GDT: Pre-Season Opener, WAS @ DAL

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by ty

Jamison got SONNED.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to ty again.

that was pretty flippin' funny.

[alby]

ha spread it here bg =]

[ty]

After you spread it to alby, spread it back to me.

Here's Dirk after the sonnage.



Isn't that leg Jamison's? He is falling over REAL bad.

Dirk is a freakin rockstar.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I know its preseason, but the Mavs did look awfully good. Everyone looked like they had an extra step that they haven't have the last two seasons.

Dirk's schooling of Jamo was awesome, but let's not forget that Jamison plays defense on a Steve Nash level hehehe. Do feel bad for the injury though.

[alby]

Dirk looks so skinny

[Caseman]

This thing is going undefeated I tell ya.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by dirno2000

So would you go so far as to say you're glad that they didn't take the deal?

No, because he plays the same position as our best player.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I must say I got a kick out of hearing Diops name called on the radio broadcast tonight. I guess he was pretty active defensively, thig?

Also, Followill made Bass sound good tonight.

Yeah he was pretty active. Had a real nice block against the backboard.

He also filled the lane on a break, caught the ball above the free throw line, and went in under control to draw a foul. I was impressed.

[jthig32]

Post game from Fish.

Classic Mavs
A Preseason-Opening Blowout -- Logically
By Mike Fisher -- DB.com
The most extensive Mavs game review you can find anywhere on the planet, absent only the answer to the question: Who broadcast the words “Maverick’’ and “Washington’’ more frequently on Tuesday, McCain or Coop?

THUMBS-UPPERS: Who impressed in the 108-82 preseason-opening win over the Wiz and why:

Brandon Bass: Made 4 of his first 5 shots (and 7-of-11 for 17 overall), helping to convince that his work as a midrange shooter a year ago – not to mention his to-the-grindstone labor in camp – was no fluke.

‘Gana Diop: Speaking of guys who I said looked good in camp … and now make me look good: Diop entered the game midway through the first quarter and first filled the lane on a break, earning two free throws, and moments later worked his way inside for another offensive plunge. He scored just four points. But with seven rebounds, three blocks and a handful of alters, he really did control the interior and was one of the reasons the Wiz made just one of every three shots.

Jason Kidd: The triple-double threat lives!

Josh Howard: I gotta find me one of them shot-chart thingees. J-Ho scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. And it sure seemed like pretty much every shot was in the paint.

Antoine Wright: If you read DB.com, you learned first that there will indeed be a next time. Thursday in Chicago, as a matter of fact. If you watched the game, you saw the early nervousness and the rest-of-the-night explosiveness. And even if all you see is the boxscore, you see numbers: 4-of-4 shooting for nine points, the three turnovers offset by the three steals and the four assists, plus two rebounds and some damn stifling defense on DeShawn Stevenson, who scored just three points on 1-of-7.

Dirk Nowitzki. An afterthought. With 17 points in 25 minutes on 7-of-12 shooting with seven rebounds. So taken for granted around here. …

BETTER-LUCK-NEXT-TIMERS: Who fails to receive a gold star:
Call me a Pollyanna. But just when I was going to stick Jerry Stackhouse in here for shooting 1-of-4 in the first half, he throws himself on the floor for a loose ball. And then he does it again. He actually looked pretty quick (I forgot to check if he “has abs for the first time in 15 years,’’ as he claims.) I was going to put Devean George in here, too, because of the no minutes in the first half. But then came an assumption: He’ll get his big shot next week. And then came some good, alert defensive work from him. So he’s off the Pollyanna hook, too.
How ‘bout we take the gold star away from one of these fellas when they don’t win a game by 26, okay?

FREE-FLOWING: Carlisle on the preseason: “Preseason is a process. … I’m for winning. I do like winning home games.’’
The coach said he is “resisting the temptation’’ to install more of his offense. “We’ll have a menu of set plays to go to,’’ Carlisle said, “but we need to develop. … it will be free-flowing. The players will have a lot to say about where their shots come from.’’
It was indeed “free-flowing.’’ There was an absolute focus on finding Kidd to center virtually every break. (Exception: A few times when Josh, our of habit, I suppose, decided to keep it.) The half-court stuff was highly basic but highly effective: High-post pick-and-rolls involving the centers, just as we’ve seen in practice. And then some backdoor stuff and dive-cutting that is very reliant on Kidd’s instincts as a passer.
Given that the offense isn’t even installed yet, an impressive debut. Maybe impressive enough that next time at the AAC, a few thousand more Mavs fans – who presumably enjoy “winning home games,’’ too – will show up.

