Subject: San Antonio Spurs

• Seventh Heaven

  May 22, 2006

• Let's Get Nuts!

  May 19, 2006

• F Off, Finley

  May 18, 2006

• Nothin' Feels Good as Suede

  May 18, 2006

• Be Like Dirk

  May 17, 2006

• As Good As It Gets

  May 16, 2006

• Cautious with the Coronation

  May 12, 2006

• (Flawed) German Engineering

  May 9, 2006

• On the Mark

  April 27, 2006

• MVPeaking

  April 10, 2006

• Dirk Diggling

  March 3, 2006

• Fin-tastic!

  June 1, 2007

• HBO KOs NBA

  June 11, 2007

• ESPN's Dallas Radio Outpost Loses Its Weeknight Host

  October 16, 2007

• Hoops Du Jour, With a Side of Pigskin

  December 19, 2007

• Avery Gets a New Web Site

  February 29, 2008

• At Least I Got Two Predictions Right

  May 6, 2008

• Who'll Buy Our Memories? A Peek Inside Reunion Arena Before Its Long Goodbye.

  September 18, 2008

• NBA GMs Aren't Impressed With Your Dallas Mavericks

  October 23, 2008

• Foul trouble

  December 4, 1997

• A bush league of their own

  May 21, 1998

• Your Dallas Mavericks are the Second-Best Team in the NBA ... Sorta

  Lotsa triumphs. Zero trophies.While twiddling my thumbs waiting for the Mavericks - or anyone - to make a significant, deadline-beating NBA trade, I wondered just how good Dallas has been this millenium. Calculator 10 minutes elbow grease = Yahtzee! Answer: Damn good. Second-best good. From the beginning of owner Mark Cuban's reign at the start of the 2000 season through last week's All-Star break, the Mavs have won more regular-season games than every team except - you gues

  February 19, 2009

• The Top 10 Best Current Rivalries in Sports

  Tonight's the next chapter in one of sports' best rivalries. That's right, I said best.To be a true sports rivalry - more than just a plethora of games between teams in close proximity (see Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals) - the meetings between opponents must: *Take place at an advanced level, with championships on the line. *Feature sustained excellence by both teams over a period of time. *Include some form of contentiousness, be it physical alternations or trash-talking

  February 24, 2009

• Your Stock Market Mavericks

  Dirk and the Mavs: One night beautiful music; the next SlipknotAll right, I'm off to a fancy schmancy brunch in Fort Worth this morning - more on that this afternoon - so I gotta make this snappy. Too bad, because I could spend all day trying to dissect your Dallas Mavericks. Down. Up. Down. Up. You follow? Just when you're ready to write them off after an ugly loss at Houston, they right the ship and blow out the Kings at home. Then after you're ready to write them off after a hideo

  February 26, 2009

• Mark Cuban Has a New ... Nemesis?

  If the Mavericks keep blowing games to friggin' Oklahoma City, owner Mark Cuban will apparently blow a gasket and blow up his team. Says Cuban, in the most violent finger-pointing of his 9-year regime.     "Not only did it look like we had no idea what we were doing, but we did it without effort ... If each player can't take the personal initiative to make every game important and play like it, I don't see them being here next season ... I would rather turn over

  March 4, 2009

• Sir, Those Are More than Mere "ABA-Era Basketball Hoops" on the Reunion Arena Floor

  Patrick MichelsHard to believe, but the city couldn't find any takers for the Chaps' old hoops still resting in peace on the Reunion slab.Back in September, as city officials were offering the contents of Reunion Arena in an everything-must-go auction, Patrick Michels and I were given a tour of the joint by Randy Barner, the facility's operations manager since 1983 and, now, the last man standing at the venerable facility. Among the items with which we became obsessed were two basketball goal po

  March 11, 2009

• The Dallas Mavericks Go for Broke, But Where Is it Getting Them?

  March 5, 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

• Playing Dirty

  November 15, 2007

• Trophy Hunt

  November 2, 2006

• Get Some

  April 12, 2007

• The Most Underrated Rivalry in Sports: Act IV

  Spurs vs. Mavs feel incestuous? That's because they used to be us.A Dallas Mavericks' season that had more than its share of ups and downs and ups and downs enters the playoffs on a peak. Thank you - of all people - Michael Finley. The former Maverick's overtime-forcing 3-pointer allowed the San Antonio Spurs to beat the New Orleans Hornets Wednesday night and allowed the Mavs to not face the younger, athletically superior Denver Nuggets, but instead a familiar fo

