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After the Miami Heat's 78-75 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night, Miami star Dwyane Wade had some choice comments about Indiana's celebration, referencing the Mavericks in the process:
Dwyane Wade: "I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks. I saw their celebration after the game."
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 16, 2012
It's hard to even know what to make of these comments. They're clearly meant to be a knock on Indiana celebrating their first victory in a best-of-seven series, but why rope Dallas into this?
For that matter, it's not as if Wade has much room to stand on when it comes to knocking premature celebration.
But while the Pacers victory in Game 2 was nice, it's hard to compare them to the Mavericks since they don't have anyone comparable to Dirk Nowitzki or Tyson Chandler on their roster.
Either way, it's nice to know that Dallas victory last season still stings Miami's stars.
Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, fresh off receiving an extension, has joined the NBA's competition committee, which has been drastically restructured:
Previously, the competition committee was comprised of the general managers from each of the league's 30 teams. But last month, the league's Board of Governors voted to change the composition of the committee to include two owners, four general managers, three head coaches and one representative from the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
The members of the new Competition Committee are owners Gilbert and Joe Lacob (Golden State); general managers Bryan Colangelo (Toronto Raptors), Mitch Kupchak (L.A. Lakers), Kevin O'Connor (Utah Jazz), and Sam Presti (Oklahoma City); and coaches Rick Carlisle (Dallas Mavericks), Lionel Hollins (Memphis Grizzlies), and Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics). The NBPA will designate one of its members to serve on the committee.
Carlisle is one of the most respected basketball minds in the league, but something tells me he was picked as much for who he wasn't (i.e. Mark Cuban).
That's what SI.com's Tom Verducci wrote in his latest column:
With Hamilton at the peak of his game, the Rangers, too, have the look of a team that may be historic. Texas is destroying American League competition. This could be the best team since the 1998 Yankees. It has no weakness. The Rangers have scored the most runs and allowed the fewest in the league. In the third year of a run-scoring recession around baseball, the Rangers are hammering teams. They have outscored opponents by 2.2 runs per game. The next closest team in the league, Toronto, has a run differential of only 0.6.
The Texas Rangers are facing the Kansas City Royals just hours after the young team found out their young pitcher Danny Duffy is likely out for the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, which will likely require Tommy John surgery.
The 23-year-old Duffy has a 3.90 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 18 walks in 27 2/3 innings for the Royals. Losing such an arm in the rotation is probably going to hurt the team's efforts in whatever they were going to accomplish this season.
Unless you had a better idea for who should have been named the American League Player of the Week, we're going to go with Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.
Why, you ask from whatever rock you just climbed over? Well for starters, the dude went crazy and hit four home runs in a single game, which was apart of his nine home run, 18 RBIs and 10 runs scored seven-game stretch.
Lamar Odom may have had a 9.2 PER for the Dallas Mavericks last season, but that doesn't mean Team USA has given up on him:
According to Coach K., @RealLamarOdom is still in consideration for the @USABasketball Olympic Team. #mediasummit #teamusa
— US Olympic Committee (@USOlympic) May 14, 2012
While it may seem crazy, Odom played extremely well as the starting center on the 2010 World Championship Team, and Coach K turned to him before both Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.
And with LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh now possibly sidelined with injury, the pool of available big men for the 2012 Olympics is extremely shallow. If Coach K thinks Odom's problems in Dallas were due more to motivation concerns and a poor fit with the Mavericks roster, he might be tempted to roll the dice on a 6'10 point forward with the versatility to defend both interior positions.
With rumors spreading quickly about Florida State's interest in the Big 12, SB Nation's Bill Connelly thinks the conference needs to go on the offensive after barely surviving the last round of realignment:
In other words, if [new Big 12 commissioner Bob] Bowlsby were in the mood to take a home run swing of his own, the move could be both well-received and somewhat successful.
Following Scott's ambitious lead, here's what Bowlsby should do: invite BYU, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, and Notre Dame to join the Big 12. Do it soon, and do it publicly.
Connelly doesn't think all six schools would jump at an opportunity to form a super-conference, but he points to a similar move by Pac-12 commissioner Luke Scott with the Big 12 South as generating positive momentum for the conference to be a net-winner in realignment and not a net-loser.
If the last two years have taught us anything, whatever happens may happen really fast.
After Josh Hamilton's historic week, he leads the American League in batting average, home runs and RBI. That's a great accomplishment in May, but can Hamilton maintain those leads through the end of the regular season?
Al Yellon of SB Nation believes there's a reason we haven't seen a Triple Crown since 1967.
The primary reason, I think, that this hasn't been done in so long is the specialization of hitting. Most power hitters sacrifice batting average. Many high-average hitters do so because they hit lots of singles, although power hitters Cabrera and Hamilton have accounted for the last two AL batting-average titles.
The toughest lead for Hamilton to maintain will likely be batting average. While it might be possible to maintain a similar home run and RBI pace that he's on now, his .402 batting average will likely begin to fall. Perennial batting title contender Derek Jeter sits in second place right now at .372.
Martin Perez -- the best pitching prospect in possibly the best farm system in baseball -- is skipping his scheduled start tonight in Round Rock. Significant
The Rangers' rotation was messed up a touch by the rainout in Baltimore Wednesday, and Scott Feldman was scheduled to spot start Monday so the rotation could reset on plenty of rest. If Neftali Feliz implodes Sunday, though, and Feldman needs to be a long man, would the Rangers give Perez his first career start in the Majors just to keep the rotation rested? Prospect maven Jason Cole thinks it's possible.
On Derek Hankins starting instead of Martin Perez in AAA tonight: I'd assume he's being held back in case Feldman has to pitch tomorrow.
— Jason Cole (@LoneStarDugout) May 13, 2012
Obviously you don't want Feliz to fall apart so quickly you need a long man (or at all, really), but at least there would be a silver lining to that cloud. Unless there's a different, sadder reason Perez is missing his start.
Perez came in to the season ranked 31st by Baseball America; the fourth ranked left-handed pitcher. Perez has struck out 25 and walked 16 while allowing a 3.98 ERA in 40 AAA innings this year.
With yet another moonshot HR on Saturday, this one off of former teammate C.J. Wilson, Josh Hamilton's unreal week of baseball has continued unabated:
Hamilton has 9 HR in his last 6 games. The MLB record for HR over a 10-game span is 10 by Frank Howard in 1968. #rangers #mlb
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 12, 2012
There's really not much else can be said about what he's doing. Rangers fans are watching history right now.
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