16 Jun

THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011

S P ORT S

Mavs savoring title, reloading talk on hold DALLAS: Dirk Nowitzki was talking about the NBA championship capping his career wish list and how much it meant after all the heartbreaks along the way. In a somber voice, he wondered aloud about trying to find something else that could push him to continue a work ethic that routinely includes returning to the gym for nighttime shooting drills.

Then he stopped, laughed, and said, “I’m not going to retire or anything if that’s what you think.”

While the Mavericks know they’ll have the finals Most Valuable Player back next season, it remains to be seen who will be part of Nowitzki’s supporting cast.

Starting center Tyson Chandler, valuable guard JJ Barea, injured scorer Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, Brian Cardinal and Peja Stojakovic are all free agents. The NBA’s uncertain labor status further complicates things.

So instead of looking ahead, the Mavs are focused on savoring the first title in franchise history _ especially the free agents-to-be.

“If I get focused on that (contract) stuff, I can’t enjoy it,” Chandler said. “I’ll probably go home and Slip ‘n Slide. ... Just run up and down and slide on the front lawn. Any kids are welcome to join me.”

That was the tone at the team’s annual exit interviews Tuesday: fun, loose, relaxed.

Since none of the players had ever won a championship, it was the best season wrapup they’d

ever been through. The team’s PR staff even got in the spirit, too; the daily email with the team’s schedule read, “ The World Champion Dallas Mavericks ...” Interviews were held on the team’s downstairs practice court at the arena.

Jason Terry stole the show by strutting down the stairs in a white terry cloth robe, sunglasses and a baseball cap, carrying a fat, unlit cigar and his invitation to the ESPY awards for the Mavericks’ nomination as Team of the Year.

The glory of winning a championship comes in many forms. For team owner Mark Cuban, it was walking into his kitchen Tuesday morning and seeing the Larry O’Brien Trophy on top of a counter.

For Barea, it’s planning to take the championship trophy to his native Puerto Rico. President Obama was in his native land on Tuesday and said of the tiny guard: “That guy can play.” For Donnie Nelson, the team’s president of basketball operations, it’s a congratulatory text from his dad, Don Nelson, who started the Mavericks down the path to a title when he took over the club in the late 1990s.

The elder Nelson won five titles as a player, but none in a long, distinguished career as a coach and executive. For Carlisle, it’s the satisfaction of making champions out of guys who’d made millions and been All-Stars but had never won it all.

“There’s a big difference between success and

fulfillment,” Carlisle said. “These guys have had incredible success in the league. You go right down the list of guys, Dirk, Jet, Kidd, Marion, Stojakovic, Chandler, all these guys. But the thing that’s eluded them and myself on the coaching side of it has been the fulfillment of achieving the ultimate dream. ... Once you’re an NBA champion and you have the ring, you’re a made man in NBA circles.”

Nowitzki and Carlisle emphasized the importance of the way Dallas won, with a “strength in numbers” approach best evidenced by Terry and the supporting cast pulling them through the clincher while Nowitzki struggled. “They needed each other to be successful,” Carlisle said.

“A lot of people are going to reference back to the 2011 Dallas Mavericks as the team that ... found a way collectively to achieve the highest achievement.” That achievement usually is marked by championship rings. Cuban is considering another kind of jewelry, but is being strongly urged to stick with tradition.

“You win an NBA championship, you’ve got to have a ring,” Carlisle said. Laughing, he added, “I don’t know what he’s thinking.” Nowitzki spoke for the locker room when he said, “We know he always wants to do something different, something bigger. But the ring is just so classic. ... I mean, I’m a man. I don’t know how I’d feel about a bracelet. I’d rather go with a ring.”

A parade through downtown is planned for Thursday, with 250,000 people expected. Cuban has offered to pick up the tab, so it should be a doozy of a party, especially after the way he celebrated Sunday night in Miami. He footed the bill at a chic club on South Beach; there was talk of a single, oversized bottle of champagne that cost $90,000.

“Mark understands the importance of this moment, not only to him and to the league but to this city,” Carlisle said. On Monday night, Cuban, Nowitzki and several others took the trophy to a favorite watering hole.

The celebration including a rendition of “We Are The Champions.” Cuban even tweeted a link to a YouTube video of it. They better enjoy being champions for as long as they can because come next season, it will be used against them by every team they face. Carlisle called it “another challenge that we’ll embrace.” Another, similar challenge is dealing with talk of whether they can repeat as champions.

“The lockout is the only thing holding this team back,” Terry said. “Hey, you know what? If they lock us out ‘til January, it would be a shorter journey.

But I know nobody is going to pick us again next year. ... But we’ll love it. We like the underdog role. I believe if we have the same team coming back next year, we’re going to be tough to beat.”—AP

England face selection dilemma for final Test Gary Kirsten

Kirsten sees Twenty20 as a domestic product SINGAPORE: Twenty20 cricket should be played less at international level to stop it diluting Test and one-day matches and more in domestic leagues to increase attendances, World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten has told Reuters.

