Friday Donuts: Mavs Stir It Up For Lakers Meeting

The Mavs in LA and Cuban is baiting Phil JackZen and Ron Artest … Why are you acting like a teenage girl in 1964 who just saw The Beatles? … Explaining Roddy … It’s “Our Boys In Blue’’ tonight! … It’s Friday Morning Donuts!

 

 

    DONUT 1: There is a method to Mark Cuban’s madness when it comes to the incendiary things he says about the Lakers. Over the years, he’s announced “We want the Lakers!’’ He’s baited Shaq. And most of all, he’s lured Phil JackZen offsides, in one grand example labeling the LA coach “Bucket Boy.’’ (Here’s a piece I wrote about this a while back.)

    Cuban’s motivation? To stir it up. To stimulate interest. To get the Mavs on the map. To create a rivalry. To sell some merchandise (the Mavs are wearing their new “special-event’’ blues tonight, you know). 

    That’s why the Mavs owner reacted to Ron Artest’s signing in LA with this flameball:

    "I think he'll add some character to that team. Whether it'll be positive or negative will be interesting to see."

    Oh, snap! Cuban hates Artest … right?

  

    DONUT 2: Of course not.

    When Artest moved to Houston a year ago, the Mavs were disappointed. Dallas wanted him. Cuban recognizes Artest’s value … and Artest knows what Cuban really thinks of him … but this is showbiz. This is about stirring it up, selling tickets, drawing Phil JackZen offsides …

    And he’s done that again.

    "I like a lot of Mark's comments,’’ JackZen said. “He's done a lot for the league, he's done a lot for that franchise. But when he attacks players, that does get to your family and you just don't want to have him talk about your family."

     Offsides!

     Does Phil JackZen not know he’s being played here? Cuban’s comments do nothing to inspire Ron Artest. They do nothing to affect the outcome of the game (which by the way, always seems to go one way in this series, regardless of what any of the participants say). These comments make some fans uncomfortable, but the only impact they have is to intensify the experience for the audience.

     And to sell some blue jerseys.

 

     DONUT 3: Back to reality and back-to-back games in LA, starting tonight with the Lakers and then the Clips on Saturday eve. Eddie Sefko paints an ugly picture: Eight times the Mavericks franchise has made the LA trip to play both the Lakers and Clips, and in those games Dallas has a 3-13 record. The Mavs have had that LA doubleheader twice in this decade and are 1-3.

    It’s a 9:30 start, on TX21 and ESPN, with Josh Howard (ankle) missing for the Mavs and Pau Gasol (hamstring) expected to sit out for the Lakers.

 

     DONUT 4: I said this in DB.com's Thursday Morning Donuts:
     When is Roddy Beaubois going to get in there!?.... ..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.

    If y’all have misunderstood this statement, I’ll take the blame for failing to communicate it clearly.

    *I want to see Roddy play. It’d be exciting to see him play. I want to see the promise realized, and ideally, sooner would be better than later.   

    *The Mavs didn’t lose to Washington because Roddy was in mothballs.

    *Roddy is not ready to be better than Jason Terry or JJB or Quinton Ross. Not on Tuesday and not today. Maybe another day. But not now.

    *Rick Carlisle needs to be trusted here. Is there any reason for you to distrust Rick Carlisle with the care and feeding of French Cuffs?

     *Roddy is a project. Donnie Nelson told me a few weeks ago that he might “steal some minutes.’’ That was the Mavs’ official view. It hasn’t changed.

      *To be a panicky Mavs fan over all of this – and even over that singular loss – is to demonstrate that you, like so many of us, suffer from that ailment known as MavVirus.

      Welcome to life-long quarantine.

 

     DONUT 5: Speaking of that Mavs overreaction …

     Cleveland is 0-2. The Cavs will be a top-four seed in the East in the playoffs.

     Last year, Orlando started 0-2. The Magic landed in the NBA Finals.

     The Mavs? The oddsmakers have them on the verge of starting 0-2 as well.

    I think there is merit in pointing out that Dallas starts are trending in a certain direction … but so are Dallas’ season results.

   In 05-06 Dallas started 2-2... and finished 60-22.
   In 06-07 Dallas started 0-4 ... and finished 67-15.
   In 07-08 Dallas started 1-1 … and finished 51-31.
   In 08-09 Dallas started 2-7. … and finished 50-32.

   Again, if the Mavs start 0-2 this year, that’ll be five straight seasons in which they’ve stumbled out of the gate. That no doubt bears examination.

   But not over-examination.

   Some of us sound like teenage girls in 1964 fainting over The Beatles. Starting 0-2 isn’t the equivalent of seeing The Beatles.

    It’s more like seeing The Monkees.

    So quit fainting over seeing The Monkees, OK?

 

     DONUT 6: The “FISH on FOOTBALL’’ stuff is up and running at Blogging The Boys. Stats, snark, insight, quote, news, more snark. ... please head on over to Mike Fisher’s new Cowboys home at BtB and enjoy! Show your support for all things FISH and check it out!

 

     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! Visit the DB.com Store today!

 

    DONUT 8: I know last week the Cowboys were playing Keith Brooking’s former team, the Falcons. But the TV director in charge of showing countless Brooking sideline-reaction shots must’ve been the same TV director who made Kurt Warner’s wife famous.

 

    DONUT 9: In Minnesota, they are talking about using Mav-for-a-month Nathan Jawai in Friday’s meeting with the visiting (and winless) Cavs. ... meaning “Baby Shaq’’ might get to play against The Real Shaq.

    One problem.

   “Don’t call me that name again,” Jawai said to the Minny media, referring to “Baby Shaq.’’ “I hate that name. That’s not my name. That guy is a future Hall of Famer, so why compare me to him?”

    Hmmm. … Nice-Guy Nathan is getting a little chip on his massive shoulder? Good for him.

 

    DONUT 10: The NFL wants to expand to London. Shouldn’t it solve its problem in Los Angeles first?

     Seriously, the league might send the same team over there year after year to establish a fan base. I think we can afford to send the Lions.

 

    DONUT 11: Mark Cuban explains the jump in sports-on-TV ratings … and if you read between his lines, you can guess what this means in terms of where he’ll guide his live telecasts of the Mavs and other properties.

 

   DONUT 12: Somebody needs to explain to Steve Phillips that a “slump-buster’’ is supposed to get you hits, not get you fired.

 

   DONUT 13: My Uncle Nellie usually waits until March to complain about being tired of coaching. Now he’s complaining about being tired of coaching in the first week of the season. He suggests a solution: He’s going to turn into Bill Belichick. 

 

 

 

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900pm oct 30 2009

 

                                                     

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