  April 16, 2009

• 2009 NBA Playoff Preview: Spurs vs. Mavs

  The good news: When the Mavs and Spurs begin their first-round playoff series this weekend it will be a renewal of a rivalry featuring talented, tested teams. The bad news: When the Mavs and Spurs finish their first-round playoff series, the loser will go home and the winner won't be far behind. Should be a competitive, entertaining clash. But, ultimately, I don't see either Dallas or San Antonio as a major threat to get out of the second round, much less the Western Conference. (And s

  April 17, 2009

• Mavs Have an Old Deamon to Exorcise

  The Mavs better find a way to exorcise their old demon after suffering a Game 2 playoff loss against the Spurs

  April 23, 2009

• Bye-Bye Baboon

  At last dispatching their 800-pound gorilla, Mavs will soon be NBA's big banana

  May 25, 2006

• Us vs. Us

  Hated Spurs have beloved Dallas roots

  May 11, 2006

• Lancing Plano

  Plus: Wish You Were Here; Clues for Camp

  July 31, 2003

• House of Cards

  The Mavs fell, but does that mean they're not playing with a full deck?

  June 5, 2003

• Hot in Here

  Deep in the playoffs, Cuban keeps the heat on Nellie

  May 22, 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

• Dear Jose Juan Barea: I'm Sorry

  Suddenly everyone wants to talk to J.J. BareaConsider this my public apology to one J.J. Barea. Dude, I was dead wrong. You are not, in fact, a 5-foot-2 pick-up game liability whose shot I could block. Not a novely act nuisance; the obtuse opposite of Shawn Bradley. Not some twisted Criss Angel mind-fuck. And not, after further review, a boyish bench-warmer with the look and skills of a Minyard Mavericks' Ball Boy. Okay, maybe still the look. But after watching Saturday night's 13-point,

  April 20, 2009

• Spurrifics 105, Mav-Wrecks 84

  Got his team back in the series.Seriously now, did you expect anything different from these Dallas Mavericks? A frustratingly inconsistent team that led the NBA in close victories also had more than its share of blowout losses and inexplicable letdowns. So after the Mavs rallied from 13 down to win Game 1 on Sunday, you knew - well, at least some of us did - that a repeat performance in last night's Game 2 was unlikely, even improbable. I could X and O the 21-point loss, or I co

  April 21, 2009

• Mavericks 3, Spurs 1. The End is Near.

  Mike Fisher - DallasBasketball.comLet's say that before tip-off of Game 1 I gave you these crystal ball visions about the Spurs-Mavs series: *San Antonio's Tony Parker will skip down Dallas' lane at will, averaging 29 points including games of 38 and 43. *Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki will be held 10 points under his season scoring average, Jason Terry eight under his and Jason Kidd almost four assists fewer. *Entering Game 5 the series will be 3-1. Guaranteed you would've bet me a wee

  April 27, 2009

• Mavs-Spurs Game 5 Preview: Uh-Oh

  Dirk's getting double-teamed. What's your excuse?*Unless Mark Cuban smears Swine Flu on Tony Parker, I'm afraid the desperate and prideful San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks tonight, forcing a Game 6 Friday night at American Airlines Center. Why? Because home teams down 3-1 always win Game 5. Because Greg Popovich has won 75 percent of his games when facing elimination, best all-time. And because there's that nagging "internal devil" thing with the Mavs. *Deferential Dirk: O

  April 28, 2009

• Pinch Yourself: Mavericks 106, Spurs 93

  In hindsight, Dirk Nowitzki vs. Matt Bonner was a laugher.On second thought, forget The Alamo. And the San Antonio Spurs. What began as a competitive series that some of us skeptics thought the Spurs would win in seven games magically morphed into a hockey power play. Afforded basically a 5-on-2 advantage, the Mavericks ultimately skated past old, slow, buried San Antonio. Last night Dallas put the Spurs out of their misery with a 106-93 victory at AT&T Center that gave it the series,

  April 29, 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

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

  July 2, 2009

• Ladies and Gentlemen, Your ... Dall-LLUS ... GENERALS ... ?

  ​Don't look now, but retro is current. As a kid I remember Dad taking me to Fair Park Coliseum to watch an ABA team called the Dallas Chaparrals. They had the red-white-blue basketball. Wooden bleachers. A hand-operated scoreboard. They had my favorite player - Laverne Tart - and his red high-top canvas Chuck Taylor Converse. I'll never forget my excitement at going to see the Chaps play the Virginia Squires and a youngster named Julius Erving. Expecting the big afro and th

  October 22, 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

• Spurs? What Spurs?

  November 6, 2009