MVP Luka Doncic Out Means Dallas Mavs are a Lottery Team?

Mavs' MVP, Cowboys' popularity, Rangers' reward and even previews of soccer and turkey, all in this week's DFW sports notebook.

WHITT'S END 11.18.22:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

*Face of the NBA remains LeBron James.

Best player? Giannis Antetokounmpo. Most entertaining? Stephen Curry, followed closely by Ja Morant. But if there was any doubt who the league’s most valuable player is, the debate was settled Wednesday night at American Airlines Center.

With Luka Doncic and his record-setting “usage rate” taking a well-deserved night off, the Dallas Mavericks looked all the bit of an abysmal Lottery team. We know how good Luka is. But when you see players like Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock and even Spencer Dinwiddie struggle to create their own shots off the dribble, we’re reminded even more of Doncic’ play-making brilliance.

With him, defenses are forced to double-team, allowing him to make on-time, on-target passes to open teammates for easy shots. Without him (or Jalen Brunson, to be fair), the Mavs’ five starters combined for almost unfathomable 27 points on 8-of-40 shooting.

Without the most valuable player in the NBA, the Mavs lost to the 2-12 Houston Rockets.

*Style over substance.

They haven’t been the NFL’s best team since 1996. But the Dallas Cowboys remain the NFL’s most popular team in 2022. America’s Team.

The one that some media actors pretend to hate (I’m looking at you, ESPN loud-mouth Stephen A. Smith), and others pretend to love (cue Fox Sports 1 blowhard Skip Bayless). The one that plays not 17 games, but 17 seasons … each analyzed, scrutinized and criticized like its own binge-worthy Netflix series.

The one that last week – in a thrilling overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers – drew the largest TV audience of the NFL season with almost 30 million viewers. Which game did it bump from the top spot? Cowboys-Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, which drew 27 million.

Both numbers will likely be thrashed on Thanksgiving, when the Cowboys host the suddenly relevant New York Giants in a post-turkey NFL game featuring big markets and playoff implications. Given that last year’s Cowboys-Las Vegas Raiders drew 38 million viewers, 40+ million is doable come Thursday.

Love them. Loathe them. But I dare you to ignore them.

*Not sure there’s a direct correlation, but the Texas Rangers’ recent tip-toeing toward inclusivity on Spirt Day certainly didn’t hurt them from finally getting awarded the Major League All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington in 2024. The Rangers remain the only team to not host an official “Pride Night”, but on last month’s Spirit Day their social media team finally acknowledged the “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” aspect of bullying. Their lack of a Pride Night will come under scrutiny leading up the game, especially in light of commissioner Rob Manfred moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta in protest of voter suppression laws being enacted. The Rangers wanted this game to show off their “new” stadium. 

Now they better mind their p’s and q’s and – while they’re at it – their LGBTQ’s as well.

*Not a lot of hockey coverage in this space, but I did attend a Dallas Stars game last week thanks to an offer of pretty primo seats. The night I went, the Stars fell behind a 3-9-2 team 5-2 and lost. But the local puck-heads tell me they have a playoff-caliber team this season. This concludes hockey coverage in this space. I’ll check back with them in April.

If you’re gonna go. Go! #GoStars pic.twitter.com/C2BZrqC4LZ

— Richie Whitt (@richiewhitt) November 12, 2022

*Not a lot of soccer coverage in this space, but the World Cup begins this weekend with the U.S. opening Group play against Wales Monday at 1 p.m. Though I covered the World Cup in Dallas and at the Rose Bowl in 1994, I have no idea if the American team in Qatar is any good. The experts establishing the U.S. as a 100-1 longshot seem to be telling us not to get our hopes up. This concludes soccer coverage in this space. I’ll check back with them in December.

*Is Qatar pronounced CUT-er or kuh-TAR? Either way, it’s weird. But our goose become geese while our moose become … moose. So who am I kidding?

*Here is a breathtaking photo of Earth, courtesy of the Artemis rocket headed to the Moon. Flat-Earthers, your move.

*The color purple. Wise-guys in Las Vegas are right way more than they’re wrong. But a couple lines involving local teams just seem … wrong. Undefeated TCU went to Austin to play 3-loss Texas as a 7-point underdog and won outright. Now the 6-3 Cowboys go on the road after a demoralizing loss to play the 8-1 Minnesota Vikings as 1.5-point favorites? It's the first time since 1976 that a team 8-1 or better (that started its regular quarterback) will be a home underdog. 

Does not compute. Gimme Skol, plus the point(s).

*Hot.

*Not.

