"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Monday, May 2
To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn...
...there is a season, and right now, there's actually two of them. First up is baseball, where the Texas Ranger are off to a middling start. Their hitters haven't been hitting that much, and their bullpen - one of the best in baseball last year - hasn't provided much relief. And we now officially live in Cloud Cuckoo Land, because the Rangers' starting pitching has been terrific, especially new addition Pedro Astacio and my man Chan Ho Park, who is 3-1 with only one bad outing, and who beat the Yanks and the Red Sox in consecutive starts over the past week and a half or so.
But I'd really like to talk about basketball.
The Dallas Mavericks finished with the third-best record in the West this year, but were seeded fourth by virtue of finishing second in their division. They also led the league in gangly white guys, with Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Bradley, and Keith Van Horn averaging over 7 feet tall.
Then they went out and choked away their first game, at home, to the Houston Rockets. They played better in their second game, but still lost as Yao Ming went on a 33-point tear.
In their next game, down in Houston, they got a huge break: Van Horn got hurt.
Now, understand, Keith Van Horn is one of my favorite Mavericks. After they acquired him at the trade deadline he has willingly filled any role they've assigned him, and I was really surprised at his ability to drive to the hoop and get off soft shots in close.
But the guy was overmatched in the playoffs. He just wasn't doing it, and if he hadn't sprained an ankle, he would eventually have earned a spot on the bench. The Mavs started playing better as soon as he went down, with Alan Henderson and Marquis Daniels picking up most of his minutes. As a result, Dallas has tied the series at 2 and regained the home court advantage.
The key play in Saturday's game came from Jason "Jet" Terry, and it's one I bet he took a lot of ribbing over. He dribbled down the wing, almost kicked the ball away twice, and finally had it knocked away by the defense. Fortunately it went right to Dirk Nowitzki, who tossed it back to him, and Terry proceeded to can the game winning 3-pointer.
Speaking of Nowitzki, he had another tough night shooting the ball, but he made up for it in other ways. He took 9 trips to the free throw line and made every one, he handed out 5 assists in the last 8 minutes of the game, and generally played like he much preferred winning over losing. He was too laid back in years past, and too ready to settle for a jump shot. Hopefully his newfound pair will keep the Mavs rolling.
