Subject: NBA Northwest Division

• C'mon, But What About Rodney McCray? Or Fat Lever? Or Alex English?

  March 22, 2007

• In Dallas, Even the Fans Play "D"

  March 8, 2006

• Insert Knife Here. Twist.

  May 8, 2007

• Donnie Doolittle

  June 28, 2007

• Another Reason For Dallas Sports Fans To Be Pissed Off

  January 31, 2008

• Deal or No Deal?

  February 18, 2008

• The Return of the Kidd

  February 25, 2008

• "Dirk, You're Out." Sounds Better When Heidi Klum Says It.

  March 5, 2008

• The Beginning of the End?

  March 24, 2008

• Uh. Oh.

  March 28, 2008

• Man, I Used to Love James Donaldson. Seattle Is Super Lucky.

  July 23, 2008

• Not About Jazz

  April 2, 2009

• Your ’08-09 Dallas Mavericks: Still Good. Still Not Good Enough.

  October 30, 2008

• Even The Portland Trailblazers Are Doing The Stanky Legg. No, Seriously. Look.

  I stumbled across this the other day on Youtube, and, yep, that's right; it's the Portland Trailblazers' rookies, earlier this year, being hazed somewhat by the veteran players on the team and being forced to dance to Them GSpot Boyz's "Stanky Legg" at a preseason scrimmage. I kid you not.Perhaps the hip-hop artists around town who are putting a lot of stock in the NBA's clout in the hip-hop world are on to something...In any event, since we're talking Dallas hip-hop and the NBA already, head o

  December 19, 2008

• Whitt's End

  *In 2009, I'm going to change. Totally change. I'm going to develop an appreciation for sour cream, reality shows and Brett Favre. I will start tipping 20% to every waitperson because, after all, that's what I'm supposed to do. I will be understanding of white pickup trucks that tailgate me and then cut me off on the freeway because, after all, their time is indeed more valuable than mine. I'm going to buy a Terrell Owens poster for my son's room and Rangers' playoff tickets for mysel

  January 2, 2009

• Best Sports Moment

  September 20, 2001

• Dear Cynical Mavericks Fans: Ya Nevuh Know.

  Danny Bollinger What if he stays hot for four months? Could happen.Look, I can be as jaded as anyone. Cynical. Smartassy. Surly. Down right skeptical. Especially - in case you haven't been paying attention - when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks. But tonight's last night's 93-89 victory in Portland, on the heels of Tuesday's victory in Phoenix, should serve as a reminder that we should at least try to enjoy the foreplay - even if it doesn't result in climactic intercourse. Okay? The

  March 12, 2009

• The Maddening Mavericks

  Danny Bollinger The forgotten one?I give up. I admit, I expected the Dallas Mavericks to lose at Phoenix, lose at Portland, beat Golden State and get blown out by the Lakers. I went 0-4. In typically unpredictable, unsettling fashion, they went 2-2. I'll go on Channel 52 tonight at 6:30 - fingers crossed - and fake like I can accurately dissect these Mavs. But who am I kidding? I can't know them if they don't know their own identity. Are they a championship caliber team? A talented

  March 16, 2009

• Not Tweet: Mark Cuban's Collecting $25,000 NBA Fines 140 Characters at a Time.

  Earlier today, the National Basketball Association lifted $25,000 from Mark Cuban's pocket for comments Twittered after Friday night's game against the Denver Nuggets. Tweeted the Dallas Mavericks' owner, "how do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground?" The player, of course, was Antoine Wright, with whom Smith had an altercation in January resulting in ... wait for it ... a $25,000 fine slapped on Cuban for getting upset with Smith. Ten minut

  March 29, 2009

• NBA Fines Mark Cuban $25,000. Why Bother?

