It’s official. Charles Barkley has proven once again that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about in the NBA. Right after the Mavericks beat Seattle tonight, he wasn’t in his seat at the post-game show. You would think if you’re going to be considered an NBA expert, you’d watch NBA games. I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.

Charles has over the years made statements about the Mavs that he didn’t even try to back up with statistical data. Here’s an example from tonight’s post-game show: “Phoenix and Dallas, they’re offensive minded teams. But some nights your shot just doesn’t go. I mean, the best shooters in the world shoot 50%. So, there’s gonna be nights when you shoot 35-40%. Can you get stops consistently? Phoenix and Dallas have not shown they can do that.”

First off, how can you compare Dallas to Phoenix? The teams in no way resemble each other. I’m not interested in looking at Phoenix’s stats. But are the Mavericks really an offensive minded team? Let’s see.

The Mavericks are averaging 99.8 points per game this year. That’s 8th overall behind Phoenix (106.2), Seattle (102.3), Philadelphia (101.3), Denver (100.6), Washington (100.1), Miami (100.0), and DETROIT (100.0). I’ve never heard Charles Barkley criticize the Pistons for being Offensive minded. In fact, they’re always looked to as one of the most dominant defensive teams in the league. And yet, the Mavericks are thought of as being more offensive minded than defensive. I guess if you’re in the top 10 in the league in scoring that could be a legitimate point.

But what about defense? Since the Mavericks are so busy scoring all those baskets, I guess they’re not worried about slowing teams down. Guess again. Dallas is 9th overall in points allowed per game, allowing just 93.7 per game. The top 8 are Memphis (87.0), San Antonio (88.1), Detroit (90.6), Minnesota (90.9), Indiana (91.6), Houston (91.8) NO/Okla City (93.0), and Utah (93.0). Even though they’re in the top 10 in points allowed, they’re never thought of as a defensive team by Barkley. And by the way. Dallas is 3rd overall in point differential per game (+6.1) behind Detroit (+9.4) and San Antonio (+6.7).

So what about Charles question, “Can you get stops consistently?” The Mavs haven’t done great at this. In the seven games this year when the Mavericks shot between 35-40%, they are 3-4. That’s not great, but is it really that bad in comparison to other teams? Let’s take Charles Barkley’s favorites. The Spurs and Pistons. In the 5 games this year that San Antonio shot 35-40%, they were 2-3 (and one of those losses was to the “offensive-minded” Mavericks). And finally, those hard-nosed defensive-minded Pistons are 5-4 when they shoot 35-40%.

My point is that when you don’t shoot well, you’re not as likely to win. The Pistons have only lost five games all year, and four of those are in games they didn’t shoot well. Yes, defense is important and will win you game. But you still have to shoot well. Charles Barkley has become just a talking head. The only reason anyone pays attention to him is that he used to play in the NBA. When it comes to the Mavericks, he’s just plain blind. He doesn’t pay attention to factualy information and just spouts out personal, subjective opinion.

Charles, do yourself a favor and start watching some NBA games. You might actually make a valid observation one of these days.

How did Kobe score so many points in one game? Did it have anything to do with it being his 666th career game??? Coincidence? Probably. But it’s still really odd. Take a look at his career totals here. (Just make sure you look at it before the Lakers play Friday).

It’s also a little weird that he apparently calls his workout routine the “666 routine”. Which stands for 6 hours a day, 6 days a weeks, 6 months a year. Or it could stand for him being the antichrist.

The New York Times has posted an article describing the Scientific Free-Throw Distraction that the Mavericks have attempted to use in their home games. Here’s an excerpt: “According to Daniel Engber, a basketball fan with a master’s degree in neuroscience, the standard ‘free-throw defenses’ are too haphazard to be effective. . . . The key to a successful free-throw defense, Engber argues, is to make a player perceive a ‘field of background motion’ that tricks his brain into thinking that he himself is moving, thereby throwing off his shooting. In other words, fans should wave their ThunderStix in tandem.” I think what the Mavericks have tried is really creative in the fact that at least they’re trying everything they can think of to give them an advantage at home.

Mark Cuban has apparently received the suggestion to have the arena dead silent when the other team is shooting. Here’s what he wrote in response to both the NY Times Article and the silence suggestion:

As far as the Free Throw Distraction. The article wasnt 100pct correct. Daniel provided the idea. I ran with it. It worked the first couple games. But dont tell anyone, but we didnt abandon it….The problem however is in getting everyone behind the basket to work in unison. Too many years of waiving bricks haphazardly I guess. But we are working on it. And for the record, for those who email me about how hard it would make it on the Free Throw shooter if the arena were dead silent. If we cant get them to waive a sign in unison, how are we going to get 20k fans to shut up ?

