The Rockets wish they were the Mavericks

[MFFL]

Here's the link

April 25, 2002, 12:54AM
Mavs turn up heat, turn back the clock
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

DALLAS -- In a perfect world, the Mavericks would win it all.

Not because they are the toughest team in the NBA to beat. Just the most fun to watch. There's more to see than in a month's worth of trips to the circus. More up-and-down, more give-and-take, more bang for your inflated buck than anyplace else in commissioner David Stern's sagging empire.

If it isn't Dirk Nowitzki who turns your head in the role of a contortionist with a 7-footer's head fake and hellbent dribble drive to the hoop to draw a foul and complete a three-point play, then it's Raef LaFrentz as the strongman with a defiant and resounding block on Kevin Garnett.

If it isn't Michael Finley appearing as a human cannonball as he soars in from the foul line and dunks over the head of Rasho Nesterovic, then it's Steve Nash with a twisting, turning, tumbling acrobatic flourish, bumping backward into Gary Trent and then tossing up a double-pumped, lefthanded shot over his head that hits nothing but net.

It is basketball the way it was intended to be played, part abstract painting, part jazz riff that doesn't always know where it will end up but keeps on forging straight ahead wth unbending confidence.

Toss in Angie Harmon sitting on the front row at midcourt, and there just couldn't be anything prettier.

It is not just the fact a 122-110 win over Minnesota on Wednesday gives the Mavs a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five playoff series that gets your attention. It is the way they play, moving at a pace that would make you think the court was made of hot coals, passing and shooting the ball so quickly you might think it was ticking.

They are Nowitzki with 31 points and 15 rebounds, Finley with 28 points, Nash and Nick Van Exel with 17 points each. They are an octopus that seems to have a few extra arms, always another way to reach out and grab you.

The harsh reality is the NBA needs this, much more than Shaquille O'Neal bullrushing and bullying his way to a third straight title. It needs the flash, the sizzle, the joy to come back.

You might be inclined to say the Mavericks are a team of the future, a 21st-century ballclub that fittingly plays in the American Airlines Center and frequently roars like a jet.

But the truth is Dallas is really a throwback to the past, before the days of the mind-numbing isolation play and the stultifying look of spacing around the 3-point line simply to launch more bombs.

In other words, they are not the Rockets.

Oh, the Mavs shoot the trey. They hit 11 of 22 in this one. But they don't simply settle for the trey.

If you're no older than about 15, you might think this is a new frontier being blazed by Don Nelson's bunch. But all he has done is turn back the clock to a time when coaches weren't so intent on strangling the life out of the game by exercising too much control of the offense. The Mavs don't drag out every single possession as if it were a hostage negotiation.

Never mind the 24-second clock. These guys will get three or four shots in the space of 24 seconds.

The Mavs are everything the Rockets claim they want to be but are not. They make flamboyant plays, but with a purpose.

Unlike the Rockets, they don't just talk about getting out and into a full-court running game. They do it.

How is it LaFrentz can get the ball off the glass, turn and make an outlet pass, but Kelvin Cato can't?

How is it Nash or Van Exel can find the middle of the floor on a three-on-two break and make the proper decision that results in a dunk or a layup, but Steve Francis can't?

Francis has more raw talent in a couple fingers than Nash in his whole body. But Nash is a point guard, a real point guard, who is constantly learning and improving at the position.

The Mavericks have been the brunt of many jokes with their staff of assistant coaches that almost outnumbers the players. But it seems as if all of those coaches have done a more than credible job instilling the Nelson philosophy, which is to make the most of the individual talent rather than try to hammer every square peg into the same round hole.

The Mavs give you a laser light show. The Rockets give you excuses.

Here is Nash letting fly with a long 3-pointer just ahead of the shot clock, the long rebound grabbed by Finley, who shoves a touch pass down low to LaFrentz for a dunk.

There is Van Exel darting through the lane into the face of two defenders, then whipping up a lefthanded fallaway hook for two.

Here is Nowitzki lowering his shoulder and going to the hoop. There is Eduardo Najera crashing the defensive boards to start another fast break.

If Dallas and Sacramento play in the second round, the fans in the front-row seats might need asbestos suits. But the Kings have been slowed once by the aging Jazz.

The Mavs keep right on running.

In a perfect world, all the way.

[DTL]

Would it be possible to come up with a team-by-team FGA per Ticket Dollar and FGM per Ticket Dollar ranking? The Mavs got to be number one for such pure entertainment value in the league right now.

[Rhylan]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....
...HAUAHAUAHAUAHAUAHAUAH.....
.....hehehehe hohohohoh......

..sorry, I was just laughing at Houston there for a second.

[Drbio]

interesting idea DTL.....when I stop laughing like Rhylan I will try to look into it....