T-Wolves Game Thread 3/31

"Timberwolf riding on a segway...Timberwolf riding on a segway."

Let's discuss here. I'm gonna be out for the first quarter or so, but I'll hop on soon.

Money woes among former NFL/NBA athletes

Interesting story on SI.com:  http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1153364/index.htm?eref=sisf

I'm not sure how much I believe about some aspects b/c I know that the Triton financial claims he makes are disputed, but the data on athletes is definitely interesting.

Got this from a Statesman article that led me to SI.com:

"In it, writer Pablo S. Torre chronicles the financial disasters of many former professional athletes: unsound investments, wealth-management naivete and general ignorance about matters such as cash flow, risk, debt and fiduciary responsibility. Torre’s conclusions are startling. For instance: By the time they have been retired for two years, 78 percent of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce, he writes. And within five years of retirement, an estimated 60 percent of former NBA players are broke.

"

Check it out and leave thoughts here.

Cavs Game Thread 3/29

Getting a late start on this one. The Mavs had a 15 point on the road, but Lebron and the boys have cut it to 2 at the half.

Nuggets Game Thread 3/27

With a win tonight the Mavs can keep pace with the cluster of teams seeded 2-9 in the West in addition to giving them a nice 3 game win streak. Let's chat about the game HERE

Parity in the Western Conference

Check out the latest standings in the Western Conference. Everyone in spots 2-10 has gone 6-4 over the last 10 except the Rockets who are 7-3. Amazing how this is going down. Gonna be a fun couple of last weeks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings

Thursday Quick Hits

The boys at the Ticket got dominated by the girls team from Lake Highlands yesterday. I didn't get to go to the game, but it sounded great. If I recall correctly, each team shot less than 20% in the first half. Richie Whitt actually rated every player, check it out. At least read the Dan McDowell ratings.

Live 105.3 who? As the Ticket continues to dominate. I love reading the comments on these things, P1s are genius.

Can we talk about the Suns for a bit? Is anyone worried about them and their 6 straight? Do we want them to lose...?

Their next 2 games are @ Portland and Utah, losses there would all but guarantee the Mavs in the playoffs, but wins may be of more help since we are only 1 game behind both PHX and Utah. There's a chance that we move up to 6th by Sunday night (standings), but the visit at Cle on Sunday makes that a virtual impossibility.

After that, PHX's final 8 games include Houston at home, @ Dallas, and @ NoLa, and then 5 lottery hopefuls. 6-2 seems reasonable for a team fighting for their playoff lives.

So the question remains, do we want PHX to win v. Portland & Utah or not? Personally, I think we get slaughtered by the Lakers in the 1st round, but we've got a shot to beat Houston or SA in 7, so I'm hoping for PHX wins and for the Mavs to move up a spot or two.

Warriors Game Thread 3/25/09

The Mavs should be well rested for this one. Let's chat about the game HERE

Should we be worried about Dirk?

Gents - I'm a little concerned about Dirk's free throw shooting as of late...

Going backwards: Indy 3-5, Atl 2-4, LA 8-11, GS 1-1, Port 3-5. That's 22/34 in his last 6 games or 65%. A far cry from his 88.8% season average and his 87.1% career clip. Also note the low attempts/g. He's averaging almost a full FT less (5.67 to 6.5) pg over the last 6, and that contrast would be significantly greater if the LA game were to be removed as an outlier (though you could argue to remove GS as well a small sample size).

So the question is, do we need to be concerned? It could be just a random bad 6 game streak, but on the other hand, a 27% drop in FT% is a grave concern to me. Multiplying that by his 6.5 attempts per game and that's 1.75 points per game, for a team whose avg. point differential is 1.3...

Mavericks at Pacers, March 20

I'm still hurting from last night's suckfest in Atl.

JJT seems to think that the Mavs have become irrelevant, obviously he doesn't read MDS.

I don't think that David Moore even watched the game last night, else we have a very different definition of "Passion."

A few interesting game notes from ESPN.com: Atlanta improved to 35-9 this season when opponents score under 100. ... Dallas dropped to 2-19 on the road when entering the fourth quarter with a deficit. ... Against the Eastern Conference, the Mavs are now 8-5 away from Dallas. ... Nowitzki has scored at least 20 points in 12 straight games, the NBA's longest current streak. ... After visiting Cleveland on Saturday, the Hawks have a four-game homestand against Minnesota, San Antonio, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers.

If we are going to get to 50, we must get a win tonight, no other way of looking at it. And I feel strongly that getting to 50 with this team, a team that once started Ryan Hollins, JJ Barea AND Antoine Right (that was last night), would be a tremendous accomplishment. If we can get Josh into top form (and that's a big if), then we really can contend with any team save the Lakers. I'm not talking championship, but it would be nice to advance.

Mavericks at Hawks March 19, 2009

Are we not talking Mavs...lets get this road win.

Greatest song ever?/Hawks Game thread 3/19

Outliers- Ray reads the same books we do

Great article from JA Adande on Gladwell's book outliers. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=outliers-090318

I've read it and I know Kevin has. If you guys haven't checked it out then you definitely should. It talks about all the things that lead to successful people- Bill Gates, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Ford... they were as much a product of people/events helping them along the way as they were incredibly talented.

