Round 3: Mavericks – Suns
No rest for the weary, as we crank up a brand new series tonight. Let’s get it on.
Time to enjoy the greasy hair of Nash and the goofy shooting motion in the NBA of Marion. But do not underestimate them.
Sports Guy with another must read product …here are some isolated quick hits…
I don't care if Dallas ended up winning -- that was still one of the defining Dick Bavetta Games of all time. Hold your head up high, Dick. Hold your head up high. Duncan shot about 75 free throws and was allowed to jump over everyone's back on every rebound. You did your job. You still have the touch.
Did we ever figure out why Dallas fans were booing Michael Finley all series? "You jerk! ... We cut you to save $55 million on the luxury tax even though you wanted to stay here. ... You ... you jerk! You go to hell!" Let's just let Texas secede from the United States and get it over with.
I can't believe Tim Duncan has made it through nine years in the league without committing a foul.
Lebreton reminds us on why Nash deserves boos far more than Finley …
Two summers ago, the evidence spoke for itself. Nash's scoring average had dipped. The Mavericks had been cleanly spanked out of the playoffs by the Sacramento Kings, a series in which Nash had been badly outplayed by Mike Bibby.
At age 30, however, Nash was given a six-year, $63 million free agent contract by the Suns. Cuban's best offer was four years at $9 million per season, with a possible guaranteed fifth season based upon minutes played.
Nash took the money. Mavs fans got out the Kleenex tissues. The Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal to Miami.
And, in a fortnight, the Mavericks became Dirk Nowitzki's team.
One of the sillier dispatches of the playoffs came from a Phoenix area newspaper this week. It said, paraphrasing, that since the Suns beat the Mavericks last year in the playoffs, there's no reason that they can't do it again.
Ah, the Groundhog Day movie theory.
Funny, but I thought last year's Phoenix team had Amare Stoudemire, now injured.
That Phoenix team also went on to lose to San Antonio. This Mavericks team just beat the Spurs.
More than that, though, Nash and his balky back are one year older. Meanwhile, Nowitzki and head coach Avery Johnson have just spent their first full season together, and the Mavericks are 12 months tougher and wiser.
Dan Bickley, the top Phoenix scribe, prepares the Suns fans …
By avoiding the defending NBA champion Spurs, Marion will not have to deal with defensive specialist Bruce Bowen, who is flypaper sticky and turned the Matrix into the No Trix in last year's Western Conference final.
In drawing the speedier Mavericks as an opponent, Marion has a much better chance to display his open-court talents. His defense of Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki could turn the series in the Suns' favor.
And best of all, Marion will get the national platform he so often craves.
Play well now, be the man here, and no one will ever call him underrated again.
"It's going to be up and down," Marion said. "It's going to be some nice basketball."
As for Nowitzki?
"Make it hard for him," he said. "Crowd him. Make him take tough shots. Keep him from getting easy baskets. Keep him off the free-throw line. It's easier said than done. You've got to make him play some defense, too."
Translation: Marion feels good about how his talents will translate against the Mavericks, and how his place in the series is up high on a pedestal. That was not the case last year against the plodding, physical Spurs.
"We feel great. We're confident," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We have a great sense of accomplishment and a great sense that we're not done yet."
A Great Game 3 in Edmonton last night puts the Oilers on the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals …And as the picture shows, can we please stop saying there is no fighting in the playoffs?
Leading 4-0 on goals by Toby Petersen, Michael Peca, Steve Staios and Chris Pronger - the last three coming in a span of 2:21 in the third period - the Oilers looked like they'd move to within one win of their first Stanley Cup berth since 1990 in a lopsided laugher, but the determined Mighty Ducks made this anything but.
Anaheim roared back on goals by Sean O'Donnell, Teemu Selanne and Chris Kunitz in a furious four minutes to cut the margin to 4-3 before Pisani stripped Francois Beauchemin of the puck on a faceoff and sifted it past Ilya Bryzgalov to make it 5-3 at 14:14.
"We knew they were going to come out hard," said Georges Laraque, who dropped the gloves with Todd Fedoruk three minutes into the game. "They started really physical to maybe intimidate us in our building and try to change momentum around, but we have the kind of guys in the dressing room who respond to that."
Pisani's ninth of the post-season sends the Oilers to Game 4 tomorrow on a seven-game post-season winning streak and with a chance to close out the Mighty Ducks in four straight.
