Know Thine Enemy

- Mark Moseley

Remember when the Mavericks were just starting to get good? (Hell, remember when I wrote articles for this thing? I barely do) Think back to a few years ago: Mark Cuban was new to the whole ownership thing, and the Mavs had a pseudo-rivalry with the Kings, a coach who didn’t like to play defense, and a revolving door of mediocre white players (remember Antoine Rigaudeau? Me neither). Flash forward a bit, and the Mavs had Antawn Jamison coming off the bench (he and Danny Fortson combined to keep the bench warm for Antoine Walker’s fat ass) and the Dirk-Steve-Fin trio flying high. Move forward in time once more. Nash is gone, and a (Mavericks) Nation mourns. That is, until Basketball Jesus in the human form of Avery Johnson descended to Earth upon a cloud made of angels’ wings. He led Dallas into the playoffs, where they were single-handedly destroyed by… Steven John Nash.

What did all these teams have in common? An underachieving superstar? No. Unless you’re Ted and you think that Dirk Nowitzki should have been traded for Ron Artest last year. (Ron Artest, by the way, was arrested today on domestic violence charges and dismissed indefinitely from the Sacramento Kings. I hope he gets jail time so the world can find out just how good of a defender he really is, if you know what I mean) These teams all claimed to have a lack of respect from the rest of the league.

Ancient history.

After their disastrous Finals appearance last summer, the Mavericks have an insatiable bloodlust not seen in the NBA for years. With Dwyane Wade and the trifecta from hell seared in their collective memory, Dallas has compiled the best record in the league and still has that pissed-off look in their eye, led by Avery “We’re Still Not Satisfied” Christ. They’re hungry. Starving, in fact. Look at the remaining schedule. Away games at the Lakers, Pistons, and Suns, as well as home games against Utah, San Antonio, and Phoenix are the only games that jump out. So take that into consideration. If they lose every one of those games (they won’t), and drop the requisite gimmie game or two (Golden State likes to beat us at odd times, for instance), that puts Dallas at 66-16, thereby setting a new franchise record for wins. But the Mavericks have one key factor, something they’ve never had since Cuban bought them.

They’ve got respect.

Is that a bad thing? To be determined. Like I said, the season’s basically over. Even if the number one seed is somehow wrestled away from us at season’s end, Dallas has established itself as “The Team to Beat” this season. Herein lies the problem: the Mavericks have wrestled that title away from a team that is arguably just as hungry for a championship in the Phoenix Suns. You probably don’t remember, but a couple of months ago, we Maverick fans probably wouldn’t have wanted to cry if they lost a regular season game like we do now (Seriously, I’ll be so bummed out when we lose again). During the early months of 2006-07, Phoenix was that team, the team with the hot 15-game win streak. Dallas has taken that status away from them. And this is becoming a trend that has to absolutely burn Phoenix. Think about it. Two years ago in the playoffs, Jerry Stackhouse turned Joe Johnson’s face into mush, and even though they beat Dallas, even though Steve crushed the Mavs in every game, they were still pissed. Last year, Dallas went into their building and took the Western Conference from them, reaching the Finals before they did.

Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated’s chief NBA writer, wrote a book chronicling the Suns’ run to the playoffs last season called :07 Seconds or Less. I highly recommend it. Oh hell, ask and I’ll probably let you borrow it. Unless you’re Ted, and take a year and a half to read my books. Before the Mavs/Suns series had started last May, McCallum wrote the following:

“Phoenix and Dallas are, to some degree, perceived as doppelgangers of each other- entertaining and talented, yet hard-wired to fall short of a championship because they lack some toughness gene. Each hates that reputation and wants to slough it off on the other. Both franchises have crawled their way to near the top of the NBA food chain, and now both are looking to beat the other to the very top.”

For now, Dallas holds that edge. But Phoenix knows that the war has not been won by either side, and they have genuine hatred for Dallas. The Suns are built around testy players like Shawn Marion, one of the unique talents in the NBA currently, who doesn’t play motivated 100% of the time but always gives the Mavs his best. And unlike last year, they have been able to reap the benefits of shelving their star center for a season. Amare Stoudamire was just as puzzling as Steve was in the playoffs two years ago for Dallas, and it will take everything the “Two-Headed Monster” of Diop and Dampier has to contain him in an extended playoff series. By the way, thanks to Skip Bayless for providing me with that term; he said it not to credit Dallas’ centers, but to discredit Dirk’s candidacy for MVP this season. Wisdom like that puts Bayless near the top of my most hated TV personality list, somewhere between Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly. Surprisingly absent from my list? Charles Barkley, a man who seems to have as little respect for the Suns as he does for the Mavs. According to McCallum, the Suns used Barkley’s negative comments towards them to motivate themselves in the first two rounds of the playoffs last year, when they beat the two LA teams (remember? The Clippers were good last year.) despite being undermanned and exhausted.

The Mavericks have the best team in the NBA this year. The Phoenix Suns have the second best team. Those are facts, and nobody can dispute them (well, except for Tim Duncan, who has to complain to somebody since he can’t whine to the officials as much this year). But legit teams in this league (and there are fewer and fewer of them every year) have a knack for exacting revenge. One need look no further than our own Dallas Mavericks, who finally knocked off the Spurs last year. So it would serve the Mavericks well to keep an eye on the rearview mirror, because the Suns are primed for an upset.

(SIDENOTE: you know, I hate to potentially be a jinx, but assuming the Mavericks beat the Nets at home tomorrow, they’ll have two games in California before hosting the Suns on March 14. If they win all three of those games, they will carry an 18-game win streak into that matchup. Can you IMAGINE playing the Suns boasting that? We’ll have one-upped them yet again, beating their 17-gamer earlier this year. If that happens, it’ll be the game of the season. No doubt about it. I have been looking forward to this game since December.)

*Note: This validity of this article depends on whether Dwyane Wade is a lying little pussy.

Briefly:

Be sure to check out Jet Terry’s new website, teamtakeoff.com. One of the last memories I have before getting violently ill two weeks ago is the Jet pimping his new clothing line. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the URL. I blame Olive Garden’s Crab Alfredo.

Even though I didn’t get to see UNT defeat Middle Tennessee (some might call that a blessing the way that game went), I’m ecstatic about playing for a spot in the Dance. Granted, we’re playing Arkansas State, a team that walloped us once this year, then came to Denton and beat us on our home floor. Be sure to catch the game at 8 CST on the Deuce, ESPN2!

Quote of the week: “i keep it real thats all i no” – Ben Bell’s Facebook profile