  The NBA is a bunch of nit-twitts. Over the weekend the league fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $25,000 for his "criticism" of officials via Twitter, the real-time social network that allows schmucks like you and me to be flies on the walls of the rich, famous and exhibitionistic. Or to simply tell the world that you do, in fact, have a severe case of the Mondays. After Dallas' gut-gouging loss to the Denver Nuggets Friday night - don't know about you, but I find it extremely easy to

  March 30, 2009

• Don't Rush Josh

  Sad - and surprising - that your Dallas Mavericks are reduced to trying to hold on to 8th place in the Western Conference over their final nine games over two weeks. But with that gut-gouging home loss to the Denver Nuggets last Friday night, I think they fumbled away any realistic chance of moving up to 7th or better. Assuming they won't go 9-0 - starting tonight at Minnesota - the Mavs are all but locked in to face ... duhn-Duhn-DUHN ... the Los Angeles Lakers. You're right, they'll have

  March 31, 2009

• How the Dallas Mavericks Can Avoid the Lakers

  Not saying Dirk and the Mavs are sitting pretty. But they have a chance.About a month ago in this cover story Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told me his team didn't fear a first-round NBA Playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. "The Lakers don't intimidate us at all," Cuban maintains. "In the West it's going to come down to whoever stays the healthiest and gets hot at the right time." If it's all the same to him, the rest of us would like to avoid Kobe Bryant at all cost. Ri

  April 1, 2009

• Sheepish Mavericks 96, Shitty Timberwolves 94

  Because the Mavs beat one of the worst teams in the NBA, they may get to avoid playing the best. Embarrassing that the Dallas Mavericks had to pull a leftover Easter rabbit out of their hat last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at American Airlines Center. But in this economy ... sorry, in this Western Conference playoff race, a two-point escape beats the hell out of laying an inexplicable, rotten egg. The Mavericks actually trailed by seven points in the fourth quarter against a

  April 14, 2009

• Relax Mavs Fans, Dallas' First-Round Loss Won't Be to the Lakers

  The Mavs have successfully avoided the noid, better known as Kobe Bryant.While you were sleeping, the Dallas Mavericks officially succeeded in their lil' game of Avoid The Noid. Thanks to the Lakers' blowout of the Utah Jazz late last night, the Mavs won't open this weekend's NBA Playoffs as a no-way-in-hell-8th-seeded-underdog against Los Angeles. Not exactly how I planned it, but the Mavericks did indeed pass the Jazz for the Western Conference's 7th seed. In fact, there

  April 15, 2009

• The Mavericks Mark the 25th Anniversary of the Wackiest Game in Franchise History

  April 16, 2009

• Hoop Dreams Come True

  March 16, 2006

• Our House

  January 6, 2005

• Premature Evacuation

  Caution: Knee jerks hopping off Mavs' bandwagon

  November 16, 2006

• All Net

  The Mavs gets Jazzed

  October 30, 2003

• Caution!

  The Mavs win because they're a rare combo: freewheeling and careful

  January 16, 2003

• Back to the Future

  For Dirk, Don and the Mavs to compete with the Lakers, they'll have to look to an unlikely source for inspiration: the late-'80s teams of Mark Aguirre and Dick Motta

  November 1, 2001

• Kidd vs. Devin: Tweaking the Hindsight?

  I still - as always - wouldn't have pulled the trigger on Jason Kidd and two No. 1 draft picks, etc. for Devin Harris and Antoine Wright, etc. But I'll admit, Kidd has been better than any of us expected. And today - as the Mavericks prepare to enter the second round of the NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets - the trade looks less lopsided than ever. Diluted into a weakside, third-option set-shooter by a former, narrow-minded head coach (Avery Johnson) who considere

  April 30, 2009

• Dallas v. Denver: Nuggets in 5

  Mavs' fans, prepare to be nauseated.I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this, but I have a feeling we're all about to get really pissed. Watching the most athletic - and by far the most animated and arrogant - team in the NBA knock the Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs could be very painful. Get out your hate hats, Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets is Sunday at 2:30. If you haven't seen a lot of Nuggets' games this season, just wait. A week from now you'll look back at

