Category: Dallas Mavericks (Page 2 of 6)

The Dallas Mavericks young superstar, Luka Doncic, was in the middle of an unbelievable 3rd quarter yesterday.  He was leading his team on a 16-0 run, accounting for more points in that period ( 13 points, 5 assists) than the entire L.A. Clippers team combined. He was fueling a crazy comeback, bringing the Mavs from 21 down to leading by eight. I texted our youth minister, Josh Jones:

“Luka is cementing his legacy on national TV!”

Doncic was not even expected to play in this game. A badly sprained ankle suffered 40 hours earlier in Game Three was probably going to keep him sidelined for this do-or-die affair. But there he was, limping through another incredible performance, notching another 40-point playoff triple-double, bringing his team back against all odds, going three-for-three on game-tying or go-ahead shots in the overtime period, and lofting a breath-taking buzzer-beater over a flailing Reggie Jackson to win the game and tie the series.

By now you’ve seen the shot multiple times. It’s classic Luka. Four dribbles, one between the legs, a step back beyond the arc on the left wing and BANG! Or, as NBC play-by-play announcer Mike Breem announced as the ball swished through the net 28-feet away, “BANG! BANG!”

If you didn’t know who Luka Doncic was 24 hours ago — and I’m talking about sports fans AND non-sports fans — you do now.

He scored 43 points yesterday, grabbed 17 rebounds, and dished out 13 assists for his second consecutive playoff triple-double. No one in NBA history has ever produced those numbers in a playoff game. Ever. Three games earlier, Luka had broken George Mikan’s NBA record for the most points ever scored in a playoff debut with 42. Now he’s only the third player in NBA history to rack up 40 points and at least 15 rebounds and ten assists in a playoff game. You may have heard of the other two: Oscar Robertson and Charles Barkley.

Luka is the youngest player in NBA history to hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in the playoffs. He’s the youngest to notch a 40 point playoff triple-double. And he did it on one leg! Without his sidekick, Kristaps Porzingas, who was a game-time scratch with his sore knee.

This Euro-stepping, lane-driving, bubble-bombing kid is so much fun to watch. And his numbers are other-worldly. He’s already accomplished more than any other player in league history at this age. Name them. All of them. Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant. LeBron James. Luka is further along right now at 21-1/2 years old than any of them were. But as Mark Cuban said last night, we shouldn’t compare Doncic to any other players; he’s blazing his own trail.

This is Luka’s world. We just live in it.

I’ve long held a theory that the main thing separating the great players in the professional leagues from the good ones is not talent, but mental toughness. Once football players make it to the NFL or basketball players to the NBA, they are all pretty equal in ability. They have all been the very best among their peers from little league to middle school and through high school. They’ve always been the most talented in their cities. In college, they stand out as better than all their peers across the country or even around the world. Once they make it to the NHL or MLB, generally speaking, they all possess the same talents and skills, they’re all equipped the same. What separates Michael Jordan from Michael Anderson is heart. What elevates Emmitt Smith over Alex Smith is guts.

Who’s going to overcome injury and perform at a high level? Who’s going to show up early for practice and leave late? Who’s got the drive? Who wants the ball in the clutch? Who will play with a complete fearlessness and a supreme confidence? Who’s going to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes? That’s what separates the great ones.

And Doncic has it. All of it.

Not only were the Mavs down 2-1 in the series, down their second-leading scorer in the sidelined Porzingas, and down by 21-points in the second quarter, Luka was down a left ankle. Not only did Dallas fight and claw their way back to actually lead it by a dozen, the Clippers scored ten of the last twelve points in regulation to force the overtime. And the lead changed eight times in the extra period. But Luka and the cast around him kept fighting and pulled off the biggest playoff comeback in the team’s 40-year history.

They may not win another game this series. The whole “bubble” thing is making this the most unpredictable postseason in NBA history. They may win the whole thing! The Mavericks are building something around this kid that will yield multiple championships — I’m guessing at least two titles beginning in June 2022. He may be on his way to surpassing Dirk, Roger, Troy, Nolan, and Modano as the most prolific and beloved single-name sports heroes in Dallas. And we’ll always remember August 23, 2020 against the Clippers as the day the entire planet met Luka Doncic.

Go Stars.

Allan

I have plenty of hot and spicy tea to spill today after the Mavericks blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead and lost in overtime to the Rockets in last night’s NBA restart in Orlando. With Luka and KP, Dallas is poised to contend for multiple championships over the next ten years. The team is young and talented, the bench is deep and versatile, Carlisle obviously knows how to coach, and this version of the Mavs is so stinkin’ fun to watch. They’re going to be in the mix to hoist the O’Brien trophy every year for the foreseeable future. Just not this year.

There’s very little interior defense. There’s a tendency to stand around and watch the two superstars. They still haven’t learned how to hold a lead. And they melt down on basics and fundamentals at the worst times. They still need another season or so of experience and seasoning before they’re going to win this thing.

Dallas mostly controlled last night’s game with double-digit leads throughout the second half. They had a seven point lead with 45-seconds to play. But a simple box out and rebound on a missed free throw with three seconds remaining in regulation wasn’t executed and the resulting tip-in tied the game and the Mavs were out of gas. Houston went on an 8-1 run in those 45-seconds and then ran away with it in the extra period.

Last night’s disappointing come-from-ahead loss likely means the Mavericks will face the top-seeded Lakers or the second-seeded Clippers in the first round of the playoffs instead of the Jazz or OKC. Dallas went from moving up in the standings to staying put. And it’s going to prove to be disastrous.

