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oh its the mavericks, the old mavericks, back in full effect.

for two and a half games, i could not have been more impressed with the mavericks as a team. they were direct and aggressive. they played with the poise of a championship team. now this last game and a half, they’re back to playing like last year’s playoff’s mavericks. tentative, passive, looking around like they don’t know what they need to do. pretty dissappointing really.

during the first half of game 3 i realized that i really don’t like the heat as a team. they’re a bunch of individuals. they’re old and selfish and theyy are completely uninspiring. i don’t think that professional basketball players realize that they can inspire and lift their fans they way that footballers in europe realize thay can, in fact often their aim is to do just that. there’s a togetherness in football that is alluring beyond anything that american sports can offer. the heat don’t play good basketball. they play in a “let me get mine” kind of way.

- dwayne wade is an absolutely rediculous athlete. he has done things on the court, and continues to do things that amaze me. what is nearly as amazing is how these teams seem to stand around when he starts to drive to the basket. for all his abilities, making his teamates better is not one of them. his teamates seem to stand and watch when he goes to the basket because they know he’s probably not giving it up.

- shaq’s career is nearly over. he’s lost that edge he’s had for so long. as a fan i’ve grown accustomed to him having that dominance and its extremely sporatic now. how can one of the most dominant players in the history of the world, only score 5 points in 28 minutes going 2-5 from the floor and 1-7 from the line? he can’t keep going much longer like this. he did this in the finals mind you. it doesn’t ever get bigger than this. this is why he plays, for rings, and you show up and give that effort. i don’t believe his heart’s in it any longer

- jason williams has caused me to really want to no longer watch the nba finals. his game is ugly, cheap, boring, and a waste of 15-25 minutes a night. he has no purpose, no direction and absolutely NO ability to lead a team from the point position. yet for some reason, the “genius” pat riley starts him every game and continues to give him minutes. during game 3 i kept thinking, where is gary payton? payton’s knickname is ‘the glove’, given to him becuase of his unbelievable defensive ability. he’s also notorious for his mouth, jawing at the opposition or anyone who will listen or who won’t listen. he’s tenacious. payton is a leader on the floor. he’s definitely lost a step, and his game is nowhere, and i mean nowhere close to where it was even 3 years ago, but he’s still a good player, infinitely more useful than williams. williams is known as ‘white chocolate’ and is know for throwing alley-oops more than for being a good basketball player. watching him play, makes me like basketball less. he’s really a waste on the floor. it really boggles the mind that you can play like he does and get paid millions of dollars.

- james posey, antoine walker, and udonis “has-been” haslem are undependable. what you get from them each night is a crap shoot at best. with walker, you know you’re going to get at least 4 or 5 missed 3’s a night. posey might be aggressive, then again he might stand around, and haslem might get you 10 boards, but he might also have several defensive lapses and let the opposing 4 dominate him or have the opposing 3 continually blow past him.
i’m not saying i want the heat to win, because i’m focusing on their team, and not the mavericks. strategically, i feel there are adjustments that riley could make to have the games be a little more interesting and as a want-to-be coach, i see these adjustments that make more sense than the moves that “the genius” according to magic, shaq, wade, charles and countless others, is making. i also wouldn’t want to watch williams play, at all.

i really don’t like the heat’s team.

the mavs have to resume playing like they did in game 1 and game 2 and the first two thirds of game 3. but for a missed dirk free throw, this series might be over right now. crazy how one game, one quarter really can change the outlook of a series entirely.

i just can’t understand why you (the mavericks) don’t want it more. where’s the killer mentality? when you have a team down by 13 and you’re shutting out the lights on their season, their year, their hopes, their playoff lives, and you’re soon to assure your place in nba history, where’s the mentality to go rip the heart out of the team and finishing it by stomping on there last chance to do anything with your total team effort and offensive precision and defensive aggressiveness? (in the heat’s case, if they don’t do anything this year, that might be it for them. riley’s too old as are the rest of them and he’s not up with the “new” as a coach.) where’s the concentration? where’s the love? if you want a ring and a championship and all the money, fame, respect and recognition that comes along with it, where’s the intensity to get it done? how can you not finish a team that you have on the ropes with a swollen-shut eye, and a damaged leg and damaged shoulder. why do you let them up off the ropes?

i cannot for the life of me understand it. i have over the last few years observed the desire to become a coach grow in my heart, and one of the main things i want to coach and teach is having an unbeatable will. having a unbeatable desire. you might have more talent, more height or more money and better facilities than me, but you will not ever want it more or give more effort than me. i RARELY see this mentality in sports. kobe shows signs of it, but some nights he’s not into it, ie. game 7 of the lakers v suns series, where you at kobe? lebron doesn’t have it. shaq’s lost interest, there are players who show signs on given nights, kidd, carter, wade, amare, ray allen, but nobody and i mean nobody had it like mike.

bird had it, i wouldn’t ever want to play against bird or mike. there’s a story about bird during all-star weekend one year, he was in the 3-point shoot-out. before the contest he walked into the locker room and announced to his competitors, “which one of you m-fers is going to come in second?” he then prceeded to go out and absolutely light up the competition. i don’t mean just winning, he went out and hit like 80 or 90% or his 3’s. scored something like 23 in the final round. 25 is hitting all 20 shots with 5 money balls.

why don’t more people play with that kind of passion? i’m not suggesting that everyone start verbally assaulting their opponents and playing the the old ‘bad boys’ from detroit in the late 80’s, but why aren’t more people playing with that fire that gets you out of your seat. more and more and more it seems, i’m left feeling like this.