Honestly, it's hard to limit my cheers to 3, and it's going to be a stretch to find 3 jeers. However, I am a professional, and I will take care of business, much like the Mavs took care of business last night.
3 Cheers:
1. Dirk Nowitzki - You're like the cat that paws at a mouse for a little while, playing with it, entertaining yourself, then putting its head in your mouth and snapping its neck. You only played 30 minutes, but you scored 27 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and picked up 3 assists and 2 steals. In other words, you kind of ran around, letting Howard, Stackhouse and Terry get some offensive feel for the game, but whenever Memphis started thinking it had a chance, BOOM, you put their head in your mouth and snapped their neck. Clutch shooting, and great defense. Enjoy the next few days of rest. You deserve it.
2. Josh Howard - Not only did you put up one hell of a line with 24 points, 9 boards and 2 assists, you hit 3 timely 3 pointers (which isn't really your specialty) to break their hearts every time. Also, you stayed out of foul trouble for the most part, and weren't phased by the gimmicky Mike Miller start. You shut the dude with doo-doo hair down the whole series regardless of when he came in the game.
3. Jerry Stackhouse - Welcome to the party. I gave you kudos in the last email for at least making your presence felt as a 6th man compared to Miller, but this was the first game that you did what you do best. You shot 50% and got to the line because you attacked the basket rather than settling for the 15-18 foot jumper. The 5 assists were nice, too. If you play like this against either of our potential 2nd round opponents, I like our chances.
3 Jeers:
1. Rebounds - Hey Grizzlies, grab one! Since there were 87 total missed shots in this game, 47 of those by you guys, you had an opportunity to keep yourself in the game by grabbing some offensive boards to keep your possessions alive or pulling down some defensive boards to stop the Mavs from extending their possessions. Guess what? You treated the ball like it was syphilis on a stick after it went in the air. The only one of you that cared about it was Battier. Sorry, Battier, for ripping on your wrinkled head earlier. I love your hustle, and I love that you list The Big Lebowski as your favorite movie of all time. Me, too. The Dude Abides.
2. Punch Drunk - Grizzlies, you guys looked like the Mavs just ran over your dog right in front of you, then put it in reverse and made sure the mutt was finished. You came out with a little fight, but it waned quickly. You guys got popped in the mouth in Game 1, punched in the eye in Game 2, kicked in the giggle berries in Game 3, and it's almost like you came out for Game 4, danced around a bit, then just ducked and covered like a bear was attacking you. Here's some news: Your mascot's a friggin' bear!!! Also, Mike "Doo-Doo" Miller got inadvertently slapped in the face by Dampier, then inadvertently kneed in the happy place by Howard. I also think he dove into a camera man at one point, probably trying to hide from embarrassment. Every time he got up, he looked woozy, but I think he was faking it for an excuse for crappy play. You shouldn't get woozy when you have a mouth guard, especially a mouth guard so blue that it looks like you just swallowed a tablet of 2000 Flushes. 2000 Flushes lasts up to 4 months, which is shorter than your off season's going to be.
3. Predictions - You didn't think I would let a Jeer go by without adding you, Pau, did you? I appreciated your fire last night. You were one of two Grizzlies that actually put up a fight last night. But on TNT, they showed a clip of you, in an interview, staring at the camera with your hair and beard looking like you were just released from a POW camp, declaring, literally, directly into the camera, that you would not get swept again. That you would win a playoff game. That you wouldn't go down without a fight. I mean you actually stopped looking at the interviewer, and turned your focus right into the camera lens, and said this. You might as well have said that you didn't have sexual relations with that woman, too.
(Bonus Jeer: I really don't have much else after last night's game, other than I wake up this morning and everyone on ESPN is celebrating that the Clippers won their first playoff series in 30 years. Great for them. It must be difficult to tank games at the end of the season to avoid the Mavericks, that just disposed of the 4th best team in the conference in 4 straight games, so that you can play what would be the 8th best team in the conference to advance to the second round. Yippee for you.)
Have a wonderful week and enjoy the Spurs-Kings series. Whoever wins, I say bring 'em on. I will see you after Game 1, Round 2, which should be around Sunday or Monday. Take care, and Go Mavs!!
Comments