  May 1, 2009

• Nuggets-Mavs: Irrationally Optimistic Game 2 Preview

  Danny Bollinger Dirk Nowitzki has a case of the old-school Bird Flu. Certain that my prediction of Thuggets in 5 is spot on, my head is bursting with pride. But desperately wanting my Mavericks to pull the upset, my heart is breaking with pain. Before tonight's pivotal Game 2 at Denver's Pepsi Center, let's allow the ticker to momentarily win the tug-o'-war over the thinker. It takes a gigantic swig of blue Kool-Aid and some Cuban-colored bifocals, but there are reasons to be c

  May 5, 2009

• Nowitzkis 119, Carmelos 117

  Better late than never, a happy tune.Now that, my friends, was a basketball game. A playoff basketball game, with everything on it. Delicious. Considering they still won't win this series, the Mavericks had every reason to fold. And after the week he's had, Dirk Nowitzki had every reason to pout. Instead? Dirk produced one of the grittiest performances in franchise history, willing the Mavericks out of a sweep with 44 points, 13 rebounds and one victory that feels more

  May 12, 2009

• The Mild-Mannered Mavericks Are Infected Again By Chronic Case of Whine Flu

  May 7, 2009

• Thuggets 2, Mavwimps 0

  Dirk and his miniscule help have lots of questions to answer.Already being out-jumped, out-run, out-dunked and out-funked, the Dallas Mavericks last night became a desperate team suddenly out-manned. And after another thorough loss to the Denver Nuggets - this one 117-105 in Game 2 of the NBA's Western Conference Semifinals - it's inevitable the Mavs will soon be simply out. With Dallas swimming upstream against Denver's superior physicality and athleticism - I'll say it, the Nuggets

  May 6, 2009

• Mavs-Nuggets: Irrationally Optimistic Game 3 Preview

  Danny Bollinger Bite the bullet, Josh. Or your jersey. Whatever works.Before Game 1: Doubtless. After Game 1: Defiant. Before Game 2: Determined. After Game 2: Depressed. Before Game 3: Desperate? Delusional? Dead? Fine, then you tell me. For my prediction of Thuggets in 5 to remain in play, the Mavericks have to win a game at home either tomorrow afternoon or Monday night at American Airlines Center. It'll happen. Right? *In all-time Game 3s when trailing a series 0-2 the Mavs are 7-2.

  May 8, 2009

• Dallas Mavwrecks: Series, Composure Both Lost

  So much for winning. And so much for losing with class and dignity. Yes, unequivocally, the Mavericks got screwed in Saturday's Game 3 loss to the Denver Nuggets. (We didn't need - or really want - an admission by the NBA to confirm that.) But despite the team's latest case of Whine Flu, isn't it obvious the Mavs were an accessory to the rape by ditching their clothes and assuming the position? We didn't know it would be referee Mark Wunderlich swallowing his whistle, but - admit

  May 11, 2009

• Attention K-Mart Shoppers: He's Still a Thug

  I was waiting for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to apologize. But to CBS 11 camerman Bill Ellis, not Kenyon Martin's mom. He issued an "I'm sorry" to her? For what exactly?! As you probably know by now, I detest peer-pressure, politically correct apologies. I'm not suggesting Cuban's cyber-sorry to Lydia Moore isn't genuine. I am saying it isn't necessary. At all. Look, Mrs. Moore may be a sweet lady. But if she expects to show up at American Airlines Center during a ferocious and com

  May 12, 2009

• Mavs-Nuggets: Irrationally Optimistic Game 5 Preview

  Stay classy, Kenyon Martin's girlfriend. Stay classy.Let's keep this short and sweet, as I'm scurrying off to Las Vegas this morning to accept a CLIO Award. (No, check that, they're whispering in my ear that my schedule actually calls for an Observer staff meeting in Uptown.) Guess the awards will have to live with appearances from Mavs owner Mark Cuban and ... Barry Manilow? *I'm not saying it's chicken shit for Cuban not to be at tonight's Game 5 in Denver. He has been committed to

  May 13, 2009

• Opponents Can't Defend Dirk Nowitzki. So Richie Whitt Will Do It.

