Dallas Mavericks

By noreply@blogger.com (FLCeltsFan) The Mavericks reportedly were willing to offer forward Brandon Bass and guard Jerry Stackhouse for Artest. The Kings wanted Josh Howard included in the deal and this seemed to halt all discussion between the 2 teams. Unless the Mavs are willing to give up Howard or the Kings get desperate (not likely) to settle for less, a deal is not likely to get done. Today is the deadline for the Lakers to let Turiaf and the Warriors know of their decision about the restricted free agent. Signs point to the Lakers letting Turiaf go. The Warriors have front loaded his contract and the Lakers currently have 10 players signed to guaranteed contracts for a total of $75.135 million and aren't likely to pay another 4.5 million to bring back a role player off the bench.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (FLCeltsFan) Dallas News Green can dunk, but Dallas Mavericks want to know if he can play Free agency a dominoes game for Cavaliers Detroit Bad Boys The free agent market gets smaller Hartford Courant Sixers clear space to sign Brand The Daily News Ping Pong with a Celtics sharpshooter Yahoo Sports Mantras all new draftees should learn NY Post Steph making his point Hoopsworld Rumors: Waiting period almost over Ball Don't Lie Orlando Summer League: Santa Doc Comcast SportsNet Pierce: I want Doc to be here TrueHoop What is Corey Maggette worth? Lex Nihil Novi Jerry West's anguish part III Larry Siegfried, the bad Jerry West on KG vs Kobe Walton: Who's got the beer? Metro New opportunity Bleacher Report Spurs: A game plan after the Maggette snub   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (FLCeltsFan) MyFox Houston reports that Gerald Green has agreed to a one year contract with the Dallas Mavericks. I really hope Gerald can make it there. I like Gerald and he has a ton of potential because of his athleticism, but he just never seemed to get it. Maybe Rick Carlisle can finally get him to realize that potential. According to the Press Enterprise, Andrew Bynum is seeking a max contract extension. Hopefully the Lakers are forced to give it to him and will leave James Posey alone. SacBee has the Kings offering their full MLE to sign Beno Udrih. The Rockets are pursuing Brent Barry according to the Houston Chronicle. The Celtics went after him before he went back to San Antonio. But, I expect him to stay in Texas.   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (FLCeltsFan) A Kidd shall lead them FL's Take: With all the wear and tear on Pierce from the regular season plus the playoffs, it is better for the Celtics that he is not playing for team USA. I can imagine they realized that he would be worn out as well as having issues with his knee and so gave him a pass. Bennie Swain, 78; NBA backup for Bill Russell Party of 15: Meet the World Champion Celtics CelticsBlog Could JR Smith be a mini-Moss in San Antonio? Hoopsworld Who belongs on Team USA? Mavs as good as the Celts? Red's Army Money will be spent Paul's first pitch NBA Insider Finals reflections SouthCoast Today Celtics built to win again NY Post It all worked out HoopsAddict What's next for the Celtics? LA Times NBA is finding a new way   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Mavs favored to win by 3.5 points. At this point, I hope the Mavs lose every game so we can say bye to Avery. Apparantely the team is really fragmented and now the local media is covering it. Bye Avery And the slow descent of Avery from hottest coach in the league to the Cuban dog house continues.... The Mavs better represent tomorrow. Not just for Dallas but for Texas. If Boston wins, they will be the first team since 2001 to go through the Texas Triangle unscathed. Dallas is the last man.. Err, team standing. Spurs blew it. Houston got creamed. Its time for us to show why nobody comes out of the triangle alive. Not feeling good about this game but someone needs to put Boston in its place. It might as well be Dallas   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan The Celtics take on the Dallas Mavericks tonight in a bid to become the first team to sweep the Texas Triangle since the Kings did it in 2001. The last Celtics team to accomplish this was in 1987. If the Celtics continue to play defense like they did in the first two games, they will have a very good chance of beating the Mavs. Here is footage from the only other Celtics team to sweep the Mavs, Spurs and Rockets. With Cleveland beating the Pistons, the magic number for the Celtics to clinch home court advantage throughout the playoffs is 9. So, any combination of Celtics wins and Pistons losses that add up to 9 will clinch it.   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Globe Hawks eyes are on the playoffs Clippers ship lost in a fog Hawks Thumbnails To be a champion LOY's Place Random thoughts - 3/2 ESPN Second trimester awards Detroit Free Press Pistons blind to Celtics in the standings Worcester Telegram A lot riding on final Celtics-Pistons game FL's Take: Wednesday's game is as big as they come in the regular season. Should be a good one. The team that wins it gets a big boost in confidence going into the playoffs. West always wanted to be a Cav East playoff race Lex Nihil Novi 2008 Celtics vs 1990 Pistons How does our bench measure up now? Dallas Morning News Mavs interested in Tyronn Lue   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan SI.com Power Rankings Celtics #2 - Lakers #1????????? FL's Take: The Lakers number 1? Yes, they made a big move. Yes, on paper they look good. BUT, they still have 8 more losses than the Celtics and they are 5-5 in their last 10 games. Move them up a little, yes but putting them #1 is ridiculous. News Herald C's are all about D Sports in Your Face Top 10 things messed up'd with the NBA Morning Journal Cloudy Forecast Canada.com LeBron appears to be MVP underdog Slam Online The insanely early MVP race Fox Sports NBA still has work to do but the color barrier has been erased Hollinger's Rankings Celtics #1 Connecticut Post NBA winks and blinks FL's Take: This is pretty funny. Next the coaches in basketball will be shielding their faces when calling plays.   