Great New 'Opening' Look!

Brandan Wright

All the off season maneuvering (or lack thereof), nine new faces, two established All-Stars out with injuries, and the mantra being preached by Rick Carlisle for small ball, and an Opening Night 2012 in Los Angeles.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it?

Looks can be deceiving!

It’s only 1 game but if this is any indication of what the 2012 Mavericks are going to be like with or without Dirk, I can handle this assemblage of youth, speed, peskiness, aggression, and up tempo.

Did anyone else find it funny how hard pressed the TNT crew sounded trying to explain how ‘in sync’ the Mavericks appeared to play with Darren Collison leading the charge with 17 points and keeping the ball on the move while reaching the paint.

At times when Dallas fell behind-leading by as many as 8 in the second period-we were treated to a special surprise as Roddy Beaubois held his ground with equal footing alongside Jae Crowder and Eddie Curry on the second team to provide consistent defense and a pesky attack when the Mavs had the ball. This was equally impressive along with the following:

Not 1 not 2 but…SIX Mavericks players in double figures in a surprising 99-91 road win in Los Angeles. That was fun to watch!

Of course not five minutes after the game ended I heard an expected chorus of, ‘Dallas didn’t win…the Lakers lost it!’ One thing I will never abide by when the obvious has been exposed is an apologist. To heck with that!

I am SOOOOOOO going to relish the underdog/fly under the radar status the Mavericks will be lauded by the so-called experts. I remember seeing this same scenario in 2004 with the Texas Rangers after A-Rod left and many felt the team’s kids will be a lost bunch. Remember how that ended? An 89 win season despite a gajillion injuries. The kids were alright.

I foresee the same for the Mavericks in 2012. Maybe a 7th or 6th seed. Good enough to aggravate and make teams works hard to push the ball up and down the court.

It looked liked the chemistry between Collison, Elton Brand, OJ Mayo, Brandon Wright, and Shawn Marion was strong for being complete strangers prior to training camp. Eddie Curry can in theory be everything Tyson Chandler was in 2010.

Jae Crowder will be a welcome shot of energy in games where cleanup is in order win or lose.

The fans of the Lakers may be getting a severe case of Deja-Vu. Wasn’t there another ex-Magic acquisition some 15 years ago who was a huge physical presence but was rotten on the free throw line? Dwight Howard a paltry 3 of 14 at the stripe not going to get the job done. His back to me does not appear to be 100%. He had his issues trying to jump skyward. Kobe was his usual effective self. In time the tandem of Gasol, Bryant, Howard, and Nash will be fine.

In the event Los Angeles is slow to start well and you hear calls for Mike Brown’s ouster, any chance the Zen Master is brought back? Merely a thought.

Dallas will play their home opener Saturday night with Charlotte followed by Portland Monday and Toronto Wednesday (11/3, 11/5, 11/7) . Later  tonight a visit to Mormon country and All That Jazz. A tough place to complete a back to back to start 2012. Especially if Mo Williams gets his mojo working…

Rick Carlisle, you spoke about having a competitive training camp and many pieces to try and make work. For one night you were like Bobby Fisher. May you crown many a castle along the way this season.

Over and out in Big D.

Mr. Will