Why I love the NBA playoffs:

Yesterday Dirk Nowitzki beat his assistant coach Rolando Blackman’s previous franchise high record for most points in a playoff game with 46 points! And 10 rebounds! And I can see the Mavs play again on Wednesday. I have to store up all the NBA goodness to get me through the long, cruel summer of baseball.

Why I love the Mavs:

1) Initially it was my extreme hatred of Utah. It was not fun, living in Utah, where every other commercial on the radio was for the car dealership owned by the owner of the Jazz. Or the Jazz players, like Mr. Karl Malone’s Honda Dealership. Or the Stockton to Malone Honda dealership. At one point, I thought if I heard the “Stockton to Malone” jingle again, my brain would explode.

I was SO happy when the Mavs knocked Utah out of the playoffs a couple years ago. Dirk and Steve were running all over the court, they were so happy, and I was so happy that many sports fans in Utah were crushed! Crushed!

2) Dirk. I will admit, I dig the floppy hair and his crazy shooting skills. I hope he can build on what he did tonight. I’m glad Michael Finley started to wake up after being on the bench for so long, and I hope Steve Nash starts hitting more shots. I just decided that I would adore him forever after he got his tooth knocked out playing against the spurs in 2001, came back and the Mavs won the game.

3) Mark Cuban is totally insane, but I think he is the only owner of a professional sports team that would go on a mock date to a mall with Jay Mohr, buy a copy of the phantom tollbooth, and skip around with a flower in his hair. And you never know when he’s going to get hit by a monster fine for being mouthy.