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Thoughts on the Gasol trade. First, everyone has been very quick to declare the Lakers the favorites for the title before Gasol even suited up for them. After the Celtics made the trade for Garnett, all we heard was that there wouldn't be enough basketballs for them, they would take a long time to mesh, they had to prove themselves, etc. And we still hear the critics say that they haven't played the Spurs, Suns or Hornets yet and so they haven't proved anything. It seems to me that the Lakers have just as many questions now. Will Gasol fit with Odom, Bynum and Kobe in the Triangle offense? Will Gasol be able to stay healthy? He has a history of back and foot problems and sometimes those can become chronic. Finally, the playoffs are all about defense. Gaso...   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Here are comments found around the Mavs' message boards during their game with the Celtics. It is always interesting to see what the other side is saying. Without KG the Celtics do not have any low post defensive players. The Celtics are giving this to the Mavs. Pierce getting bailed out every time Rondo off rebound ??? ARE YOU **** KIDDING ME ????? Dirk with the unclutch non box out on Rondo. Really disappointing loss. Well, it's time to go after Jason Kidd, -_-. With the Celts team defense, they will be in every game they play. So, will Rondo's playground moves stick in the NBA? If so, why don't more players do them? The pass fake forced Dirk to foul him in the fourth.   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Mavs have stymied C's Globe Mavs happy to hand off bullseye Gomes and Jefferson lead the way FL's Take: It is good to see Big Al and Gomes playing so well although it's with a little twinge of jealousy. I think the Wolves made a mistake in allowing Gomes to be a free agent this off season. He would make a nice acquisition by the Celtics and he would love to come back to Boston. Mavericks thumbnails Celtics.com Team notes and Powe interview with NBA TV Stoudamire will sign with Spurs Hoopsworld Midseason report Dallas Morning News Preview Mavs at Celtics Mavs might be gazing into Finals crystal ball Antoine Walker blames Riley for Heat's struggles MSNBC MVP at halfway mark has to be KG Lex Nihil Novi '86 C's move to 35-8 after beating Washington   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan It looks like Stoudamire is going to sign with the Spurs. The Mavs are trying to make a deal for Kidd. The other top teams are working on deals to make them better. The Spurs have to do something as they are really not playing well of late. But, you can never count them out. They have a way of pulling it all together when it counts. The Celtics still need a PG and rumors have it that Danny is still trying to get Cassell. If the Celtics can get Cassell, it would be the final piece to take this team to the championship. He is a savvy veteran PG who could give us a very quality 10-20 minutes a night behind Rondo along with giving Rondo some good mentoring. Celtics Blog points out that it will come down to what Cassell wants more, a ring or money. I say at this point in his care...   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan This week's power rankings are out and the Celtics are at the top. How long has it been since the Celtics were ranked number 1? I am pretty sure it has been 20 years. NBA.com has the Celtics ranked #1 and had this to say about the team. Off: 114.5 (2), Def: 96.8 (1) -- Except for the OT win in Toronto, the C's have been dominant. And on Saturday, they convinced this author that they're the best in the East. Behind the Celtics, Houston, San Antonio, Detroit and Utah round out the top 5. Their 5-0 start through Sunday is the franchise's best since 1987-88, and their margin of victory has been 20, 3, 26, 23 and 11 points. "They are not going to go undefeated," Nets forward Richard Jefferson said. Maybe not, but they're the NBA's lone unbeaten squad and they have earne...   [read the full post]

By FLCeltsFan Anyway, without further ado, here is my preview from Hoopsblogging: Season Preview: Boston Celtics Last season the Celtics played under Murphy’s Law. If it could go wrong, it did. The team lost 312 player games to injury. Paul Pierce went down with the stress reaction and missed the first real time to injury in his career, Perk had plantar fasciitis, Al Jefferson had appendicitis, Tony Allen tore his ACL, Wally had one ankle injury after another, Theo Ratliff had a bulging disc, Michael Olowokandi had an abdominal tear, and on and on. The team suffered through an 18 game losing streak. And, to top it all off, they were suspected of tanking at the end of the season to better their draft position.   [read the full post]