But wasn’t it fun?

Luka’s routine triple-double. KP’s silky smooth dominance. Hardeway’s leadership. Curry’s tenacity. And where did Trey Burke come from?!?

And the “Equality” jerseys. What a great touch. When every other NBA player is customizing his own jersey and coming up with his own personal racial justice slogan, the Mavericks decided to all wear the same word. What a powerful statement and what a positive move for individualism taking a back seat to team unity.

I feel so good about this Dallas Mavericks team.

Next year.

Peace,

Allan

Dirk Nowitski’s name belongs now and forever way up in the rafters alongside the names of Kareem, Kobe, M.J., and Wilt. In last night’s wire-to-wire home win over the Lakers, the Big German scored his 30,000th career NBA point on his signature fade away jumper from the baseline. With a hand in his face. His typical flair for the moment captured by more than twenty thousand cell phone cameras and sealing his place among basketball’s storied immortals.

Dirk is a league MVP, a playoffs MVP, and an NBA Champion. He revolutionized the game by becoming the greatest international player in history and by creating a new position: “stretch forward.” His dedication to his craft is legendary. His work ethic and toughness are inspirational. But it’s his loyalty to the Mavericks and the city of Dallas that makes him eternally heroic.

Dirk is only the sixth player in NBA history to rack up 30,000 points. He and Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant are the only three to do it with one team. Nowitski began his career against a team that doesn’t even exist anymore: the Seattle SuperSonics. He began his career in a building that doesn’t exist anymore: Reunion Arena. But he’ll finish his twenty or twenty-one year career with the Mavericks. In Dallas. And for that, he’ll own the city for as long as he lives.

He’s Roger Staubach in shorts and high tops. He could run for Mayor of Dallas tomorrow or fifteen years from now and win. He’s Dallas royalty. He’s lived and died with the Mavericks and their fans. He’s suffered through lottery seasons and won championships. He’ll be cutting ribbons and raising money and serving on boards and advocating for the city for the rest of his life. He can do no wrong in Big D. Forever.

And it’s legitimate.

Kevin Durant could have had the exact same thing in OKC. But he chose to chase rings in Oakland with the guys who beat his Thunder. And he may never recover. I don’t see a LeBron-Cleveland reunion culminating in a title and renewed hero status for K.D. and Oklahoma City.

There’s something noble about staying with your team, remaining with your city, battling year in and year out, experiencing the highs and lows, working hard to build something and accomplish something, regardless of the changing circumstances around you. Dirk has done that and he’s achieved the great status he deserves.

And he’s just so stinkin’ likeable. Who doesn’t love Dirk?

I remember in 2004 or 2005 when Dirk became an on-line relationship advice columnist for a local Dallas paper. It was a promotional thing, kind of clever, but it was a joke. Everybody was making fun of it, and, true to his nature, he was having a good time with it. My talk show producer, Eric Gray, and I wanted to record a bit in which we would ask Dirk to give us advice for our troubled on-air relationship, to help us with the interpersonal problems we were having. It was a gag. A big joke. The questions were loaded for laughs and Dirk agreed to do it. We were in a crunch for time — the Mavs were leaving for a four game road trip — and if we didn’t record the bit after the next home game it would be two weeks before we could try it again.

So, the day of the game we set it up with Dirk to record the fake interview afterwards.

And they lost.

I can’t remember who they played. I can’t remember if they lost at the buzzer or got blown out. But they were expected to win and they got beat. The locker room was quiet. The mood was sour. Nobody was making jokes or laughing.

And after we all finished with our official interviews and the locker room had mostly cleared out, we approached Dirk about the relationship advice bit. He remembered. I told him we could wait and do it another time. But he said, “Y’all need it tonight, don’t you?” We did. And he did it.

It wasn’t great. He wasn’t in a good mood. We asked the silly questions and he tried to be funny with us. He tried. And it didn’t really work. We wound up not using it because it didn’t turn out right. It was forced. But he still went through with it. He tried. And he didn’t have to. That’s the kind of guy Dirk is. Friendly. Funny. Never takes himself too seriously. And true to his word, regardless of changing circumstances.

People ask me all the time if I miss covering sports for Dallas radio. The answer is that I miss being there for the big moments. I was on the ice and in the dressing room with Mike Modano and Derian Hatcher when the Stars won those two Western Conference Championships. I was on the sidelines and in the locker room when Emmitt Smith surpassed Walter Payton as the leading rusher in NFL history. John Wetteland poured champagne down my shirt in the Rangers clubhouse when they clinched the division in ’99. And I was there when Dirk lost the tooth in that playoff game against the Jazz and then led the Mavs to an improbable victory and the series win. I was there for all those Western Conference Championship Series games against the Kings and the Spurs. I’ve had political conversations with Steve Nash, I’ve been the target of a sarcastic comment from Shawn Bradley, I’ve played three-on-three hoops with Donnie Nelson and Derek Harper, and I’ve had Don Nelson threaten to kick me out of his office during a misunderstanding. I’ve been chewed out by Johnny Oates and apologized to by Buck Showalter. I’ve gotten into a nationally-televised argument about two-point conversions with Bill Parcells and I’ve watched an episode of Seinfeld with Pierre Turgeon before a playoff game. I miss the access, maybe.

I don’t miss the travel. I certainly don’t miss the late nights and the lost weekends. I don’t miss the pressure of getting all those sound bites from all those teams and cutting all that tape and putting together all those sportscasts.

But I wish I could have been there last night.

Peace,

Allan