GameDay in Austin for Buckeyes …get your signs ready….again…
Interesting read here: As Ricky Williams looks for a place to play, The NY Times examines the Canadian Football League …where drugs are cool…
Viewed from the prism of the N.F.L., the Canadian league is a quirky cousin, a pass-happy place with three downs instead of four, and an odd rush of receivers sprinting toward the line of scrimmage before the snap. It has long been a sort of island of misfit toys, filled largely with players who do not conform to N.F.L. standards and players hoping to use it as a steppingstone to the N.F.L.
Without mandatory drug testing, and with no move to start it, the C.F.L. is increasingly a place for those who are not welcome in the N.F.L., even if they possess the talent to play there.
"I'd probably be working a warehouse job, or trying to go back to school to get my degree, or trying to do some real estate, or hustling, scamming, something illegal," Soward said of what he would do without the C.F.L. "Probably just throwing away my life."
The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted him with their first pick in 2000. He signed a five-year, $5.5 million contract, caught 14 passes as a rookie, failed several drug tests and was banished from the N.F.L. The league does not disclose what substance is found, but it does test for performance-enhancing and recreational drugs.
After being suspended from the game, Soward drank away the next few years. An admitted alcoholic, Soward now makes $50,000 a year for the Argonauts, has five children and is thankful for the chance to rebuild some semblance of what he lost.
Comedy Here: awesome human beatbox "Lasse Gjertsen" …
More Comedy: But beware of BS, Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay farts on the air? …
Finally, an update on the George DeJohn Detox since I have received at least 50 emails from people who want an honest assessment of the program. Most want to know what I think about it, how I feel, and is it worth $250?
Well, let me explain a few quick things. I have no idea how it compares to other programs because I have never tried anything else. This is Day 10. Tomorrow, I can bring fish and chicken back into my life. For now, I have spent the last 10 days on nothing but fruit and vegetables. Not a huge veggie fan, but I have survived on salads for lunch (with organic dressing), and sweet potatoes or squash for dinner. (No corn, white potato, and bananas allowed). You can use organic butter on your squash or yam and it isn’t bad at all. Otherwise, it is mostly apples, pears, grapes, and watermelon throughout the day, with plenty of water. 3 Shakes a day of the supplement, George gives you when you start.
I feel great. I am down to 219 from 231. I was hoping for 215 when I was done, and since this goes another 11 days, I am pretty confident I will get there. I sleep like a baby, which is one of the many benefits of this program, but like I said, I am doing this for 2 reasons: lose weight and lose body fat percentage.
Is it worth it? I guess that is for everyone to decide on your own. I went for it, because I go to the gym 3 times a week and feel I am pretty active but have not been able to get my weight down since I stopped marathon training 2 years ago. I still ran plenty, but my weight would not budge off of 230, and my body fat was way too puffy for my liking. So, my strategy is to lose this weight, and in doing so ultimately improve what I eat so I can stay down there.
Anyway, as gay as this little update seems as I type it, I know many of you are curious, and I cannot answer each email during this busy playoff time.
28 comments:
I'm gayer for having read that. Good luck, Bob and break the puffy cycle.
Is a main blog subject tomorrow 'man scaping'? Yikes.
The word "puffY" - gay?
Using "puffy" to describe your body? - super gay?
230? Wow, maybe you're taller than I thought. Or maybe Dan hijacked the blog today.
Anyway, not gay to stay in shape, especially to live a longer life for your kids. After way too many years of Whataburgers and 6-packs, I'm finally trying to do the same. But there's no flippin' way I could live on fruits and veggies alone for 10 days. Good luck.
Bob,
Thanks for the update. What the hell is the $250 for? I'm assuming the supplements. What's in them anyways? Meth? Speed?
I'm thinking of trying it, but man...10 days is a huge commitment.
Why is Barry Bonds punching Fedoror? Is it because Bonds is crowding the plate?
"Let's just let Texas secede from the United States and get it over with."
This would be a scary vote in this state. Even scarier to think that some people think Sam Houston was killed at the Alamo. Right, Bob?
Bob,
What are the chances of pushing "Lost Talk" to Friday. Tivo tonight, watch tomorrow night. Idol cums on tonight. Thoughts?
Can Harris stay in front of Nash? If so, I think we slaughter PHX in 5.
Will the Mavs run with the Suns or are they going to slow the game down? I am thinking that Diop and Damp may only get 20 minutes combined since PHX will never post up in the paint. If they do not play much they may need that rest if the have to bang with Shaq in the finals. I will say one thing I trust that Avery will find a gameplan that will amazes us all.
GO MAVS
I absolutely can not eat salad.
