it was playing at SMU or coaching at UCLA or Kansas, Brown was with a program that was a big dog in the area. Now, it takes something special to get people away from Valley Ranch or the American Airlines Center and show up to the media center at Moody Coliseum.

But when you’ve accomplished almost everything else at so many stops, maybe that’s the one challenge that remains. And it’s the challenge that those college basketball fans that do exist in the Metroplex have hoped someone like Brown would take on – and succeed at.

For years those of us who have followed college basketball in this area have had to hope that one of the multiple programs in North Texas could simply get luck in the conference tournament for an automatic bid, or otherwise be thankful for an NIT, or even a CIT, bid.

Even those of us who have ties to one particular university in the area would be ecstatic to see any one of them send a Metroplex representative in The Dance each year.

TCU could have had something like that in the late 90s under Billy Tubbs. But an NCAA season in 97-98 was overshadowed by a 1-10 football season, so the school put all its efforts to what went on at Amon Cater Stadium, and Tubbs was gone a few years later, clearly seeing the writing on the wall.

Things are different in University Park now. With their major upgrades to Moody and the completion of the Crum Basketball Center, it’s clear SMU is committed to taking its basketball program to another level.

Larry Brown wouldn’t have come here if he didn’t think that was possible. And even though it already looks like things are being fast-tracked compared to what we’ve been used to in this town, he knows there is still a lot more work and improvement to do.

And maybe very soon, he’ll start being congratulated for the Mustangs winning against the likes of Louisville.

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