Kirsten, who stepped down as India coach to take charge of his native South Africa after leading the south Asians to 50-over World Cup success in April, was full of praise for the shortest form of the game but questioned it’s use.

“I have always had a view that it is a great domestic product,” Kirsten told Reuters in Singapore yesterday. “Maybe you can look at the platform soccer works off, where they play mainly domestic soccer through the year and then they have a major tournament at a countr y level, maybe that’s what Twenty20 can do.

“I think international cricket does really well with Test cricket and the 50-over format of the game and I feel Twenty20 cricket will dilute those products a little bit.

“I think it (Twenty20) is a great product, there are going to be teething problems as we go along as it’s a new product to world viewership and world sporting entertainment, but it’s done remarkably well over a short period of time.”

Twenty20 cricket has been a big hit since its conception in 2003 in England but attempting to find space for it in an already crowded international calendar has proved difficult and extended tours to fit in matches have proved unpopular.

Kirsten, speaking on the sidelines of the Nomura Asia Equity Forum, believes something has to give.

“The future tours programme doesn’t allow for that much Twenty20 cricket, they are trying to fit them in schedules and trying to find a space for them here or there,” the former test opening batsman said.

He said the International Cricket Council’s only alternative would be to play more Twenty20 cricket at the expense of the 50-over game.

“You can’t extend tours longer than six weeks and that has been an almost unwritten thing now that they want to keep tours as short as possible,” he said.

The multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most successful domestic Twenty20 tournament.

Beginning in 2008 and featuring an auction for the world’s best players to come and play for one of now 10 franchises, Kirsten believes it’s success demonstrates his point that Twenty20 is a great domestic product.

“I know Australia are trying that now (creating a domestic Twenty20 league), England are trying that, South Africa have their own Twenty20 thing and there is great interest in it and it brings crowds to the game in the domestic format that other forms of the game don’t. “ There is ver y little support for domestic four-day cricket and domestic 50-over cricket, so I think its great for the local game,” said Kirsten. — Reuters

SOUTHAMPTON: England face a tricky selection dilemma ahead of today’s third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl.

Paceman James Anderson has recovered from a side strain and will come back to lead the attack after missing the second-test draw at Lord’s, meaning Steven Finn, Stuart Broad or Chris Tremlett must stand down.

“I’ve felt fine for a couple of weeks now. I felt fine before the Lord’s test,” Anderson told reporters. “It would have been a risk to play in that game and I’ve had plenty of time to recover, get stronger, do a lot of bowling, so I’m feeling pretty comfortable.”

The likelihood is that the 22-year-old Finn will make way as he was the fast bowler who originally came in for Anderson. Broad has taken just 13 wickets in six tests but his allrounder status should help his cause.

Surrey quickie Tremlett is hoping to return to the venue where he used to play with Hampshire. England, who are 1-0 up against Sri Lanka, are looking to claim a fifth straight series win. Captain Andrew Strauss’s team last failed to win a test series when they drew 1-1 in South Africa in 2009-10. England have since beaten Bangladesh twice, Pakistan and Australia. Their last test series defeat was a 1-0 reverse in West Indies in early 2009.

Sri Lanka have been forced to change their captain as Tillakaratne Dilshan will not risk his broken thumb. He will be replaced by predecessor Kumar Sangakkara.

“The main reason we’ve kept him out of this test is that had he played and got another blow while fielding he might have been out for the rest of the tour,” said team manager Anura Tennakoon referring to the one-day internationals that follow.

“As a precautionary measure we have kept him out.” Left-handed opener Lahiru Thirimanne, 21, is likely to replace Dilshan at the top of the order after scoring 104 against Essex. It will be the Rose Bowl’s maiden test although the southcoast ground has previously hosted 12 one-day and two Twenty20 internationals. — Reuters

LONDON: England’s Graeme Swann (fourth from left) smiles as Andrew Strauss (back left) speaks to the England bowlers during a net practice at the Rose Bowl cricket ground. — AP

Strauss targets ton after barren streak SOUTHAMPTON: England captain Andrew Strauss’ record of one test century in just under two years is not good enough, the left-handed opener admitted yesterday.

England, 1-0 up after winning in Cardiff, face Sri Lanka at The Rose Bowl in the third and final test on Thursday and are targeting a fifth consecutive series win. While the team is playing well, Strauss has managed 24 runs in his three innings and, although there is no serious threat of him losing his place, he is aware he needs to reach three figures more often.

“I was frustrated with my returns at Lord’s, but that’s the nature of the beast as an opening bats-

man, sometimes you get a couple of good balls early,” Strauss told reporters.