*The Rangers last hosted an All-Star Game at the old Ballpark in Arlington in 1995. Mavs drew a record crowd of 108,713 to AT&T Stadium for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. But most folks forget that DFW also once hosted the NFL’s Pro Bowl. The 1972 game was played at Texas Stadium on a cold January afternoon that was a far cry from the future home in Honolulu. MVP that day? A running back named O.J. Simpson.

*Cowboys blowing a 28-14 lead in the fourth quarter isn’t the most gut-wrenching loss in franchise history, but it’s in the Top, er, Bottom 10.

*Still trying to decide what was more shocking last Tuesday at AAC: Luka’s acumen to snatch a loose ball, know the shot-clock was expiring and fire a quick 28-footer that swished for a key 3-pointer in the win over the Los Angeles Clippers? Or the fact that he punctuated the shot by shushing his home crowd?

*With the announcement of the award this week, the Rangers remain the only American League team to have never won a Cy Young. Closest they got was 1974, when Fergie Jenkins produced a 25-12 record, 2.82 ERA and league-leading, mind-boggling 29 complete games and 328 innings. Fergie finished second in the Cy Young, losing out – 12 first-place votes to 10 – to the Oakland A’s Catfish Hunter, who also went 25-12 with a 2.49 ERA. Think about Jenkins’ 29 complete games in a single season. This year’s AL winner and future Hall of Famer, Justin Verlander, has pitched for 17 seasons and has 26 complete games in his career.

*Put Trevon Diggs on Vikings’ star receiver Justin Jefferson all over the field. Every play. Not sure it’s a sane strategy. But I’m certain that’s what all NFL fans want to see.

*Remember the Dallas man who caught Aaron Judge’s historic 62nd home run ball? He’s turned down a $3 million offer and is putting it up for auction.

*You know it’s a wonky year when the Cowboys are in the thick of the playoff hunt and Dak Prescott is still searching for his fist road win on Nov. 20.

*The Cowboys’ “88 Club” is cute and all, but if Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin are serious about upholding the tradition of the hallowed number they’d teach CeeDee Lamb how to run a damn “skinny post.” Irvin wore out the route all the way to Canton. When Roger Staubach needed a clutch first down, he found Pearson over the middle. But these days Lamb is over-thinking the pattern into interceptions, like the costly one in Green Bay last Sunday.

FACT: this isn’t the first time that #Cowboys star CeeDee Lamb has chosen to run an over-the-middle route at this Dak interception- aiding angle … https://t.co/XpImtdZWO4 pic.twitter.com/DAeO1cOy32

— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) November 13, 2022

*All 22 of the Cowboys’ touchdowns have been “home grown”, scored by players they drafted.

*I’ve never understood air shows. Surprised that more accidents like the one that killed six pilots in Dallas last weekend don’t happen more often.

*Been watching Cowboys games since 1970 and I can’t remember a more demonstrative outburst by a head coach than Mike McCarthy spiking his headset after the failed fourth down in overtime last week. Most Tom Landry ever did was yell “No, Danny! No!” at quarterback Danny White’s ill-fated audible in a 1983 loss to Washington. I think he also winced. Once.

*The regression of Texas Longhorns’ quarterback Quinn Ewers is stunning. The guy who was skittish in the pocket against TCU and who consistently air-mails receivers by 10 yards started the season in September by torching Alabama’s secondary before getting injured in the second quarter. He hasn’t been the same since.

*Next time you complain about $125 tickets to a Cowboys game, imagine shelling out a cool $7,000 to see Taylor Swift April 1 at AT&T Stadium?

*In case you missed it, former Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels has landed in Tampa Bay as a senior advisor for the Rays.

*Cowboys blew a late lead, but nobody’s been better early. Dallas has a +31 point differential in the first quarter, best in the NFL.

*I’ll say it again for the people in the back: The most overrated thing in sports is coaching. Latest evidence: A Saturday hired on Monday won on Sunday. With zero coaching experience, Jeff Saturday led the Indianapolis Colts to a win over the Raiders. Las Vegas, now 2-7, is coached by the golden child formerly known as Josh McDaniels.

*No Whitt’s End next week as I take Thursday off to stuff my face with football, food and family. We’re big on tradition, but also variety. Hence, on our dinner spread will include turkey, dressing, chips ’n queso and peanut butter-filled pretzels.

*This Weekend? Friday let’s sneak in some tennis. Saturday let’s hang out with Big Brother Big Sisters lil’ bro Ja. Sunday let’s watch Cowboys-Vikings. As always, don’t be a stranger.