Check out the kid who robs Tyson Chandler of his towel during Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trailblazers.

Chandler looks as if he is about to go all Ron Artest until he sees that it was a kid that snatched it off his neck. Even though it was a kid the parent of that lil badass should teach him better. If I was the dad I would have smacked his ass and gave the towel back.

Lost This One, Now Regroup And Get The Next One

Game 3

Well the Portland Trailblazers weren’t going to lay down and give it up to easy to the Mavericks tonight. I was really hoping the Mavericks could make a statement in this game by knocking the Trailblazers into a 3-0 hole but that wasn’t the case tonight. The Mavericks just didn’t do a good job with getting scoring from all their players like they have had in the first to games, also Jason Kidd didn’t play the same either and committed 5 turnovers on his own. Not a good night for the Mavs.

As for the Portland Trailblazers I tip my hat to them for putting up a fight and not letting the Mavs come into their home and get the first win. Looks like the team came together and said “We can’t go out this easily”. Four players for the Trailblazers had 16 points or more, Brandon Roy had a great game. The team played tremendously better than the first two games against the Mavs.

Hopefully this didn’t fuel the Trailblazers and the Mavericks can bounce back from this loss and take the next at Portland and return home with a road win. If not then the Mavs need to do a gut check and make sure their confidence doesn’t get shattered. They need to think about the Miami series and make sure it doesn’t happen in the first round here, that should be enough to get them pissed off and hungry. I know that’s all I would need.

Now come on Mavericks, dust yourselves off and come back stronger!!!

Why Can The Rangers Lose The Big One, But The Mavs Can’t?

I’ve been hearing how everybody is down on the Mavericks and even though they are up 2-0 in their playoff series with the Portland Trailblazers many believe if the Mavs lose tonight it will be the beginning of the end for their playoff run.

It got me to thinking about the comparison of the Mavs and the Texas Rangers. It seems like since the Mavericks lost to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals all of their fans have turned against them. I feel that the team has been wronged by the fans because if you look at it the team has been playing awesome basketball and winning over 50 games a season for the past 11 seasons. They have always been in the playoffs during that time and they even made it to the finals. Granted they didn’t win the title but hey they made it there which is something the team has never done before and the teams before that completely sucked ass, that is what brings me to the Texas Rangers.

The Texas Rangers for most of their existence have been a very bad or mediocre team until the past couple years. They made it past the Yankees last year finally and went on to lose to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Now I am wondering why the feelings are different for them. I mean they made it to the World Series and lost just as the Mavericks made it to the NBA Finals and lost. Everybody is still celebrating the Rangers and they have even more fans now than ever, as for the Mavericks it is completely the opposite. The Mav fans seemed like maybe they are spoiled and are entitled to a championship and they just aren’t happy with really good seasons and playoff appearances. For some reason it’s ok for it to be that way with the Rangers. Why?

Now I am a die-hard fan of both teams but I am just happy with both teams making it to the big game. That was a huge step from where they came from. I think Mav fans should be happy and keep supporting the team, it will piss me off to see all the fans come back if they do win the championship this year and say shit like “oh I’ve always been a fan and I knew they could do it”, whatever bitch you turned your back on them until now!!!

I can understand Cowboys fans, Yankees fan and Red Sox fans being spoiled and feeling entitled because it is something they are used too. But the Mavs fans need to get over that shit and enjoy the great basketball they are playing. I expect big things from the Mavs in the playoffs and I expect big things from the Rangers this year but even if they fail I am not gonna turn my back on either. Hope no one else does either. If you do your just a jackass who isn’t a real sports fan!!

Celtics Up 2-0, Garnett With A Great Defensive Play

Earlier this evening the Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks to lead the series 2-0. I didn’t get to see this whole game, I actually caught it in about the middle of the third quarter but I loved what I got to see!! I loved seeing Carmelo Anthony score over 40 points and still lose the game!!! I just have a feeling he will never win a championship no matter what team he is on. He is not as self-absorbed as LeBron but he is up there and I believe that will be the fall of both of them.

