The Mavericks are officially in trouble

March 24th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

The whole “Dallas hasn’t won a game against a winning team since the Jason Kidd trade” refrain is getting a little old, but it’s also undeniably true. The Mavericks traded whatever interior defense they used to have to get a balky Kidd, and the returns have been mediocre. More and more, it looks as if Dallas’ window was shut on them in last year’s playoffs, when The Bearded One of Whom We Do Not Speak took Dirk’s confidence and crushed it in his palm.And this was all before the Mavericks lost to the Spurs last night, and lost Dirk in the process.

“I fell awkwardly, and my left leg got caught underneath me,” Nowitzki said in a news release. As Cuban left the locker room toward his suite, he held up two fingers to indicate the weeks Nowitzki is expected to miss.

Working with that rough estimate, the Mavericks will face six or seven games in the next two weeks without their anchor. They are seventh in the Western Conference, two games ahead of ninth-place Denver. Moving up is looking less likely. The No. 6 Spurs are three games up and own the tiebreaker.

While I’d never call into question the accuracy of a Mark Cuban prediction on this Real Time Reporting site, two weeks seems pretty hopeful, given that this might not be an ankle sprain. But it’s not that Dirk’s injured — it’s that even if he wasn’t, the Mavs still look like a team limping to the finish. In this year’s West, Jason Kidd and Josh Howard and an overactive Avery Johnson just aren’t enough.

Quick Avery Johnson addendum: AJ has been accused of overcoaching far too often this year, which, after watching his appearance in Black Magic, is sort of baffling. Johnson’s interview for the documentary discussed about his time at Southern University and how his former coach’s system was free-wheeling and improvisational and fast-paced and still structured, and how much he liked that. After his playing career, Johnson went on to coach under Don Nelson, who is as free-wheeling as they come. So where does this current stuff come from?

I don’t mean this to sound as if Avery Johnson isn’t capable of independent thought, but it’s pretty clear he had to have gone outside of both his college experience and what one would assume was his defining professional mentorship to create his own slow, rigid style. Maybe 90’s basketball players are just destined to slow things down to a crawl. I still don’t get it.

Avery Johnson would like you to buy his book

November 27th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

A few days back, Avery Johnson went batshit insane, running out onto the court to protest a call made by referee Bennett Salvatore. (For the record, it was an awful call.  Apparently the Mavs think this guy has it out for them.) In typical Mark Cuban fashion, Dallas filed an official protest to the league about said officiating in that game against the Pacers.

Johnson was ejected. Then fined. Then a reporter asked him about the whole thing and well, I don’t know what’s going on here.

Johnson was asked about the fine before taking on Washington at American Airlines Center. He smiled broadly and chuckled a bit used the opportunity to plug his yet-to-be-published book, Aspire Higher.

“In the book we have different plans like the ‘S’ plan where we talk about Standards, Systems,” he said, smile still affixed. “You have the ‘D’ plan about Dedication, Desire and Decisions. We have the ‘E’ plan about Education and Environment and Excellence. We have all of these plans.

“I was thinking though this afternoon I should call my publisher and add another plan.”

That would be the ‘C’ plan.

“In the ‘C’ plan I should have four chapters,” he continued. “One chapter should be called Conflicting Concepts, the next chapter should be called Competing Commitments, the next chapter should be called Compelling Commercials and the fourth chapter probably should be called Confused Communication.

“So I’m going to call [publisher HarperCollins] and see if they can add it in there. I think I missed the deadline.”

Obviously, Johnson didn’t want to talk about the fine directly, probably a prudent choice considering his wallet. The book, incidentally, is slated to be released in March for $29.95 hardcover. It’s meant to inspire those people at an “in between” point in their lives.

Oh, OK, this is all about shameless book promotion; I see.  Well then, let me take this opportunity to plug our line of Postmen merchandise coming out in the new year. Our best product is most definitely the PostmanR and PostmanE action figures. Each one is basically the same thing: one of us sitting on a couch with a laptop — you can’t move the body off the couch at all. You may say that’s boring and defeats the purpose of an “action” figure. I say we’re just trying to keep these as lifelike and realistic as possible.

{Via FanHouse.}

Baron Davis is very good at basketball

April 29th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

For some reason, I always keep forgetting this. It probably has a lot to do with injuries and the fact that Davis has spent most of his career at outposts like New Orleans and Golden State, but still.

