Dallas entered their 5th game in 8 days against Detroit on Sunday. They came away with a hard fought victory, literally. Erick Dampier's flagrant foul on Rip Hamilton's breakaway dunk late in the 4th quarter really set the tone for crunch time. The Mavs held Detroit to 40% from the floor in the 4th quarter and the Pistons didn't do themselves any favors from the free throw line converting only 2 of 8 attempts.
I loved the foul from Dampier it was funny to see the Pistons crying about hard fouls and looking like the nerdy kid on the block with Dallas playing the role of schoolyard bully. You certainly never felt that way about this team under Don Nelson. The Pistons had just gone through a 2 minute stretch causing the Mavericks fits with turnovers. Detroit kept reaching in on Dallas and committing touch fouls the refs were letting slide and I like the approach from Dampier "you want to foul us? I'll show you what a foul is!"
Just as he did Friday night against Boston Dirk Nowitzki took over in the 2nd half scoring 21 of his 28 points. Dirk had a little help from Jason Terry who was big down the stretch and Devin Harris had a big game as well adding 22 points. The Mavs big defensive effort was especially impressive considering once again they were without Devean George or Greg Buckner. To be fair the Pistons were also without Chauncey Billups. The win puts Dallas back up 4.5 games on the Suns who have lost 2 games since the win in Dallas on Wednesday.
notes & hso's (hot sports opinions)
You may have noticed I didn't have much to say about the first half... well maybe if Time Warner could hire people to bring the right DVR unit over with them and not use your bathroom without washing their hands and than go around touching everything in my condo I'd of been able to record the first half!
What is it with ABC and ESPN ramming Dancing with the Stars down our throats? First of all you're a homo if you watch that crap (with apologies to John Amaechi). And second of all why does ABC pick an NBA game with a heavy male dominated viewing audience to choose to promote this fluff show? It was bad enough when ESPN had to hijack Monday night football so they could do a 10 minute infomercial for Emmitt Smith and Dancing with the Stars, but I draw the line at the Mavericks. And what's with ABC picking Anne Heche to do the celebrity plug for I love this game? Are they trying to steal viewers from the NCAA women's tournament who might subscribe to that other magazine? Please bring back the NBA on NBC! They never would of had Larry Bird come on to do promos for Days of our Lives.
On a related note Mike Breen and Mark Jackson aren't very good at broadcasting. Breen sounds like they found him at a nursing home reading the nightly bedtime stories and Jackson makes the case for why ex-athletes shouldn't be in the booth. Most of the time he's so busy trying to shoehorn facts and figures in while maintaining professionalism he forgets to have any fun. Come on guys you had the best team in the West and the best team in the East facing off in a potential NBA Finals preview and you sounded like you were announcing the next number in line at the DMV. (I'd use an exclamation point there, but it goes against the laws of nature to use one in a sentence about Mike Breen and Mark Jackson)
Why is it Tyler Hansbrough can break his nose and two weeks later he's playing without a mask, but Rip Hamilton has worn one every game for the last 3 years?
I don't want to worry any Mavs fans needlessly but Dirk Nowitzki did miss the first of a big pair of free throws late in the game at Detroit. A disturbing trend is starting to develop just keep an eye out for it.
Have a look at this and tell me the NBA wasn't much better on NBC
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