After Cuban writes David Stern the $750,000 check, presumably with the pen rested between the giant brass balls it takes to pull off a stunt like he did, the game gets underway.
Q1-The Mavericks, apparently a little weary from the got off to a pretty cold start in the early part of the first quarter, missing their first five shots from the field and turning the ball over four times in the first four minutes, falling behind the Bulls 8-0. Things quickly get tightened up, but the offense still looks sloppy and stagnant, with the majority of our shots being either contested deep two's, or last second, shot-clock-beating 3's. The Bulls, fortunately, don't have a great shooting quarter either, as the Maverick zone forces them out of the paint after giving up a few penetrations early in the quarter when they were in a man defense. After one quarter, the Mavs are trailing though, 24-17.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL.......6-17......1-7.......4-4......6........17
CHI.......8-20......2-5.......6-7......3........24
Q2-The second quarter is much cleaner, on both sides, with only three total turnovers between the teams. It ends up being a very low scoring quarter, with the Bulls outscoring the Mavs by 2, 20-18, to stretch their lead out to 44-35 at intermission. The defenses for both teams really bothered the opposition, leading to a high number of contested jumpers and little room for driving the ball and getting to the line.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......13-33......3-13......6-7.......8.......35
CHI......16-37......4-11......8-10......4.......44
Leaders - - - - DAL - - - - - - - CHI
Points D. Nowitzki- 14 L. Deng- 12
Rebounds T. Chandler- 8 T. Gibson- 6
Assists J. Kidd- 4 D. Rose- 5
Q3- The Mavericks came out of the locker room with a ton of energy, winning most of the hustle plays, grabbing seven offensive rebounds in the quarter and forcing four Bull turnovers. Unfortunately, they still couldn't hit a shot for much of the quarter, hitting only 35.7% of their shots in the quarter (10-28). Their defense stays strong though and holds the Bulls to only 40.0% (8-20) shooting, with a surprisingly active effort from Brendan Haywood, who grabbed six boards (three off.) and blocking two shots in the quarter, after being invisible (shocking) for most of the first half. The Mavs won the quarter 26-22, but still trailed by five going into the final quarter.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......23-61......5-17.....10-13.....12......61
CHI......24-57......6-17.....12-14......8.......66
Q4- After struggling to put the ball in the basket for much of the first three quarters, the Mavericks finally find a couple cracks in the Bulls defense and are able to convert around the rim for the first time all night. Chicago center Joakim Noah was forced to leave the game with ten minutes to go after landing awkwardly on his left wrist while trying to grab a loose ball, so missing that inside presence might have contributed to the Mavs ability to finish inside, which is fine with me. The Mavs played like a team desperately trying to defend their title in the fourth quarter, scoring 37 points on 11-20 shooting (5-7 from three, 10-11 from the line) while holding the Bulls to 9-26 shooting. Jason Terry lived up to his reputation as a closer, scoring 17 of his game-high-tying 27 points in the fourth, as the Mavericks pulled out a victory on their home floor, 98-93.
Team FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO SCORE
DAL......34-81.....10-24.....20-24.....13......98
CHI......33-83.....8-23......19-22.....14......93
Stats
DAL
Player PTS RBD AST BLK STL FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO PF MIN
Chandler....8....12...0....1....0.....3-5....0-0....2-4...1....3...29
Nowitzki....27....6...5....0....0.....8-21...1-2..10-10...3....1...39
Marion......8.....7...1....1....1.....4-7....0-0....0-0...0....2...28
Butler......9.....3...1....0....1.....3-11...1-5....2-3...2....3...25
Kidd........6.....7...9....0....3.....3-6....2-5....0-0...3....2...33
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry.......27....1...2....0....1.....9-17...5-7....4-4...1....0...34
Barea.......9.....2...3....0....0.....4-9....0-2....1-1...2....1...22
Haywood.....1.....7...0....2....0.....0-1....0-0....1-2...1....3...16
Fernandez...3.....1...0....0....1.....1-3....1-2....0-0...0....1....9
Cardinal....0.....0...0....0....0.....0-1....0-1....0-0...0....1....3
Brewer......0.....0...1....1....0.....0-0....0-0....0-0...0....0....2
TOT.........98....46..22...5....7.....34-81..10-24..20-24.13...17...240
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHI
Player PTS RBD AST BLK STL FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A TO PF MIN
Noah.......10....13...4....2....2.....4-7....0-0....2-4...0....3...32
Boozer......7.....4...0....0....0.....2-8....0-0....3-3...3....5...25
Deng........18....7...2....0....2.....6-15...3-6....3-3...2....2...39
Brewer......2.....4...0....1....1.....1-4....0-2....0-0...1....2...17
Rose........21....3...8....0....0.....7-24...1-7....6-7...6....1...42
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gibson......14....10..1....3....1.....6-9....0-0....2-2...0....2...28
Asik........4.....5...0....1....0.....2-3....0-0....0-0...0....0...18
Watson......9.....2...2....0....2.....3-8....2-4....1-1...2....2...16
Bogans......2.....3...0....0....0.....0-1....0-0....2-2...0....2...13
Korver......6.....0...0....0....0.....2-4....2-4....0-0...0....0...10
PLAYER OF THE GAME- Jason Terry (27-1-2) with 17 4th quarter points, helping lead the Mavs to a victory.
GOAT OF THE GAME- Carlos Boozer (7-4-0) looked mentally defeated all night after a full summer of hearing about what a waste of a contract he's been.
