UPDATE: Welcome TrueHoopers. Sorry for the downtime. Please resume your regulary scheduled reading.

UPDATE2: Dirk’s been suspended for 1 game for his “accidental” takedown of Kirilenko.

Aahhh, the NBA. One of the greatest PR machines of our time. Here’s the classic positive-spin description of their picture of the night,

Dirk Nowitzki accidental[l]y crashes into Andrei Kirilenko on Monday.

They must not have attended any driver safety courses lately because they’re now called collisions. There are no accidents. And why was it called a flagrant one if it was an accident? I should find the Malice in the Palace photo. It would read,

Ron Artest and a fan have a disagreement concerning Artest’s beverage preferences.

I thought maybe I was looking too much into this whole thing, but after reading about Dirk’s “accident” with Fisher the night before, and after watching the video 100 times, here’s my problem with it being an accident. A hard foul is one thing. Even grabbing around the neck and head might be an accident. But when Dirk continues his downward motion of his arm to throw AK to the ground, it’s not an accident.

But both Deron and the Jazz got some love on the NBA daily roundup. Maybe it’s because they were part of only three games that night and one of the other games was NOLA/NYK and the other involved the Clippers.

Deron’s 14 assists in the first half was one off the team record by Raul Lopez. Kidding. He finished with 20. If he has another couple games with 14+, he could get a player of the week award.

Speaking of great point guards, do you realize that Stockton is eligible for HOF enshrinement next year? We’ll find out in a month whether or not Adrian Dantley finally gets the call.

Other Dirk/AK fallout:

• Utah hates Dirk
• Another vantage point showing Dirk around AK’s neck

Other links:

• More Utah/Dallas recap
• Williams/Paul
• Don’t you wish your girl was flexible like me?
• Any move on the Jazz trade front this summer? (end of article)
• Giricek is back in the West.
• Kyle Korver hitting the mainstream on Digg

Why is there so much bad blood between the Jazz and the rest of the teams in the Western Conference?  You have the Nuggets obviously.  There’s no love lost between the Kings, Artest, and the Jazz.  And not to mention the Spurs.  And now you can add Nowitski and the Mavs to that list.  Jerry Stackhouse has never been a fan of Sloan and the Jazz.  But now Dirk becomes Public Enemy #1 after his frustration-induced flagrant foul on AK in the first that put Andrei on his back.  It wasn’t just a hard foul.  He grabbed AK around the neck and made sure he slammed him to the court.  Sloan just gave Dirk the benefit of the doubt on the post-game interview.  Needless to say, Dirk was booed every time he touched the ball.  Where’s Araujo for some vigilante justice?

But behind Deron William’s 17 points and 20 assists, the Jazz were able to build up a 21-point lead and then hold off a late Mavericks’ run to beat Dallas, 116-110.  I loved the SportsCenter analysis after the game.  Deron has 39 assists in the last two games and the discussion was on how the Mavs are 4-4 since Kidd’s arrival.  Happens all the time on ESPN; the Jazz win, let’s show highlights and talk about the other team.  Deron also added 17 points and 5 boards.

Boozer led all scorers with 28 and Boler cried because Carlos had only 7 rebounds.  Memo picked up the slack in the rebounds department with 12 of his own to go along with his 20 points.  He had some nice moves driving to the basket including one going across the key, getting hacked by Jerk, and then finishing with the fall-away bank shot.

Brewer gave 15 and Korver added 17, including a clutch three that gave the Jazz a six-point lead again late in the game.  The Mavs didn’t go away as they hit several threes and got some three-point plays.  It came down to free-throws and the Jazz shot a blistering 91% from the line with KK sealing the win with his 7-7 from the line.  I think they stated that the Jazz made their last 16 free-throws.  Very un-Jazz like.

The Jazz not only gave up the 21-point lead, Dallas led by three, 92-89.  The Jazz then went on a 16-0 run to give them a 13-point lead that they had to hold onto.  The biggest part of the run was Boozer’s D on Dirk.  He had several strips and the Jazz didn’t let them get any second chance points.  I thought fatigue would be more of a factor for the Mavs.  And maybe it was starting out the game, but down the stretch, they didn’t look tired.

So the streak lives.  15 straight at home with a Denver game Saturday and Lakers game on the 20th the only ones that could stop them from reaching the franchise mark of 19 straight.  If they can win those, they have games against Minny, Toronto, Seattle, Charlotte, and the Clips.  They would be in a position to win all of those.  But I’ve jinxed the Jazz stating similar things before.  And we’ll need all of those as the last 6 games of the season have us playing @ SAS, NOLA, and Dallas.  Home games include SAS, Denver, and Houston.

Other notes:

• TheFanSports.com is having a competition for the greatest Jazz play of all time.  Is there any doubt what it will be?  John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA finals!
• How was Dirk still in the game after that hit job?  There was no basketball play involved.  I thought it was great that the assistants for the Jazz immediately stood up to keep the bench players from leaving the bench area.  They must have drills in training camp.
• Korver had two great blocks.  One was late in the game on Terry.  And the other was a great block on Nowitski.
• The post-game guys didn’t bring up Dirk’s hack at all.  They talked about AK’s (x-rays negative) sprained hip.  But they didn’t talk about what caused it.  Maybe I’m making more of this than it is.
• Boozer interview and game highlights

Other recaps:

• My Utah Jazz
• Biased Fan
• Mavs Moneyball
• Mavs Blog
• Mavs Central