Dirk denied...

Well, I guess we have our explanation for everyone's lack of enthusiasm about Dirk Nowtizki.

I admit it -- I didn't quite believe it when Bill Simmons wrote that Nowitzki was no MVP and the Mavs couldn't win in Dalls. C'mon. The Mavs won 67 games in a tough Western Conference! The Warriors barely made the playoffs! Surely they can pull one off.

But they couldn't. Not even close.

And here was your likely MVP's line for the evening:

MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
39 2-13 0-6 4-4 2 8 10 2 1 0 3 2 8

Not exactly an MVP performance....

Ah, but he didn't have his shot (0-6 3pt). Anybody can have a bad shooting night.

Yes, and that's the problem. A truly great player doesn't need to have his outside shot going to effect the game. But Nowitzki does. It is impossible to imagine a 28 year old Micheal Jordan having so little impact on an elimination game. Or Tim Duncan. Or Allen Iverson. Or Dwyane Wade. Or Steve Nash. Or several other players.

There just seems to be something missing from this Mavs team; they do not respond well to adversity. They spent the Finals last year whining about the calls, and then they came out for the second half last night and got steamrolled.

It'll be interesting to see how Cuban responds to this.