THE THREE AMIGOS: Before the game, Carlisle rattled through some thoughts on some of his end-of-bench kids. In order:
JaJuan Smith: “He’s been steady.’’
Reyshawn Terry: “Last year he was a 3. In the summer we made him a 4 and his game went up. He’s got skills. He drives well, shoots from midrange well, and he’s developed a 3-point shot.
Charles Rhodes: “A tenacious guy. He puts the ball in the basket from midrange. And he’s tenacious in going after the ball at both ends.’’
Good to his word, at 4:34, Carlisle emptied the bench to reward those fellas. In came Smith, Terry and Rhodes to play with JJB and Singleton for a bit. And then came Green and Cheyne Gadson to close it out.
“Cheyne,’’ by the way, is pronounced “Shane.’’ Commit that to your memory. Your short-term memory.
And while this occurred in a very subtle way, I think it’s fair to say that Singleton, with his NBA experience, has an edge because of his know-how. He didn’t look like a kid the way the kids looked like kids, if you know what I mean.

FASHION STATEMENTS: For those of you who care (and I know you’re out there): Jason Kidd is re-growing his goatee. … James Singleton is going with the headband-and-knee-highs Damp Look. … Reyshawn Terry wears one of those armor-padded undershirts befitting a guy who is now a power forward.

CENTER PIECES: I promise I’ll let this go sometime soon. But as I watch Damp play for six or so minutes. … then Diop comes in and does the same, going hard for his six minutes. … then he’s replaced by Damp. … then, after a good run, Diop. … I cannot help but wonder why any coach would make a habit of doing anything else but to play his two legit 7-foot centers for long periods of time over the course of a game, allowing for the occasional error because of all the uniquely positive things they are capable of.
They combined to play about 29 of the first 38 minutes and each ended with almost exactly 16:30 of burn. How difficult is that?
Not that Carlisle didn’t dabble in experimentation a bit; at one stage of the first half, his quintet was Damp, Bass, Stack, Jet and JJB. And Bass got all the late minutes at center. And then he tossed random bodies out there at the end. But for the most part, the rotation and the minutes revealed themselves logically. As they should.

MORE LOGIC, THE PO TO: Remember all those PO TO’s from years past? You know. … Pissed-Off Timeouts? Avery would sometimes call one a minute into the game because somebody had allowed a basket. In this game, only after the Wiz made a mini-run to turn a 30-point game into a 19-point game with six minutes left did Rick elect to pull out the PO TO.
Gerald Green was inserted one time, and then quickly tugged. … But he never got screamed at. Carlisle simply discussed something with him, calmly, as the game continued on.
Also, I do not recall seeing a PG look to the bench for a play call. I’m sure they snuck one in on me – maybe when I snuck down to the dining room to swipe a cookie – but I never saw it happen. Not once.

WELCOME BACK, DIOP: Laugh of the night: On the Jumbotron, to the theme from “Welcome Back, Kotter,’’ a skit showing ‘Gana walking down the street, toward the AAC, toting his luggage behind him. Adorable!

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?: To clarify a note on our pal Art Garcia’s move from Mavs.com: He writes for NBA.com, but his boss isn’t The League, but rather Turner Sports, which now oversees NBA.com and NBATV.

A CLIP JOB: 75-Member-Staffer Tim McDarby notes that Elgin Baylor is leaving the Clippers. Too bad, Tim McD says. Now who’s going to represent the Clips at their annual Lottery-TV-show appearance?

EMBRACING J-HO: Before tipoff, the coach was asked if he thought the home crowd might toss a few hoots Josh Howard’s way.
“I don’t expect much, if any,’’ Carlisle said. “I think everyone, our fans included, are ready for basketball.’’
Smart man, that Rick. Everyone pretty much just waited for the National Anthem, honored it (yes, Josh included, of course), and on we moved.
That doesn’t mean, though, that Carlisle hadn’t prepared Josh, just in case.
The coach says he’s had many conversations with Howard, and while he thought it “not appropriate’’ to share details, he later said this: “As you progress in this business, your skin thickens. As you play at the highest level, you must deal with the bad and the good.’’
I’m going to assume that is a replay of one of those private conversations.
And again, you have to love J-Ho’s response to all this: A really fine, high-octane effort, with his shot selection a coach’s dream.

CUBES’ CUBS: Mark Cuban attended the Cubs’ postseason Game 2 against the Dodgers and was planning to go to Game 4 in LA. “But, um, that never quite happened,’’ the bummed-out Bleacher Bum told DB.com.

