SPORTS
Mavericks are going to the NBA finals, jump on the bandwagon
The Dallas Mavericks are going back to the NBA Finals for the first time in 13 years after dispatching the tortured Minnesota Timberwolves in game five on Thursday night on the road.
Dallas is playing the Boston Celtics, who had the best record in the league this year, in the finals with the first game scheduled for June 6.
It has been awhile since 2011. That year the Mavericks upset the hated Miami Heat and franchise stalwart Dirk Nowitzki completed the ultimate challenge of delivering a title to Dallas after trying and failing throughout the previous decade.
That accomplishment and his continued loyalty to the franchise for all 21 years of his career is why there is a bronze statue of him outside of the arena.
That peak was the beginning of a steady decline for the franchise for the next seven years as the Mavericks tried to contend even with father time taking its toll on Nowitzki in his 30s.
The team bottomed out in 2018, but thankfully that got them a low draft pick they used, with a trade involved, to nab the next big European import.
Slovenia’s Luka Doncic came into the league as the most accomplished European top draft prospect in history at the time. Most of the time, they are picked based on potential, but Doncic had already led his team to the championship and been named the league’s most valuable player all by the age of 18.
Despite not being able to fly high above the rim or explode past people with otherworldly athleticism, he has used unbelievable skill, his size, strength, IQ and competitive nature to become one of the best players in the league pretty much since his second year.
That convinced the franchise to build exclusively around him since when the ball is in his hands he can either make tough shots or find one of his teammate a usually wide open shot. He does things other players cannot do and makes it look easy while also being magical, hence his nickname “Luka Magic.”
Up until this season, the high point for the franchise was two years ago, when the team made an unexpected run to the conference finals before getting outclassed by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors, winning their fourth title in eight years.
That team lost a big piece as guard Jalen Brunson had become an unexpected sidekick to Luka. The team failed re-sign him and he went to the New York Knicks where he has been the best thing to happen to that franchise in decades.
We’ve learned through the years that having Doncic do everything is too taxing for him in the playoffs, so having another great ball handler who can do similar things was key.
Unfortunately, those players are hard to find. Midway through last season, the team took a big chance and traded for Kyrie Irving.
On the court it seemed like heaven. He had won a title playing second fiddle to Lebron James in Cleveland. He can handle the ball like the best street ball player you have ever seen while finishing wild layups against guys a foot taller than him with either hand all while being able to shoot and create for himself and others.
However, there was a reason he was available. Since he had left Lebron, he failed to lead a young Boston team as the No. 1 option and left after three seasons with hurt feelings between him, the franchise and the city.
He then teamed up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn and that situation never seemed to go right due to injuries, chemistry and more recently, off the court situations.
Irving made choices that knowingly limited his availability during COVID-19 and then shared support for a documentary that shared anti-Semitism views among other conspiracy theories. He was coming to Dallas with that kind of baggage.
It did not turn the season around last year as the team was just barely contending for the playoffs.
The franchise made the unpopular move to start to tank, intentionally lose, the last few weeks of the season, giving up a potential playoff spot for a marginally higher draft pick.
Somehow the Mavericks were rewarded for that as we used it to draft Dereck Lively. He is a very athletic post player, whose skills include running, jumping, playing defense and catching lobs.
Somehow, Lively came into the league ready to play from day one and even earned the starting job early on, though injuries have sometimes limited his availability.
The team was playing better this year as Doncic and Irving got more reps playing off each other, but were still sniffing the outer edges of playoff contention.
At the trade deadline in February, the team made two trades, one for wing PJ Washington and the other for post player Daniel Gafford. Both became starters right away. Washington proved to the be tough defensive wing that can do other things the team needed.
Gafford took over the starting center position instead of Lively since he has proven to be a bit more durable and physical, though the two provide the team with a great two-person punch all game as they play similar minutes.
That combined with the unheralded Derrick Jones Jr. ascending to a starting spot thanks to his defense and improved shooting despite coming into this year known only for his prodiguious dunking exploits, and the team made a turn.
Since the trade, the team’s defense has been one of the league’s best and the team went 21-9 to end the season and earn a fifth seed.
The team battled through an old foe in the Los Angeles Clippers, a team Doncic had lost to in the first round on two previous occasions, and won in six games 4-2 as they played better as the series went on.
They then played the top seed in the conference, the young Oklahoma City Thunder. The experience of Dallas paid off against the OKC’s inexperience and the Mavericks also won in six games 4-2.
This set them up against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota had just knocked off the defending champs Denver Nuggets in seven games. All season the Timberwolves had the best defense in the league.
They were also led by a young, charismatic player in Anthony Edwards who despite being just 22, was the type of throwback explosive athlete of a scorer that people used to compare to Michael Jordan before that became both cliché and blasphemous.
Add to it the Timberwolves have been a tortured franchise it’s whole existence, making it this far in the playoffs only once 20 years ago, and people were ready to pick Minnesota.
Still, Dallas showed experience in the playoffs pays off against a team full of players going through a deep run for the first time.
The first three games went down to the wire and again and again Doncic and Irving led the Mavericks by making impossible to defend plays when it mattered most.
It was highlighted by Doncic making a go ahead 3-point shot while being guarded by the league’s defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert in game two with three seconds left.
Minnesota made an effort in game four to not get swept, but then Dallas came out to make it definitive in game five, leading by as many as 36 at one point and winning 124-103 to get the Mavericks back to the NBA finals.
Jump on this bandwagon if you are a Dallas sports fan. Games will be broadcast on ABC with a start time of either 7 or 7:30 p.m. starting June 6.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Jackrabbits
A day after football season ended and the Bowie boy’s basketball team played its first game of the season and is working towards a new goal this season.
