If only there was another team in Dallas that could come back from a large deficit to win the game. Hmm.
The game against Minnesota showed me 3 things:
- Dallas can be a better defensive team, but it’s going to take a lot work.
- Minnesota has some talented players that they can build on.
- Kevin McHale is the worst thing to happen to the NBA since short-shorts ensuring their young talented players are wasted.
After giving up 62 points in the first half Dallas limited the TWolves to only 38 points in the second half. How did it happen? I have no idea. I watched the game and the highlights and I still have no idea. Stats show Minnesota had only 12 turnovers, but from watching the game it seemed like they would have had more. Differential for offensive rebounds was only 6. With that second half it seems like it would be more. Only 8 steals and 8 blocked shots for the Mavs. Did they play better defense? Yes. Hustle plays, rebounding, steals, and especially blocks in the 3rd quarter to start their return helped. But again I’m just not sure exactly how. I think Minnesota helped quite a bit, which ties into my next points.
Minnesota has some talented young players that are exciting to watch. Al Jefferson is a powerhouse, and Gomes, Brewer (currently injured), and Foye are athletic and fun to watch. Kevin Love might turn out to be a capable forward. I’m not really sold on McCants, even though he has a way of making Dallas look bad (he was 4-4 last night). There’s potential there for a 24 yr old kid.
Unfortunately those young talented players are surrounded by less talented players. Sebastian Telfair is gawd-awful. He dashes into the lane flailing his arms and legs about like a string-puppet in a north Texas thunderstorm. He hits the rim 1 out of 37 times, and gets 0.17229 assists per game for his career (please note 33% of all statistics in this article are completely made up). Brian Cardinal looks like Slingblade. Mike Miller is a solid veteran, although unreliable through the years due to injuries (didn’t play last night… due to injury).
Luckily for Dallas the Timberwolves are currently coached and managed by Kevin McHale. McCants only played 13 minutes even though he was money from the field – a terrible decision! Telfair was only 5-12 from the field but played 22 minutes. Amazingly craptacular!! Kevin Love pulled down 7 boards in 18 mins, but lost time to the 31 yr old Brian Cardinal who pulled down 5 boards in 27 minutes of playing time. Craptastic!! McHale’s suckage hasn’t only affected the Wolves of course. His disgusting trade with pal GM Danny Ainge ensured a shift in the time/space continuum by sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics for Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, and a box of Junior Mints. That trade eventually leads to a NBA Championship in Boston, a contract extension for Doc Rivers, and statements from Bill Walton that the Eastern Conference is “vastly superior” to the Western Conference on ESPN about a month ago – all reasons Kevin McHale will probably end up shot by some crazed TWolves fan in a dark alley somewhere. I know that would be impossible since there are no fans left thanks to Kevin McHale driving Minnesota into a ditch.
Mavericks should feel damn lucky to have a personnel manager like Donnie Nelson around.
