Tanking or not tanking. That is the question.
by Rockerwannabe on 4/5/18American Airlines Center - DallasRating: 5 out of 5I was a bit reluctant about making my yearly pilgrimage to the American Airlines Center to cheer on my beloved Dallas Maverick this year after owner, Mark Cuban had stated earlier that “Loosing was their best option” in order to get a good draft pick. And even though he was fined 600 grand for saying such, I watched the Mavericks pretty much purposely blow a game earlier this week in L.A. But, I already had my tickets, so after a tasty meal at my favorite German restaurant we were on our way to cheer on the home boys.
With the Mavericks dwelling in the bottom muck of the Western Conference with an embarrassing 23 and 52 record I was kind of thinking that my wife and I might be the only fans who would be on hand for Friday night’s game. However, it was bobble head night, and nothing brings in the fans like a free Dirk Nowitzki bobble head. Not only that, but it was “Country” night and the Mavericks dancers were dressed in their tightest fitting Daisy Dukes shorts to dance the Cotton Eyed Joe. Okay, now they’ve got my interest.
However, even the shapely legs and a little bare midriff of the dancers didn’t hide the fact that the Minnesota Timberwolves were in town with no intention of letting the Mavericks screw up their playoff hopes. For some reason I had an entire brood of Minnesota fans to my right and a couple of annoying, little preadolescence Minnesota fans behind me. How does that always happen?
Now the Maverick’s hot young rookie, Dennis Smith Jr. may be the team’s future, and Harrison Barns maybe the team’s best scorer, but this is still Dirk Nowitzki’s team, and the crowd exploded as the big German was introduced. Yes, 20 seasons playing for the Dallas Maverick’s. No player in the history of the NBA has stayed with one team so long (except Coby Bryant). And in grand Dirk fashion he struck first blood draining a three pointer. And then it was up the court with the Timberwolves and a miss, back down the court with Maverick’s and miss, and this went on and on to the point I believed I could have seen more scoring if I drove across town and went to the Ranger’s baseball game.
Yes, the Timberwolves were there to show us all how NOT TO SHOOT the three-point shot, and at half time they were a miserable 13% from behind the arc compared to the Maverick’s 40% allowing the home team a nine-point lead! Wow! Really? Maybe Dallas does want to win this game after all.
Although Harrison Barns put up a team high 19 points along with Dennis Smith Jr.’s 17 points, it was new comer and new German Maxi Kleber that caught my attention. Not only is the 6’11” forward from the same part of Germany as 7’0” Dirk Nowitzki, but his number is 42 opposed to Nowitzki’s 41 which resulted in my calling him Dirk + 1, and the team’s combined effort gave the Mavs a two-point half time lead. I guess they do want to win this game.
For our halftime entertainment we were treated to the voice of the up and coming, country star, oh, I didn’t have a clue who she was. I barely know who Reba McIntire is. However, NOT for our entertainment, the Timberwolves finally found their shot, and their 7’0” center, Kari-Anthony Towns was putting together a nice double double for our watching misery. Oh, who really cares. My wife had gone to the concession stand and brought back this warm, fresh from the oven pretzel, so I didn’t even notice that Minnesota had finally taken the lead.
Despite everyone’s air banjo playing, it was country night, the Mavericks were down by six points near the end of the 4th quarter. Okay, I guess they’re going to tank this game. But wait, before I could say, “Holy Daisy Dukes” they were back in it with a chance to win. Well, only if the NBA has instated the 4-point shot, because the Mav’s needed 4 points with only 0.8 seconds left on the clock. I may suck at math, but I can calculate this formula. X = Ain’t going to happen! Mavs loose by one point!
So, now I’ve seen both the Dallas Mavericks and their D League team, the Legends go down in defeat this season. Earlier this year I ventured up to Oklahoma City to watch the Thunder and their D League team, the Blue both triumph. Strangely enough, in OKC the games still begin with a prayer. However, this doesn’t happen in Dallas anymore. Now, I’m not saying praying before the Dallas games would ensure victory, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. They need all the help they can get.