We’ve got you covered today, just like everyday, on the Mavs better than anyone. Here’s a snippet, so click if you want to read more.
Galloway: Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This stuff doesn't just happen by coincidence. The basketball gods, or Nellie, the Golden State god, are obviously speaking to us, coming in loud and clear, spreading the word that the gutless and the confused are again going to be on the wrong side of a historic NBA postseason collapse.
Tonight, the Mavericks face an elimination game, and utter disgrace, on May Day, not to be confused with the international signal of extreme emergency.
Aviators, ship captains and maybe tall Germans will note I have used the "Mayday" call properly (protocol says to repeat it three times), and that it is derived from the French m'aidez, meaning "help me."
One and done? The cracks are coming to the surface. The foundation of an NBA championship contender shouldn't begin to show stress in the first round of the playoffs, against an eighth seed no less, without some serious issues.
To get to the bottom of it, let's start at the top. With the Mavericks, the top means Avery Johnson and Dirk Nowitzki.
The coach and franchise player don't seem to be on the same wavelength, at least publicly, with the season hanging by a quickly unraveling thread. Asked if Nowitzki appears discouraged against Golden State, Johnson didn't hold back.
Mavs hoping burden shifts: Golden State has three games to win one and become only the third No. 8 seed to oust a No. 1 in NBA playoff history -- and the first to do it in the best-of-seven format.
From the start of this first-round series, coach Don Nelson and his Warriors have burrowed inside the Mavericks' psyche, a fragile place at the moment for a team that embarked on an NBA title march in November.
Perhaps it's the enormity of that self-prescribed pressure that has undone the Mavs just as much as Nelson's psychological gamesmanship and the surprisingly resilient play of his young team.
Mavs want to shoot in paint: Soon after Avery Johnson made his return to the Mavericks organization in 2004, a sign was put up in the locker room touting words straight from Johnson's mouth.
The gist of the sign is that opponents making contested shots will hurt the Mavs, but uncontested layups will kill them.
LBOH: Mavs coach Avery Johnson finally flashed a little temper Monday, calling his best player out. Good. Let's hope he is not too late. Because with his team staring down elimination, Avery desperately needs Dirk to be Dirk. He needs him to play like the MVP he is. He needs him to hoist his team on his back and say "Come with me, boys, I'm not letting us lose, not in Game 5, not in the first round, not like this." He needs him to think he is unstoppable and play like he is.
Here's a haiku (a Japanese poem), which consists of three lines (5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively).
It is May 1 and
Month of April is over
Time for Mavs to shine!
GO MAVS!!! I'm keeping the faith, because I believe.
Posted by: d in San Diego | May 01, 2007 at 03:30 PM