Garnett had two key plays in the final seconds of Game 2 to get the victory

Anyway my favorite plays of the game were from veteran Kevin Garnett, he had an awesome play on both offense and defense which pretty much sealed the victory for the Celtics. With under 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter and New York up 93-92 Doc Rivers calls a play for Garnett and Garnett made a nice hook shot to put them up 94-93. New York with the ball and trying to get a basket before time ran out, the Knicks Jefferies threw a pass under the basket which was stolen by Kevin Garnett who fell on the ball and called a timeout. With the Celtics keeping control of the ball the inbounded the ball to Delonte West who ran around in the back court running down time before he was fouled and he made both of his free throws with only .06 seconds left on the clock to seal the second victory of the series.

I loved the way Garnett played in the final minutes of the game, just shows what good veteran leadership does for your team. Not only do they have that in Garnett but they also have Pierce and Ray Allen. That is one hell of a trio to be leading your team and then you add Rondo into the mix and all the other guys and you have a bad ass team. The Celtics may very win the Championship this year and I would not be surprised if they do.

Good Job Boston!!

Note:

(Amare Stoudemire left the game with back spasms and didn’t return for the second half, no details if he will miss anymore time during the series)

The NBA’s Secret Weapon To Defeat Cuban And The Mavericks

The NBA is about to use its WMD to destroy Cuban and the Mavericks

Tonight the NBA is unveiling their WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) to destroy the Mavericks yet again in the playoffs, they call this weapon the “Danny Crawford”.

The Dallas Mavericks are 2-16 in playoff games when the weapon is unleashed on them. That is a very lopsided number and it has spiked many conspiracy theories about the NBA being against the Dallas Mavericks because of their ill feelings towards Mark Cuban. Now I am a die-hard Mavericks fan but I don’t believe there is a conspiracy against the Mavericks, I really don’t and I sure hope that isn’t the case. Maybe Crawford doesn’t really like the Mavericks but I still don’t think he would intentionally make calls to cause the Mavs to lose. I have always felt that you shouldn’t put yourself in position to let someone else cause a win or loss. Go out there and put a beat down on the other team to where it doesn’t matter what calls you get against you, you still win the game. It is like a boxing match or MMA match, you never want to leave the decision in the hands of the judges, you want to go out there and knock them out.

I think it will be a good game tonight and I think Portland will bring it tonight, but I think the Mavericks will pull this one out at home. They need too and they need to do it big. As for Danny Crawford, I think he would like nothing better than for the Mavericks to win tonight so all these conspiracy theories and questions will go away. That is “IF” he isn’t purposely causing the Mavericks to lose but I don’t think that he is really trying to do that.

Anyway I look forward to the game tonight and I am curious as to how the calls go. I will be watching closely to see if any of the calls are questionable, bad or accurate and how many of each are called.

What do you think? Do you think Crawford is a shady ref or do you think all of this is bogus? Let me know!! Either comment or send me an email at mike@mikesmaniacmind.com and I will post your responses.

Let’s Go Mavs!!!

Kidd Playing Young, Howard Getting No Help

Kidd was making it rain 3's last night at the AAC!!

Last night the Dallas Mavericks took on the Portland Trailblazers in game 1 of their first round matchup. The game didn’t start off to well for Portland as in the first few minutes of the game they had already committed 5 fouls. Jason Kidd came out of the gates fast dropping three pointers left and right. Kidd put on a nice performance last night for his age and it was much needed because “The Big German” Dirk Nowitski was having a terrible game to start out. Dirk just couldn’t hit anything in the first half and he seemed to be getting frustrated as the second quarter was winding down. In the fourth quarter Dirk returned to form and had 18 points of his 28 in the fourth. Jason Kidd finished the game with 24 points, in which 6 of them where 3 pointers!! Not bad for a 38 year old!!

Also playing yesterday was the Atlanta Hawks vs. Orlando Magic. The Magic made me look bad yesterday because I picked them to win this series and after yesterday I am not sure but I hope they can come back. I feel bad for Dwight Howard who had a career high 46 points in this game but his team couldn’t muster up any help for him. No one on the team had more than 7 points aside from Howard. Come on guys, you gotta give your boy some help he can’t do it all on his own. The Atlanta Hawks were doing work on the Magic and the Atlanta bench was on fire. Crawford stepped up and had a big game for the Hawks!!

46 pts for Howard wasn't enough to beat the Hawks

If the Mavericks can keep it up and Kidd keeps playing the way he did last night then there shouldn’t be any problem with them making it out of the first round this year. As for the Magic, if you guys wanna win this series then you need to help the big guy out and score some points of your own. Props to the Hawks for the work they did last night against the Magic.

