C's/Mavericks - Preview

Things do not look good for the Celtics heading into this one. Dallas is at home, has lost 2 games in a row, and appears to be facing its first real adversity since a 0-4 start. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki must be tired of hearing that he choked and that Steve Nash is the MVP. Don't get me wrong Suns/Mavericks was an awesome game. But let's not get carried away. Dallas has now one 2 of the 3 regular season games and the season still has a ways to go. I can't stand people who say, "If the season ended now who is your MVP?" Here is my answer - who cares? And if the season ended now rookies would not hit the wall as much, the Finals would not inexplicably extend into June, and maybe teams would show up to play every night, as opposed to what the Hawks did the other night against Boston. Speaking of Boston. I am going to focus on one aspect of tonight's game: Al Jefferson's offense. At this point he has shown what he can do against mediocre defensive teams and poor individual defenders. And I do not believe that Big Al fears anyone. However, Ben Wallace did keep him in check. So it is important for Al to get it done against a strong defensive team such as Dallas, particularly if Erick Dampier cares tonight. All eyes are on the artist formerly known as #8.

Random Thoughts:

- This is the last time I will ever talk about Skip Bayless. I now realize that when he says Steve Nash is the best point guard ever Bayless is just trying to agitate and get attention. So he's dead to me now. That feels better.

- March Madness is in serious danger of going the way of the Olympics. Too much attention, too much corporate influence, and not enough footage from the close games (damn you CBS). I'd like to think it is too awesome an event to ruin. However, with ESPN and everyone else throwing bracketologists and experts at us, I am concerned. The beauty of March Madness always will be that any number of people wanted VCU to beat Duke and yet how many people really picked it to happen? Let's not forget that.

- One more March Madness note. Can we all agree that some of those games were bad yesterday? Overall I love the intensity, atmosphere, and randomness, regardless of the quality play (see my previous post about a bad high school game). But let's not pretend it was all like VCU/Duke.

- I really hope that I can get this stuck in your head. Welcome to my world.