STRAIGHT A’s: Nobody put up any A’s for Jason Kidd. But in the first half, he recorded six of ‘em. You know, if anybody’s counting. Which I hope, once the regular season starts, somebody does.
Oh yeah. He also went to intermission with five points, six rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot. Again. … if anybody’s counting.

MINUTE MEN: How did the coaching staff distribute first-half minutes?
Almost as if they’d surveyed fans for their opinion. Check it out:
Dirk, Josh and Kidd each played around 15. Stack and Jet – obviously given work together to test how they mesh – each played exactly 13:35. Wright got 10, Damp and Diop each about 8, and JJB got 8. Singleton played 3:41. George played 0:00.
And the Mavs were ahead 55-40. I mean, that’s pretty much right out of your Here’s What They Oughta Do textbook, no?

MORE FIRST-HALF NUMBERS: Not that this is the NFL preseason, where really only the first half counts. But here are a few other eye-poppers: Dallas outrebounded the Wiz 25-15 in that half, out-assisted them 15-7, and limited them to 15-of-40 (37.5 percent) shooting. The Mavericks used a 25-6 run over the course of 10 minutes to outscore the Wiz 28-12 in the second quarter alone.

INJURY UPDATE: We can grouse about why Eddie Jones is lingering about. And Carlisle can grouse about Keith McLeod’s unfortunate hammy. But pity the Wizards, who traditionally lose bodies at a rate you might expect of the Washington Redskins. Ex-Mav Antawn Jamison went down in the opening moments (strained knee), strained right knee.Center Brendan Haywood is out with a hand injury. And Agent Zero, of course is out until maybe midseason.

Said Jamison: “It was painful, but once I got some ice on it it felt better and there's no pain at all right now. It feels a lot better now. It gave out on me. I didn't hear a pop so I knew there wasn't anything torn. It felt like someone tapped it with a hammer. I'll have an MRI (Wednesday) but it doesn't feel that bad. ... I'm surprised there's no pain. … I've been through some tough ones and I don't think this is anything that will keep me out for too long. We'll see how it feels after flying and waking up tomorrow.’’

RE-JIGGERED ROOM: The Mavs reconfigured and re-jiggered their locker room a bit, adding a fancier flat-screen TV and creating a new entrance for the intruding media. … I mean, the visiting media. Before, lowly reporters entered by first winding through a hallway used by staffers to get to their offices. Now, said staffers won’t have to be bothered by our dopey questions.

RUN, FORREST, RUN: There are many doubters when it comes to the Mavs’ promise to be a running team. Let me respectfully submit that: a) Most good coaches bend their style to the talent, and not the other way around, and b) one of the “talents’’ here is named Jason Kidd.
How the pace issue showed itself: The Mavericks outscored the usually high-flying Wizards 36-16 on the br
eak. … and ALSO outscored them 64-42.
Will there be more turnovers? We predicted as much last week, and the boss agrees. “Probably,’’ Carlisle concedes. “But when Phoenix was fast-paced, they still were low in terms of turnovers. It was very impressive. A lot of it is point-guard play.’’
And point guard play on Tuesday was good. Classically good.

[Eman]

Went to the game last night, saw the first half, couple of observations

Howard was a driving madman, didn't step back once!

Wright is good, found his way to the basket several times and was handling and passing and playing D.

Carlisle played the Centers!

everything seemed easy with everyone moving out there although you could see some got lost occasionally.

Kidd is good, and if Wright shapes up, that trade for Devin was a steal!

Lots of layups!

Bass is even more of a beast, I wouldn't be surprised if he forces his way to 30 minutes a game.

Stack was hustling more than I've seen and was also driving to the basket.

This lineup could win a championship

Damp/Diop/bass
Dirk/Bass
Howard/Bass/Stack/Singleton
Wright/Jet/Stack/Green
Kidd/Terry/JJ

Solid, if Wright pans out they are 2 deep + at every position (Bass in there for 30 minutes)

Kidd/Wright/Howard/Dirk/Bass is one athletic lineup

If you couldn't tell by now, IM EXCITED, go mavs!

[dalmations202]

It was a sweet game. Wright looked good. Heck most of them looked good.

I don't know if it was posted by Dish Network had available on 519, so I watched. Wizards telecast, but it was fun.

[EricaLubarsky]

Theres no danger of Dirk being overcome, but Bass is quickly climbing the charts of my favorite mavs ever.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by alby

Dirk looks so skinny

skinny = faster


Consider Stack's new physique as well and our Mavs are starting to look a bit like Carlisle's Pacers...

