Friday Morning Donuts: Milkface's Girlfriend!

Our little Milkface – Devin Harris – is all growed up. He’s even got a girlfriend. A Playboy-ish, stripper-y, TV-reality-show-fame-chasing Dallas-based girlfriend. Meanwhile, DallasBasketball.com is going to bump into Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson today at a charity event, the rest of the Mavs take a day off, and we want Jason Kidd to mix in a layup. Or maybe better, a drawn foul while attempting a layup.

   DONUT 1: This afternoon, the Heroes Basketball Organization will unveil plans for a youth basketball center today that will be named in honor of owner Mark Cuban. An old YWCA facility at 1800 Bonnie View Road is undergoing a major renovation and will be transformed into a fully-functional rec center offering opportunities in basketball, technology, academics and community gatherings.

   It’s a great cause, a great movement, and a great newsmaking opportunity to wear hardhats and visit with Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson.

   And yes, DallasBasketball.com will be there. Wearing a hardhat. We’ll update late this afternoon.

   DONUT 2: So this Meghan Allen chick: She’s apparently the sort of girl who appears on NBC’s “Mamma’s Boys’’ (yecch) and who talks dirty on Howard Stern (yecch) and who oversees some naked pay-per portal (yecch). Congratulations, though, to Milkface – who has found himself a girl he can’t really take home to mother. … but a girl who his father can enjoy getting to know via Google.

   DONUT 3: The Mavs got yesterday off. There is no science to a coach making this decision, but there was also not much debate over whether coach Rick Carlisle’s team needed a mental and physical break. He also said on Wednesday that today’s workout would be an "important" one.

   Said Dirk: “Sometimes you've just got to get away for a day, relax a little bit, clear your mind, then come back to work.’’

   DONUT 4: Dear J-Kidd. May I say it again? Mix in a layup. Use your 6-4, 215-pound frame to get fouled. And then instead of launching 23-footers and making 28 percent of them, you can go to the foul line and make 80 percent of them.

   We made this point after the New Orleans loss: In Jason’s last three games, he’s 4-of-27 for 15 percent. In this month’s eight games, Jason is 19-of-67 for 28 percent. Since Dec. 2, Jason is 57-of-58 for 31 percent.

   Kidd’s shooting has gone steadily south and – some junior-high-level coaching advice here – what do you do when your outside shot isn’t falling?

   You take it to the hole. Especially when you are a bullish 6-4, 215, have incredible handles and shoot 80 percent from the line.

   DONUT 5: DMNews columnist Tim Cowlishaw says the Mavs should probably get used to being ninth in the West. Today – in the midst of a four-game losing streak that has Dallas in … ninth. … today is not the day to argue with that.

   DONUT 6: Jason Terry’s legs are giving out on him – so much so that he begged off pregame shooting before the Tuesday game in Denver. Needless to say, the Mavs need Jet. … their heads right now may be attached to his legs.

   “He's one of the core guys that's kind of the spirit of our team,’’ Carlisle said. “He's huge. Any success we've had this year, he's had a lot to do with. He's a fighter, a battler.’’

   DONUT 7: One more from Rick: “And right now, we've got to have 14 battlers. That's where we are. We've got to help each other and get better before Saturday night."

    DONUT 8: Begs the question, really: Do they? Do they have 14 battlers? Utah here on Saturday offers another opportunity for that judgment to be made.

     DONUT 9: We’ve mentioned a DMNews prediction of Dallas being a ninth-place team. We’ve mentioned Utah coming to town. And now we tie it all together with Jan Hubbard’s assertion in the Star-Telegram that the Jazz represent the biggest challenge to Lakers’ supremacy in the West.

    DONUT 10: Cuban’s legal team with a filing to have the SEC’s charges thrown out – and there is only a little legal gobbledygook here and mostly plain talk that makes quite a bit of sense.

   DONUT 11: Sherrington writes about sports fan W. coming home to Dallas. Hey, Kevin. … you need to write more often!

   DONUT 12:  Sure, times are kinda tough for the Mavs right now. But at least they aren’t losing 94-1.

850am jan 16 2009