It was another tough night. Because of Hurricane Sandy our flight to New York got delayed. The complete Mavericks baggage had to stay at the airport because the NBA forced the Knicks to play and not postpone any more games. Thus we were sitting at the airport doing basically nothing. The players had a chat here and there and were signing t-shirts and jerseys of fans trying to take advantage of the delayed flights.
When we finally arrived in New York the city looked really atrocious. Chaos everywhere. It was tough to get to the Madison Square Garden in time and we were in a real hurry as we arrived only one hour before the game. The players looked tired and so it wasn’t really a surprise that the game wasn’t going our way from the very first minute of the game.
O.J. Mayo was struggling. Despite hitting two threes early in the game, O.J. could never find a rhythm in the game. The Knicks led by five at halftime. We we’re sitting in the locker and Coach Carisle gave a look at our game plan for the second halftime.
“O.J., you missed five shots in the first half and some of them we’re really bad. I want better shot selection. Take a good shot or pass to your team mates”, Carisle said to Mayo with a loud voice. Mayo did not say a word, he did not even take his eyes off the floor.
Back in the game, the shots just were not falling for us. Down by ten in the third, O.J. took four consecutive shots, none of them being a bad one. He could still not make a basket out of these four shots. The Knicks had the ball. Jason Kidd passed the rock to Carmelo Anthony, who took position on the right high post with Shawn Marion trying to defend him. Melo took two dribbles, stepped back and went in the air for a difficult fade-away. Marion had a hand in his face as the ball only hit the rim and took a high arch off the rim. “Box out, box out”, Marion yelled as all the Mavs players tried to get the rebound. Mayo did not even have to box out as Jason Kidd stayed at the three point line. Mayo went to the basket and took a slight jump as he wanted to snatch the easy rebound. But Troy Murphy, usually a good rebounder did not box out properly against Amar’e Stoudemire. S.T.A.T. as they call him, who had 17 points in the game took a five feet run up and jumped right onto Mayo. Stoudemire screamed out lout as he completed a difficult catch with one hand and dunked the ball with emphasis by using Mayo kind of like a ladder.
“Plus the foul”, the referee yelled whilst Amar’e came down to the floor and Mayo fell right on his chest and looked stunned. “Yeahh, And one! That’s how it’s done in NYC, baby”, Amar’e screamed as he walked over to Mayo, who was already up stumbling around. “Brick aftah brick and now getting dunked on, Mr. Mayonnaise”, Stoudemire shoved Mayo before the ref separated both players. Mayo did not say a word as the game now completely shifted to the Knicks’ favor. We lost, 77-99. Mayo shot 4-17 from the field.
“What’s wrong with you?”, Derek Fisher asked. We were on our flight to Charlotte, where we would face the undefeated Bobcats.
“Nothing, everything’s alright”, O.J. Mayo answered.
“I really have to doubt that”, Fisher replied adding “I am here for four days now. I saw you hitting shot after shot in practice, overpowering our rookies easily going to the basket, playing a man’s ball. What's wrong when it counts?”
“I don’t know, man. I’m still adjusting”, Mayo said playing with his tablet computer.
“You know I have seen a lot of guys coming and going, I played with Kobe, Shaq, Durant”, Fisher, who was wearing a pink business shirt and a tie said. “I haven’t seen many players as talented as you are, O.J.”, the president of the NBPA said.
“You think so?”, Mayo layed down his tablet and started to listen to the old veteran.
“Definitely, you have the complete package. The size, the handling, the shot. Even your defense is already pretty good”, Fisher praised the 24-year old guard. “But I’m missing the fire. Where is your fire?”, the 38-year old added.
“Fire? I’m a basketball player and when I am on the court I give you 100%”, Mayo did not really understand what Fisher was talking about.
“No doubt, but where are your emotions. Heck, I didn’t want to mention it but Stoudemire made you his bitch last night”, Fisher did some men’s talk. “You did not even defend yourself against this arrogant moron. You looked like a lady out there”, he continued.
“I don’t know. Trash talk is not my style. I don’t like stuff like this”, Mayo justified his non-action.
“Maybe, but you looked like a lady. Are you a lady or are you a man?”, Fisher asked rhetorically. Mayo just grinned. Fisher punched him into his should. “That’s serious, fella. Are you a man or a lady I ask you”, Fisher said angrily.
“I’m a fuckin’ man, you know that”, Mayo answered aggressively.
“I don’t know. Show me, man. I doubt that you are a man. You have no emotions. You are Stoudemire’s bitch, heck I’m an old man, trust me, you are nothing in the league when you play like a lady”, Fisher explained to Mayo.
“Oh Fish, fuck off. I have always played like this. I cannot show emotions when I am just a calm guys. That's how I am. I ain’t Amare’s bitch. I fuck Amar’e the next time”, Mayo said with a cocky expression on his face.
“Then fuck him and fuck all the others, I like to hear that”, Fish said. “I want to see you living up to what you can do. You can be a mean motherfucker in this league. I want to see you killing them. Without Dirk this is your team, my man”, Fisher motivated Mayo, who followed the veteran’s words attentively.
“I’m doing my best. I ain’t no lady, you gotta know that”, Mayo said slamming his fist on the arm rest as Fisher got up to go to his normal seat in the plane.
“Show me, man, show me. We need wins. We need a dirty O.J. We need you aggressively. I don’t want to see you getting fucked by some wannabe All-Star again this season. Be a man, O.J., be a man!”, Fisher said as he left the seat next to Mayo.
I was sitting right behind the two. “No emotions, ha, I don’t need no fucking fire. I got skills. That’s it”, O.J. was mumbling to himself as Fisher was already gone.
It looked like the veteran ignited something in Mayo. We knew he was not playing with emotions, we knew he was cocky. But we also knew that he could play. Hopefully he’d show in the next games.
“And the ____________ has struck again. Oh my ...!”, the Mavs commentator yelled out. O.J. Mayo hit a crucial three pointer with a minute to go to tie the game in the fourth against the Timberwolves at American Airlines Center. He later sealed the victory with two free throws with 2 seconds left in the game.
O.J. was on fire, but you wouldn’t see it in his face. It was our second win in a row as we already had beaten the undefeated Bobcats 97-91 on the road. Mayo shot 5/6 from down town in the game scoring 21 points. This time, against the Wolves he had another game high 25 shooting 2/3 from down town. When he hit the crucial three to tie the game in the last minute against Minnesota, Mayo did not even blink for a second. This is why the Mavs commentators gave him a new nickname after this two strong games in a row: ____________. “He just shows no emotions on the court, just takes out his opponent calmly. He already did that when he hit the dagger against the Bobcats”, the commentators added. I really had to smile after the game when Fisher punched Mayo into the shoulder again.
“Hey, you ARE a man. I love it, keep on hustling and killing them, big boy”, Fisher said. “Thanks”, Mayo said, having an exceptional smile on his face. Fish has done everything right so far, I thought. Great signing. We did not get only one player, but it seemed like we also got another player by signing him: O.J. Mayo, the _________.
Dunno
