Well, not much news today...
Oh wait. There's LOTS.
- Unless you live under a rock(I hope our devoted rock-people readership can pardon the expression), you probably know that Dallas opened the season last night in shocking fashion, winning fairly comfortably on the road against a Laker team many were rushing to crown Western Conference champs already.
- Some were, meanwhile, also prematurely burying the Mavs, and though I won't name names, I think those people know who they are, and know how dumb they look, and know how French their names sound.
- A total team effort from Dallas, and as Matt Moore correctly writes, for all those who fall in love with the super-team idea, remember coaching still matters. In the absence of a clear-cut "player of the game", I'll go ahead and give this win to Rick Carlisle, who pushed all the right buttons, from starting Brandan Wright over Eddy Curry to having the horde of athletic guards(yes, we're actually using that phrase to describe a Maverick team) abuse an old-looking and poorly-utilized Steve Nash with tireless ball-pressure and up-tempo offense.
- Speaking of those guards, was this win so good that the Roddy B bandwagon has gas again? I'll need some time before I get on board there, but it was an encouraging performance after a fairly unimpressive pre-season for Roddy.
- More reaction from ESPN Dallas, including a great stat of the night: midway through the third quarter Darren Collison had already surpassed Jason Kidd's season high scoring total from last year. Hilarious, so why am I crying?
- You like photos, right?
- The Dallas Morning News talks about the Laker newcomers, who both had a less than stellar debut. As excited as we might be here about this win, I think we should expect this will be the major storyline: not what Dallas did right, but what LA did wrong. Truthfully, I thought Dwight Howard looked far less than 100% out there, missing dunks, grabbing "just" 10 rebounds, and fouling out. On one play Howard had Brandan Wright boxed out, and Wright simply elevated over him for an easy offensive rebound, as a floorbound Dwight seemed to just look on helplessly. My guess is that doesn't happen if the big fella is healthy.
- As for Nash, I don't think 7 points and 4 assists was what Lakers fans were hoping for from him, either. One interesting note involving Nash: while Cuban was busy trying to make soundbytes like "I hope they suck", talking about the Lakers, he also offered something of a mea culpa on Steve, and the decision to let him go in 2004. Not earth-shattering, but there it is.
- Cuban also said he was surprised by the injuries new center Chris Kaman has had so far this year. A calf problem prevented him from traveling with the team for the two game road-trip, which concludes tonight in Utah. Cuban's rationale is that they are not injuries Kaman has dealt with before, but I'd say it's hardly a surprise to see Kaman on the injured list, for whatever reason.
- Even without Kaman, Dallas had the depth to overwhelm their opponent for at least one night, from the aforementioned Collison and Roddy to butterfly-less rookie Jae Crowder and "new sherrif in town" O.J Mayo(though he played more like a deputy). Now it's on to Utah.
- The worst of the night in the world of basketball, including some terrible quotes from Reggie Miller.
- Amare Stoudemire could be six weeks. Dallas plays the Knicks a week from Friday, and then again in the 21st of November, so presumably Amare will miss both. Honestly, though New York is the kind of team where one less star ballhog might be a good thing, really.
- Delonte West is looking for a job. We still love you, Delonte.
And that's it.