[Note]: The word "choker" has many meanings, its most common usage in American sports writing is as follows (you can type "define: choker" in Google to explore all the meanings) ---

* choke: fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation; Example: "The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience."

* choker: an unfortunate person who is unable to perform effectively because of nervous tension or agitation; Example: "He could win if he wasn't a choker."

* choke up: to become too tense or nervous to perform well; Example: Our team began to choke up in the last inning.

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Ventre: Mavs' meltdown started months ago
Dallas never looked comfortable after loss to Miami in '06 Finals

By Michael Ventre
Updated: 10:41 a.m. ET May 4, 2007

Choking is difficult to watch, but thankfully it’s usually over quickly. Whether it is someone in a restaurant with a blockage who suffers for a few seconds until a good Samaritan comes along with a Heimlich, or if it’s a sports team that suddenly collapses, those stricken with the choke can generally get it over with in short order.

The Dallas Mavericks are now one of history’s most notable exceptions to that rule. They choked, losing to the Golden State Warriors Thursday night in Oakland, 111-86, which completed a titanic gag that saw the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed get humiliated by the No. 8 seed 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Yet this choke began months ago, back in June, when the Mavericks were up, 2-0, in the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat. The Heat then reeled off four straight victories to take the championship.

At the time, critics ascribed the Mavs’ tank job to growing pains. It was just part of the learning process, they sagely professed. The crushing defeat against Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the Heat would build character, make men out of boys, teach them that what does not kill you will make you stronger.

Ah, not so fast. Sometimes what does not kill you does not make you stronger. Sometimes it makes you timid and weak and eventually the league’s laughingstock.

The Mavericks have been choking since last June. True, they won 67 games this year — the best record in the NBA — so it might seem incongruous to suggest that this mighty regular-season juggernaut has been slowly asphyxiating since June 13, which was when Game 3 of those Finals were played. But they have.

What occurred Thursday night was just the denouement of a Greek tragedy involving once-proud warriors whom the fates deemed unworthy and thus had them emasculated by … well, real Warriors.

Despite their regular-season success, the Mavs just had that worrisome look in their eyes, as if they weren’t quite sure they could live up to the hype. It was instilled from the Miami debacle, and it has remained. And that look progressed into sheer terror when they realized they would have to play the Golden State Warriors in the first round, a team that had swept the season series against Dallas this year.

These same Warriors won 42 games and battled the Clippers until the final days just to squeeze into the playoffs. They’re hardly a great team, barely a team worthy of the postseason. The Warriors are merely a bunch of misfits and wackos who matched up well with the Mavericks and smelled fear. They took absurd shots, became ungodly hot at the right time and rode a wave of momentum. They’ll be on vacation after the next round.

In such dramas as these, there are always subplots that support the main narrative. In this one, the Don Nelson scenario was almost as interesting as the games. Here was a veteran head coach cast adrift in Dallas by an insufferable owner in Mark Cuban, and he gets his chance at redemption just short of his 67th birthday.

Nellie did indeed outcoach his former assistant and good friend, Avery Johnson, but much of that is overblown. Sure, the double teams and overplaying of Dirk Nowitzki was highly effective, and whenever Nelson made a move Johnson counterpunched rather than follow the old John Wooden philosophy of playing your game and then making the other team conform to what you do.

But the Warriors won this because they got superhuman performances from guys like Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, and because Nowitzki failed to show up. Rather than stand out like Boston’s Larry Bird, Nowitzki disappeared like Boston’s Whitey Bulger.

In Game 6, Nowitzki was 2 for 13 from the floor, scoring just eight points. This is the supposed MVP of the league, but he seemed demoralized all series, lamenting at one point that he could only do what the defense gives him. That’s not exactly Patton talking.

If Avery Johnson failed, it was in getting these guys to remember who they were and inspiring them to act like champions. Anybody who knows Avery knows how tenacious he was as a player, and he carried that take-on-the-world attitude to his job as head coach of the Mavericks. He single-handedly turned a one-dimensional club into a team that could keep up with the scoreboard madness of the Phoenix Suns but also play defense like the San Antonio Spurs.

What he couldn’t do apparently was to sit them on the couch and determine why they were so mentally brittle. Did they still have nightmares of Udonis Haslem suddenly playing like Kevin McHale? Are they tormented by those cell phone commercials that remind them they could be the ones trying to get into Charles Barkley’s “five” instead of Wade if they had just not strangled themselves?

