Got Milkface? Nets 121, Mavs 97

   Devin Harris intersected with Jason Kidd and the Mavs on Friday. It is not unreasonable, given the results – a lopsided 121-97 “statement’’ win for Devin’s Nets – to observe that the torch is being passed, and that the past is being torched.

   (Timeout. Wow. I’ve probably written 3,000 game-story leads in the last 28 years. But that one – “The torch is passed, and the past is torched’’ – is inspired! I just Googled it. … has no one ever written or said that sentence before!? Twain, Dr. King, Shakespeare, Kennedy, Dickens, Ali. … none of ‘em? Wow! The best lede I’ve ever written. … unfortunately, given the results, it all steams downhill from here. …)

   The Torch Being Passed:

   Devin Harris – “Milkface’’ to his friends in Dallas – is at age 25 a taller, unselfish, uncomplicated version of Allen Iverson. Mavs owner Mark Cuban is the one who made that comparison after Harris dominated the visiting Mavs in what was billed in New Jersey as Kidd’s first game back in the Meadowlands following last February’s controversial blockbuster swap involving the two point guards. Kidd received his 30-seconds worth of standing O to start the game; classy, given the fact that he led this otherwise forgettable NBA entry two a pair of Finals appearances.

   But after those 30 seconds, the Izod Center fans turned their attention to rooting for their new Answer, and to hooting Cuban and the Mavs.

  “I think the goal of everybody in New Jersey is to be a general manager, so I can understand why they would want to share their expertise,’’ said Tony Cubes, who endured “Thank You, Cu-Ban!’’ chants from the audience and, to his credit, according to news accounts, allowed himself to be “amused’’ by the abuse.

  Devin scored 15 in the first seven minutes of the game (!), had 26 by halftime, and finished with 41 points, 13 assists and three steals. He impacted this game as he has impacted games all year for the just-over-.500 Nets: by serving as the co-No. 1 option (along with Vince Carter, who scored 34), by having decision-making power as the point guard, by being free to be not only this team’s Kidd (as the quarterback) but to also be its Dirk (as the go-to scorer).

   To be A.I., basically.

   “It's fun,’’ Milkface said, “being involved and knowing in the fourth quarter the ball's going to come your way. It's a fun way to play, and I'm enjoying myself.’’

   He enjoyed himself in ways that absolutely befuddled Kidd and his old Mavs pals. Now, Kidd did his thing, and on a night when Dallas performs at a higher level (hopefully there will be some more of those), a 17-point, seven-assist effort will be considered a good thing.

   Hell, it is a good thing. Kidd’s “way’’ is cool and subtle.

   But Devin? As Vince said, “He didn't say a word about (revenge), and that's the truth. What I was more proud of than anything, was how he came out to play a solid game - it wasn't like he was forcing shots or anything. He just played a great game. He wasn't trying too hard. He was cool calm and collected. It was great to see.

    But not “subtle.’’ The 41/13/3, on a night when Devin undoubtedly wanted to prove something – despite claiming “It’s not a vendetta or anything’’ -- was not “subtle.’’

   “Incandescent,’’ the New Jersey paper is calling him.

    Kidd could not guard Milkface. Frustratingly, Jason Terry and Josh Howard and everybody else was clueless against their good pal. Devin really was Half-Kidd/Half-Dirk, and how the hell do you guard that?

   Yeah, the torched is passed. So much so that you might be interested to know the location of Devin Harris’ home in his new city.

    Devin has moved into the apartment formerly occupied by … Jason Kidd.

   The Past Being Torched:

   Cuban and GM Donnie Nelson and the Mavs are left having to endure history, or to debate history, or to wait out history. (Or they could assume the stance of ex-coach Avery Johnson, who, by pretending he had nothing to do with the Devin-for-Kidd, is attempting to revise history. Really, I had visions of “The Miracle Worker’’ watching the game from the ESPN studios in Bristol, frantically windmilling his arms as both the Mavs and the Nets sprinted upcourt, calling plays and then taking credit for every single one of Devin’s 14 FGs.

   Oh, and when JJB scored his five points? I had visions of the mentor Avery claiming credit for those five points, too.)

   For the moment, the past feels torched. There is the 8X50 (so catchphrase'y that NBA.com even credits DB.com for coining it). The 67-win season. The NBA Finals appearance. The Cuban Era transformation of this franchise from “Dallas Doofuses’’ to “Dallas Dynamos’’ … I do not blame fans for feeling that those are warm childhood memories that are fading and that will never be experienced again.

   I’ve made it clear that I do not feel that way. There is the possibility that this group will play better than it did Friday (right?), there is the possibility of another blockbuster trade (though clouded by the Kidd-Devin backwash, be careful what you wish for), there is second place in the West still there for the taking, there is, more long-term, the possibility of a quick build-up to the next Era. Kidd’s deal does expire, you know. And the Summer of 2009 is coming. With the calendar insisting that the Summer of 2010 on its heels.

    Warm childhood memories? In life, you get one shot. In sports, warm childhood memories can be re-created, are re-created, do cycle back around.

   Now, having Devin Harris on your team. … THAT does not cycle back. There might be some daydreamy merit in wondering “what if’’: What if Dallas, in first place in the West when it imported Kidd, would’ve simply stayed the course? What if Dallas, now saying that Devin is blossoming largely because he’s a top option in Jersey, would’ve simply been allowed to be a top option here? What if Dallas, always hungering to improve, always willing to mix it up, would’ve instead traded J-Ho or would’ve instead dumped Avery?

   I kind of admire Jason Terry’s us-against-them position here.

  “He has to play like that for them to win,’’ Jet said defiantly. “When he played with us, we needed him to do it differently. But for them to win, he has to do that -- every night. If he doesn't get 30 or 40 points, that team doesn't win, period. They can't beat nobody.’’

    Again, though. … maybe Dallas shouldn’t have asked him to “do it differently’’? Maybe getting “30 or 40 points’’ for the Mavs would’ve been, you know, preferable to this?

   I bet even Devin plays a little “what if.’’ He was asked if he felt a certain freedom without being overseen by a coach unwilling to let go of the reins, and he said, “That is nice.’’ And he was asked if he wonders about being this Devin – this Iversonesque Devin – and still being a Mav.

   “It's a different team,’’ Milkface said, wisely unwilling to play … out-loud, anyway. “I don't know what it would look like.’’

   But if you play “what if?’’ You end up needing Primal Scream Therapy. Go too far with it, though, and frankly you begin to sound a little teenage-girl'y. And I might have to give you a hug, a Kleenex and a pink T-shirt.

   I understand. I’m not sure I understand why a few of you seem to delight in the misery, seem to wallow in it, seem to take more pleasure in your suffering of MavVirus than you do in your franchise’s elevation into contention/excellence/worthiness. I don't fully grasp the pink-shirtedness of it all. But otherwise, scream away. That's why DB.com Boards exists.

   The Mavs, in the wake of Devin-for-Kidd, will need to go back to the well, go back to the drawing board, go back to the phones.

   But even if the past is not torched, the torched has been passed.

   So wherever the Mavs go back to – well or drawing board or phones – they cannot go back.

1042am dec 20 2008