Mavericks 99, Lakers 91: My Top 10 CBS Contemplations
10. Mavs owner Mark Cuban on the star-studded Lakers before the game: "I don't know. I don't care. I just hope they suck." For one night, he got his wish.
9. The Mavs got Darren and beat the Lakers. But it wasn't Williams, but rather Collison who sparked the upset. I still think the Mavs will scrap for a playoff spot, but it was refreshing to see Collison and O.J. Mayo form an athletic backcourt that ran circles around the other guys for a change.
8. Jae Crowder has Jesse Holley's hair and Eddy Curry has Martellus Bennett's face.
7. TNT Charles Barkley is funny, but he rarely provides any substantive analysis. At halftime: "The Lakers have 46 points at halftime. That's stupid!" And after the game: "We can't judge the Dallas Mavericks at all. Without Dirk and Kaman they wouldn't make the playoffs." Great, savvy insight. Right?
6. Props to Eddy Curry. A week ago he was a free agent who had played only 24 games the last 3 seasons. But his 7 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes were a positive contribution.
5. We had GM Donnie Nelson on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday afternoon and he didn't exactly sound confident. "We're in a tough spot here early, obviously." But after the game Dirk Tweeted: 1 and 0. As expected. Boys played a great game. Not sure about the "as expected" part.
4. Weird to watch a Mavs' season-opener without Dirk on the floor. First time that's happened since 1997.
3. Crazy scenes: Roddy Beaubois stripping Steve Nash in the open court; Brandan Wright putting the ball on the floor, absorbing contact, scoring off the backboard, and making the free-throw for a 3-point play. Probably won't see either of those occurrences again all season.
2. The Mavs were good, but it was more about the Lakers being bad. Horrible even. They missed 19 of 31 free throws and Steve Nash/Ron Artest combined to go 4 of 17. And, yep, even the laid-back crowd at Staples Center was bothered enough to boo.
1. Once upon a time the Cowboys opened the season by beating the Giants in NY. Now the Mavs debut with a win over the Lakers in LA. Both impressive and enthusiastically promising. Let's hope the basketball version doesn't follow the football stumble to 3-4.
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