I'm diggin' it!

[candid_snoop41]

I like our Team!

JKidd on the fastbreak to a trailing dirk for 3 in transition is sooooo great :-)

We are going to be fun to watch.

[Underdog]

The coach said he is “resisting the temptation’’ to install more of his offense. “We’ll have a menu of set plays to go to,’’ Carlisle said, “but we need to develop. … it will be free-flowing. The players will have a lot to say about where their shots come from.’’

Let the players play???

Avery would've been disgusted with the idea, but ask Phil & Pat how they got their 14 rings - I never saw Magic Johnson look to the sidelines waiting for Riley to tell him what to do...


(this season is going to be so much fun!)

[DevinHarriswillstart]

STRAIGHT A’s: Nobody put up any A’s for Jason Kidd. But in the first half, he recorded six of ‘em. You know, if anybody’s counting. Which I hope, once the regular season starts, somebody does.
Oh yeah. He also went to intermission with five points, six rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot. Again. … if anybody’s counting.

Hell f-in yeah!

The rebounding is still unbelievably impressive. Even at 35, that guy is by far one of the best rebounders in the game. Awesome.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by Eman

Kidd is good, and if Wright shapes up, that trade for Devin was a steal!

AMEN..

[Murphy3]

Have I ever mentioned that I hated Avery Johnson as a coach?

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Have I ever mentioned that I hated Avery Johnson as a coach?

LOL

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by alby

Dirk looks so skinny

I think it gets mentioned EVERY preseason/early season. Weird, but true.

[ty]

JHo before the game, bowing his head, hand over his heart during the anthem.

[horse900703]

Looking pretty good~
Wizards lost Jamison,haha~

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by alby

Is that the third offensive foul Kidd has drawn in the first half? His basketball IQ is amazing.

This is what is going to keep him in this league for a few more seasons once the tires slow down...same as Stockton....his IQ, his ability to use offensive theory and reverse it to the defensive side.

[BGMaverick9]

Originally Posted by ty

JHo before the game, bowing his head, hand over his heart during the anthem.

Man, I wonder what's going on in his mind at that moment.

[Murphy3]

Haven't we already learned that nothing ever goes on in that mind of his?

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by BGMaverick9

Man, I wonder what's going on in his mind at that moment.

"Man, that blunt earlier was soooo good"

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Have I ever mentioned that I hated Avery Johnson as a coach?

Could you imagine if he was still the coach this year?


Starting at point guard, number I don't even know, Cheeeeeeeeeeyne Gadson!!!!

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Could you imagine if he was still the coach this year?

That thought makes me so sad. And think about how things could have been different the past two years.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by fluid.forty.one

That thought makes me so sad. And think about how things could have been different the past two years.

This is where I know Mark Cuban must be kicking himself. Ah well, gotta live in the future. And as of today, the future looks pretty good. Dirk still quietly puts up ridiculous numbers and Kidd still looks like a triple-double threat. I'll take it.

[LSMF]

Wow I missed the game last night but from reading you guys comments and watching the highlights Im pretty impressed. I haven't been this happy about the Mavs in a very long time, I hope we have some fun when the season starts. And I think Bass is going to need alot of minutes this season, the good thing is that I think he has enough speed and strength to play any position in the frontcourt.

[Rick41]

The game last night totally has me PUMPED for this upcoming mavs season.

[ghazi]

im stealin dat horse

[fluid.forty.one]

If I was Mark Cuban I would buy our teams biggest threat (who knows anymore.. Lakers? Spurs? Celtics?) and hire Avery as the head coach.

One less threat.

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Haven't we already learned that nothing ever goes on in that mind of his?

Yea, he was thinking a bit too much end of last year and this offseason. Just play ball!!

[Rick41]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b32W30Yenos

Check out the spelling of dirk's name at the end.

I totally confused Singleton for Dampier, gotta change that look.

[Caseman]

Let's keep this into perspective: the Wizards didn't have Jamison or Arenas on the floor. Good for the Mavs winning a game they should have, but I don't want to make any notions of what this team is yet.

[Rick41]

Since when is arenas a major threat on defense?

[Mavsfan4ever]

Originally Posted by Rick41

Since when is arenas a major threat on defense?

I'm with you there I feel Arenas is over rated.

[Rick41]

Just saying, arenas or not, he wouldn't of affected our offensive production/flow last night. Maybe the score for his team, but not ours.

[mavsjunkie]

Love Dirks' new hair cut, I hope he keeps it low.