Dirk's Warmups
Impressions From All-Star Game
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-02-18 00:00:00.000
By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
Good thing Dirk brought his warmups, and other All-Star impressions:
Dirk Nowitzki spent most of his time not just on the bench, but at the end of the bench, playing only 13 minutes in Sunday’s All-Star Game. He made a slight impact in the middle of the second quarter, first with an impressive drive-and-dunk, and then on the next possession, on an unselfish feed to a cutting Brad Miller for an assist.
“I would have loved to do a little more on the court, but I'm not sad about that at all,’‘ said Nowitzki, who missed two other shots and did not fare well defensively. “These are the best athletes in the world. To have the chance to see their personalities, how much fun they are. ... Being respected and accepted by them is a good feeling."
And now it’s back to the grindstone. A quick practice in Dallas on Monday, a plane trip to Memphis on Monday afternoon, and back-to-back games in Memphis and Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dirk, you can move to the front end of the bench now.
As a pregame appetizer, CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ tried to get into the act with a Mark Cuban profile. It served as some nice exposure for HDNet, and Tony Cubes let his newborn appear on camera (no she doesn’t have floppy black hair), but otherwise, it was pretty puffy. Mark is loud on the sidelines. Mark plays whiffleball in his living room. You know, that stuff. The only thing I learned, really, is that ‘60 Minutes’ anchor Steve Croft has no business wearing gym shorts in public.
Jay Z was there. He’s buying the Nets. P.Diddy was there. He wants to buy the Hawks. Wait until the stuffed shirts who are bothered by Mark Cuban’s new-age act get a load of the NBA owners’ Boardroom of the Future.
TNT’s Doug Collins used a late-game missed decision on a Kobe Bryant jumper (it should have been a 3 but the refs called it a 2) as a platform to call for the use of replay in officiating. Cripes. Marv Albert suggested that it would slow doen the game, causing Collins to suggest that we just use it late in games. Brilliant. Because the missed call with two minutes left is far more important than the missed call with three minutes left, right?
A microphone picked up ref Steve Javie addressing the call with a protesting member of the West. “We didn’t see it,’ Javie said, “so we have to call it a 2.’
And if you’ve ever reffed, you know that EXACTLY right. You don’t play God, you admit imperfections, you puff out your chest and you play on.
Do you, like me, get a little tired of all the TV shots of movie stars? I mean, we get the point: Dyan Cannon has season tickets, OK? Waaaaay too many shots of Jack Nicholson. Waaaaay too many shots of Ashton Kutcher. Waaaay too many shots of Will Smith. And that one shot of Star Jones? One shot was waaaay too many shots of Star Jones.
I’m now informed that Star Jones got engaged while she was on camera. I guess I was looking away in disgust. Lucky, lucky guy, though.
Beyonce’s halftime show was gorgeous. And she showed just enough breast to allow the kiddies to stay in the living room.
Also liked OutKast’s involvement in pregame introductions. Really, OutKast, Beyonce, Christina Aguillera, Nellie Furtato. ... the NBA clearly knows its audience – except for the Michael McDonald appearance. Michael McDonald is still big? His attempt to channel Marvin Gaye only made his performance more notably in its oddity.
Oh, and McDonald’s presenter? Magic Johnson, who simply DOES NOT SPEAK WELL ENOUGH TO BE ON NATIONAL TV. There. I said it. It’s true. Magic is not a good communicator and is not quick on his feet, a point made apparently when he introduced the next act as “my man, Michael McDonald.’ Sure. Magic and Michael McD. Tight.
The All-Star Game brings out all the nuts, so the NY Post’s Peter Vecsey was on hand to rip Cuban and the Mavs. Vecsey has a quote from Cuban that is intended to put Vecsey’s fiction in its place (“ Thanks for again telling me what I'm doing and what I'm saying," cracked Cuban, who maintains the Mavs won't make a trade before the deadline). But then Vecsey proceeds to insist that the Mavs aren’t telling him the truth.
Writes Vecsey: Contrary to Cuban's claims, sources say Antoine Walker is readily available. "He shoots every time he touches it," groans the Mavs owner to confidants. "I wouldn't mind so much if he only shot it every other time."
This is a worn-out path around here. But I’m on record right now. A month of my salary vs. a month of Peter’s. The bet: Cuban has never said any such thing.
I hear a lot of NBA people, coaches mostly, saying we should have more roster spots to acknowledge all the deserving players left out. OK, but when would they play? If there were 15 players on each roster, we’d need two more quarters to accomodate them.
Not a good weekend for the Kings, who are finding out that the league might crack down hard on the cheating, lying Chris Webber (he’ll return from injury to find a hefty suspension waiting) just as they watch Brad Miller hurt an ankle in the game.
A telling point late in the game, when each coach was trying to play his best five: The West’s Flip Saunders got fans’ choices Yao Ming and Steve Francis out and put Shaq and Ray Allen in.No surprise on Yao/Shaq. A pleasant surprise on Francis, whose selfishness stands out even in an All-Star Game.
Marv Albert? None better. But TNT’s attempts to be hip left Marv in the dust once. When the network went to commercial one time, the cameras began darting to celebs in the Staples Center audience. “And there’s Denzel Washington,’ Marv said, taking a breath before coming up completely blank on the identity of Andre 3000, Ice Cube, and an assortment of other performers who are not in Marv’s CD changer.
Indiana’s Ron Artest wore four different mismatches shoes (at two different times, of course). A marketing ploy? Of course; Ron-Ron is in search of a new show contract. Take note, Warren Sapp and Joe Horn: There is a way to garner publicity for yourself without hurting your team or your game.
Speaking of Sapp (and I just have to get this off my chest here): ESPN recently did a “champions roundtable,’ or a winners roundtable,’ something like that. They collected the premier winners from assorted sports for a living-room discussion. And what a list of premier winners it was! Tennis? Serena Williams! Baseball? Derek Jeter! Boxin? Roy Jones Jr.! Basketball? Michael Jordan! Football?
Um, Warren Sapp?
‘One of these things, is not like the other; one of these things, just doesn’t belong.’
We’ll ignore our wonderment over the absence of Tiger Woods and Wayne Gretzky and stick with football here. The NFL’s answer to Michael Jordan is Warren Sapp? I can literally think of 100 football players who fit the criteria – championships, winning, entertaining, all done with class) better than Sapp.
Reports say actor Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t remove his hat or stand for the National Anthem. Bro, if you’re not going to do it for our country, at least do it for Christina Aguillera!
Don’t you get the feeling that, more than any other player of his time, MVP Shaq can be the MVP of any game he decides to take over?
Shaq fell into the crowd and leaned onto American Idol singer Ruben Studdard. Shaq came away with more bruises than Ruben.
Two alley-oop dunks almost stole the showL 1) T-Mac’s off-the-glass alley-oop to himself; 2) Jason Kidd’s blind, left-handed, underhanded drop for Nets teammate Kenyon Martin, the Dallas native who slammed it home in his All-Star debut.
Weirdest thing about Jaamal Magliore’s terrific All-Star debut: If I’m a betting man, I’m betting this is his first, and his last, appearance.
The East Coast media is making the East’s good showing out to be some sort of statement that overrides the fact that the East gets dominated in the regular season, that the East gets dominated in the Finals, that the East lacks the bigger-than-life stars of the West. Yes, the media is making it out to be an East success, and. ...
Oh yeah. West 136, East 132.
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