Lockhart Line 5.7 - Pre-weekend Sports Update

Lockdawg updates the latest in the NBA Playoffs Orlando dunks ATL for 2-0 lead, Boston and Cleveland get set to do battle Friday night in the other half of the East Semis, the Lakers and Suns are my favorites to advance to West Conf Finals, PGA Player's Championship Tiger is only 4 shots back after round 1 looking to make a move in round 2 and hopefully make the cut to play this weekend.

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Lockhart Line 5.5 Sports Update -NBA Playoffs Conf. Semis

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Lakers take 2-0 lead over Jazz, Magic destroy road weary Hawks in Game 1, Suns look to maintain home-court over Spurs tonight in Game 2, Boston and Cleveland are locked in tough battle heading to Bean town but will LeBron's elbow be a deciding factor in Game 3?

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Lockhart Line 5.2 Sunday Sports Update: NBA Playoffs

Lockdawg updates the NBA playoffs. Goodbye and good riddance to the Mavericks, Lakers get gift path to Finals now that series with Thunder is over. LeBron and Shaq squeeze out tough victory over Celtics in Game 1 of Eastern Conf Semis, Atlanta still has to fear the deer in Game 7 before maybe facing rested Magic in second round. Does San Antonio have anything left to beat upbeat Suns? After dispatching bruising six-game series with Dallas, Spurs maybe out of gas.

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Second Round Bound...Mavs ride Spurs out 4-1, with defense...

SAN ANTONIO- Famed legendary Dallas head coaching icon Tom Landry once said of winning that "the secret to winning is constant, consistent management." With the steeling steady hand of their new head coach Rick Carlisle the aging but upstart Dallas Mavericks exchanged counter-punches with the San Antonio Spurs early on then gave them a spur in the rear and out of the playoffs 106-93, before a maligned crowd at the AT&T Center Tuesday night.

Dallas was scorching from the field, as a team they were over-50% shooting and they used timely defense to usher out their under-manned in-state rival.

Playing without the services of wily Manu Ginobili, who has been sidelined with a much reported right-ankle stress fracture, the Spurs were no match against the athletically deep Mavericks. The 13-point loss marks the first time in Tim Duncan's stellar career that his team has not advanced beyond the first round of the NBA playoffs.

NBA 6th Man Jason Terry (19pts, 4asts, 2rebs) summed up how good it felt for this Mavs team to defeat San Antonio chacterizing the Spurs as, "our mortal enemy" during his post-game interview. German born Dirk Notwizki paced the Mavs with 31 points on 11-17 shooting.

However, the night belonged to the ageless wonder Jason Kidd. The 36-year old point guard poured in 12 points, 5 assists and 3 steals in 40 plus minutes. He shot only 4-11 from the field but the four shots that he made were 3-point daggers into the hearts and minds of the Spurs and their fans. Whether the bucket came with the clock winding down or off a carousel of passes from teammates, if he had time to set his feet he sank shot after shot to help Dallas keep the lead that they would never relinquish.

The blow-out win Tuesday night coupled with the quick dispatching of a perennial playoff powerhouse with defense signals to the rest of the league that the Mavericks are again ready to contend with the upper echelon of the NBA. All-Star forward Dirk Notwizki said before the game, “We should know the importance of closing a team out when you get the chance," referring to their 2006 debacle when the Mavericks lost a 2-0 advantage in the Finals. Ironically, that team also beat the Spurs en-route to their first Finals appearance in franchise history. He maybe in his first-year with the Mavs but, league veteran head coach Carlisle knows what it takes to be playoff-ready. The 2008-2008 Mavericks have toiled through adversity that seemed insurmountable at times during the regular season and they are peaking at just the right time.

Next ahead for the Mavericks will be the winner of the series between Denver and New Orleans. Right now, the Nuggets hold a commanding 3-1 edge over the Hornets and will be looking to advance as well tomorrow night when they play Game 5 at home. If the Mavericks face the Nuggets, they will hope to do better than they did against them during the regular season. Dallas was 0-4 against the Nuggets in this year but in the playoffs the regular season means nothing when you have your sights set on world championship.

The Lockhart Line (Webisode #2)