This is supposed to be the biggest upset in NBA history. That is based on the fact that no team that has ever won 65 games or more has ever failed to win at least one playoff series.

In truth, years from now this will be a mildly amusing memory for most fans. That’s because of two things:

One, a first-round series is still a first-round series, even if the top seed goes belly up. People tend to remember the champions, and with all due respect to the Warriors, they and their fans should continue to wax nostalgic about their ’75 title team, because there won’t be another along for a while.

Two, this might be a shocking upset on one level, but in reality it’s strictly run-of-the-mill. That’s because the Dallas Mavericks were involved, and the clues to their eventual choke have been obvious since last June.

小牛从被告变原告，勇士将了NBA规则一军

田朝晖

终于，不可一世的小牛倒在了浑不吝的勇士脚下。你可以说是健康的拜仑·戴维斯干掉了特里，你也可以说是改邪归正的史蒂芬·杰克逊干掉了小霍华德甚至诺维茨基，但不可否认的是，老尼尔森用一年时间，冲垮小将军约翰逊和老板库班用几年时间打造的城堡。

看到这些你回想起什么？是快意恩仇？还是因果报应？抑或是天意？

在我看来，讨论这些并没有多大的意义。这段足以写入历史的黑八奇迹，其实很像去年季后赛的一轮比赛：马刺对小牛。

当小牛击败马刺成功晋级，舆论普遍认为是实力使然，但事实果真如此吗？如果让马刺去对阵热火，你认为最后的胜利者还会是热火吗？

小牛击败马刺，是徒弟击败师傅；勇士掀翻小牛，是师傅干掉徒弟。

作为波波维奇最信任的后场指挥官之一，埃弗里·约翰逊的前期执教经验大多来自波波维奇。马刺对阵小牛，波波维奇在明处，但小将军约翰逊在暗处。

今天，同样的故事再次上演。勇士对小牛，又是徒弟与师傅的战争。但这次，小将军在明处，老尼尔森在暗处。

对阵小牛，老尼尔森可谓把战术变化运用到了极致。仅仅在中锋的使用问题上，勇士战术就已经体现出极强的针对性。

第一场，勇士中锋是艾尔·哈灵顿，这种一大四小战术之变态，直接导致小将军失去理智：居然让诺维茨基改打中锋，而放弃自己原本在内线的优势，让两个大中锋坐在板凳上。

这还不算完！当小牛幡然悔悟，改回自己的常规阵容拿下一场后，老尼尔森再次变阵。前一场的功臣哈灵顿，突然变成了可有可无的替补球员，而之前被多数人忽视的年轻中锋别德林斯又回到首发阵容。

一切的奥妙都在于变。勇士的变化，让愤怒的小牛无处发力。但小牛的变化，却始终在老尼尔森的预料和掌控之中。

所以，在场边，你可以看到小将军暴跳如雷的怒吼，但却看不到老尼尔森的怒不可扼——因为，他不需要。

小将军击败波波维奇，老尼尔森击败小将军，连续连个赛季出现相似的一幕，不禁让人想到“行业规则”这个词。

许多涉及核心技术的行业，都有一个行规：如果你辞职，你N年内不得在同行业的其他单位或公司谋职。这是一个硬性规定，但没有人觉得他不合理，因为这个规定的存在，是对整个行业的保护，它给了所有参与者一个公平的竞争环境。

NBA是个规则相对完善的联赛，这从劳资协议上就可以体现出来。但是，百密终有一疏。

由此不禁想到：NBA会不会因为这些比赛，而修改一下规则。比如：一支球队的教练在下课后，两年内不得在同区或者同联盟的球队中担任教练。

虽然勇士掀翻小牛，看起来是那么大快人心，那么像是劫富济贫，那么得让火箭球迷欢欣鼓舞，但是，从公平竞争的角度分析，这不是一个公平的系列赛。至少对小牛而言，它们有无数的核心机密掌握在对方教练的手中。

以上只是一点想法，点到为止，如果您觉得荒谬，权且一笑。

Go Rockets, Go Yao!

Darn, has Yao choked?

[Note]: It turned out that Yao Ming is a big choker, he choked more severely than Dirk Nowitzki (Mark Cuban deserves to be a sore loser for ever, I'm so happy to see Don Nelsom kick his sorry ass). I feel like wasting 3 hours last night only to see Houston Rockets give Game 7 away at home. Jeff Van Gundy should resign now and the Rockets should pursue Larry Brown as their new head coach.