ESPN DECIDES TO COVER ____ INSTEAD OF THE DEFENDING CHAMPS: A preview of the upcoming Knicks/Heat game, covering it from every conceivable angle until we want to murder everyone that works there.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Game One-Pregame Ceremonies (11-1-11)
The defending regular season champs take on the defending NBA champs in the first game of the season at the AAC. Mav fans pour into the stadium as early as they possibly can, cameras in hand in hopes of capturing the perfect picture of the new 2010-2011 NBA Championship banner, the ring ceremony(it is rings, right? Cuban decided to go with rings? Good), and that goofy but lovable Dirk Nowitzki grin.
As it gets closer to game time, the ceremony decor begins to be assembled and...wait. Why do those boxes look like they are holding championship belts. Cuban...CUBAN! Ah well, you gotta love him. He helped bring a title to this town so those could be diamond encrusted thongs for all I care. The Maverick players take the court and line up according to height, which I thought was a pretty interesting way for grown men to go about this. Oh...wait, no. Brendan Haywood messes the order-by-height up by standing third in line, between Jason Terry and Roddy B. Nice going Haywood.
Anyway, the ceremony starts, the banner is raised, Cuban speaks for a little bit, presents the rings to the players, then gets a goofy grin on his face and motions with his head for someone to bring the aforementioned box to center court where he is standing. The camera zooms in on the unopened box and Cuban slowly begins to unfold it to reveal the inner-deliciousness that is inside. Taking his sweet time-to build the suspense I suppose? I don't know. Seems pretty pointless to try and make this dramatic, but whatever-he gently lifts the object out of the box. Wow. Cubes was right when he said he wanted to try something a little less cliche. He raises the object above his head so all, including Commissioner Stern-who is in attendance, and reveals a gold-plated middle finger with the phrase "F*ck you, Stern!" adorning the back of the hand in diamonds. The biggest fine in NBA history is given out seconds later.
As it gets closer to game time, the ceremony decor begins to be assembled and...wait. Why do those boxes look like they are holding championship belts. Cuban...CUBAN! Ah well, you gotta love him. He helped bring a title to this town so those could be diamond encrusted thongs for all I care. The Maverick players take the court and line up according to height, which I thought was a pretty interesting way for grown men to go about this. Oh...wait, no. Brendan Haywood messes the order-by-height up by standing third in line, between Jason Terry and Roddy B. Nice going Haywood.
Anyway, the ceremony starts, the banner is raised, Cuban speaks for a little bit, presents the rings to the players, then gets a goofy grin on his face and motions with his head for someone to bring the aforementioned box to center court where he is standing. The camera zooms in on the unopened box and Cuban slowly begins to unfold it to reveal the inner-deliciousness that is inside. Taking his sweet time-to build the suspense I suppose? I don't know. Seems pretty pointless to try and make this dramatic, but whatever-he gently lifts the object out of the box. Wow. Cubes was right when he said he wanted to try something a little less cliche. He raises the object above his head so all, including Commissioner Stern-who is in attendance, and reveals a gold-plated middle finger with the phrase "F*ck you, Stern!" adorning the back of the hand in diamonds. The biggest fine in NBA history is given out seconds later.
Intro
Remember a few months ago in Mavs' land when all was well and good? We were on top of the basketball world-defeated the three-headed Mike Wazowski(Monsters Inc reference on the second sentence? I like where this blog is going...) and the rest of the Heatles in six games and claimed the first NBA Title in Maverick history.
Unfortunately, this glorious day in history would be the last significant bright spot for NBA fans of all cities, except Charlotte (because seriously, fuck Charlotte), as the owners and players could agree on jackshit and little else in regards to a new CBA. As the season neared, the owners-with all around nice guy/douchebag David Stern-and the players continued to bang heads over pretty much every subject and a lockout was looking evermore likely with each passing minute.
Miraculously, on October 1st, the two sides (for the sake of this blog at least) patched together a deal and were able to salvage all the regular season games for the 2011-2012 season.
With very little time on their hands, our Boys in Blue hit the practice court with fervor, ready to defend their title (while being basically ignored by ESPN)
*few side notes: I'm going to try to pound at least one of these out per day until I'm caught up with what-would-have-been the regular season. Also, for the sake of simplicity, no real roster moves will be predicted. Teams in this parallel universe where basketball exists will just have the same players as last year, plus draftees and players they traded for before the lockout, minus some players I feel would have retired. Hope this fills a little bit of the basketball void we are all feeling.
Unfortunately, this glorious day in history would be the last significant bright spot for NBA fans of all cities, except Charlotte (because seriously, fuck Charlotte), as the owners and players could agree on jackshit and little else in regards to a new CBA. As the season neared, the owners-with all around nice guy/douchebag David Stern-and the players continued to bang heads over pretty much every subject and a lockout was looking evermore likely with each passing minute.
Miraculously, on October 1st, the two sides (for the sake of this blog at least) patched together a deal and were able to salvage all the regular season games for the 2011-2012 season.
With very little time on their hands, our Boys in Blue hit the practice court with fervor, ready to defend their title (while being basically ignored by ESPN)
*few side notes: I'm going to try to pound at least one of these out per day until I'm caught up with what-would-have-been the regular season. Also, for the sake of simplicity, no real roster moves will be predicted. Teams in this parallel universe where basketball exists will just have the same players as last year, plus draftees and players they traded for before the lockout, minus some players I feel would have retired. Hope this fills a little bit of the basketball void we are all feeling.
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