Say it loud. Say it proud.

We have to play so much better, but when a guy can have such a huge impact. WOW !

cut down the turnovers. Push the ball. Be more efficient. Keep working on D.

m

absolutely nothing new to say.. did my workout.

did an interview with Jalen Rose for Best Damn Sports Show. An interview from the gauntlet with a few.

Big topic of conversation was my telling them that if we go 7 games , that rather than selling the 1400 or so tickets using the lottery system we have used to date. You know the one where every goes to the arena, gets a ticket, then we call out numbers and about 10k people are upset that their number didnt get called.
Then I get another 1k emails from people who tried to call or login online to buy tickets at exactly 10am and had everyone they know do the same, but couldnt buy tickets.

Which in turn leads to another 1k emails about why tickets are available on Ebay , stubhub, etc for huge prices.

I hate the process as much as everyone else. If we were greedy, the Mavs would just put the tickets up for auction and take in the full value the market assigns to them.

But Im not that smart.

Instead, we are looking at working with sponsors so that we can give away the 1500 or so tickets that we might be able to sell for a game 7.

We will try to find a way with our sponsors to get them to fans. Of course , with that few tix available, 99 pct of the people who want to go wont be lucky enough to go. But with this system, we will require the name and address of the person who receives the ticket and require them to show Id when they get to arena so they cant sell them off.

Hopefully it will work. Hopefully.

Time to jump in the shower ! I can feel the electricity from the arena already…

Tom Petty was right. I hate the wait.

Just got to the arena.

Made sure i first got my protein. Stopped at 7-11 for my gourmet Tuna Fish Sandwich. Dentyne Ice to make sure no one else realizes I had a tuna fish sandwich and a Monster Lo Carb Drink. (Got to alternate between my faves…Kronik and Monster low carb)

Had to talk on the phone to the daughter of one of theclerks while the line backed up. The people behind me in line went from “Go Mavs” to “would you shut up already and let us buy our Big Gulps”. Hey, I can handle the pressure.

Can’t say I always ask for the ball at crunch time though. Signing an autograph for the clerk’s daughter was no problem. Seeing her come running out to my car asking me to personalize it to a name I would have to ask her to spell for me 5 times…well that wouldnt be fair to those people waiting. So I did the only logical thing. I just smiled from mycar, waved good bye and gave her the thumbs up as I pulled away.

I’m sure she thinks Im a choker.

Back to the waiting. The things that I have to do to make time fly.

Anyone who has been to a game here knows we take great pride in trying to come up with unique videos and songs that entertain and amuse our fans/customers. Its not always easy. We have great marketing people who have come up with classics like the Star Wars Nash vs Dirk – Cut your hair. But I like coming up with some ideas as well.

Some are good. Some not. But going through all the songs you hear, running through Itunes samples , reading email suggestions and just looking for clues can be fun.

One emailer sent in a great remake of Pinball Wizard to Free Throw Lizard. A little too long and harsh for us.

Im trying to come up with a nice way to turn the Hokey Pokey into the ShaqaPokey.. You put your elbow in, you put elbow out. You put elbow in and you smash it all about…Show some video from last game. But that was a bit harsh. For now.

Im also pushing our guys to redo this song. Its already a cheeselicious classic. Anything we can do that is a voice over of him singing the chorus surrounded by some fun Mavs lyrics. Well thats chart topping entertainment !

We are working on re doing the Charlie Daniels Band – The Souths Gonna Do it Again as the Mavs are going to do it again.

The list goes on and on.

What better way to kill the time till 7:30pm

Time to get ready to work out

One of our coaches, if we win walks in the locker room with a cookie and shakes all the guys hands and says the same thing “on the left”. The Win column is on the left. It doesnt matter how you got there. You got there.

The Heat did a great job on us. Its obvious why Pat Riley has achieved the success he has. They took us out of some things, but seemed like every time they made a mistake, Jason Terry was there to capitalize on it.

This is just one game. It feels great to win, but its just the first move in the chess match.

Sunday, its on. The War Part 2

How are we ahead ? We have not played well at all.

we took advantage of some mistakes, they made, but we need to push the ball more and take it stronger to the hoop. Which is what I know Avery is telling the guys right now.

Lets hope we can play better in the 2nd half.

m

Hey, this is a business. So call, email, IM EVERYONE you know and ask them to turn on the TV to ABC and watch game. Lets make the blogosphere part of NBA 2.0. Lets make the NBA 2.0 part of the blogosphere.

And if your friends arent basketball fans, get them fired up why they should be. If they arent sure which team to root for.

Look for the team that holds their hands over their hearts during the National Anthem.

m

Just got done working out. Did my interviews from the Gauntlet. Probably kind of rude of me not to change my schedule to fit all the media and guests who have come to see the NBA 2.0 .

