The Texas Rangers take off from Surprise today, heading to Oklahoma for a couple of exhibition games before starting off the season on the road (AGAIN). Home opener is Tuesday, April 8 — or, on my calendar, New Year’s Day.
March 2008
Can you hear the quasi-dramatic tone in Randy Galloway’s voice? I can. Get ready for overreaction Wednesday. The visiting Los Angeles Lakers pull out a one point win over Dallas. The entire game belonged to Kobe and the Lakers. They owned Dirk and the Mavs by a solid 12+ point lead most of the game.
The Mavs rallied in the fourth quarter to come from 25 behind to make it a 1 point ball game with 4 seconds left. Derek Fisher made one of two free throws after the foul, to give the Mavericks one chance left to win the game. With just a few short ticks left, the inbounds pass to Dirk at the top of the key was too low for him to reach. He lost 2 crucial seconds and had to lob up a three pointer with the final second remaining. The ball didn’t hit the rim.
I took most of the past month off. I kept track of the Jason Kidd trade and listened to Randy Galloway and Dale the snail Hansen talk about whether it was a good trade. But as far as the games were concerned, I had to get my updates from ESPN.com and 103.3FM ESPN Radio. Life’s kept me busy.
After a month away, I have to get reintroduced to my team. After all, it’s not the same team. There are new four players on this team in addition to Jason Kidd. Obviously, there’s no more Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, DeSagana Diop, and whoever else Dallas traded. Now we’re looking at new players Antoine Wright, Jamaal Magloire, Tyronn Lue, and Malik Allen.
I’m sitting here watching the Mavs play the Bobcats on HDTV. Jason Kidd is all over the place: grabbing rebounds, stealing balls, making passes the other Mavs haven’t seen since Steve Nash. Why do we have a problem with the Devin Harris trade again? Right now, I’m forgetting my objections.
Maybe it’s just this game. I’ve missed quite a few since Kidd’s return. But it sure seems like a fast-paced, full-court running Mavericks team to me. Jason Kidd still can’t shoot worth a flip, but I witnessed an alley-oop to Erick Dampier that just NEVER happened before.
