2. Dallas Living In The Fifties Again
ESPNDallas.com
DALLAS -- Make it 11 in a row.
The Dallas Mavericks extended their run of 50-win seasons Thursday night, recording the milestone victory with a 104-96 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dallas joined the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers with at least 50 wins this season. With 11 games left, the Mavs have a shot at reaching 60 victories for the first time since winning 67 in 2006-07, and for what would be only the fourth time in franchise history, all accomplished during this 11-year span.
"That's incredible, to be able to win 50 in 11 straight seasons," point guard Jason Kidd said.
Dallas made Kidd the second overall pick in 1994. In the three previous seasons, the Mavs won a total of 46 games. And in the three seasons after Dallas traded Kidd to the Phoenix Suns, the team won a total of 79 games (1997-2000) before perennial All-Star Dirk Nowitzki and owner Mark Cuban changed the course of the franchise and won 50 games for the first time in 2000-01 (53-29).
The Mavs' run started under Don Nelson for four-plus seasons. Avery Johnson continued it after he replaced Nelson at the end of the 2004-05 season and then extended it three more seasons, posting consecutive 60-win campaigns in 2005-06 and 06-07. Rick Carlisle has now joined Johnson as a three-time member of the 50-win club.
"You can't get spoiled as a fan," Kidd said. "That would be unfortunate, because it's not guaranteed that you can win 50 games every year. It can turn the other way quickly."
The streak puts the Mavs in elite company. Only two other teams in NBA history have recorded at least 11 consecutive seasons of 50 wins or more. The Spurs, at 57-14, extended their current run to 12 seasons under the leadership of coach Gregg Popovich and power forward Tim Duncan. The Magic Johnson-era Lakers also put together a string of 12 from 1979-91.
3. Utah's OT Streak Halted
The Jazz lost 121-117 in overtime to the Hornets on Thursday night. Utah entered play with the NBA's longest current streak of consecutive wins in games decided in overtime (nine), a run that began in March 2009. No other NBA team has a current streak of more than three straight wins in OT games.
5. Extreme Behavior
ESPN.com
THURSDAY'S BEST
Anthony Randolph, Timberwolves: With Kevin Love hurt, the Knicks castoff made his first start and proceeded to sink 14 of 20 shots, good for a career-high 31 points and 11 rebounds in a 104-96 road loss to the Mavs.
THURSDAY'S WORST
Playoff hopes for Jazz: If ever a game signaled that the postseason is not in the cards, this was it. When David West went down, Utah seemed primed to beat the Hornets in regulation. Then Emeka Okafor made a shot for the ages. Now the Jazz are below .500 with only a Lloyd Christmas chance at the playoffs, Hollinger's odds show.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Kemba walker got SDSU on that slow roast, he is the real deal!!! Great day to watch some unbelievable scorers!!
Kevin Durant
KDthunderup
-- Kevin Durant, taking in March Madness
DUNK OF THE NIGHT
• Tyson Chandler jams on Wolves
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"We could have laid down when we lost D-West, but we saw it as an opportunity to lift one of our brothers up."
-- Hornets guard Chris Paul, on the win over the Jazz.
7. In The Event Of A Tie …
ESPN Boston
In some locker rooms around the NBA, there is a list of the updated division and conference standings, reminding the team where it is, where it needs to go and where it need not go.
You won't see any of that in the Celtics' locker room at TD Garden. There are a couple of inspirational sayings, a lot of photographs of Celtics past and present, and absolutely no indication of where the Celtics stand in the Eastern Conference. That's by design, of course.
"I haven't even mentioned it to them," Doc Rivers said. "But I'd be surprised if they didn't know. You guys ask them all the time."
Of course they know. Of course he knows. They all know Chicago has passed them and that Miami is breathing down their necks. They talk constantly about having the No. 1 seed and the home-court advantage that comes with it. It's been an ongoing refrain since the team lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the road. (It lost Game 6 as well.)
"We want that home court for the playoffs," Glen Davis asserted after Wednesday's loss to Memphis, all the while insisting he really didn't pay any attention to the standings. "We got to get it together."
Paul Pierce chimed in: "We've got to get our heads right for the rest of the season. It's a mental thing now. We want to get the No. 1 overall seed."
Wednesday's result certainly didn't help the cause -- but the cause is far from lost. The Celtics trail the Bulls by only one game. Each team has 12 games left.
The good news for the Celtics: no remaining home games against the Western Conference, whose teams are responsible for their seven home losses.
8. Painful Moment
AP Photo/Jim Urquhart
Comments
You must be signed in to post a comment