Why Mavs Lost?

My job is to analyze stuff, so i am going to.  It was such a heartbreaker when you come soooo close to being 3-0 and end up loosing the finals at HOME, on your home court.  You worked the entire season, just so that you can play important games like this at home, it hurts.  I was really upset when Mavs lost, because i knew Mavs could have won, that game 3, game 5 and game 6.  But that didn't happen.

Here are my reasons why Mavs lost:

1)  Dirk was being double and tripple teamed each time he touched the ball, Mavs couldn't find a solution to that problem and didn't take advantage of the open man.

2)  Dallas coulnd't contain Wade.  He is a good player no doubt, but we just didn't have a solution for him.  He was the only player who was scoring, if Dallas had found a way to contain him, Miami couldn't come close to scoring as much as they did.

3)  Mavs didn't take the ball to the basket too many times and realied on their parameter shooting.  Which worked in the first two games, backed fired in game 4 where we lost by 20+ points.  Because the way i see is, if team is shooting well from paramater, they are shooting well, if not, game's over.  Mavs didn't take the ball to the basket enough times, so they can be fouled and may be slow the game down and may be slow down other team's tempo.

4)  Mavs didn't get fouled enough, b/c we didn't drive the ball enough times to the glass.  Just kept hoping for that 3-pointer to fall in and Dirk's fade away to work each time.

5)  Call me crazy and tell me that i'm blaming this on Refs, but i think there were lot of bad calls made in especially in this series, but that's life.  May be Basketball also should have a rule like football, where you get 2 chances to disagree with ref.

So why did Miami win?

1)  Wade is a good player, no doubt.  I think people are giving him more credit than he deserves though.  He scored 30+ points in almost each game, b/c there is no one else in Miami team who can score.  Shaq was all covered, other players were hit/miss.  Commentators were comparing him to MJ, come on nowww…  No doubt Wade is good player, but not at the MJ level just yet.  To be like Mike, you need to have consistency, year in and year out.  This is only his first year, don't insult the King.

2)  They scored when it mattered, like free throws.  Dallas was 17/17 in free throws in first 3 quarters but when it came to 4th quarter, they were 2/7 or 2/6.  Now if you can't score when it counts, there is no point.  Also, i just don't get it, how are these players paid millions and they can't shoot free throws?  Especially Centers for both teams.  I mean, both teams know that Centers' weakness is free throws, improve it.

That's it, that's all i can think now.  It was a great season for Dallas, in fact, it was an awesome season.  We came this far, we were soooooooo freaking close, but, things don't always work out the way you want them to.  One team had to win and unfortunately it was Miami.  I think Dallas played as a team, got all players involved, Miami was one man team, Wade.  Coach Johnson did an excellent job in his first year as a head coach and brought the team where it had never been, to the Finals.

In my book, Mavs still rock and it still hurts that we lost.  Life goes on.  May be next year?

Tejas

Bill Gates Steps Down

I came back from lunch at about 1:20 and I saw that I have received an email from Steve Ballmer saying that company is going to make a big announcement at about 1:30pm and going to have a town hall meeting at 4:30 in bldg. 33.  That came as a big surprise to me, because town hall meetings are usually scheduled well ahead of time.  So I thought this must be something huge and really important.  I was kind of scared too for some reason.  At around 1:32pm I started watching the announcement live on the internal network.  My first reaction was WOWW, this is huge.  I honestly think this was not the right time for him to step down, but than again none of us want him to ever leave Microsoft.  Hearing Bill speak is really an amazing thing and it is honor.  This guy started a company out of his garage and has close to 70,000 people working under him.  And he created a company that has changed the world of computing.  I had an honor to hear him speak couple of weeks back at a live event.  An amazing things about Bill that I noticed is that he is great thinker, he thinks about 10 years ahead of time and I can't even think what I’m am going to do this weekend 🙂  Whenever you hear him speak, he hardly mentions shareholders or stock price, because he is not a businessman in some way, but rather a visionary.  It is such an amazing feeling to work for this a visionary and a great humanitarian.  I think he will win Nobel Peace prize within next 10 to 15 years and he totally deserves it.  He may be the world's richest man but he knows what kind of power he has and he is using it to make life better for other people.