  May 14, 2009

• Mavericks-Nuggets: A Requiem in 5 Predictable Parts

  No Jason Terry. No Gatorade dump. Hindsight, they say, is 20/20. Sometimes, unfortunately, so is foresight. On Friday, May 1 I picked the Denver Nuggets to eliminate the Dallas Mavericks in five games. Last night it came to pass, in the form of Nuggets 124, Mavs 110. Dirk Nowitzki was as gritty as he was great. But Jason Terry never arrived, Josh Howard spent the series hobbling and the Mavericks had no answers for Denver's relentless energy and superior athleticsm. And, lest we

  May 14, 2009

• Your Dallas Mavericks: Now What?

  Danny Bollinger Was this block/fall Jason Kidd's last stand as a Maverick? The body was still warm. The emotions, still raw. But when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks, Charles Barkley doesn't give a damn. "They got problems," the rotund, ridiculous TNT analyst said last night in the minutes after Dallas' elimination by the Denver Nuggets. "They gotta get younger and more physical around Dirk." Chimed sidekick Kenny Smith, "As currently constructed, this is as good as this team gets.

  May 14, 2009

• Whitt's End: 5.15.09

  Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *Of the Texas Rangers' hot start - they are 20-14 compared to 14-20 last year - the most amazing feat is pitcher Matt Harrison's back-to-back complete games. If you're looking for Nolan Ryan's stamp on this team, there it is. The Rangers had only five complete games last year and none in '07. Ryan, who had six complete games for the Rangers as a 42-year-old and once threw 239 pitches in a gam

  May 15, 2009

• Mavs Trade Down, Try Not to Fall Asleep

  Trade proposal: Mavs Man and tonight's 24th pick for these two prospects?Like the Dallas Cowboys did a couple months ago, the Dallas Mavericks have made the decision to fortify their roster via quantity, not quality. But in an NBA Draft that features Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and a bunch of extras, that might not be such a bad idea. Unwilling and/or unable to move up into the draft's Top 5, the Mavs last night swapped first-round picks with the Portland Trailblazer

  June 25, 2009

• The Mavericks' French Misconnection Marks More of the Same on Draft Day

  July 2, 2009

• Happy Basketball! Do You Believe in These Dallas Mavericks?

  Dirk looks excited about the season. You?​Last time we saw our Dallas Mavericks it wasn't pretty was ugly. Jason Terry was flopping (only 15 points per game), the defense was floundering (surrendering 115 per game) and owner Mark Cuban was flapping (his gums at Kenyon Martin's mom) in a 5-game playoff loss to the athletically superior Denver Nuggets back in mid-May. Tonight we can officially bury last year beneath this year as the Mavs open the 2010 season against the Washington Wi

  October 27, 2009

• The Best 12 Minutes Ever By a Dallas Maverick. Take a Bow, Dirk Nowitzki.

  ​I remember watching Mark Aguirre go off on the Denver Nuggets in March of 1984. In scoring 24 points in a quarter, the ball just seem to magically, directly commute from hand to hoop. He launched a wing jumper and you knew it was going in. Measured. Smooth. Beautiful. Nothing, in other words, like Dirk Nowitzki's historic performance last night at American Airlines Center. In the most dominating, productive 12 minutes of basketball in Dallas Mavericks' history, Dirk willed and skilled hi

  November 4, 2009

• Georgia on His Mind: New York Times Profiles Carter's Tyrone Ellis, a National Hero Overseas

  Tyrone Ellis​Tyrone Ellis's pro basketball career in the U.S. didn't amount to much: 10 pre-season minutes played for the Minnesota Timberwolves in October 2006, during which he didn't score a single point. Also on his resume: a single-season stint, in 2001-'02, in the NBA's D-League, during which his Huntsville Flight went 26-30. In short, there was no reason whatsoever to believe the Dallas native and 1996 Carter High School graduate would ever become a pro baller. And yet, there he was Satu

  November 16, 2009