Time to show what you are made of

Hopefully, after five games in a best of seven series, both teams are pretty comfortable with what the other team likes to do. Not comfortable in the sense that they can handle it, but comfortable in that there are no more surprises or strategies to be offered. Both teams by this point of a series have thrown their best punches. Now, it comes down to grit and guts.

Who wants it more? Who gives in first? Which guy on the floor will consider how cool it would be to start vacation in the morning? The Mavericks need it more tonight, and therefore most expect this series goes back to Phoenix. Of course, the Sonics never made it that far, nor did the Pacers. Both teams had home games in Game 6 last night, and yet their off-season is already underway.

This is “the team that has to do it the hard way”. That is usually a nice way of saying, “this team is not good enough to win 4 series. But, the Mavericks have yet to write the end of their 2005 story. I am anxious to find out if they have the guts necessary to stay alive past Sunday. If they do, then they will play the rest of the season with the casino’s money. If they get eliminated tonight or even Sunday, we will again ponder what exactly needs to be changed about the roster by training camp.

Let’s see what we got.

Links:

Rogers to extend to streak …

Hershiser, now the Rangers' pitching coach, won't even try to quantify what Rogers' 30 innings in 2005 might equate to in 1988 numbers. But he can quickly enumerate the circumstances that make the current streak more impressive.

Rogers is doing this at an advanced age (40), in a league that features an extra hitter in the lineup, at a home park that is notoriously unfriendly to pitchers and in an era of unbridled offense.

"After the second start, it becomes a big deal, no matter what era you are talking about," Hershiser said. "That's back-to-back shutouts, and it doesn't happen much. You get to a third start, and that's pretty rare air. You go farther than that and you are in the stratosphere.

"What Kenny's doing is harder because this is such an offensive-oriented era. You have to weigh all those factors accordingly."

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