If you haven’t already heard Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks doesn’t celebrate the National Anthem for some reason. Not only does he not celebrate the Anthem he actually feels it’s his right to disrespect it on camera. Howard was caught on this video at Allen Iverson’s charity flag football game in July showing his a$$. Howard has officially lost my respect forever.

Every team in the NBA Playoffs has played one game now and for the most part it was straight chalk. As a matter of fact all the higher seeds won their first round game until the last two games of yesterday. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 61 points and outlasted the Spurs 95-89 in San Antonio. The Nuggets won their first game against San Antonio in the 2005 playoffs too, but then lost the next four games to the Spurs who went on to win then NBA Championship that year. The Nuggets know this is only one game, but if they keep scoring like they did last night then we might have a big upset in the first round of the playoffs.

The final game of the night was even a bigger surprise than the Spurs upset. It shouldn’t be since Golden State has owned the Mavericks by winning their last five coming into last night’s game in Dallas. Baron Davis poured in 33 points and Golden State made it six wins in a row against the Mavericks with a 95-87 victory. Stephen Jackson dropped 23 and Jason Richardson added 13 for the Warriors while Dirk Nowitzki struggled bad and ended up with 14 on the night. This is supposed to be the year for Dallas and this certainly isn’t a way to start off your quest for the NBA Championship.

Are there going to be any big upsets in the first round of the playoffs this year? The first round series normally are yawners, but I am going to try and predict one that will surprise you. Let me know what you think!

I really really want to pick the Warriors over the Mavericks, but I just can’t pull the trigger. I am going to take the Nuggets over the Spurs instead.

for having too much fun yesterday in the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks matchup. Think I’m kidding? Check out the video clip of Tim Duncan being ejected by referee Joey Crawford for laughing on the sidelines. This has to be the silliest ejection ever and Crawford should be suspended for a game without pay. There is obviously some history with these two, but how do you dislike Tim Duncan?

The Dallas Mavericks have confirmed they are going to sign a real life dinosaur to a ten day contract.  None other than 44 YEAR OLD Kevin “Velociraptor” Willis is coming out of retirement to play with Dallas.  The 7 foot Willis has averaged 12.2 points and 8.4 rebounds during his career and was part of the 2003 World Champion San Antonio Spurs. 

Dwyane Wade is averaging 40.3 points in the last three games of the NBA finals and each of these games the Heat have won. After being down 2-0 and looking quite helpless things have changed in a hurry for the Miami Heat due to Wade. Last night Wade scored 43 points the final one was a crucuial free throw with 1.9 seconds left in overtime after Josh Howard asked for a timeout the Mavs didn’t have to use. The Heat won 101-100 over the Mavericks and now have a lot of mojo heading back to Dallas. Dallas is quickly falling into a downward spiral with aggression towards NBA superiors for the suspension last game to Stackhouse and for what they feel are bogus calls by the refs. As I mentioned roughly two weeks ago, Mavs vs Heat, this series was going to be a special one.

The first two games have pretty much boiled down to the Mavericks playing exceptionally well and the Heat playing like S#%T. It really amazes me how out of sync and weak Miami’s superstar Shaquille O’Neal has played in the first two games. The second game he scored a putrid 5 points and didn’t even play the final 15 minutes of the game. In case Shaq isn’t aware, if he doesn’t play at the top of his game then the Mavs will absolutely turn the Heat off. Miami must play a lot better defensively against the perimeter play of Dallas and they have to get the ball in low and score effectively. Miami does have three games in a row now at home and they must win this one, but are they thinking in the back of their head only Boston in 1969 and Portland in 1977 have rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win the finals? We should find the answer to this question in quarter one.

Terry vs White Chocolate, Shaq vs Diop, Nowitzki vs Haslem, Wade vs Howard, Avery vs Riley and Cuban vs Miami (I could go for hours)…this series should be a GREAT ONE. StonecoldJZ is happy to say his prediction and desire have both come together to create one HELL of a NBA finals. There is a lot involved with this matchup so all the components set this up for a seven game series. In the last few years the Finals have been weak overall. Let’s clean the slate of bad memories and schedule time to watch each and every battle forthcoming.

I have no idea why Jason Terry and the Mavericks are upset about his suspension for Game 6 against the Spurs. I mean his punch to Michael Finley’s jewels with 3.4 seconds left in their 98-97 loss to San Antonio was blatant and aggregious. Mark Cuban has even come out and made statements that it’s not right and fair and I just don’t get it. I know it has to do in part with Reggie Evans squashing Chris Kaman’s cuyongas earlier in the playoffs, but that was not nearly as evident as this incident. Don’t get me wrong, I really respect Cuban, but he has to know this was going to get a suspension and deservedly so. Let him serve his time and he will be back for game 7. These actions should always be treated in this manner.

I know it’s a little early to tell, but I feel the question needs to be brought up.  It seems every year recently Dallas is talked about as a true Western Conference contender yet they find a way to squander away important games which ultimately sends them on summer vacation.  I really feel like today was one of those games against the San Antonio Spurs because Dallas lost 87-85.  First and foremost, the Mavericks almost had been off for an entire week when San Antonio was basically on 36 hours rest.  Secondly, Dallas was ahead at the end of every single quarter except the final one.  This was a game they desparately needed to gain confidence against the favorite, but instead it appears to me they are still a pretender.  I hope I’m wrong, but most of the time I’m not.