I thought this was very interesting from the article:

This all started on Christmas Day, at the Celtics-Lakers game, when I walked into the visitors' locker room at Staples Center and asked Boston's Ray Allen what he'd been reading lately. (In 17 years of covering the NBA, that's the first time I've asked such a question; then again, Allen is the only player I've ever seen reading books before games.) Allen reached into his backpack and lifted up his copy of "Outliers." I promised him I'd read it by the time the Celtics returned to Los Angeles in February.

The next time he came around, I asked him whether he had recognized any of qualities of the Celtics' championship season in the book. Yes, as it turned out. Only for Allen, it's not just the Boston players who are exemplary.

"Everybody in this league is successful," Allen said. "Everybody in this league has made it to this level where they're a flagship in their society and their community where they grew up. People look up to them. They're outliers in their world.

Check out the article and definitely read the book if you haven't yet. I think Scharnell has my copy but when I get it back I can send it around.

The Damp Dilemma

Erick Dampier is maddening. He has the size and strength to be a top center in the NBA. When fired up he's a force for the Mavs on defense, dominating the glass and blocking shots. There are games when he plays with great alacrity and tenacity. Use last night's win against Detroit as an example where he went 5-7 from the field and 6-8 at the line to score 16 points while contributing 16 boards and 3 dimes. However more often that not the self proclaimed "2nd Best Center in the League Behind Shaq" hits his season average of a 5.5 Points and 7 boards a game.

I did some research on how Dampier's individual performance affects the overall team performance. In games where Dampier takes at least 6 shots, the Mavs are 8-3 and the 3 loses came in consecutive games during the Mavs 2-7 start. The sample size is rather small for there to be a true correlation, but I firmly believe the Mavs need Dampier on the court and he cannot be an offensive liability. Without Dampier in the game for long stretches the Mavs have been getting killed on the boards. The last 3 games the Mavs have lost the battle on the boards -10, -9, and -9. The Mavs desperately need his defensive presence.

As was pointed out on the DMN Mavs Blog today, some guys are just a bad matchup. Pau Gasol abused Dampier on Sunday which essentially took him out of the game. If the Mavericks could find a way to get Dampier a few offensive touches in the low post each quarter and put him in a situation where he can post up Gasol and and wear him down they can get away with keeping him on the floor and possibly tire out Gasol a bit on the defensive end. When a guy is essential a non-factor on offense, it helps his defender because they don't need to exert any energy in guarding him.

Dampier appears on the surface as a very "moody" player where his enthusiasm and excitement is a direct result of this involvement in the game. Getting him some touches is not only going to pump him up offensively, but also when he's on defense.

It is true that Dampier has many flaws in his game that can be exploited but the Mavericks only seem to exploit two of his strengths, pure size and brute strength, and they only use it in a defensive capacity. Let's get one thing straight, I am not proposing the Dampier become the focal point of the offense. What I am proposing is integrating him more into the offense, especially when Dirk is resting. The Mavs only need to get him 2-3 touches per quarter in order for him to be effective on the offensive end.

Let's say he get's 3 touches a quarter, which is 12 for the game. I am confident that he can go 45-50% from the field when in the post and get to the line at least a couple of times a game. That is easily 10-11 points per game which is all this team needs from him to stay efficiently in the lineup.

The main flaw of the Mavs is that they have very little inside scoring. They are and will continue to be a jump shooting team as long as Dirk and JET play for them. Getting some inside scoring from a position that to this point has contributed very little offensively can do nothing but benefit this team.

Top 10 Songs That Should Be Banned From All Sporting Events

A wise man once said people love lists, so here is a list. Here are the top 10 songs in my opinion that should be banned from all Sporting Events:

Number 10 - YMCA by the Village People


The Song is Lame. The YMCA dance is Lamer.

Number 9 - C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)by Quad City DJs


If I hear this song at a game I might punch myself in the balls

Number 8 - Gonna Make You Sweat by C+C Music Factory


Despite the fact the C+C Music Factory is the first CD I ever purchased and genius of "It's your world, and I'm just a squirel trying to get a nut to move your butt" I think its time this song is retired for good

Number 7 - Macarena by Los Del Mar


Was this song ever good?

Number 6 - Crank That by Soulja Boy


This was kinda cool a couple of years ago and the dance was kinda cool but I can't take it anymore. On an unrelated note, does anyone else get a boner when they hear steel drums...I think its a Pavlov's Dog affect from all of the Girls Gone Wild commericals

Number 5 - Tubthumping by Chumbawamba


I get beat down...I get beat down again

Number 4 - Who Let the Dogs Out by Baha Men


I don't care who let the Dogs out and if you ask me again I will take a cheese grater to my ears

Number 3 - Whomp There It Is by Tag Team


At they begining of the song they begin with "Tag Team...back again". Were they somewhere previously before this song?

Number 2 - Apache by The Sugar Hill Gang

Jam Cam - Watch a funny movie here

Don't get me wrong I like the Sugar Hill Hang, but this song must be banned, if only to prevent this from ever happening again

Number 1 - Rock and Roll Part 2 by Gary Glitter


This is the cheesiest, most overused song in all of sports, plus the guy got caught with Kiddie Porn so it's really a no-brainer

Thoughts?

Pistons Game Thread 3/17

Should be a win tonight, with three of the top Pistons' players sitting out tonight's game.

Here's the DMN preview.