NBA Live: Houston Rockets vs. Dallas Mavericks 11/21/07
Thursday, November 22, 2007
What up y'all...this here's a little feature known as NBA Live where I drop my thoughts/recap after I attend an NBA game live and in the flesh. Like to hear it? Hear it go!
First of all, shout out to my boy Keith for hooking me up with the dope tickets. We got to the Toyota Center a little bit after tip-off and the Rockets were leading 8-4. It was relatively ho-hum, so I scanned the crowd to see if could find some recognizable faces and/or fly chicas. Among the recognizable faces - Sean Combs was in the house along with Grammy winning producer Bryan Michael Cox, Mario Williams and Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans were there as well, and Steve Francis was in the crowd as well. Huh? What's that you say? Steve Francis plays for the Rockets?! Get out of here!
Anyways, back to the first quarter action. It was pretty high scoring and the Rockets had looked good out there in transition. T-Mac got a nice dunk over Dirk NowiDallas looked pretty sluggish out there and I'd attribute that to their 24 point comeback in a victory over the Raptors the night before. They still managed to remain close throughout the first quarter, which ended 30-25 in the Rockets favor. My boy Keith is a die-hard Dallas fan which made for interesting interactions with the Rockets fans that were surrounding us. More on that later.
During a break in the action, the Rockets Power Dancers hit the floor and you know what? They got some dimes, yo. I may have to find one dime from every team's dance squad. This lady right here was the lady I selected as my Houston boo for the evening:
The action picked up in the second quarter as the Mavs got a little bit more life to them. Brandon "Big Mouth" Bass apparently got the green light from Avery Johnson because everytime he touched the ball he was looking to score. The rookie out of LSU wasn't shy at all out there and showed good poise. Keith got a kick out of Bass' play, yet wondered aloud as to why Bass was suddenly the go-to guy for the Mavs. I slowly sipped my beer as I pondered why my team was 2-8. But I digress. The Mavs pulled together to go into halftime with a one point lead.
Halftime, I called my boy King to tell him about the dimes that were in the house which led to this exchange:
E - Yo, son...they came out tonight.
King - GotDAYUM! There's some stunnas in there?
E - (watching a stallion pass) Donk.
Random black man who heard me and turned in the direction I was looking - DAMN!
E (to RBM) - Yessir!
King - Nothing brings men together like a nice, phat donk.
Say word, yo. Say word. By the way, that random black man had on some Dickies overalls lookin' like a train conductor or some shit. Out of all the gear to rock to the basketball game, he chose his train conductor 'fit. But I digress.
Back to the third quarter action where the shit talking between Keith and the Rockets fans escalated. The trash talk started out fairly good-natured, but as the game wore on the tempers started to flare up. The Mavs were absolutely atrocious in the third quarter as it appeared that no one would step up to put up much of a fight against the Rockets. Yao put in some serious work throughout the game and ended up with 30 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 1 assist. More on Yao's game in a bit. The MVP of the league wasn't very aggressive throughout the course of the game and his game play showed me that the Mavs won't ever win a title behind the leadership of Dirk Nowitski. It's a young season, but Dirk should be playing like a man possessed after last season's debacle.
It was around this time when Sean Combs decided to become a story larger than the game. It was truly hilarious when the arean announcer incorrectly identified Mario Williams as "Diddy" on the jumbotron. Good times.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the guys behind us continued to rag on my buddy, Keith. After being outscored 28-15 in the third quarter, Keith was non to pleased by the play of the Mavs. The dudes behind us continued to remind him that Dallas sucks and was a gay town, among other terms of endearment. I merely sipped my last drink as all this nonsense was swirling around me. More good times. I told Keith that if the Mavs didn't make some sort of run within the next 3 minutes (it was at about the 11 minute mark of the fourth), then they may as well pack it up and head back to Dallas. Well....guess what the Mavs did? Yep, they went on a nice run to pull to within about 5 or 6. Keith was loving it and the guys behind us were suddenly resorting to lame jokes about the city of Dallas. The Rockets pulled away for another few minutes, but to quote Rasheed Wallace "them butt holes got tighter and tighter” as crunch time approached. Yao performed well for most of the game but in the clutch his shots were suddenly shorter than they had been. T-Mac had a near triple-double, but wasn't aggressive enough in the final two minutes of the ball game and took a few questionable jumpers.
The key play was when the Mavs were down by 91-89 when Devin Harris drove hard to the hoop and was fouled by Yao for the and 1. The Mavs took the lead and never looked back. 100-94, game over. Mavs win. I think T-Mac, Bonzi Wells, Mike James, and Steve Francis (the Houston Club All-Stars) were all looking forward to Diddy's party at Hush later that night. As a matter of fact, I'm positive that Steve Francis was wearing his outfit for the evening underneath his Rockets' warm-ups. This game was a snapshot of typical Rockets basketball, ladies and gentlemen. The dudes behind us were pissed as Keith was gloating over his team's victory. Words were exchanged and the situation was about to escalate until they realized that a fight in Toyota Center wouldn't have been a good look.
All things considered, it was a decent game. After losing five games in a row, the Rockets no longer look like an elite team and the Mavericks showed that they can overcome adversity if they put their minds to it.
Posted byEnigmatik at 8:59 AM
Labels: Dallas Mavericks, Dem Rockets, Houston Rockets, NBA Live, recap
man ain't that some shyt. I'm throwing shit at the tv watching this game...and you hobnobbing up in the spot.
That donk will turn many a nigga's head!
LOL
and there it is...