First up is the Mavs. I don't want to talk too much about the Mavericks game 3. It really comes down to a final few moments. The rest of the game is background noise with the way it ended.
Here's the deal. 6 seconds left, Antoine Wright is instructed to intentionally foul the ball handler when some time runs off so that the Nuggets have ball out of bounds with a shorter amount of time left, thus not giving them time to give a good look.
Wright bumps Melo once. No call. That one was iffy though.
Wright waits for him to turn the corner and when he does, he basically karate chops Melo's arm. No call. Wright had already stopped on the play and it gave Melo an open look at the 3 ball.
Should Wright have quit on the play? No. Should he have thrown his hands up as if to say "I didn't foul"? No.
Is that relevant to whether or not the whistle should have been blown? NO! It's not! All silly arguments aside about what Wright should have done, the fact is the referee messed up. The league office said as much.
That call really deflated the Mavericks. As you can see in the video, things got quite testy after the game was over. It set up what was inevitably going to be a nasty game Monday.
I think the thing I was most frustrated with outside of the foul was the inability to get a good look on the final shot. There's 1 second left...in basketball, that's enough time to catch, spin and shoot. The fact that we didn't get that, is pretty annoying. Poor coaching and execution.
Down 3-0, I completely expected the Mavericks to fold like a lawn chair tonight and just allow the season to end.
Color me surprised. They showed the fight I've asked of them for the entire series.
The Mavericks allowed the Nuggets to shoot over 70 percent in the first quarter and allowed a horrendous 5 of 6 from 3 point land. That's simply not acceptable.
The Nuggets also were able to extend their lead to as much as 14 in the second quarter when they were up 49-35. It appeared that the season was over.
Not so fast says Dirk Nowitzki. Having not led since an early 6-5 first quarter lead, the Mavericks clawed back from an 8 point fourth quarter deficit to tie the ball game multiple times. They weren't able to get in front though until there was a little over a minute left in the game and Dirk knocked down one of the highest arcing shots you'll ever see in your life to give Dallas a 112-110 lead. It's a lead they would not give back unlike Saturday.
Dirk scored 19 of his 44 in the fourth quarter while going 4 of 5 from the floor and 11 of 11 at the line. He was simply spectacular this evening. Putting all the turmoil of his personal life behind him to just go out and play basketball.
A few players have failed to show up in this series. Dirk Nowitzki is certainly not one of them.
He's averaged an outstanding 35 points and 12 boards a game in this draining four game series.
Josh Howard should also be commended for his job in this game. No, he wasn't the normal Josh Howard, but on two bad ankle, Howard managed to overcome an absolutely awful start and finish with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Howard went 6 of 12 after his troubling start and made two crucial free throws in the final minute to extend the Mavericks lead to 116-112.
Aside from the actual play in-game, there were some very tense moments. 7 technicals and 2 flagrants were called and Carmelo Anthony's girlfriend had to be removed from the arena due to unruly fans shouting insults and throwing things at her. Kenyon Martin's mother also needed extra security after a controversy erupted in which Mark Cuban told her that her son was a thug. Fans also were shouting at her and Art Gracia of NBA.com reported that K-Mart had to be restrained by teammates when he saw the verbal berating his mother was receiving.
I imagine the Mavericks will lose on Wednesday night in Denver. It will be an ugly, hostile game and crowd. But for one more night, Dirk got to carry his team. Hopefully next season will be his year, because the man deserves a title.
If Dallas, by some miracle, is able to pull out a win in Denver, I don't think they lose game 6. The crowd was too rowdy and volatile for the Mavs not to feed off of it and take the momentum from back to back wins only to lose game 6 to a team they hate. That's not happening.
If it were to get to game 7...who knows. It's all a dream though. I imagine the Nuggets take care of business on Wednesday night by double digits.
DAL 119, DEN 117
Now, briefly, let's discuss what the Rangers have done recently.
When we last left you, the Rangers were 15-12, on a 5 game winning streak and had taken control of the AL West.
5 days later, the Rangers are still in first place...barely.
A half game ahead of the Angels, 1 and a half over the Mariners and a full 5 on the A's.
Texas split their last 4 games since we left, losing 9-4 in the finale against Oakland and taking 2 out of 3 from the White Sox, 6-0, 2-3 and 7-1.
This pitching is starting to pick up and that's very encouraging. Also, Josh Hamilton and Michael Young should both be back in the lineup Tuesday as the Rangers kick off an absolutely VITAL 6 game homestand against the Mariners and Angels.
I could see Texas sweeping Seattle and taking 2 out of 3 from Los Angeles. If that were to happen, take into consideration that the Angels are playing Boston for three games before they swing into Texas. Obviously Rangers fans would like a sweep, but could you imagine if Boston were to take two out of three from LA and than we were to go 5-1 in that quick homestand?
Let's play out the other games for fun just so we could see what the standings have a potential of looking like after these two series'.
Seattle would get Boston at home. Let's say Boston 2 out of 3. Oakland, while the division is playing itself, gets Kansas City for two on the road and Detroit for 3 on the road. I think the struggling A's are lucky to win 2. I'll predict 1-4.
The standings have the realistic potential to look a little something like this when we wake up next Monday...
* Texas 22-15
* Los Angeles 18-18
* Seattle 17-21
* Oakland 12-22
Obviously a lot of things would have to fall exactly as I want, but it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that the Rangers are 4 games up in the AL West come next Monday morning.
Let's hope...let's hope...
No comments:
Post a Comment