Thanksgiving Leftovers

A week with the family in St. Louis showed me what life without the NBA and the internet would be like. It wasn't pretty. One of the few major cities without a franchise, St. Louis treats the league like indoor soccer -- oh, wait, sorry. Indoor soccer coverage starts on page 10 (go Steamers!), the NBA on page 12.

While I was hungry for pro hoops coverage, I certainly wasn't hungry for anything else. Like the rest of you, I've had my fill of turkey and turkey-related items. Thank god my family does a Christmas ham.

Speaking of food, if you're ever in the StL, you might not see much NBA action, but make sure you go to a bakery and ask for a "gooey butter cake." This St. Louis breakfast staple tastes even better than it sounds. If you took half a dozen New Orleans king cakes and compressed them into one delicious, crumbly delight, you might approach the sweet-tooth-sating ecstacy of gooey butter cake. A warning: if you ask only for butter cake, folks will glare at you like the dirty foreigner you obviously are. Make sure to prepend the "gooey" to maximize your coolness factor.

Now that I'm back in Austin, I've had 24 hours to gorge myself on the NBA. Allow me to spit some of it back up for you, my little birdies:

(Wow, that's gross.)

The Mavs went 2-2 during their grueling stretch of 4 games in 5 days. Considering they lost Josh Howard for the back half, it could have been worse. Of course, the real news here is that Dallas played 4 freaking games in 5 freaking days. Didn't we leave 4-in-5s behind with the strike-shortened season 7 years ago? David Stern clearly read my post dismissing the agony of NBA back-to-backs and decided to try and break me. Nice try, Gimli. The Mavs were a TJ Ford moneyball away from going 3-for-4 despite an injury list longer than Return of the King (see how I bring it back home?), and other than Dirk's brainboggling 5-22 shooting night, there were no signs of fatigue.

Best quote from last night came from Dirk: "I was the Bucks' sixth man." Funny but true. Of all the major superstars in the game, no one gets as frustrated as Dirk does during a bad performance, and no one lets that frustration wreck his game as thoroughly. Remember Dirk sinking the Mavs in the game 6 OT vs. Phoenix last summer? He was careening towards the hoop to draw a foul with no plan for getting off a shot, and when he pulled up for a jumper he looked like he had never taken a shot in his life. Then, when one of his teammates made a mistake, he turned his frustration outward and lashed out inappropriately. Last night, Dirk did all of those things. Bogut really bodied him up, and Dirk took to trying to run through him to the basket or just catching and fading with one of those ugly, formless shots he takes when he's forcing the issue. It got so bad, TJ Ford stopped him twice. Twice. That kind of switch should have Dirk drooling, but he failed to properly post him up either time and nearly had one of those shots blocked by the wee one. Bad times. When he's struggling that much, Avery Johnson needs to pull him for a good 4 minutes to cool him down. Leaving him on the floor when he loses his sh*t just kills the Mavs.

As for the Rockets, they took way too long to put away the Hawks. Is there a sadder backcourt than Houston's? Well, yeah, the Longhorns' overhyped guard tandem featuring that fraud of a PG Daniel Gibson comes to mind, but he isn't wrecking some pro team's future just yet. Everyone knows the Alston-James trade was a hijacking, but David Wesley and Derek Anderson look cooked, too. Neither can shoot 40%, they chew up a combined 16 shots per game, they get killed off the dribble, and neither seems concerned with passing much. Yecch. Luther Head nearly beat the Mavs byhimself last week, but he's still a year away from being a legit starter. Unfortunately, he plays more like a 2 than a 1, and at 6-3, that's less than ideal. The Rockets should work on his passing, particularly into the post. I hear they have a pretty good player down there. Meanwhile, Tracy says he may still be dinged up and won't know for sure until he wakes up after the Atlanta game. I say, why run him out there against the Hawks? If your team without him can't beat that gutless, clueless team at home, there isn't much hope for advancing past the first round with him. A top-10 pick and a crack at someone like Sheldon Williams might not be the worst thing to happen to the Rockets. If they don't let T-Mac get completely healthy, there's nothing to be gained by wearing him out only to slip into the playoffs and get waxed.

The Spurs are still great, but how about those Bulls smacking them down in SA? Between the Bulls and Bucks, I'd like to say I told you so, but no one's really been arguing with me. In case anyone's been thinking it, though: I told you so.