I agree that it would be next to impossible to make it work, but would it hurt anything to give it a try? Humble Billy could announce it on the PA, it could be flashing on the big screen and the wrap-around sign (which is really cool, by the way), and the Hoop Troop could hold up signs that read “SILENT.” Heck, you could even have AMC Theaters sponsor the whole thing. “Silence is Golden.” How’s that for creativity Mark?

UPDATE ON MAVS FREE THROW SHOOTING:
Road 219 / 288 76.0%
Home 280 / 379 73.9%

If you’ve followed the Dallas Mavericks for any decent amount of time, you know the TNT commentater Charles Barkley does not like them. No matter what they do, Charlie is quick to criticize and degrade them. Early this year, when the Mavs beat the Suns on opening night, Barkley criticized the Mavericks poor defense–even though they won. His biggest point was that the Mavs were switching on the pick-and-roll, which he said would never allow them to be a good defensive team.

Mark Cuban, in a recent blog entry, pointed me toward a great article that objectively looked at the effectiveness of the switch on the pick-and-roll. Kevin Pelton from 82games.com analyzed the Pistons’ defensive effectiveness against the Suns’ pick-amd-roll. Here’s a snippet from his article:

Commentator Doug Collins . . . noted at the 6:07 mark coming out of a timeout, “Remember what happened against Dallas – they started switching all those screens and the Suns got very stagnant.” Magic Johnson on “Inside the NBA” also noted that switching was key to the Pistons’ victory. Did anyone criticize Detroit coach Flip Saunders’ strategy or the validity of switching? Nope.

Here is where I think Cuban has a legitimate criticism of Barkley and Smith. Not that the numbers and charting do not help, but they’re not necessary to see whether a team’s pick-and-roll defense is working. But Barkley and Smith weren’t looking at Dallas’ defense with an objective eye; they were looking for evidence supporting their long-held contention that the Mavericks do not play enough defense to win a title. When a team known for its defense did the same thing, it didn’t fit Barkley’s and Smith’s storyline.

I’m glad someone has finally been able to prove that Charles Barkley is biased against Dallas. I don’t think this will change him, but I do know it proves what I’ve known for a long time.

I go to a lot of Mavericks games. I think Mark Cuban has put together a great entertainment package. The game itself is almost always competitive. The atmosphere is a lot of fun. And the little extras make going to the games a great evening. While I’m at the games, I can’t help but think about what might give the Mavs a little bit of an edge. I’m always trying to figure out why Coach Johnson made a substitution or called a certain play. I’m looking for mismatches that I think they should try to exploit.

One of the ideas I’ve thought of while at the games is what should the fans do when the other team is shooting free throws. At the AAC, the Mavs pass out “Acme Bricks” for the fans to wave while the other team is shooting free throws. The announcer tells the crowd to make a lot of noise. And the general idea is to be as loud and annoying as possible. The thought is that this would distract the other team and not let them focus on making a free throw.

I don’t think it works. In fact, I think it’s harder to shoot a free throw when it’s quiet. I mean, think about it. You’re at the line, there are 20,000 people staring at you, and it’s dead silent. That would freak me out!!! I think I saw an example of this when Dirk was shooting Thursday night against the Spurs. The arena was almost dead silent and it seemed it distracted him.

Anyway, I was curious enough as about this that I did a little research. I wanted to know if the Mavs have a better free throw percentage at home or on the road. What I found out was the Mavs shoot 75.1% on the road and 74.5% at home. Not a huge difference, but you would think they’d be better at home.

I don’t think it will ever happen, but it would be so cool to have the AAC be the one place where everyone gets dead silent right when the other team is trying to make free throws. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

The curse of Big Tex is finally over. For the first time in the State’s history, Texas will play host to the World Series. In their 40 years+ existences, neither the Rangers nor the Astros had made it to the World Series. That had been the longest dry spell for any state with a MLB team. Last night in St. Louis, MO that curse was lifted . . . at least halfway.