I just didnt want to bust my routine. So its a sweaty handshake to the Commissioner. Which actually shows how cool he can be. Its an ESPN interview with Stuart Scott. Anything to take my mind off of sweating like a pig and breathing hard. Its some stupid questions from a Miami TV Station.. “Are you excited ?”.. that type of thing. Preperation is key . Huh

Oh, for those who care. I couldnt hit a shot. I got some rythm going, but i basically choked. No bragging rights for me.

Time to clean up. Get it done. The guys just did their count down in the hall and ran on the court. Thats my cue to roll on !

GO MAVS !!!

I dont know if i will update this regularly. I dont know if this will be the last post till ??

I have a pregame ritual which includes working at my PC in my arena office. All the usual.

Right now. Im dying. It feels like a vitamin rush. You know. The too many redbulls. Too many “lose weight now” and other assorted energy vitamins feel. The feeling of “im going to burst if we dont get going soon “.

The good news is I have a smile on my face that no one will be able to wipe off for at least another 3 hours and 20 minutes.

I plan on writing this. Checking somethings and getting on the court to shoot a couple baskets. I have to shoot some baskets on the NBA Finals floor. Period end of story. I wouldnt forgive myself if i didnt.

Yeah, people will be around watching, which doesnt happen during the regular season, but so what. Yeah someone will accuse me of something . So what.

I get to walk on the floor of the NBA finals and just throw some up.

I dont care who you are. Thats pretty damn cool

these are days when you wish cloning was legal and possible. Whether in person , phone or email, the questions asked leading up to the finals are the same over and over again. A Stepford Mark would be highly desirable right about now.

To show everyone the depth of my reporting instincts, Im going to offer the questions I would offer the person who is probably taking the biggest onslaught of media, Shaq.

Here are the questions I want answers to from Shaquille:

1. Shaq – You have several young children. Which Wiggles song is your favorite ? Which do you like the least ?
2. How many times have you had to watch Ice Age and did you take your kids to see Ice Age 2 ?
3. Are your kids so big they are confused with kids twice their age ?
4. Have you ever been contacted to turn Kazaam into an off Broadway musical ? Has anyone sampled Shaq Fu in a hit song yet ?
5. Will you admit in public that you have hummed Barney’s “I Love You” song to yourself in a game ?

I could go on, but Ive shown off enough

And as far as blogging the finals. Im deciding if blogging at half time from the home games is a good idea or not…

And the big question is, where are you going to watch the game this Thursday and with who ??

The Mavs CAN’T play Defense.
The Mavs CAN’T play a half court game.
The Mavs CAN’T get past the first round
The Mavs CAN’T beat <fill in a team here > because <fill in an excuse here>
Dirk CAN’T play against smaller defenders
Dirk CAN’T take the ball to the basket
Dirk CAN’T play defense
Dirk CAN’T step up in the playoffs
Stack CAN’T play a team game
JET CAN’T be the point guard on a Finals team
Devin Harris CAN’T get past last years playoffs to have an impact
Gana Diop CAN’T be a player in this league
Avery Johnson CAN’T lead this team to the Finals as a 1st year coach

Thank you. Thank you to everyone who has ever said or written about what they think the Mavs cant do. It was motivation that Avery called on early and often.

There is an old saying, Those who can, do. Those who can’t, are usually commentators telling as many people as will read, watch or listen why they think someone else who is actually trying to accomplish something, can’t.

No where is this more true than the sportsworld.

Hats off to the Suns for getting further than anyone ever expected.
Hats off to the Suns and the city of Phoenix for being great hosts.

A huge thank you to Mavs fans around the world. We thank you for wearing your lucky cowboy boots, lucky underwear, lucky hats, tshirts, shorts and pants, for wearing your Mavs gear under your clothes to work and with pride to school and around town.

A huge thank you to Mavs fans who were jumping up and down, screaming, hugging everyone you could find and generally going crazy as the clock ran down last night. We heard you. We felt you. All of us on the sidelines felt the exact same way.

My heart was pounding so hard, I was almost afraid to move. I have all these little good luck idiosyncrazies (my new word), and i refused to not do them until the clock ran out. I kept on playing mind games with myself. You know… McGrady scored 13 against the Spurs in 33 seconds. Dont relax. Then the ever popular…If we hit this shot, its over… Ok, maybe not. If we get this stop, its over.. Ok maybe not..

When we hit 00:00, I walked over to where the Suns owners were to thank and congratulate them, and to also make sure I had my legs underneath me. After that, I was never so happy to hug so many sweaty grown men in my entire life.

The guys who heard cant, but never believed it.

Four more wins to go.

The Heat is a great team. Shaq alone has more finals experience than our entire roster. Riley has probably coached more playoffs games than AJ has games. It wont matter. Its going to be a war. Probably no less thrilling and down to the wire as almost every other NBA playoffs series has been.

We may be the underdogs, but we believe and we dont understand the word can’t