This day will go down in history as one of the the best man in the world steps down to be a citizen of the world.

It is such an honor to work for you Mr. Gates.Tejas

Communication is imp b/w Mgmt and employees

Change – The Most Feared Thing of all Roles are changing.  Some people are freaking out b/c of the unknown, while some people are freaking out b/c of lack of interaction.  Ya I know, it probably makes no sense 🙂  But anyways.  This is what I like about Microsoft.  Things are constantly changing and I think the best part about it is the transparency.  Management is asking us for our feedback, they are letting us know of the upcoming changes and asking us for our feedback.  And these changes are being known not in an email but in a conference room with everyone there, and we are encouraged to question things and allowed to disagree with the upcoming changes.  I think that is just awesome, enjoying the transparency.  I think, Transparency and Change, is couple of things that makes working at Microsoft fun and not just another day at work, at least for me, at least in my division, may be b/c we are new.I think taking care of its people is what sets great company apart from an average company.  Example, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Google, IBM, and many other.  I was watching Mavs game yesterday and Coach Avery Johnson has played a major role in bringing Mavs to the Finals.  And he was talking about how it is important to get involved in each player’s life and family.  He said, he tells his player that he loves them.  Coach's and Jerry Stackhouse’s' kids spend night at each other houses and Avery was complaining how Stackhouse’s kids' ate all his food 🙂 I have discovered one of the most important things in running a successful business and it is:  Treat your people right.  Yes I know everyone knows this is common knowledge, then why don't all companies do it?  I think business itself is about common knowledge and numbers, isn't it?I read about a company that puts its employees before its customers, I can't recall the name of the company.  But that's awesome.  If your boss treats you nicely, you will want to go to work for that person.  So that's that.

On the wicked note, I am going to be mentor for a new hire next week.  Now that's crazy and it should be an interesting experience.  I hope I don't ruin that person's experience 🙂  I think mentor prog is really imp, my mentor was awesome when I first started and she still is awesome and helpful.  Thank you Melanie 🙂

That's that.  GO MAVS :)Tejas 

Live.com

I love it.  It is sooo awesome.  I can manage everything from this one site.  I can check my hotmail and gmail account emails from here.  There is a gadget to check my gmail account on live.com.  I can get stock news, sports news, just news, i can read my favorite RSS feeds, play games.  Its awesome.  No i'm not promoting the site, i'm just writing it cuz i enjoy using it.

On the other news, Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft.  I think that just sux, but good for Robert.  I will continue to read his blogs because i enjoy them and i think the best part is, he is open about his opinions.  So good luck to him.  Also he has clarified some things about him leaving Microsoft on his blog here.  But this has come as total surprise to me and i'm sure lot of other people who read his blog on daily basis.  At least i'm glad he isn't going to Google, i'm sure Steve Ballmer would break windows his office if that was the case 🙂  Anyways, we'll miss hearing your point of views on internal DLs.  Good luck to ya.

Tejas

I SAW BILL GATES :)

There is this conference going on this whole week at Microsoft, EE & TwC.  Today was the first day and Bill Gates was giving keynote speech at 3:10pm 🙂  So i went to see him and see what he had to say.  And this guy is amazing.  Even though he is the world's richest man, he doesn't show it.  Like, he does this amazing charity work around the globe.  Compare Trump to Gates and you'll see why Gates is awesome.  I think the best part about Bill Gates is his ability to see ahead of time (there is a reason why he is called Visionary) :).

Anyways, it was an awesome experience to hear what Mr. Gates had to say about the technology and what he would like see happen in the next 5 to 10 years.  I will try to get pictures from my co-worker and try to post it on my flicker (i haven't made use of it just yet).

Tejas

Google coming out with “Google Spreadsheet”?

That was reported on WSJ late today afternoon.

Here's my take on it:  I think this move by Google makes total sense to me.  This is the way i see it.

Google is saying:  "Microsoft is going after something that is our core business:  Search and contextual advertisement. (Where we get 90% of our revenue from). 

We are going to go after Microsoft's core business:  Office and OS."