My NBA Playoffs 1st Round Picks

Today I am going to make my picks for the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Let me know your picks too!!

WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

• San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies:

San Antonio all the way. Although I can’t stand the Spurs they are still a very good team. Much like the Mavericks they are an aging team but I still think they have to much talent to lose to the Grizzlies.

• Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets:

This is a very difficult choice for me to make because of the way the Nuggets have been playing since Melo was traded, they have been playing like they have a chip on their shoulder as if to prove to everyone they can win without him. Even though they have been winning without him I don’t think they will be able to overcome the man they call Kevin Durant!! Oklahoma will win this series and move on to face the Spurs.

• Dallas Mavericks vs. Portland Trail Blazers:

This matchup is also another tough one. Yes I am going for my Mavericks and I do believe they will win but it is still in the back of my head how many let downs the Mavs have given me the past few years. They need to win this series and they need to make it to the finals because Kidd, Nowitski and Marion aren’t getting any younger. As for Portland they always play the Mavericks tough and with the addition of Gerald Wallace this year it only makes them better. I still believe the Mavericks are going to win this series but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes the full 7 games or they lose to the Trail Blazers.

• Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets:

If the Hornets were playing against any other team I would give them a chance but I don’t think they will win this series and I don’t even know if they will win one game, they might just get swept. Yes I know Kobe and the Lakers haven’t been playing well leading up to the playoffs but when the playoffs are here they always turn it up. I will never beat against Kobe again in the playoffs because he always proves me wrong. The Lakers will move on and play the Mavericks in the second round.

EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

• Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers:

As you may have seen my earlier post about Derrick Rose you may already know my pick for this one. Yep it’s the Bulls. Derrick Rose is awesome and I love watching him play. Even though the Pacers gave them a great game today I think the Bulls will win this series 4 games to 2. The Pacers will do enough to win 2 games but i think that’s about it. No disrespect for the Pacers, they are doing a great job but I think Derrick Rose is greater than their whole team.

• Orlando Magic vs. Atlanta Hawks:

I haven’t seen many of the Hawks games this year and I don’t think it really matters because I like Dwight Howard and the Magic in this series and I think they will move past the Hawks pretty easily.

• Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks:

Yes, the Knicks now Carmelo, Amare and Chauncy but the Celtics have Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Rondo!! That will be the difference in the series. The Celtics are too good to lose to the Knicks in this series. Carmelo is a good player but I don’t think he is a great player as I don’t think any of the players on the Knicks are great players and the Celtics have at least 3 great players. Celtics move to the second round.

• Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers:

The Miami Heat will probably win this series, matter of fact I know they will win the series but I really hope they don’t!!! I can not stand the Miami Heat or LeBron James. I don’t mind Wade or Bosh but I can’t stand LeBron. It’s not because he left the Cavs hanging, it’s the way he left and to keep acting like he and the Heat are the greatest team ever just pisses me off because he and they aren’t. It still pisses me off that he is called King James, who the hell named him that? He hasn’t won a damn thing and I hope he never does. But in this series I think they will get by pretty easy.

Well those are picks for the 2011 NBA Playoffs 1st Round. Let me know what teams you pick. Let me know how you feel about my picks.

Enjoy the playoffs and good luck to your teams!!!

Go Mavericks!!!

And They “ROSE” Up Against The Pacers

Today the Chicago Bulls took on the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their 1st round playoff series and rallied from being down most of the game to defeat the Pacers 104-99. Derrick Rose took the team on his back and dominated the Pacers. Rose scored 39 points in the game.

I was watching this game and although I knew Derrick Rose was good, I didn’t know just quite how good he really was. As I was watching him I couldn’t stop saying “Damn, this boy is beasting it up out there”. I have a lot more respect for his game, he is one of the best players in the NBA today.

As long as Derrick Rose keeps playing the way he is then I have no doubt that the Bulls will go deep into the playoffs and maybe even reach the finals. He may not be Michael Jordan but he may definitely be the next guy to take them to the finals since Jordan. All I know is I can’t wait to see more of this guy playing during these playoffs. He is a fun guy to watch and a hardcore competitor. I am a die hard Mavericks fan but I will definitely be watching and rooting for the Bulls and Rose throughout their series.