Dallas, the ultimate winner's town (the only way to sell season tickets around here is to win a championship - just ask the Stars), is about to get a double-sports-treat. Both the Stars and the Mavs are playoff bound and both, rather incredibly, have legit shots at their respective league championships. There are not many towns in America where this happens - my college home of Boston won championships in the two biggest American sports not so long ago, but I really can't think of another time when it's happened. I'm sure it has, but it's rare enough to be noteworthy.
And note it, we shall.
First, the little Mavericks: I've said several times before, and I'll say it again. San Antonio and Detroit are clearly the class of their respective conferences. But the gap between them and their competition is not what it has been in years past. The Mavs in particular match up very well with both, and far better than they ever have before.
The Mavs are a team with a legitimate MVP candidate in Dirk, two superstars-in-training (Josh Howard and Devin Harris), guys who are deadly from the perimeter (Jason Terry), guys with an inside game (Stackhouse), and a center rotation that actually works (Diop and Dampier). Their bench is long, their coaching staff is solid, and no young head coach has seized his team's attention and made a fundamental improvement in it's approach to the game like Avery Johnson.
For those of us who suffered through the 1990s, when the Mavs were the worst joke in professional sports, it's still difficult to believe that our little Mavericks are really and truly contenders for the title. Sports observers much smarter than me have been saying it for a while, and I'll add my feeble voice to the din: They are.
The pressure this year sits squarely on the Teutonic shoulders of Herr Nowitzki. Dirk got thrown off his game during the playoffs last year. Both Houston and Phoenix beat him up and frustrated him, and he disappeared just when the Mavs needed him most. If he pulls a similar stunt this year, it will be a short run. However, it's important to remember that Dirk was in the midst of a pretty good playoff stretch two years ago in the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs when he got hurt. In addition, and maybe more importantly, Dirk has done just about everything right all year. The only remaining challenge for him is his post-season performance. I've seen enough out of him this season to be very optimistic. If Dirk continues his All-World play from the regular season, the Mavs will be playing well into June.
Now, the Stars: In a hockey season when no one has made a whole bunch of noise, the Stars have emerged as one of the top three teams in the league. Steady play from a whole slew of guys has been the recipe, with no one, with the possible exception of shoot-out whiz Jussi Jokinen, having a truly break-out year. Newly-very-rich Marty Turco has been very good throughout, and, at time, dominating. The pieces are in place, and there's no reason why the Stars should not contend for the Western Conference title and the Stanley Cup.
As with the Mavs, all of the pressure is on one guy. In this case, it's Turco. Similar to Dirk, Turco has, fairly or unfairly, earned a reputation as a great regular-season player who can't turn it up in the playoffs. Physically, he's proven himself to be, beyond a doubt, one of the most talented goaltenders in the NHL. Mentally, there's some question about his make-up. That may not be fair, but it is what it is.
Regardless, Turco has a solid team in front of him, a tournament full of other teams who have not proven themselves to be any better than the Stars, and holds his own, and his team's, fate in his hands.
Playoff hockey and playoff basketball, with a legitimate chance for our local teams to go far: I'd be more jacked up if the Rangers were in the baseball post-season, but this is as good as it gets otherwise. The TV and the TiVo will be busy for the next few weeks.
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