宁可站着死，不能坐着生 -- 和所有火箭饭共勉

送交者: 老鹰号 2007年5月06日11:37:15 于 [竞技沙龙]

昨天火箭在自个儿家门口输了生死战，我要负主要责任。网友说上次我搭台的口号：让暴风雨来得更猛烈些(更正一下，第五场是客场比赛，不是我搭台，让暴风雨来得更猛烈些是我的胡文) 。因为有暴风雨的时候火箭不能发射，所以火箭输了，而这次我搭台的口号是：火箭纵横天下，爵士梦游天涯。“火箭纵横天下”，火箭不能横着走，所以，横字对火箭不吉利。而梦游天涯是Jazz的最高境界，所以爵士不赢，谁赢？说得很有道理，我得好好反省一下。

其实打球嘛，总有输赢，NBA冠军每年产生一个，其他29个队全是LOSER，但输球不能输风骨，死要死的壮烈。宁可站着死，不能坐着生！昨天的球，连外行人都看得出来，火箭队员一个个压力巨大，比赛没开始，自己吓扒下了，第一节开始，全部哑炮，不知道怎样打球，让爵士轻松得手，一下子撕开十几分的大口子，到了第四节才醒悟过来，凭着主场的气氛拼命追赶，但最后终于不支倒地。有很多原因，技战术，心理，体力等等，大家都说了很多，也没必要再废笔墨了。

这么多年来，不管常规还是决赛，我几乎一直盯着火箭。铁打的火箭，流水的人，春夏秋冬，一年又一年，队员换了无数，但无论怎样也比不了94，95夺冠的火箭，那种气势，关键时刻就是压得住，95年的火箭常规赛的排名是老六，最后硬吃了东西部老大，一举登上NBA宝座。

先回头看看94年吧，至今已经十几年了，至今我还能体会到休斯顿人心在燃烧的情形，大部分车的玻璃，大型建筑物都写上各种标语口号，GO ROCKETS！当火箭拿下西部冠军时，12刀一件的纪念T-SHIRT要排长队才能买到，我一口气买了4件。

那时强大的火箭队教头是汤姆贾诺维奇，追随火箭队34年，其中11年是作为职业球员，12年任球队主帅，足智多谋，既激情似火，又沉稳老练。

灵魂是大梦阿拉朱旺，NBA最NB的中锋之一，那种梦幻摇晃式的投蓝前无古人，是不是后无来者现在说不清，他身体灵活，技术精湛，反应敏捷多变，善作假动作，让人防不胜防。他投篮很准，有百步穿杨之功。防守稳如泰山，沉着冷静。他的风格是技巧加艺术，动作准确，很少失误。反击时惊如脱兔，迅如猎鹰。他打球极有风度，从不动粗，也不野蛮。经常被人粗野侵犯，而他从不报复，真正的君子风度。一句话，他的篮球天赋让人吃惊。信不信由你，他到美国之前，在他的祖国尼日利亚踢一脚漂亮的足球，现在的纳什也是这样，所以说要打好蓝球，先从足球抓起。

篮板野兽索普 ，当时NBA最好大前锋之一，曾入选全明星的球员。那年火箭夺冠路上与他对抗的是太阳队如日中天的巴克利和爵士队的马龙，可是在他那里没占到什么便宜。查了一下当年的数据，索普平均14分10.6个篮板，标准的白领加蓝领。

疯子麦克斯威尔，前几年，大家都知道有个“狂人”斯普瑞威尔。麦克斯威尔的名字，绰号品行都跟他差不多。只不过当年知道这个狂人的不多，只知道球场上有个不要命的“疯子”麦克斯威尔，一个在场上真玩命的主，曾经冲向看台打观众，被禁赛10场，后来被火箭交换出去，从此在球场不得意，在场外倒是是非不断，经常和警察打交道。

外星人卡塞尔，以心理素质好能冲能打乱战著称。94年在南佛州一所不知名的学校被火箭第N个选上(N大于20或30)，印象最深的是，他刚进火箭开始打球，除了坐板凳，场上基本没他什么事，他喜欢拿个白毛巾扎在头上，一旦火箭得分，他取下毛巾往地下猛拍。由于人聪明，他越打越好，首次季后赛成绩场均4.2个助攻9.4分。现在他人在快船，历尽13年，弄了一身伤，但他的样子好象没什么变化。