The Rangers have the longest-running, most pathetic history of any MLB franchise in existence. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Rangers:

The Rangers (when combined with their predecessor the Senators) are the oldest franchise that has yet to appear in a World Series; in fact, they have yet to win any playoff series. In their entire history the team has a combined one playoff win (on the road at Yankee Stadium of all places; they have never won a home playoff game).

The media talked a lot about the Curse of the Bambino with the Red Sox last year. They made such a big deal about how the Red Sox hadn’t won the World Series since 1918. That drought, however, was not nearly as long the Curse of the Billy Goat that the Cubs are under. They have not won the World Series since 1908 and haven’t been in it since 1945!!! Up until this year, the White Sox had not appeared since 1959 and their last championship was in 1917. Sensing an east coast bias, maybe?

There is a small list of teams that have never appeared in a world series. That list of five teams includes the Rangers, Devil Rays, Expos, Mariners, and Rockies. Teams that have appeared in but not won it are the Astros (this year being their first appearance), Padres, and Brewers. This is the list of the mediocre and sometimes downright lame MLB teams.

I think the saying “It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all” can apply to Rangers fans. We don’t know what it’s like to see our team win the World Series. In fact, we only know the joy that comes from ONE PLAYOFF WIN EVER!!!

Thanks for bailing us north Texans out Houston. I have a feeling that the Rangers won’t be appearing in the World Series in a long, long time.

This is an open invitation to play some fantasy basketball. I’ve set up a league for fantasy NBA again this year. If you’d like to join, go to:

http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/register/joinprivateleague
The league ID is: 120370 (The league name is Dairy Queen Managers)
The league password is: Cuban

The draft will be at 9pm CST, Thursday, Oct 27.

I shouldn’t take pleasure in other people’s pain, but it’s hard when it comes to sports–in particular the Mavericks. The Suns’ stud center Amare Stoudemire will miss about four months of the regular season recovering from knee surgery. The caring person inside of me hopes that it’s not serious and he will recover completely and quickly. The competitive nature that I have hopes he’s out for the year (well, actually I wish this would ruin his career up until the Suns traded him to the Mavs and he makes a miraculous turn around and is the best player in NBA history).

Honestly this is a major blow to the Suns. They won 62 games last year and Stoudemire was a major part of that record. I can’t see the Suns winning that many games this year, even with a healthy Stoudemire. Now, the best they can honestly hope for is 50-55 wins with about a 4th seed in the western conference. However, this is the NBA and you never know what’s going to happen, except that the Spurs will once again win the NBA championship.

On a side note, Keith Van Horn sprained his thumb in the Mavericks pre-season opener. I jammed my thumb playing softball this past May and it still hasn’t healed completely. Hopefully Van Horn’s thumb will heal much quicker than mine.

I am a little unusual when it comes to the sports teams I like. Ok, I’m a little unusual in more ways than that, but that’s another blog entry. My favorite teams are the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Texas Rangers (MLB), Dallas Stars (NHL), and the Chicago Bears (NFL). Yes, you read that right, Da Bears. How did I become a local fan of all the Dallas teams, but not with the Cowboys? They’re America’s team! Well, it’s easy to understand with a brief history lesson.

My family moved to Dallas from Sandwich, IL (45 mins from Chicago) in November 1986. The Chicago Bulls at the time were coming off a 30-52 season (1985-86), while the Mavs made the Western Conference Finals the next year (1986-87). I loved the White Sox when we lived up there, but when the Rangers picked up Nolan Ryan, I was hooked. I didn’t really get into hockey until I was in college, so that’s a no brainer. And finally, the Bears won the Super Bowl XX and the Cowboys were mediocre the first few years we lived here. Oh, and don’t forget the Super Bowl Shuffle. Who couldn’t be a Bears fan after that?

Which brings me around to my thoughts on Cowboys fans. I don’t know of a more impatient, fickle bunch of fans on the face of the planet. Anytime something goes wrong, it’s time to change the offense, make a trade for a better Linebacker, switch back to the 4-3 and bench Bledsoe. When something goes right they’re the greatest team known to man and the fans are looking up Super Bowl XL tickets on eBay. I’ve known this for a while, but it was made obvious to me again today when I heard people calling in to ESPN radio suggesting that they either trade Roy Williams or put him at LB. But as Keyshawn was making the touchdown reception to win the game, one of the guys I was with yelled out “greatest team ever” (in a somewhat, but not completely, jokingly tone). I don’t really think it’s a bad thing. It’s just funny. And Rob, don’t book your flight to Detroit just yet.