Makes sense?  I think it is as simple as that.  If you are going to come after something that is making me the most money, i will do the same.  I will counter attack by coming after your core business.  I think it is normal reaction or should be of any business if they want to survive.  There are other companies who have alternate solution to Excel and Office, but since Google is making the annoucement, of course it had to be in the news, b/c its Google, today's tech sweetheart.

I almost gurantee it that Google with come out with Google OS (of course in Beta) before Vista officially comes out in 07.

So you ask if people will convert from Excel to Google Spreadsheet?  ummm, probably not or at least not that quickly.  It takes long time to change people's habbits/behaviors.  So how was Google Search able to gain such good response from consumers?  Reason was because the product was soo much better at that time and now people are hooked to it.

I think Ask is doing good job of producing better results than Google in some cases and if MSN doesn't do something really quick, i'm afraid Ask is going to take market share away from MSN (And yes i do use msn search and do give my feedback to MSN search so it can be better 🙂 )  When i went to Chicago, i met my family there and i asked my cousin who is in 6th grade what search engine she uses.  And no her response wasn't Google, her response was "Ask Jeeves".  I asked her why and she said, it helps me find what i need.  I think the best features of Ask are Narrow or Expand your search.  I coulnd't care less for binocular view of the site.  I think MSN should definitely implement narrow and expand features into its search and not wait till Google does it.

Anyways, that's it for now.  Laterz gators.

Tejas (Go Mavs)

Requiring Assistance – Open Call to MARK CUBAN

Alright this is open letter to everyone, especially MARK CUBAN:  family, friends, some random people i don't know and who doesn't know me 🙂  I need you all's help.  Just in case, you haven't heard MAVS ARE GOING TO THE FINALS BABY 🙂  So since i have moved to Seattle in Jan and already i have been to Dallas 2 times and it costs a lot to go to Dallas, around $385 round trip.  So, i need you all to help me buy a ticket, so i can go watch Dallas game IN DALLAS.  Come on guys, help me out.  I saw this awesome video on MSN Video about Mavs homecoming and it was sooo awesome.  I soooo wanted to say, YEAH BABYYYYY.  I would have been there if i were in Dallas.  I mean, it is amazing how Dallas has come back and lots of people have turned the team around (Cuban, coaches (Nelson and General), Team).  It is just great.  I SOOOOOOOOOOO WANNA GO TO DALLAS AND WATCH NBA FINALS IN DALLAS AND ACTUALLY YELL WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE AS EXCITED AS I AM.  So i need your help 🙂

Also, i was reading Mark Cuban's blog today and it was an awesome post.  It is titled "MAVS CAN'T?" and the best part about the post was:

"The Mavs CAN’T play Defense.
The Mavs CAN’T play a half court game.
The Mavs CAN’T get past the first round
The Mavs CAN’T beat <fill in a team here > because <fill in an excuse here>
Dirk CAN’T  play against smaller defenders
Dirk CAN’T take the ball to the basket
Dirk CAN’T play defense
Dirk CAN’T step up in the playoffs
Stack CAN’T play a team game
JET CAN’T be the point guard on a Finals team
Devin Harris CAN’T get past last years playoffs to have an impact
Gana Diop CAN’T be a player in this league
Avery Johnson CAN’T lead this team to the Finals as a 1st year coach

Thank you. Thank you to everyone who has ever said or written about what they think the Mavs cant do.  It was motivation that Avery called on early and often."

I think what he was trying to say was:  IN YOUR FACE ALL YOU NON-BELIVERS.  It was an awesome game.  The come back, the victory and the defense.  Just awesome.

Hey, MARK CUBAN, do you want to sponsor me so i can fly from Seattle to Dallas and back? 🙂  If you do that, i will wear mavs shirt for a month regardless of the results and shave my head.

Mavs rock baby, woohoooooooooo.  At job on my white board, i have results of all the mavs playoffs win records:

Mavs vs. Mem 4 – 0

Mavs vs. SA 4 – 3

Mavs vs. Phx 4 – 2

Mavs vs. Mia 0 – 0.

Ok my white board is not that big 🙂  I have been keeping it since the start of the playoffs and still going baby 🙂

MARK CUBAN, offer still stands, $400 won't be that big of a deal for you.  I just can't afford to spend $400 almost every month, cuz i'm not you 🙂

MAVS ROCK BABY.

Tejas