Thursday Morning Donuts: Fine Mavs Cuisine

Here are your Thursday Morning Donuts, baked to perfection for connoisseurs of fine Mavs cuisine:

    DONUT 1: Are the Mavs playing SmallBall because they wanna or because they gotta?

    "We're going to have some funky lineups out there at times,’’ says Jason Kidd. 

    DONUT 2: When is Roddy Beaubois going to get in there!?

If you are like me, that thought passed through your brain as you watched the Mavs look less than electric in a home loss to a Washington team that was an eight-point underdog.

    But I have to remind us: If the Mavs, at this point, are relying on a rookie from a second-division pro team in France to immediately step in and give them the energy and quality play that is lacking from the nine-to-13 people who are ahead of him on the depth chart. … the Mavs are in awful shape.

     DONUT 3: Dirk Nowitzki generally begins the fourth quarter by continuing to rest on the bench. Is he less than fond of that strategy? 

     DONUT 4: From USA Today: "The doubleheader featuring title contenders Boston, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers produced Turner's most-watched opening night in its 26 years of airing the NBA. TNT drew nearly 3.7 million viewers Tuesday for the Celtics' 95-89 victory over the Cavaliers, followed by the Lakers' 99-92 win over the Clippers. That was a 43 percent increase over the 2.6 million that watched last year's opening-night doubleheader. Overall, it was TNT's most-watched doubleheader since Feb. 2, 1996, a night that was anchored by a Bulls-Lakers showdown."

    The NBA lives!!

     DONUT 5: Eddie Sefko says Shawn Marion’s calf survived Game 1. 

     DONUT 6: Tim Donaghy has written a book that isn’t being published. Is that because the NBA considers it too explosive and is threatening to sue in order to keep it un-published?

     DONUT 7: Your DallasBasketball.com T-shirt is here! The “DallasBasketball.com classic’’ and “The UberMan’’ and the “Fish for Lunch’’ and “The DUST Chip’’ are yours for the taking! Please visit the DB.com Store today!

    DONUT 8: Steiny Mo is on the Stephen Jackson story, which won’t go away until he goes away from Nellie’s Warriors.

    DONUT 9: The Spurs think they might have the best backups in the division. One game in, the Mavs certainly aren’t in a position to argue. 

    DONUT 10: A neat-and-quick and Mavs-centric roundup of last night’s action at DB.com Boards – so neat, quick and Mavs-centric that I’ll borrow it from “Searril’’:

   Just a few things I noticed, for what it's worth:
   *Even with Rashard Lewis suspended, Bass isn't allowed to start. Only 23 minutes and puts up 8-4. Sound familiar?
   *LeBron's triple double and Cleveland still starts the season 0-2. The most damning? Shaq with a whopping -25 for his for the evening, while his man put up 28 points on 11/15 shooting.
   *New Jersey blows it in the fourth. Brook Lopez doubles the output of superstar Devin Harris who could only manage 4/13 shooting on the night.
    *Richard Jefferson goes 1/7 in his debut?
    *Chris Kaman in his second game of the season: 22 pts on 10/17 shooting, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks. Wouldn't he look good in blue?

    And now you kinda know what happened last night in the NBA!    

    DONUT 11: Want Mavs news and important updates about stuff like my impending 50^th birthday? Your answer is twitter.com/fishsports

    DONUT 12: Preparation is on for this weekend’s back-to-back roadies against the Lakers the Clippers.

    Well, for sure, preparation is on for the Lakers.

    "Hopefully we come back on Friday and get a win," Quinton Ross said, adding that a guy he will likely guard, Kobe Bryant, “will be tough. We just have to try to make him have to work for all of his baskets."

     The Mavs are at the Lakers on Friday (9:30 p.m., on TX21 and ESPN) and then stay in the same gym for a 9:30 start against the Clippers (TX21).