The Dallas Mavericks have looked nothing like a defending NBA champion against the Los Angeles Lakers this season going 0-4.
As it stands right now, the Mavs are the 7 seed and would play the 2-seeded OKC Durants in the first round. But there is a decent chance the Mavs could move up to six and face the Lakers in the Western Conference quarterfinals.
If they do, don't be surprised if Lakers forward Metta World Peace isn't playing. Mr. World Peace went Ron Artest on OKC guard James Harden today and you have to be thinking a big-time suspension is coming. The Lakers defeated the Durants in double OT this afternoon.
BTW - Mr. World Peace averaged 7.0 points and 5.0 rebounds against the Mavs this season.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
Former Dallas Mavericks forward Lamar Odom couldn't be bothered with trying for his former employer, so instead he's making the rounds at film festivals.
Lam Lam was recently spotted at the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival in his hometown of New York City and he was asked about his time with the Mavericks, and the "sudden" departure.
In typical Lam Lam fashion, he was not bitter but took the Lam Lam Road of Philosophy. He told ESPN's cameras:
“It was short lived, too bad it couldn’t work out but things happen for a reason. My life has been so crazy the last couple years, as far as issues with my family, as far as going through personal tragedy. And I felt like God was saying, ‘You know what Lamar, I’m going to give you a little time. A little time to step back and soak everything in….”
I love the complete lack of self-awareness; this has nothing to do with the player himself.
He added in response to Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban's assertion that the two had a blowup at halftime of a game against Memphis shortly before he was cut, Odom said:
“It’s too bad. It’s one thing I’m not going to do is play that game… if somebody wants to take we’ll shot let them take a shot. Be a professional, be a gentleman about it and I wish them much success.”
Especially after his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, the first word that comes to my mind when I hear the name "Lamar Odom" is "professional".
A gentleman? Yes. A professional? No. More like professional thief.
This does not diminish some of the real issues he has faced off the court. That's his deal. But he also had a job to do, just like the rest of us. He chose not to do it.
This is a clear case of the overly-enabled, multi-millionaire, uber talented pro jock who has so much cash he simply does not have to play by the rules the vast majority of us do. He was recently paid millions just to go away; good work if you can get it.
Some NBA GM will sign Lam Lam in the offseason because this is a very talented man, but by doing so it ensures there is no real penalty to this type of behavior.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
The way things stand today your Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team will open on the road at L.A. in the Staples Center in the first round of the playoffs in a 6 vs. 3 series.
The Mavs are scheduled to play the wrong L.A. If the Mavs can get on a tiny roll here they can catch No. 5 Memphis and face the Clippers in the first round. They can win that series. Maybe the Mavs can slip a little more and slip to No. 7 and take their chances with Los Spurs.
Right now winning one playoff series will be a major accomplishment for the defending NBA champion Mavericks. If they draw the Lakers, forget it. Even without Kobe Bryant the Mavs did not have enough to defeat the Lakers on Sunday in L.A. and lost in overtime; the Lakers swept the season series.
The Mavs' made 12 of 21 from 3, and still lost. They were out-rebounded 52-42, and 15-6 on the offensive glass.
All season the Mavs have said "just get in the playoffs" and they like their chances. As defending NBA champions, they have earned that right. Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki, Donnie Nelson, Jason Terry, Rick Carlisle, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd and a few others earned their defending NBA champion status, and the right to prove to us they know what they are doing.
But with five games remaining in the regular season, now feels like a good time to ask - who are we kidding?
Whatever mojo the team had created last season is gone, and its place is a series of decent pros who play fairly hard and compete but just aren't quite talented enough.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
This is a developing story, but this morning according to ESPN's Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks and Lamar Odom have parted ways.
Can't say this is a huge shock, considering how much Mavs coach Rick Carlisle appeared to be visibly tired of this player, what a giant distraction Odom had become and how shockingly little he produced. I thought the Mavs would hang on to Odom merely to have his contract to trade in the coming off season.
