Heard It Through the Grapevine

Posted by Rob Mahoney on November 2, 2009 under The Grapevine |

• Getting to know Shawn Marion. I actually didn’t know that he went to junior college before UNLV, or that anyone liked Couples Retreat.
• Quinton Ross is self-aware, humble, and a hard worker. That’s exactly what the Mavs need in a defensive stopper, and it’s exactly the reason why Q is sitting pretty as the starting 2.
• Mike Fisher takes a minute to recognize the under-the-radar contributions of Erick Dampier: “In the loss to Washington, Damp was 2-of-2 with six rebounds and eight points. He was quite capable in the Lakers game, matching Andrew Bynum with his 3-of-5 shooting, 10 rebounds and eight points. And against the Clippers, while Kaman was going nuts, Damp was energetically challenging every shot (notice Rick Carlisle never pulled Damp off the assignment) and was still putting up numbers of his own: 12 points, 6-of-10 shooting, 10 rebounds, three blocks. Add it up: Three games, and Damp is a double-double kinda guy, has five blocks, is shooting 65 percent, and merits being on the floor even as his opposite number is having a career night.”
• Today is not a great day for Popeye Jones.
• Dr. Arnovitz has a cool video analysis demonstrating the Clippers’ inability to score against the Mavs. If all goes according to plan, a similar breakdown feature could become a staple of the game coverage here as well.