Full-Court Press

Lakers getting the love from Vegas

For better or worse, vacation is over and it's basketball season.

Well, OK. Maybe not yet. But it will be before you know it. Training camp opens four weeks from today and the Mavericks have a full roster already. Not saying that detail will prohibit movement in the next month. But don't hold your breath.

What the return from down time means is that it is time for our annual public-service announcement of who Las Vegas believes will win the 2010 NBA title. A luckless trip to the desert at least was worth stocking up on future odds about the NBA.

The Lakers, not surprisingly, are the heavy favorite. Even Vegas couldn't come up with a better chalk pick. They were 3/2 at most betting establishments, slightly lower (12/5) at others like Planet Hollywood.

Boston (3/1) and Cleveland (7/2) were behind the Lakers at the MGM Grand and those odds were pretty consistent up and down the strip.

The intriguing flux came with the Spurs, who were anywhere from 11/1 at the Imperial Palace to 5/1 at the MGM, which had just adjusted its odds. By the time we left town, getting the Spurs at 11/1 was impossible.

By the way, remember a couple years ago when the Celtics were 300/1 and then got Kevin Garnett and won the title? The hot bet for that this year? The LA Clippers, although they already have dropped from 200/1 to 80/1 in just two months.

The Mavericks? They were a whopping 30/1 at Planet Hollywood, which is where you should bet them if you have a trip scheduled to Vegas this week. At the MGM Grand, they were 15/1.

Best non-basketball bet I saw? Odds on how many major titles Tiger Woods will win in 2010. One, at 6/5 is the favorite. Zero is 9/5, two 3/1, three 10/1 and the grand slam is 25/1.

Key court date looms for Nowitzki's-ex

It has been a quiet three months on the Cristal Taylor news front. But that most likely will change next Monday, when Dirk Nowitzki's former fiancée faces her most significant court date to this point.

Next Monday is Taylor's probation-violation hearing in St. Charles, Mo. Unlike her last two court proceedings, in Texas and Missouri, Taylor is required to attend Monday's hearing, according to her St. Louis-based attorney, Matthew Fry.

That would make it her first "public" appearance since a brief May 18 court hearing in Beaumont.

She has been jailed in St. Charles since she was extradited from Beaumont on June 29. If St. Charles County legal officials have their way, Taylor won't leave jail anytime soon. She is accused of violating terms of the five-year probation she received in 1999 after pleading guilty to four felony counts, including forgery and stealing.

According to St. Charles prosecutor Steven Kobal, Monday's hearing before Circuit Court Judge Nancy Schneider will begin with Taylor and her attorney deciding whether she wants to confess to the probation violation, or argue punishment.

If Taylor and her attorney decide they want a hearing, Kobal said St. Charles County then will ask a probation officer to present evidence against Taylor.

"She has been sentenced (in 1999) to five years in the Missouri department of corrections, but the judge had suspended the execution of the sentence," Kobal said.

"Our office, I believe, will be asking for the execution of that sentence, due to the long-term of absconding her probation and the new charges that were issued in Beaumont."

Kobal is referring to the 2006 theft of services charge in which Taylor was accused of failing to pay for about $10,000 worth of dental work done in 2004. She posted $50,000 bond in Beaumont in late June and awaits trial in that case.

The other key issue that no doubt will arise in some form on Monday concerns Taylor's claim that she is pregnant.

At Taylor's last hearing, July 6 in St. Charles, Fry asked that Taylor's $25,000 cash-only bond be lowered, citing her "higher-risk" pregnancy. Fry cited Taylor's age (38) and the fact that, according to Fry, Taylor suffered a miscarriage in January.

On July 24, Dallas family court Associate Judge Randall Grubbs ordered pregnancy and DNA testing of Taylor, saying "We know the first one has to happen. The other one may be moot."

Judge Grubbs then ordered the proceeding sealed. Texas-based attorneys for Nowitzki and Taylor have not responded to questions from The News about whether the pregnancy test has been administered.

"I am unaware of a St. Charles County Order requiring the testing or recognizing a foreign judgment from Dallas," Fry said. "Said Order would be required for the St. Charles County Jail to release medical records."

[Mavericks schedule] Mavericks 2009-10 released

Can the new-look Mavericks avoid last season's crippling 2-7 start? Well, to do so they will have to show some early season road mettle.
Dallas opens the season on Oct. 27 at home against Washington, but seven of its next 10 games are on the road, culminating with a four-game trip. That means new additions Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas must blend in quickly.
If there is any positive news about the early stretch, it is that the strength-of-opponents doesn't appear to be as severe as last year. Last season under first-year coach Rick Carlisle, the biggest reason the Mavericks stumbled from the gate was their 0-4 start at home against Houston, Cleveland, the Lakers and Orlando.
The Mavericks had to fight upstream the rest of the season, requiring a strong finish to reach the 50-win plateau for the ninth straight year and get the Western Conference's No. 6 playoff seed.
This season's first four home games are against Washington, Utah, Toronto and the injury-ravaged Rockets. That be a good thing, considering 12 of Dallas' first 20 games are on the road.
Naturally, the NBA schedule always evens out. In the Mavericks' case, they play eight of their 14 December games at home. And 12 of their 22 games in March and April are at home, culminating with the regular-season finale against rival San Antonio in the AAC.
There also is the previously announced 2009-2010 highlight in February, when NBA All-Star festivities take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The three-day event culminates on Valentines Day at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, when league officials expect as many as 100,000 fans to attend the 59th NBA All-Star Game.
Other 2009-10 schedule highlights:

--Last season's schedule brought Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to Dallas just once. This season the World Champion Lakers, with new acquisition Ron Artest, come to the AAC on Jan. 13 and Feb. 24.

--Looking for early Christmas-present ideas? Cleveland, with reigning MVP LeBron James and his new mega-sized sidekick, Shaquille O'Neal, makes its only AAC appearance on Dec. 20.

--Many Mavericks fans will circle the late-season date of March 29. That is the only AAC regular-season appearance of the budding-rival Denver. Last season the Nuggets ousted the Mavericks four-games-to-one in a contentious second-round playoff series.

--Reigning NBA Finalist Orlando, with newcomers Vince Carter and former Maverick Brandon Bass, makes its only visit on April Fool's Day.