Odom was so bad the team couldn't wait to try the addition by subtraction method.
In 50 games this season Odom averages 20.5 minutes, 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.9 steals. Remember, it was just last year he was the NBA's 6th Man of the Year. This is easily the worst season of his career. Odom played just four minutes against the Grizzles on Saturday night.
Somewhere, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak is smiling. He knew what he was doing when he dumped Odom on the defending NBA champs for a first-round pick.
Odom never wanted to be here and his game and body language screamed it from the time he arrived. It never changed.
Carlisle was clearly sick of this guy, and you can't blame him. Since the failed D-League experiment last month, Carlisle said he wanted to see Odom play like his pants were on fire. Odom just played like he was exstinguished.
The bummer is no more Khloe at the games.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
The way things stand right now your Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball club will be the five seed in an opening around playoff series against Los Clippers de Los Angeles (I got a C in Spanish).
Mavs center Brendan Haywood better start sharpening his nails now.
Mavs win this series, but not before Blake Griffin does something really wrong to Haywood. If Blake is doing a pick and roll towards the rim, just leave the building.
In case you missed it, B-Griff' went nasty on Pau Gasol last night, twice. Here are those, as well as a few other favorites.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
The Mavs go back to Miami tonight to play the Heat in South Beach for the first time since winning the NBA title. A good time to look back at the best moments of that very fun run.
10. Chandler's Response To Game 4 Meltdown One game after the Mavs massive collapse at the end of Game 4 in Portland, the Mavs responded by one of the best games from a Mavs center in forever. Tyson Chandler scored 14 points with 20 rebounds in the Mavs' 93-82 win against the Blazers at the AAC to take a 3-2 series lead. The Mavs would close out the Blazers the in Game 6.
9. The Thunder Guard Dirk With One Guy The Mavs met the Thunder in the West Finals, and coach Scott Brooks decided to prove how smart he is by putting one defender on Dirk. Nowitzki went for 48 points in a 121-112 win of Game 1.
8. JKidd Drops 24 It would be his best offensive game of the playoffs, but it would demonstrate that Jason Kidd can still play. Kidd scored 24 points, including six 3-pointers, in the Mavs' 89-81 win against Portland in the first game of the playoffs. It would be the only game of the playoffs Kidd would score 20 points.
7. Rally Stuns Lakers The entire NBA took notice when the Mavs were down by 16 in the third quarter against The Kobes in Game 1 in LA. Felt right. Down 7 entering the fourth quarter, the Mavs slowly rallied and took a 1-point lead on a pair of Dirk FTs with 19 seconds left. The Mavs won 96-94, and blew out the Lakers in Game 2.
6. Terry Can't Miss in Saint Phil's Last NBA Game The Mavs were up 3-0 in the series, but what they did against the Lakers in Game 4 embarrassed the defending champions. Terry made 9-of-10 3-pointers and Peja Stojakovic made all six of his 3-pointers in a 122-86 win against LAL. The Mavs hit 20-of-32 from 3-point range in Phil Jackson's last game as Lakers head coach. The Lakers destructed, melted down, and quit. Center Andrew Bynum's clothesline to a J.J. Barea drive got him ejected.
The Thunder led Game 4 of the West Finals 99-84 with five minutes remaining. They scored two points the rest of regulation as the Mavs tied it on a pair of Dirk FTs with five seconds remaining. The Mavs out-scored the Thunder 11-4 in overtime to all but wrap up the series.
The Final Four Must be Reserved For the Finals
4. Jet Backs Up His Big Mouth We all laughed when Jason Terry said Bron Bron couldn't guard him for all seven games. Terry scored 21 points in the Mavs' 112-103 win against the Heat in Game 5. Terry made 3-of-5 from 3, and the Mavs hit 13-of-19 from deep. J.J. Barea scored 17 points with 5 assists as the Mavs pulled away.
