Mavs won game 1

nuff said...

ok maybe not. I'll say one more thing-

Tim Duncan, you are old. But you can be the David Robinson to DeJuan Blair's Tim Duncan (confusing I know...)

Quick Ballin' post #1- Playoff pics

I'm crazy busy with school and concerts and my mom visiting and getting ready for an audition in Florida, but I wanted to at least get these up for proof before playoffs start tomorrow.

Eastern Conference 1st Round

Chicago v. Cleveland- Cleveland in 5 (D. Rose will have one awesome game to avoid the sweep)

Charlotte v. Orlando- Orlando in 4 (fun frontcourt matchup to watch)

Milwaukee v. Atlanta- Atlanta in 6

Miami v. Boston- Boston in 7

Western Conference 1st Round

OKC v. LA- LA in 5 (see Chicago v. Cleveland and substitute Kevin Durant)

San Antonio v. Dallas- Dallas in 7 (probably most contested first round matchup)

Portland v. Phoenix- Phoenix in 5

Utah v. Denver- Denver in 7

Eastern Conference 2nd Round

Atlanta v. Orlando- Orlando in 5

Boston v. Cleveland- Cleveland in 6

Western Conference 2nd Round

Phoenix v. Dallas- Dallas in 6

Denver v. LA- LA in 5

Finals

Eastern- Orlando v. Cleveland- Cleveland in 6

Western- Dallas v. LA- LA in 7

LA v. Cleveland- LA in 7

Mean Green

Normally I don't pay attention to, watch or in any way follow college basketball with the exception of checking up on Cornell from time to time (mostly via AK) but UNT made it into the dance Sunday night by winning the Sun Belt tourney. So I'll have to watch at least two games. Anyone interested in a friendly wager that the Mean Green outlast the Big Red (sounds like a reality show about interior decorating)?

Mavs update3

I had the pleasure of going to the Mavs game on Sunday night against the Hornets. We got very cheap tickets up in the rafters, but still enjoyable and you could still see the action fine. As Chad said, it was as much as going to see a movie and way more fun. Some notes:

-Haywood is sooo much better than Damp, and way more fun to watch. Dude can actually catch a pass.

-The team surprisingly looked its best when they ran the floor. Obviously this worked best when Jet was playing, but I think that the best way to integrate Butler and Haywood, and to fully utilize the Karate Kidd's skill set, is to continue a fast pace. They don't need to be playing like a D'Antoni team or recklessly putting up shots, but push the ball down and see what you can get, and if there isn't an easy basket then just ease into a half court set and let the German go to work.

-Darren Collison is crazy good. Hornets could trade CP3 for some more fire power in the middle and be totally fine.

-Marcus Thorton is also crazy good. See previous point.

-The lead isn't secure even when it's 25 points and you've been putting on a clinic for an entire half.

-If the Mavericks can shore up their defense against guards, they could go all the way. So far at an 8 game streak and in 2nd place in the West they're doing pretty damn well

USA-Canada?

Looks like the odds are about 2-1 for the Candians. Predictions?

Curling

After a discussion about how ridiculous curling is I found this Wii game...(disclosure: this video is rated PG13 for some mature sexual content)

Mavs update2

Damp's out for a month, and Haywood's making headlines on Daily Dime. Did I call that or what? In related crappy news for Washington, former Mav Josh Howard is out for the season (that's major bonus points for Cuban for the timing on that trade) and the wizards will be signing this guy to a one year veterans minimum contract in order to have enough players to avoid forfeiting

On the plus side this dude sets the record for oldest current player and he looks like he can smoke the competition.

Mavs update

Mavericks since allstar break: 1-1

Pistons since allstar break: 1-1

I have to say I wasn't feeling great about my changing allegiance after tuesday night when the Pistons won big and the Mavs lost, but I'm now confident after the week's up that they'll be doing fine. Haywood is playing great (5 blocks last night!) and a big improvement over Damp.

Mavs action

Dallas hosted the All-star game this weekend- huge success and way too many people. Cable was out on Friday and Saturday so I didn't get to check out the good non-game stuff (still haven't really seen the dunk contest, anyone know of somewhere I can find it complete online?). I watched a good chunk of the first half of the actually game and it wasn't that good except for this:


make that two made 3's in his career, almost as good as watching Shaq play point last year.

But this all overshadowed the big trade Cuban pulled off. Mavericks shed:

Josh Howard

Drew Gooden

and some other junk

and the Mavs pick up:
Caron Butler


Brendan Haywood


and DeShawn Stevenson


My analysis?
This makes them way better. Damp sucks balls normally, and even more so when he's injured, so the addition of Haywood alone is great. Butler will have some issues adjusting to playing more two than three, and having fewer opportunities than he did in Washington when Agent Zero wasn't playing (basically the entire last three seasons), but it's not like Howard was clutch or dependable for scoring anyway, so you're really not losing anything there. This also has the added advantage of taking Jet out of the starting lineup and though he's an ok starter he's much better as the 6th man.

Prediction:
They go 17-13 from here on out.

This brings me to my next point:
I've decided to switch my allegiance from the Pistons to the Mavericks. You can call me a fair weather fan, but it's mostly about personnel and availability (and I still still follow the Bills so much that I listen to most of their games on Internet radio for lack of other means so suck that) . The Detroit players that I really enjoy watching- Chauncey, Sheed, Afflalo, and most off all, Dice, are no longer there. The ones they have now have no character and no heart. And it's not really fun rooting for a team you can't ever see play (especially with basketball which radio doesn't capture well at all).

So I hope the Mav's can kick some ass with this new and improved lineup. I'll be cheering for them.