With just seven games left in the regular season, every one of them is a must-win for the Dallas Mavericks, as they’re currently a half-game back of the Phoenix Suns for the 8-seed in the West. Last night, though, the Mavs lost a crucial overtime game against the 6-seed Golden State Warriors on back-to-back plays that must have had the fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas in full-on “F*ck this nonsense” mode.
All tied up at 120, Jermaine O’Neal blocked a layup by Monta Ellis, and everybody in the building seemed to think that it was goaltending (UPDATE: It was!), but the play went on. Stephen Curry took the ball as the clock ticked down, and with less than a second remaining in the game, he induced one giant anger vomit from the crowd.
That noise is just hilariously awful. It’s like Rosie O’Donnell showed up to strip for a bachelor party of 20 guys, except multiplied by 10,000. And you can see one guy in the background cheering for Curry, but that’s just your buddy Steve who always says something like, “Tits are tits, bro!” Terrible analogies aside, though, the Mavs are in deep trouble. Of their remaining seven games, only three are against crappy teams (Lakers, Jazz, Kings) and the other four are the Clippers, Spurs, Suns and Grizzlies.
Looking at the standings, it’s almost fun to imagine Mark Cuban losing his mind over the Mavs missing the playoffs while the Hawks and Knicks are guaranteed to finish below .500, and one of them will still take the 8-seed in the East. It’d almost be worth the misery for Mavs fans, but I won’t wish it upon them. At least not out loud.
