3 Games Deep

The Mavs are home v. the once-threat Kings. With Bibby and Artest injured and suspended, the team has no steam. Josh Howard returned to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension for his run-in with Kings bully Brad Miller during preseason play. JJ Barea is making his presence known. If you don't know him, you know him now! There are new faces on the team this season, with Juwan Howard returning to the squad after several seasons with the Magic and Rockets. Dallas also added Trenton Hassell, Darvin Ham, Brandon Bass, Nick Fazekas, and Eddie Jones to the mix. Gone are Mbenga, Buckner, and Croshere.

Final score: 123-102. Maybe Brad Miller will stick his head in the sand now.

Sacramento is the Capital of Toxic

This has happened before on more than one occasion. I'm talking about Dirk being stricken with food poisoning, while on the road. If my memory serves me correctly, it happened in the same city or area as before. Perhaps Dirk should NEVER order room service. There's something about Sacramento and it's food. Kind of like Mexico and it's water. Toxic!

Mavs @ Kings

The Sacramento Kings used to be such a competitive, high-caliber, playoff-bound team - back in the Bibby, Bobby, Vlade, Doug, Peja, and C-Webb era. I feared the Kings when they matched up v. the Mavericks. I was always thankful when the Mavs squeaked out a miraculous win. Then everybody, but Bibby, left. They got Abdul-Rahim and anger-management-bound Ron Artest. Big deal. The Kings don't bring the venom to the bball court like they used to.

So....the Mavericks play @ the Kings tonight. I'm not fearful. I just hope Dirk listens to his ankle. I hope to see the Gingerbread Man back to his silly, crazy footwork.

UPDATE: Jerry Stackhouse nailed the jumper with 20.1 seconds left to ice the victory, 97-93. The Mavs were without their MVP (aka Dirk), who was out with an upset stomach. I'd be upset, too, if I lost by 22 to the Suns on Sunday.