If you were watching the NBA last night you got a few surprises
- Dirk Nowitzki’s return to the Dallas lineup against Golden State
Honestly…raise your hand if you thought Dirk Nowitzki would ever be capable of a ‘Willis Reed’ type moment.
I’ll wait.
That’s what I thought.
Even thought it had .01% of the drama of Willis Reed’s legendary moment, it was probably as close as Dirk would get. And that’s saying a lot for the big German. The biggest knock that people have had against Dirk is that he’s just a really good player. That might not name sense at first glance so let me explain. People have always called him soft and always called him a poor leader. As good as he is I just never looked at him as a guy who screamed inspiring or leader to me. And not just because he isn’t a big screamer or really vocal because it would be silly to expect that of him. It’s the tiny things like his body language and facial expressions or interactions with his teammates. He’s looked like the best player on his team instead of the team. Well I don’t know about you but when I turned on ESPN last night and saw Dirk in warmups slapping all his teammates and screaming ‘LET’S GO BABY’ even I had a feeling Dallas was about to win big.
I’ve never had that kind of feeling about the Mavericks during the Dirk era. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. It’s funny that Dirk doing something so simple (just playing hurt) had such an impact on me. It didn’t hurt Dallas that Eddie Jones scored in double-figures for the third time in is 41 appearances. Way to go man the season’s been going on since October.
- Gilbert’s return to the Wizards against Milwaukee
Well…give it to Agent Zero he certainly knows how to come back. Skip shootaround, warmups and the national anthem…then come out with 5:30 left in the first and immediately check in. Pretty movie-like if you ask me.
What’s no so movie-like…the fact that the Wizards lost at home to the Milwaukee Bucks. The same Bucks who had were 6-30 on the road coming into last night. The same Bucks who actually lost to the Heat last week. The same Bucks who are so bad that a sportswriter honestly thinks he could turn the team around.
Agent Zero is right….as in Zero D. He was a flat out defensive liability last night which is why the Wiz were outscored by 15 during his 19 minutes of action. I normally don’t get into plus/minus because I don’t believe in it/I don’t understand it but…his had to be -1921.
Can’t be too hard on Gilbert though, and I’m actually glad to see that he’s pretty healthy as well. I just don’t want to see him hobble around out there like D-Wade did last year. It’s no fun to watch. The Wizards still have 9 games to get some momentum going before the playoffs. Unfortunately they have no room for error. With last night’s loss they are still in 5th but now in a three-way tie at 38-37 with Philly and Toronto. They might mess around and end up playing Detroit in the first round.
If that injury to Jamison is serious…Wizard fans will forever hate the month of April.
- Elton Brand’s first game of the season against the Sonics
Welcome back Mr. Efficient. If anything tonight Brand showed everyone in the NBA that he is a-ok. 19 points in 26 minutes including 13 in the 4th quarter. Not bad after a near-year off. If anything Clipper fans should be happy because they had four pretty nice bigs right now (Brand, Kaman, Thornton and Josh Powell) alongside…whoever they draft this year. I tried.
For Seattle..Durant had 30 in a 20-point loss. He really should not win the Rookie of the Year. I’m not hating, not saying he’s terrible….but Al Horford should really win it. He’s putting up double-doubles (14 and 12) against playoff-caliber opponents (Toronto) and getting big wins to help his team get in the playoffs. Come on people.
- Knicks/Grizzlies entertaining game
For serious…no one saw that coming.