Save your $250 and buy the South Beach Diet book. Phase 1 of the SBD is the same thing as this Detox diet. Read the book and it explains it all.
save your $250 and don't eat high fat, proccessed foods, Cokes, Dr Peppers, or crappy Diet Cokes, stay away from all, drink WATER, and you will drop 10 lbs in the same amount of time.
So, when you get off the diet and eat a bagel are you going to balloon up and regain the "puffiness"?
I second the 24 hour deferral on 'Lost Talk', though for me it's because I'll be out cycling instead of eating bon bons and calling my girlfriends about Idol like Mr. T.
I never thought I'd be questioning the orientation of anyone named 'Mr. T'.
-JB
I hope GEORGE DE JOHN's diet works for you. I call b.s. on his "toxicity" quiz, though...
"If you score 40 or above you are TOXIC!"
it warns the reader. However, there are _forty-five_ questions on the "test" and you can only score a 0 on a question if you have NEVER experienced the symptom.
I've heard him on the radio and there is no way that guys doesn't peg a 5 on mood swings!
"Kick me in the nuts!"
thanks Bob for diet talk. game 1 has been overshadowed by detox.
I'd like to ask Dan Bickley what his favorite drug of choice is.
Because there can be no other explanation for the giddiness at getting to meet a team that dispatched virtually the same team that had their way with your team last year when you had Amare in the lineup.
Your team is worse off and they won't have the benefit of having a week off before starting this series like they had last year.
Dude..$250 buys alot of Red Stripe. This diet thing is simple...if you eat more calories than you expend, you get fat. It's that easy. The only difficult thing is finding the self control to not eat more than you should. "Fad diets" do nothing but trick us with shiny, new words and routines. We get so caught up in the minutae of counting points or counting carbs or adding certain foods at certain stages, that we don't see that all we're doing is eating fewer calories.
When you stop and think that here in America we're willing to pay money to REDUCE our caloric intake while so much of the world is scrapping to find enough food to keep their babies alive, it makes you a little ill.
JB,
That was a funny post, but it was a bit on my part. Game 1 is the rational behind the request for the 24 hour deferal on "Lost Talk", but I don't think Bob actually reads these "comments". I'll probably have to fill his inbox with emails.
I agree anyone that calls that show "Idol" is not a man.
Also, I've called for an immediate stop to all "Diet Talk". Anyone that post another diet reference is officially gay for the entire series.
I read all comments. I even listen to them sometimes.
Bob
Just kidding, dude. Please disregard the 18 emails I just sent.
Followill just said Devean Harris is "all growns up" at 7:30 to go in the 3rd Quarter.
Nice BaD reference on ESPN Radio
Hope the Suns enjoyed this win tonight. They may not see another one in the series.
They try and play with only 7 horses, and one of those (Bell) is probably done for the series with the calf strain.
Bottom Line: Mavs in 6.
Kip in Burleson
"the visiting Suns erased a nine-point lead down the stretch" (AT HOME)
Mavs have the talent and bodies, but Phoenix has the heart. Suns didn't have the 3 working and they STILL came back and won. The Mavs reverted to being the Mavs that they still really are and choked. I'm not surprised. Great game tho.
SUNS in 6.
ALL I HAVE 2 SAY IS THE MAVS WILL BE LUCKY 2 WIN ONE IF U CANNOT HOLD ONTO A 9 POINT LEAD @ HOME WITH THREE MINUTES LEFT
Caps lock is not your friend, anon.
As for the game, Dallas played about as bad defensively as a team could play. And yet, they almost won. Phoenix win over us tonight = Our win over the Spurs to open the 2003 WCF.
Mavs in 6.
Did Diaw pick up his pivot foot on that last play? I can't get a good angle of it.
Still, Stack might as well dribble a football down the court. It has pretty much the same effect.
And please, don't give the ball to Adrian Griffin just because he's in the paint.
Don't back away from Nash when he's running to the 3-pt line.
Alright, that's enough from me. If Avery adjusts, then the Mavs win this in 6.
1. Why do the Mavs think they can or even want to run with this team? Or is it not possible to slow it down?
2. In the words of Ben & Skin, what is this man-crush with Van Horn?
3. The Mavs are in for a long series. Mavs in 7.
4. We need some inspirational words from Luis.
Have you ever tightened the lid on the peanut butter jar so tight that... wiat a second... oh no the blinds are open and the monkey has gotten loose in the kennel... time to wake up and practice that dance craze that is sweeping the country - Gegree
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