A Pair Of Damn Good Games

Rarely do I gush over games, but tonight NBA fans were treated to a pair of excellent ones. This once again proves to the world that God fully intends us to ditch our Christmas shopping for later in the week.

First off, the Orlando Magic took on the Dallas Mavericks. Moustached superhero Stan Van Gundy and his Magic were a hot team cooling off quickly (losing 4 of 5 games) and the Mavs were having the complete opposite fortune (winning 4 of 5 games). The stage was set for an utter blowout by the Mavs, but the loving-to-be-the-away-team Magic kept it close. With the clock ticking down to its final seconds, and the Mavericks up by 3, Magic guard Keith Bogans launched a three pointer and made it to much fanfare. The teams were tied with only about 2 seconds left or so and the game was poised to go into kickass overtime glory.

-Not so quick.

Dick Bavetta, remembering that it was a Monday and he was ALREADY about 3 hours past his bedtime, said no dice and ruled Bogans' shot a 2-pointer. That was the ball game. The crazy thing is that for a 100 year-old crypt keeper-lookalike, Bavetta is the still the best ref in the game. The replays showed that he was right and it looked like Bogans' toenail was on barely on the line. I should have known better than to ever question Bavetta, who looked like he could bitch-slap Chuck Norris after that call. What a fantastic game for both teams.

Then, came the other clash of the titans in Phoenix vs. San Antonio. The Spurs are invincible at home, with a 13-0 record that makes even the least skeptical fan believe they are poisoning the water fountain in the visiting team locker room. The game went back and forth until the Suns felt the pain of their bloody noses and surged to enter the fourth quarter with a 7 point lead. The Spurs started off the fourth with a 10-2 run and before I knew it the score was tied at 90 with less than two minutes to play...

It was at this moment that Dick Bavetta flew in on a zip line, wearing what looked like a purple cape and armed with a flame thrower. After hitting the floor at midcourt, he started screaming and turned on the flamethrower, fully igniting Boris Diaw who ran to the locker room. He then made 7 perfect calls in a row and made love to a gorgeous woman while giving Mark Cuban the finger.

Eh, actually the game after that point dwindled to a free throw shooting spree by the Suns, coupled with mistakes by the Spurs...but Bavetta would have done that if he were free.

Long story short, my dear friends, with the NFL regular season coming to a close and fantasy football leagues ending rapidly the NBA is starting to get really damn good. Tonight's games were just a preview of what is to come, so I hope you're ready for it.

Something tells me Keith Bogans will be trimming his toenails tonight.