3. Dirk is Sick Fighting a triple-digit fever, Dirk scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter including a driving layup on Udonis Haslem with 13 seconds remaining. The play was a clear-out for Dirk, who drove to his right for the game's biggest shot. The Mavs used a 21-9 run over the final 10:12 to win Game 4, 86-83. Conversely, LeBron James scored just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.
2. Miami's Celebration Inspires Mavs Comeback Dwyane Wade posed in front of the Mavs bench after making a 3-pointer for an 88-73 lead in Game 2 with 7:13 remaining, and a Heat 2-0 series lead was done. Then Dirk happened, and he hit a driving layup with his left hand against Chris Bosh with 3 seconds left for a 95-93 win.
1. The Mavs Win Their Title in South Beach Terry went for 27 points to offset the worst shooting performance of Dirk's playoffs. Dirk made his 9-of-27 shots, but went off in the fourth quarter as the Mavs won their first NBA title with a 105-95 win in Game 6 in Miami.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
DALLAS - Follow this rather familiar equation: Team X acquires Player Y who has a history of "interesting" behavior that causes the media to follow and ask questions. A lot of them.
After a certain period of time, Team X grows annoyed with said questions about Player Y and wants to "just focus on ball."
In this case, Team X is the Dallas Mavericks and Player Y is Lamar Odom.
After the Mavs' win against the Rockets on Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center, I asked Mavs coach Rick Carlisle if he was tired of the Lamar questions, of which there have been a lot.
Rick Carlisle: "Yeah. We're gonna shut that down pretty soon."
ME: "He's a story. You had to realize these questions were going to come when you acquired him."
Rick Carlisle: "It's time to let him play ball and be a ball player and play his game."
As a man who has been an NBA coach for a long time, and worked for ESPN as an analyst for a brief period, Carlisle understands the media as well as any person in the game. So does his boss. They had to know this was coming. Lamar did.
Even after the game Odom said, "That's part of being Lamar."
Is this is a media creation? Partially, yes. And so is the NBA, just like the Kardashians. They both exist to provide entertainment and serve as a distraction for millions of people all over the world. Lamar is part of a reality TV show, and is a member of America's No. 1 reality TV family. He has been a story since he was in high school in New York City. It's always been a something with Lamar Odom.
You knew this when he agreed to take him away from the Lakers for nothing. Now you don't like it? Tough.
The Mavericks are not the first team to acquire a veteran and then grow tired of the questions surrounding him.
The Rangers in 2002 acquired outfielder Carl Everett, whose reputation was far worse than Odom's. The team started to lose, Everett started to chirp, and the Rangers and their manager quickly grew tired of it. Bill Parcells hated the questions and the drama that surrounded Terrell Owens when the Cowboys acquired him in 2006.
When you acquire a Lamar Odom-type talent you accept the circus/reality TV risk he brings. It's not as if this was some secret. In this media culture, Lamar Odom is a story. Rather than try to play Dallas Mavericks propoganda prime minister and "shut that down", just deal with it.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
DALLAS - More than 10 minutes have passed without a word said about my second favorite Kardashian behind Bruce Jenner, Mr. Lamar Odom. Time to fix that.
The Mavs "power" forward is up to 6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds this season with 1.7 assists per game. It's going to be tough for Lam Lam to win another Sixth Man of the Year award with those numbers. By comparison, Brandan Wright averages 6.2 points, 3.0 boards.
In response to Lakers forward/"head coach" Kobe Bryant's claim that the Mavs don't know how to use Lam Lam, Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said, "Kobe has certainly earned the right to have an opinion. And I certainly understand defending his former teammate he has been in the trenches with."
When asked if he paid such comments any mind, Carlisle said, "No. I don't. I appreciate you asking. ... He's a member of our team and he understands his responsibilities. All we are asking of him is to defend, rebound and play your game. I think he can help us."
Carlisle is clearly, obviously and painfully sick of this subject. This is what can happen when the Los Angeles Lakers give you something for free.
@MacEngelProf tengel@star-telegram.com Facebook Mac Engel
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