MavsFanForLife

Bouncy Bouncy In OT

With the game all tied up in OT, Dirk makes what he thought was a perfect shot that ended up with a little bounce but follows through in scoring when there was only 3.1 seconds left, the lights flash while the ball finally makes it way through the net.

Dirk prevented a 2nd overtime against the Bucks, with the final score 115-113 after grabbing the ball from a pass from Kidd, who was just 1 point from a triple double.

Nowitzki scored 7 of his 32 points in OT, also nabbing 11 boards.

Gooden came up with another great game in Dampiers place, scoring 22 and grabbing 14 rebounds. Perhaps Gooden should be starting in place of Dampier, he’s certainly proved in the last two games if he can keep this momentum up.

Terry also did his part, scoring 19 points coming off the bench.

Dampier was actually hospitalized and was flying to meet the team for their charter flight back to Dallas when they host the Spurs. No word except that he was ill and not feeling well.

The Mavericks also lost Shawn Marion in the 2nd quarter to a sprained left ankle. It was noted he is listed as day to day at this point. No matter though, the Mavericks seem to be on a roll without Marion, Howard and Thomas this season so far.

Two Wins Down, Let’s Hope Another Makes It A Midwest Road Sweep

So with back to back wins for the Mavs, a relatively easy one against the T’Wolves who had only one win so far this season, the Mavs blew past them 85-70.

Then the Mavs won against the Pistons who were on a 3 game winning streak which was halted with the Mavs 95-90 win.

Now the Mavs are facing the Bucks with a red hot rookie Jennings, who set a team record for rookies with 55 points the other night and only part a few handful of other rookies to score more than 50. Wilt Chamberlain of course has the record mark at 58 for a rookie.

This game will be tough, although I think the Mavs can pull it off with another win to sweep the Midwest teams on the road. This will be the 3rd game in 4 nights, then with another day off before hosting the Spurs at home on Wednesday.

Let’s just hope the Maverick starters and bench will actually contribute instead of watching Dirk do most of the work this season in their first 10 games. At least Gooden looked more alive in the Mavs win against the Pistons, scoring 11 and grabbing 11 boards in Dampier’s absence. Gooden did a good job I think and the Mavs actually outscored the Pistons 46-36 in the paint, we can likely add this to the credit for the win, since the Mavericks shot pretty poorly with 43% from the field overall.

Ryan Hollins A Timberwolf

According to Mark Cuban’s twitter, Ryan Hollins is now a Timberwolf as Cuban was telling others to wish him the best of luck with his new team.

Hollins was drafted from UCLA by Charlotte, played two seasons with the Bobcats before being traded to Dallas. Hollins has career averages of 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

Although the Mavericks have 7 days to match the offer which was not disclosed by the Twolves but I’m assuming by Cuban’s twitter, the Mavericks won’t be matching any offer to keep Hollins.

Personally I can see why the Mavericks won’t keep Hollins around since we acquired Gooden to back up Dampier in the low post but another side of me would want to keep him since this kid has potential from what we saw in the playoffs. I think with Dampier likely not being a Maverick after this season and Gooden not being a full time center, Hollins would have been appreciated in the coming years.

The best of luck to you Hollins, you will be missed and hopefully you get some more playing time with your new team.

What’s In Store For The Mavs

So there’s been a lot of happenings around Mavland. Lots of player transactions which resulted in a lot of familiar faces sticking around but a lot of new faces we’ll be seeing this coming season.

With the Mavericks already over the grand old luxury tax imposed by the NBA, Stackhouse, George and Bass are just a few of the familiar faces no longer with the team. The newcomers are Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas, along with Rodrigue Beaubois, Ahmad Nivins (still unsigned) and Nick Calathes (still unsigned) who were all draft picks.

Gerald Green, Ryan Hollins and James Singleton are all free agents. I honestly hope the Mavs can keep Hollins around, the others really wouldn’t make an impact to the team.

As for the starting lineup, we can probably count that it will be Kidd, Marion, Howard, Nowitzki and Dampier. Jason Terry will continue to come out as the 6th man and Drew Gooden will be a versatile player who can back up Nowitzki and Dampier.

Tim Thomas being a 3 point specialist could come off the bench in hopes to get some easy baskets in little time, as he averaged close to 8 points a game in 20 minutes on average playtime each game.

Little Jose will continue coming off the bench and maybe get some more starts as well to back up Kidd. Hopefully Kidd can continue to mentor Barea to possibly take over the PG role while Kidd deeparts from his playing days in the NBA in the next few years that he has left.

Overall I believe the players we picked up makes the Mavericks a better team than last year and even the year before. If Gooden stays healthy along with Josh Howard staying healthy and Tim Thomas can put up some decent numbers, I can see this team being a threat to the Denver Nuggets and maybe rebounding to be a contender in the tight Western Conference. I’m not even so worried about Denver any longer, everyone should realize that the Lakers just got better picking up Artest and retaining Odom, so that’s the team to beat this year.

Welcome Tim Thomas

The Mavericks signed 12 year veteran forward Tim Thomas. He averaged close to 8 points a game last year only playing 20 minutes a game. A 3 point specialist is Thomas’s skill to help bolst the Mavericks back into the 3 point game they need. He had a 41% from beyond the arc last season. He’s a career 37% three point shooter, making 946 in 806 career games.

I’d imagine Thomas can be that goto guy off the bench to help in games we are trailing to throw up some 3 pointers.

Now with the Mavericks acquiring Marion and Gooden, the idea of adding more guys like Tim Thomas to help off the bench is starting to look good for the Mavericks.

I vision our new starting lineup will consist of Kidd, Howard, Nowitzki, Marion and Dampier with Gooden backing up Dampier. Terry will continue to play the 6th man role and Little Jose will continue to backup Kidd while Kidd molds him into a better PG. Then we’ll likely have Hollins continue to be scuplted and molded and players like Tim Thomas that can come off the bench to do what’s needed to win games.