The Jackrabbits lost that first game against Sanger on Nov. 9, 70-36 before bouncing back a few days later after some practice to beat Bridgeport on Nov. 12, 56-51.
Bowie comes into this season after falling just short of making the playoffs last season.
The team graduated two of its three double-digit scorers along with an experienced post player from its starting rotation last season.
Rayder Mann is the team’s most proven scorer from last season, but other players will be counted on to step up according to Coach Ryan Dykes, who enters his second season at Bowie.
“Rayder Mann and Bradly Horton will need to be the floor generals for us to be successful,” Dykes said. “Boston Farris will be counted on to be a productive player and Gaige Goodman will need to be a factor in the paint on both the offensive and defensive end.”
In the first game against Sanger, Mann led the team with 13 points while Goodman was second with eight points.
The offense was much better overall against Bridgeport. Horton had 15 points, Mann had 14 points and Farris had nine points as Bowie scored in double-digits in every quarter of the game.
Lady Rabbits
In the second week of the season the Bowie Lady Rabbits had up and down performances.
The Lady Rabbits lost at Bridgeport on Nov. 9, 68-30 but bounced back to win at home on Nov. 12 against Boyd 55-42.
Against Bridgeport, Bowie gave up too many three-pointers on defense as the Sissies made 12 in the game.
It was too much for the Lady Rabbits to keep up with.
Parker Riddle led the team with 14 points while Payton Holt was second with five points.
The offense was more successful overall and balanced against Boyd, pulling away in the second half. Hanna Bell led the team with 13 points while Holt was second with eight points and Lanie Moore had seven points.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Lady Indians won a tough match in the regional semi-finals against Forsan on Tuesday night in Breckenridge.
The Lady Indians won 3-1, but had to come back big time in the fourth set to close out the match and prevent it going to five.
Nocona came in as slight favorites against a 28 win Lady Buffaloes team that had an up and down pre-district schedule before sweeping through 10 district matches and dropping only two sets.
The first two playoff matches for Forsan were won with little trouble against McCamey and Highland Park, not losing a single set.
The Lady Indians were coming off a 3-0 win against Seymour and 3-1 win against Hawley in its first two playoff rounds. Their tougher district and pre-district schedule while having a similar record made them the favorites in the match.
In the first set, the Lady Buffaloes proved those thoughts on paper meant nothing as it went down to the wire. It could have gone either way and dipped into extra-points, but it was Forsan that came out on top 26-24 to take the early lead 1-0.
Nocona rebounded and easily took set two 25-14 to tie the match at 1-1. Set three was competitive, but the Lady Indians had the lead and some wiggle room as they held on to win 25-20 to take the lead 2-1.
The fourth set the Lady Buffaloes were not going away as they got the lead early and were able to keep it throughout most of the set.
It looked like the match was heading towards a fifth set, where anything could happen at that point. Forsan led 23-17 and just needed to win two more points.
Somehow, some way Nocona grinded back. A couple of won points caused a time out from the Lady Buffaloes to try and quell the small momentum. It did not and every point won exponentially grew that momentum until it was a surge.
The Lady Indians eventually tied the score up at 23-23 before winning the final two points Forsan had been unable to win in the last eight serves. Nocona won 25-23 in a much more emotional celebration for a 3-1 victory because of how the last set was won.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers secured their third straight trip to the regional tournament on Tuesday with an easy win against Woodson.
The Lady Panthers won in straight sets 3-0 against the Cowgirls as they moved on to the next phase in their plan.
Saint Jo came into the match as favorites, with expectations to get back to the regional tournament before the season even started.
Woodson had some good front court players and had picked up steam during district play to win its district. That didn’t mean the Cowgirls didn’t struggle through its first two playoff matches, taking Richland Springs and Crowell to five sets in their victory.
Also, the teams played earlier in the season during a tournament and the Lady Panthers won 2-0. The fact it was more than two months ago indicated little besides both teams knowing what the other brought to the table.
Saint Jo had only stumbled in its previous match against Perrin-Whitt in the first set, with a lot of uncharacteristic errors.
It was important for Coach Kelly Skidmore to get her team’s mindset right to not give up anything easy since Woodson has proven itself to be feisty in its two five-set playoff wins.
The team took her words to heart and led 5-0 to cool off a hot Woodson crowd that was hoping to root its team to an upset win in a playoff run that was full of excitement so far.
Even with the Cowgirls eventually fighting back, Saint Jo was able to attack Woodson’s serve-receive and win more times at the net with its own impressive front court play.
Knowing also where to hit the ball, avoiding too many dump attacks where Woodson was ready and looking to hit it near the sidelines, also played a factor in the Lady Panthers making it look easy.
Saint Jo won 25-17 to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set proved to be the most competitive of the match. The first 10 points were even, but then the Cowgirls had a 4-1 run to open up a 12-8 lead.
The Lady Panthers battled back and quickly tied the score at 15-15 and then 20-20.
Down the stretch, Woodson had trouble landing its serves while Saint Jo made the Cowgirls work for every point. The execution led to the Lady Panthers winning the close set 25-23 as they took a 2-0 lead.
Even with the lead, it was emphasized to Saint Jo players to not give up an inch since Woodson had shown it could take a mile. While the Cowgirls had not come back from 2-0 in the previous two matches, the fact both went five sets and they would need to do it again if they wanted a chance to win meant the Lady Panthers could not take a breath.
With that in mind, Saint Jo started set three and quickly got out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a string of good serves. That seemed to put Woodson’s energy down, even as the Cowgirls clawed back to within one point relatively quickly 8-7.
Then the Lady Panthers went on a 7-3 run to open their lead to 15-10 and there was no fight left for Woodson. Saint Jo’s lead continued to grow as the end of the match proved near.
The Lady Panthers won the set easily 25-14 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870517&T=1
-
NEWS2 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS1 year agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint