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| Just not good enough |
Although fans of the Dallas Mavericks seemed as cocky as ever going into last night's game three, there was a slight tinge of urgency to win these two games and take the best two out of three.
The Mavericks had played the Oklahoma City Thunder toe to toe on the road the first two games and came a bounce or two away from winning at least one. Despite the 2-0 deficit, fans were in rampant denial. Things were "OK."
Down 0-2, the Mavericks were surely going to play one of their best games Thursday night in the friendly confines of the American Airlines Center in front of the home crowd.
Instead, they got their asses handed to them on a fucking platter.
95-79. Done.
It's not the score or the 3-0 deficit that's most disconcerting. The expectation-reality ratio was really, really out of whack. The intensity and effort that you'd expect out of a home playoff team with their backs against the wall was completely absent. They might have been able to put together a full quarter of high-quality NBA basketball. That was the extent of things.
It was a massacre. It was embarrassing.
I think the pinnacle of the debacle, for me, came in the third quarter as the Thunder were running away with things and Derek Fisher (who is pretty slow ... by NBA standards) puts the ball on the court, dribbles by a defender and goes directly at the 7-0 Dirk Nowitzki, superstar. Nowitzki puts up zero defense or effort. Fisher gets the easy lay-in.
It was gone a long time before that, however.
It was Kevin Durant early. Before this game, all the talk was how close the Mavericks were of getting a game in Oklahoma City and all the Mavericks need is for Nowitzki or Jason Terry to hit some shots late.
My rebuttal, "The Mavs are losing and Kevin Durant's been terrible. What if he gets going?" Silence.
Durant got it going early and he never shot. Shot 11-15 from the field scoring 31 and turning the ball over just once. Soon, the Thunder second-team was in the game and the Mavericks could not make up any real ground. The bench came through with Derek Fisher and Daequan Cook hitting uncontested three pointers.
At the end of the game, it's not like the Thunder shot lights out, which made the entire watching experience weird. It appeared they couldn't miss, especially when the Mavericks waved the white flag in the third and fourth quarters and essentially gave up. The Thunder shot 42 percent, but it seemed they hit everything.
The Mavericks shot 34 percent at home. They ended up with 26 made field goals and 15 turnovers. The Thunder had just eight turnovers and probably half came as they were building a 20-point plus lead and just got lazy with the ball.
It all sort of comes back to defense. You get back into games with defense, you stay in games with defense. The Mavericks defense last night was atrocious. Zero movement, zero effort. No one was flying at shooters and anytime the Thunder put the ball on the court, there was maximum penetration (gross!) which allowed for dunks, lay-ups or easy kick-outs to the shooters.
It also all comes back to Tyson Chandler. The camera caught sight of the Mavericks bench as they were getting buried and Brendan Haywood, who is in his second year of a six-year deal, where he'll be making $10 million a year soon, is sitting on the bench. He played seven minutes, all at the start of the game, shot 1-4, was abysmal on defense, was taken out and never seen from again.
If I'm Rick Carlisle, I quit dicking around and start Brandan Wright out of spite in game four.
Meanwhile, Chandler is wallowing on a mediocre New York Knicks team, which, too, is down 3-0 in their series with Miami. Chandler is the real missing link, especially against a team like the Thunder. For one, there wouldn't be any pushing Nowitzki around. It's sickening to watch Dirk have to go and fight his own fights while everyone stands there and watches.
Chandler would be most useful on the dribble drives by the Thunder. Help defense is what drove the Mavericks a year ago. Sorry, Jason Kidd, Terry and Nowitzki were not playing lockdown man-on-man defense last playoffs. Guys got by them all the time. However, mix Shawn Marion and Chandler into the low block and suddenly there's a different dynamic. Players think long and hard before they either take a short or attempt a pass.
Instead, management decided to pin their multi-million dollar franchise on hope. Go to Bob Sturm's blog and read the quote from Billy Beane at top:
"Hope is not a strategy."
Mark Cuban and Co. hoped that Dwight Howard would opt out of his contract with the Orlando Magic and not have a massive back injury. They hoped they could get under the salary cap enough to get both he and Deron Williams.
I feel like every good thing from the last year is gone, mixed with the refuse of Cuban, Lamar Odom, auditions, out-of-shape superstars and this playoff debacle.
Makes me want to puke.
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