Kings 102, Mavs 95: And I Gouge Out My Eyeballs

    In 2004, some poor bastard on death row in Texas gouged out his own eyeball. Seriously. Well, this weekend, inmate Andre Thomas gouged out his other eyeball. Yes he did. Poked it right out of its socket, just like he had the first one. And as demented as that is, I’m feelin’ Andre here, because on Friday, while watching the Mavs’ 28-point loss at Phoenix but unable to watch any more, I gouged out my eyeball. Ouch. And then Sunday in Sacramento, trying to watch every second as the Mavs lost 102-95 to an awful Kings team but finding it unwatchable? Yup. I did it again. I gouged out my other eyeball. Matching set. Double-ouch. Two bloody holes, that’s all I’ve got left.

    Really, the only thing separating me now from death-row inmate … is that after he gouged his eyeballs from their sockets, he ate the eyeballs. Yes he did. He ate them. So I guess, my situation as a Mavs follower – a Mavs follower who couldn’t stand to watch anymore so I gouged out my own eyeballs – isn’t that bad. Because, you know, at least I didn’t eat my eyeballs.

    Despite a season-high 33 points from Jason Terry – the NBA’s Sixth-Man of the Year candidate who started in place of the injured Josh Howard and single-handedly pushed Dallas to 13-point edge by scoring 15 of his own in the third quarter – the Mavs seemed a step behind all night. Is Dirk tired and under the weather? Is J-Ho severely missed? Is there a problem with defensive focus? Is there too little offensive firepower? Are we dealing with a “sick patient’’ again?

    I’m in no mood for the excuses and suffering of others BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE ANY EYES!

    Leading up to the game, the Mavs prepped for ways to get better. That included the decision to start Jet (at the 2, with Antoine Wright at the 3). It includes bringing up Gerald Green from the JV and using him as the first guy off the bench. (Though not using him enough, in the opinion of most any observer who senses generally Mavs lethargy. More on this momentarily). It includes the trade gossip that we have chronicled in the last few hours and the last few months.

    And what it got the 22-15 Mavs is a loss that causes them to skid to the depths of that final playoff slot in the West.

    Meanwhile, leading up to the game, you know what the primary concern in Sacramento was? Whether the Kings have a chance to be this year’s Worst Team In The NBA.

    But the Kings (9-29) did all the big things necessary to win, including exploding to a 41-16 sprint during the second half that moved Dallas’ comfy 66-53 lead in the third to a stunning 94-82 deficit in the fourth, Sacto hanging on from there.

    At the same time, the Mavs – now losers of back-to-back games for the first time since mid-November, when they were involved in that wart of a 2-7 start -- did virtually nothing but little things. Erick Dampier and Antoine Wright combining for eight blocks? A nice little thing. Jason Kidd sneakily trying to collect  as many steals as floor burns? Nice and little. Devean George with solid wing defense in the first half? Nice and little. Hey, Bass dunking. Nice. Dirk battling through yet another poor shooting night (6-of-18 for 15 points and part of the team’s absurd 3-of-20 effort from the arc) by bulling to a three-point play for a final-gasp effort.
   That’s all nice and little and the sort of consolation prize left for the losers to clutch.

   What the Mavs needed here wasn’t something nice and little. They needed somebody besides Jet to come up BIG.

   You know where I’m leading you, right? It’s the blind leading the blind, me now being sightless and all. But you do know, right?

   The Tupperware-sealed lid being kept on Gerald Green is growing irksome. It’s time to burp it open.

   Playing in garbage time in that 128-100 loss in Phoenix on Friday, the kid overcame some early fumblitis to score 13 points in nine minutes. Playing here, he was inserted into the game at 5:42 of the first. He immediately grabbed a rebound, then had an offensive rebound and missed a putback at 3:43, then at 2:43 make a 3-pointer. At 1:42 he gets his third rebound and at :02 he closes the period with a made jumper to pull Dallas to within 29-27. And G-Money himself has three rebounds and five points in 6:18.

     He starts the second. In the first two minutes, he misses a shot at the rim and he makes a shot at the rim. Green comes out at 9:15 and we don’t see him again until, with :15 left in the half, he’s an offensive situational sub. Same deal in the third quarter, as we don’t see him until :42 of the period when he is again a situational sub.

    Green does start the fourth. Note that when he came in to end the third, Dallas was down by one. Green remains in the game until the 8:11 mark, during which time he’d missed two shots. But when he left, Sacto was only up 86-80. It can be argued that he held down the fort, and again, with those eight minutes left and a six-point deficit, he’s pulled back to the bench and onto the floor – being handed the reigns – are Dirk, Kidd and Jet.

    Green wasn’t the problem here. He represented an immediate energy injection. That’s fact. Given a legit shot in the first half, he totaled nine points and four rebounds in nine minutes. In the second half, given situational shots and just four total minutes, he didn’t replicate those numbers.

    In total, what did he do wrong? How are Green’s lapses any more damning than, say, George’s lapses? Or Wright’s lapses? In the late going, Dallas got a stop and was down five and on the run and Devean shot a 3 in transition. Why? During a later mad rush, Wright flew into the lane and tossed up a wild scoop that appeared to fail to draw iron, all part of a half-court possession during which Jet never touched the ball. Why?

    Hey, if you bench every Mav who suffers through a trust-sucking lapse, you might as well try winning with four guys and Gene Hackman.

    An alley-oop reception – something Green is more qualified to pull off than anyone on the roster – slipped through his fingers early in his stint. (First-play fumblitis again?) But even that near-highlight play put a little bounce into the steps of his teammates, as if they sensed there might all of the sudden be a third scoring option at their disposal.

    As opposed to two Mavs ending up in double-figures to counter the six Kings who did so.

    Instead. …somehow. … Green got lost in the shuffle, Dirk got lost in the double-teams, Terry was left to go it alone, and a Sacramento club that hadn’t won in the calendar year of 2009, hadn’t won twice in its previous dozen outings, and could barely beat Dallas when it had Webber/Bibby/Vlade/Christie. … won this game thanks to the yeoman work of a bunch of Spencer Haweses.

    Well, that’s how I see it. Of course, I cannot literally see it. Or see anything else. Having spent this weekend watching Mavs’ back-to-back losses and gouging out my eyeballs and all.

    But not eating them. I'm going nuts, but I ain't crazy.

1218am jan 12 2009