关键先生霍里，这位先生现在在马刺，已经有六枚金光闪闪的戒指，他总是在关键时刻3分发力，但我印象最深不是他最后3分绝杀，而是一次疯子罚球不进，他从3分线外冲进，飞身单手补扣进网，电视播放了无数遍，解说也惊呆了，一直在说是乔丹的再版。火箭队把外星人，篮板野兽，他还有两位不知名的板凳交换太阳的巴克利，估计肠子都悔青了。

还有创造总决赛单场7个3分记录的肯尼.史密斯，现在在TNT做电视评球，几年前为了姚明和巴克利打赌亲驴屁股的就是他。

板凳艾利，印象最深是第7场生死战，在太阳打客场，最后7秒钟一个底线3分，断了巴克利冠军的梦想。赛季平均9.3分3.1个助攻0.8个抢断，这样的替补比火箭队现在的主力都强。

那时的火箭阵容强大，主要表现在心理素质好，越是关键比赛越沉稳。回忆过去的辉煌，绝不是像祥林嫂一样喋喋不休，而是希望现在的火箭多向老大哥学习。现在的火箭不是技不如人，主要是在关键时刻没人能压住阵脚，教练的技战术也单调乏味。

成者为王，败着为寇，咱们要接收这个事实，今年没戏了，总结经验教训，还有明年，后年 。。。丢掉的只是一场球，但不能丢了士气，丢了骨风，火箭的小伙子们，擦干净身上血迹，继续战斗吧！

最后说明一下，我永远是火箭饭，即便有一天我离开了休斯顿，也许有一天我眼睛看不见了，耳朵也听不见了，但NBA中最让我牵挂的还是火箭，没办法啊，我这人喜欢一条道走到黑。

窝囊的姚明, 愚蠢的火箭

送交者: VC15 2007年5月06日02:45:52 于 [竞技沙龙]

今天打到还有4分钟火箭还领先了5分，可惜没把握住，最后落后四分不去犯规居然包加更是愚蠢透顶，估计忘了去犯规吧?

姚明的季候赛打的确实窝囊，老是远离篮下，翻身跳投，接球不稳定，失误也多，错误一次又一次犯。姚明你是中锋不是大前锋，应该在篮下撕杀而不是跑出去中投。姚明的失误几乎都是千篇一律的。拿球有的时候不稳，但这还不致命，致命的是离开篮下中投和被超球。虽然姚明得分不少，但是那是建立在失误和命中率上的。

为什么一样的错误会从第一场开始一直到第七场还是没有任何改变呐，为什么到第七场了，姚还是同样的失误呐，平时都练什么去了。一个球员一次又一次以同样的方式失误，教练应该付责任。姚拿布责尔也是一点办法也没有。斯龙可以想办法把姚明看的死死的，火箭就是遏制不住布责尔，要知道布虽然厉害，但远没到防不住的地步！！

今年签下刺头Wells多不容易啊，硬是让JVG给废了，斯潘也一样，虽然刺头自己也有责任，但主要还是因为JVG自己的魅力不够吧。比赛打到后面，火箭到了前场球就没悬念的给T-Mac，如果刺头调教的好完全可以多一个持球进攻球员的。

火箭输了,感觉球队整体实力不行,跟爵士比,人家上场5个人,4个都能投篮,三个可以突破,替补上来一个就能中投,而且还有一个基本防不住的,还有两个能投三分的!

大家看火箭也有一段时间了,那都是什么人啊?卖底,状态不稳!两个三分手,也是有一下没三下的!其他的,就连无人防守的情况下,中投也是几下挤不出一个屁来!造成爵士,放心大胆的防姚明,卖底.超人也不行啊!本来姚明内线要球后,基本都可以形成两到三个人夹击,这个时候外线还跑不出空位来,那怪谁? 教练, 球员? 还是球员的意识不行.最后大家看到火箭其他球员拿球后爵士,也就分一半精力看你,另一半在内线!

一个球队里,没有能中投的人,除了卖底,没有能突破的人,能赢么? 有时候发球找不到接球的人,以前看NBA,裁判没吹哨发球之前,球员就开始穿插炮位了,看看的火箭,都跟站岗似的!哨一响,开始做直线运动,有N次这样的情况了!

关注勇士!对爵士应该很激烈,看流氓嚣张,还是土匪牛B. 希望下轮勇士干死爵士，爵士真的很脏。 看看勇士,5个人上来,4个人投三分!