Anyway, here’s a helpful reminder of exactly how good Davis was in college. As the Lakers and Suns figure things out, I’m already thinking about whether the Warriors can really upset the Mavs. If Davis continues to unleash, that prospect looks more and more likely.

Weekend Fun = Soccer + Basketball

June 16th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanR

So, staying with their current theme, the World Cup will be rolling out three games a day this weekend. Check the full television schedule here. You know, it would be nice if the U.S. could at least show up against Italy. That�s all we ask, really. (I believe they�re calling this one a �must win� for the Americans.)

We got some NBA Final action on Sunday night. Why E keeps picking the Mavs to win out is beyond my comprehension, because he originally picked Cuban�s gang to take the title in seven games. Both his prediction and mine (Mavs in six) are still looking good. That is unless D. Wade keeps lighting it up.

And what will we be up to this weekend?

I�ll be trying to avoid the 90 degree heat wave that has just begun to invade Chicago. And E? He�ll be up in Michigan at some journalist conference. Dork.

And please for the love of God, DON�T go see Nacho Libre this weekend. Thanks.

Postmen Postgame: Mavs hold first serve

June 8th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

Well, it wasn’t exactly the prettiest game we’ve seen in the playoffs, but it was, for all intents and purposes, a fair start to what we hope will be a series full of entertaining basketball.

The story of this 90-80 Mavs win was Jason Terry, who just seemed to be everywhere at once - coming up with loose balls, sprinting off screens and hitting shots, flying at Miami defenders in the open court. It was a complete game from Terry, who could use this series as a springboard to true league-wide star status.

Dirk was okay, but not great; he checked out in the fourth (figuratively), but the game was relatively out of Miami’s reach by then.

Wade showed up with 28 despite having fitness problems earlier in the week, but Shaq was held to 17 and ‘Toine had way too much of the ball in his hands in the second half. For Miami, too much ‘Toine is probably going to spell disaster every game.

So Shaq was largely missed and Dirk wasn’t all there. But the most noticable absence from my television throughout the game? David Hasselhoff. What, we’re past that story? Ok, fine. But if Dirk continues to have poor games, Mark Cuban better round up the private jet fleet and go grab David from…wherever it is that he hangs out these days.

Memorial Day brings the funk

May 26th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

Off work Monday? Three-day weekend upon you? Sure, it sounds ok, but you know you’ll get sucked in to hanging out with family eventually. Oohhh. Ouch.

Never fear. There’s plenty of stuff to watch this weekend.

Tonight, the stellar NBA playoffs continue as the Mavs try not to get Diaw’d again and the Suns try to set records for chucking ability and the U.S. National Team attempts to get a friendly win. Tomorrow, the Pistons and Heat start up again, and the Cubs will try to WIN A GAME PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Sunday, a bunch of cars will go around in a circle for a few hours, and everyone will love it. I’ll be watching basketball, thank you.

Good luck to you all.

(By the way, not to get too schmaltzy or anything on you, but thanks to the people who are the real reason we have a day off work Monday - our fallen, and living soldiers. Props, homies.)

Mark Cuban is a sweaty, friendly owner

May 23rd, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

The photographic proof is right there. Mark’s just happy.

And he should be, as his Mavs took down the Spurs last night, getting over that playoff hump they’ve been struggling with for so long.

That was only the first Game 7 of the night, as the Suns and Clippers went deep into the night to finally settle that West Coast situation out there.

Not gonna lie - wasn’t awake for this one. It was a taxing day and E needed his sleep.

Nonetheless, the LA Times is telling me that the Clippers ended their dream season - when you’re the Clippers, getting to the second round of the playoffs is a dream season - last night thanks to some clever basketball by the Suns.

You have to hand it to Steve Nash here. For all the talk about Kobe, and then LeBron, Nash is quietly leading his team, sans Amare Stoudamire, closer and closer to the NBA Finals. Not bad for a Canadian, eh?

Fun with Photography : Dirk Nowitzki

May 17th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanR

If you ever were a reader or subscriber of Sports Illustrated for Kids, then you probably remember having the chance to submit a caption for their �silly sports photos.�

We here at the Postmen have decided to start our own version of this fun little game. Here are some captions for this lovely photo of Dirk Nowitzki. As always, your captions are welcome in the comments section.

- Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (In a distinct Sloth-like moan from the Goonies.)

- Years of praise from Mark Cuban have turned me mentally retarded. Don�t feel sorry for me. It�s okay.

- This is how you cheer in Germany, thank you very much.