Vecsey says something nice about the Mavs - be still my heart

[MFFL]

Here's the link


February 8, 2002 -- AH, THE best laid plans of mice and masterminds.
Thinking he could pull a slick one, Phil Jackson - armed with the justification he needed to set up an All-Star DNP; podiatrist decision - rested Shaquille O'Neal's tender tootsie Wednesday against the Bulls.

The "rest" is history.

Taking their cue from The Big Aris-toe-tle, the majority of Shaq's teammates showed up with notes from their pediatricians. Not surprisingly, the laissez-faire Lakers were gored (43-35 on the backboard) and feathered (97-89 on the scoreboard) by the Bullies despite 38 points by Kobe Bryant.

Time warp alert: It was the 1991 Finals all over again. Only this time the role of Michael Jordan was played by Marcus Fizer, normally a power outage but this time a generator of 21 points and seven rebounds.

Ain't poetic justice pleasing! While The Big Adult Diaper provided ecumenical counsel and divine inspiration from the peanut gallery, Kobe did his darndest to keep LA from embarrassing itself for the second time within weeks against cellar-dwelling Chicago.

But Ron Artest rejected Kobe's late-game springer from behind, thus thwarting any hope the Lakers had of "Winona Ryder-ing" what rightfully belonged to the Bulls.

Artest's block was so fine Charles Oakley only partially badmouthed him after the game.

Allow me to digress. On the subject of Oak: The former Knick treasure doesn't figure to be traded (by Feb. 21 deadline; $7.28 million salary makes it almost impossible) but released outright by the Bulls in time (March 1) to hook up with a title contender.

There are plenty of people convinced - judging by his third person patter and substandard performance - he's been through the car wash once too often. I'm here to tell interested parties, he can still administer a licking for 20 minutes an evening and, trust me, it's the detergent speaking, not Charles.

At any rate, The Big Bed Wetter's Lakers enter the NBA's three-day commercial break at 33-13. Six of those defeats have come at the grubby hands of Miami, Golden State, Memphis, Denver and twice by Chicago.

Give the Triangle Man room . . . genius at work.

"How many times must I remind you, players don't win championships, caterers do," Jerry Krause said.

An amusing thing happened to my replica Nets on the way to the All-Star break, they began their mid-season vacation one night early. With a record of 32-15, there's no doubt Jason Kidd's pupils are for real (for Regal, actually), but they're not so superlative they can mail one in.

Such was the sorry state in the Garden State Wednesday when Jersey might as well have been spelled "Jrsy" . . . 'cause there was no "e" for "effort." Tanned, rested and ostensibly ready since a rout of Pacific-leading Sacramento, the Nets were poised to uphold what remnants of respectability remained in the Eastern Conference when Midwest-leading Dallas came slumbering into the swamp.

This, after all, was a Maverick mob which had survived a double OT exhaustion-a-thon the night before at Indiana and which was without Juwan Howard, whom Stu Jurisprudence dry-docked a game for 'bowing Jamal Tinsley twice in the head in the third quarter.

Hopefully, the three referees who should've automatically ejected Howard (any blow above the shoulders) for the crime, also lost a game's pay.

Yes, friends, Romans and Johnny Walker (white), all signs on the Turnpike pointed to a gimme "W." Like Shawn Kemp taking candy from a baby. Instead, it was Team Twin Blades in dire need of the septic pencil.

Aside to no one in particular: When the terms "Adrian Griffin," "Wang ZhiZhi," and "go-to-guys" are used in the same sentence, this is a lost cause.

Still, the Nets regrouped, taking a 98-96 lead late in the fourth. Then, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the win column, the Nets felt compelled to revisit the Stephon Marbury Era, standing around, playing into the Mavs' zone as if they were handicapped, settling for horrible heaves with the shot-clock winding down.

Meanwhile, Dallas, which shot 51 percent and a manly 27-27 from the line, exhibited the type of execution at crunch time that makes all Texans proud.

*

AND, finally, in case you missed it, the NIT added eight more teams. Hey, anything to ensure the Knicks make it to the post-season.