“I just have to make sure I do all I can to get back in the runs. “I’ve scored a lot of fifties without getting many hundreds and that’s something I am determined to change. It has been one of my strengths - if you can get big hundreds it does set the side up pretty well and that’s the challenge for me.” Strauss was twice dismissed lbw by left-arm pace bowler Chanaka Welegedera at Lord’s and he admitted he has worked hard in the nets on countering that line of attack. While his fellow left-handed opening partner Alastair Cook has plundered six

centuries in nine tests, Strauss has watched enviously and is keen to better his numbers.

“There is always pressure on you to score runs - I don’t think that ever changes and nor should it because it’s test cricket and there are hundreds of guys playing county cricket that want your job,” Strauss added. “You’ve got to do everything you can and ride the blows.... because you are not going to score runs every time you bat.

“Over the last couple of years in both forms of the game my form has been pretty good as captain.

You can over-analyse these things but I’m not going to fall into that trap.” — Reuters

Hamilton: Daring, not dangerous PARIS: Administered the last rites after his fiery crash in 1976, Niki Lauda will always be more qualified than most to talk about the dangers of motor-racing. His scars are permanent reminders of how close he came to giving his life to the sport.

Still, on the subject of whether Lewis Hamilton represents a menace to himself and to others, the three-time Formula One world champion is wrong.

“You can’t drive like that, someone can die,” Lauda reportedly said after the 2008 champion again played bumper-cars with his sleek McLaren, this time at last weekend’s epic Canadian Grand Prix.

“At some point, it’s not funny anymore,” the German TV broadcaster he now commentates for quoted Lauda as saying. Well, Mr. Lauda, you’re right that taking silly risks at 200 kilometers per hour is no laughing matter.

But there is a big difference being daring and being dangerous. It is to the good of Formula One that Hamilton is one of the most daring drivers out there. The Briton at least tries to provide spectacle in a sport that can’t thrive without it.

So at Monaco, a track so boring that a dash of recklessness from drivers can be forgiven, Hamilton thought he saw a gap to pass Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on the turn 6 hairpin and dived in.

Turned out he was wrong. The gap vanished, their cars came together.

Hamilton’s crash-bang pass of Pastor Maldonado that nudged the Williams of the Venezuelan into the street circuit’s barriers was similarly overoptimistic.

So, too, was his attempt to squeeze past teammate Jenson Button in Canada that ended Hamilton’s race by damaging his car. Hamilton

should have ceded when Button edged him ever closer to a wall, but he didn’t and suffered the consequences.

But, hey, who doesn’t make mistakes? As long as we are thrilled when sports heroes compete as close to the ragged edge as possible, then such outcomes will be inevitable. That means football players like Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard who are admired for their thumping tackles will on occasion get their timing all wrong and clatter too hard into opponents.Likewise, derring-do drivers like Hamilton who take high-risk decisions at high speed and in split-seconds are

Lewis Hamilton in action in this file photo

sometimes going to crash or cause crashes.

The alternative — athletes who always play it safe — simply isn’t as entertaining. Fact is, accidents in F1 are part of the job. “Of course, I could go and drive around and not overtake anyone and just stay in position,” Hamilton said last October in Japan when he was again being questioned about his approach.

“That’s easy enough, but that’s not me. So that definitely won’t be happening.” Good for him. That Hamilton shies from taking his foot off the gas doesn’t make him a menace. He takes risks but isn’t deliberately trying to put other

people in danger. But while his guts are admirable, Hamilton’s mouth and temperament let him down.

To be taken seriously, he shouldn’t have joked to a BBC interviewer in Monaco that “maybe it’s because I’m black” that he is hauled so often before race stewards to explain his on-track behavior.

Nor should he have been so quick to call Massa and Maldonado “ridiculous” and “stupid” for blocking his way. In both collisions, the stewards faulted Hamilton. Fooling around in a sports car on a street in Australia last year, burning tire-rubber and being pulled over by police, was stupid of Hamilton, too.

Stuff like that makes the 26-year-old look like a hothead. Maybe the impression is false. But even so, it can fuel the doubts about whether Hamilton is mature enough, responsible enough to be treading that finest of lines between being brave and courting unnecessary danger. In other words, would a more levelheaded Hamilton be winning more and crashing less?

Perhaps. But Hamilton’s biggest problem is that his McLaren hasn’t been as fast as he would like, certainly not quick enough compared to the Red Bull of runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel, whom he’s beaten just once in seven races this season. That, undoubtedly, is pushing Hamilton to take more risks than he otherwise might.

In an interview with Lauda in 2009, Hamilton explained how demoralizing it is to drive a car that can’t compete. “Lots and lots and lots of sleepless nights,” he said. So Hamilton shouldn’t be faulted now for pushing as hard as he can, perhaps too hard at times.

Better for the spectacle of F1 that he’s trying, rather than not trying at all. — AP