The Mavs Take The Fork

In the last of a 4-game marathon session today, the Hornets took a hammerlock on their series with the Mavs in a game that, finally, should make it clear to even Dallas Fan that their team is a lot closer to the lottery than a serious playoff run.

With 4.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Jason Kidd was able to get in front of Chris Paul just enough to help him roll an ankle, for his first foul of the game. It's telling when your point guard who is getting killed isn't even picking up fouls; either he's too slow to get there, or just doesn't give a damn. And from watching this game, I'd say both.

The Hornets won this game on more than Paul, though. They won on Peja Stojakovic hitting the wide open shots that Paul got for him. They won on David West being able to go 1 on 1 on Irk Nowitzki (the D was non-existent), and eating the lunch of every Dallas big man who tried to guard him. And they won on Byron Scott outcoaching Avery Johnson, simply because Avery Johnson might be the biggest over-coacher in the Association. The Bugs just made the Mavs look slow and old all over the floor, and it isn't just Paul; it's also useful bench guy Jannero Pargo and livebody Julian Wright. In what passed for crunch time tonight, the Hornets didn't have a bad matchup anywhere on the floor.

For the Mavs, hope is not looking strong, as noted pot enthusiast Josh Howard was horrible, Jason Terry didn't give them the same boost that he did in Game 3, and I couldn't tell you who their best player was, because they didn't really have one. Dallas has also lost 8 straight road playoff games -- so the chance of this one going longer than 5 isn't looking too great. A pity, too, since the Hornets lack playoff experience. It's clearly killing them. (And no, I don't give them a chance in hell against the Spurs.)

Also noteworthy late -- Jason Kidd's picked up a flagrant 2 on a Pargo drive, earning him an ejection. It was deserved: he put the left hand around Pargo's neck and yanked, and if there was a greater exclamation point on how that trade hasn't worked out for the Mavs, I can't imagine it. The Mavs would have been better off with Devin Harris (not that Harris locked down Paul, either) on both ends of the floor right now, because Jason Kidd is simply a terrible basketball player now. (Also, after Kidd's assault, the refs forgot about giving the Mavs' anything close to a call.) This series is over.

Two final points: Kudos to TNT for breaking out the Matt Geiger tape of the last time the Bug Franchise won in Dallas. I can't get enough Matt Geiger footage, really. And what the hell has happened to Mark Cuban's hair? Either the dude is pulling it out over this series, or just losing it from worrying about bloggers. Either way, it couldn't happen to a nicer freak... and man alive, as I'm writing this and wrapping things up, a Dallas fan gets ejected from jawing at the team and Cuban in particular. It's a shame, Cubes. Watching you cry at the end of a first round loss was becoming such a nice little annual tradition.