playoffsoffsoffs, apr 2009

the Dallas Mavericks have beaten the San Antonio Spurs, 3 games to 1 in a best-of-seven series. the Mavs have won 3, the Spurs have won 1.

and, since the NBA Playoffs are so important, I will break down the rest of the playoffs brackets so far. the New Orleans Hornets have won 1 game and the Denver Nuggets have won 2 games in their series. the Miami Heat have won 2 of the 3 games in the series with the Atlanta Hawks. the Philly 76ers and the Orlanda Magic are tied as of this evening at 2 games a piece. the Los Angeles Lakers lead the Utah Jazz with 3 games to 1 in that series. the Cleveland Cavaliers have eliminated the Detroit Pistons by winning 4 in a row. see ya Pistons. the Chicago Bulls pulled out another win against the Boston Celtics to make an impressive comeback and tie the series at 2-2. and lastly, the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trailblazers are in the middle of a game right now, with Houston leading the series at 2-1.

aside from all that hub-bub, is the Mavs series, of which they have won 3 out of 4 games so far.

the Mavericks are lighting up the courts. most importantly, they had a win in San Antonio for game 1 of the series. that game was absolutely crucial. it didn't even seem like it at the time. but it was, because the Spurs are very dangerous. they haven't been playing well, but that doesn't mean they are not still very dangerous. Tony Parker is a madman. but the rest of their team has kind of sucked. annnd...the Mavs are playing some hot basketball right now. Barea is fired up and Terry and Dirk, Bass and Howard and Kidd - ahh, Jason Kidd. Kidd deserves so much of the credit. Jason Kidd is a world-class player and the Mavericks are lucky to have him. Dampier is out there saving galaxies with every slam dunk and Singleton and especially Antoine Wright are out there killin it. and so, if the Mavericks win this series, they will go on to play the winner of the Nuggets and the Hornets, which will probably be the Nuggets.

Dallas vs. Denver. heavyweight bout. Denver is a very clever team and they play a nasty kind of basketball. I really like it. I have always liked Denver's style of ball, it's smart and mean. it's like a really good rap song. I loved seeing Carmelo and Iverson play together, and now that Billups is in there, he even raised it up another level. they will not be an easy team to beat. right now they are oppressing the New Orleans Hornets. it doesn't look good for the Hornets.

interestingly (to me), is that Dirk was heavily defended and slowed down in this last game against the Spurs and still the Mavericks finish with a confident win by 9 points. it's comforting to know that the rest of the team can win the game on their own. there's a good balance there - everyone is playing hard - Dampier, Bass, Wright, Barea...every now and then Hollins comes in a screams when he scores (and gets a technical) but the point is, the guy is fired up. he is bringing his energy to the game and he wants to make sure they get a win. I'm seeing a solidarity amongst the team and for that I give credit to Coach Rick Carlysle, who I am officially impressed with. I didn't give him enough credit. he has taken the helm of the ship and is steering the team towards a victorious post-season.