Baron Davis' beard and the existence of God

Take this Baron, our daily beard

I take away from this world the belief God due to any number of phenomena that we encounter on any given day.

My belief in a higher power is fully reinforced every time I see Baron Davis.

His beard is majestic. It makes every problem in this world melt away and makes me feel unbelievable lucky to be an American with the luxury of watching professional basketball on a Saturday night without fear of retribution or scorn.

Furthermore, Davis is supplementing the full, grizzly beard with the four-month growth of hair. It's unruly yet subsisting within a series of rules. It's too short to be an afro, two long to be suitable for a 9-5 job.

It's my little piece of heaven on Earth.

Oh, the Mavs took it to Davis' beard and the Clippers 93-84 sweeping their Los Angeles doubleheader.

Notes:
1. Erick Dampier: Really good. Double-double with no turnovers and three blocks.

2. J.J. Barea makes rookie mistakes. Except he's not a rookie.

3. There's no good reason why the Mavs should ever be outrebounded. They nipped the Clips by two. With the best rebounding point guard, two solid rebounders in Dirk Nowitzki and Dampier and then Shawn Marion, the Mavs should rule the boards.

4. Shawn Marion brings something to the Mavs they've never really had. Question: Last season, Jason Kidd steals the ball and passes up the court to a teammate for an uncontested, easy, breakaway dunk. Who do you trust to actually dunk that ball? Barea and Jason Terry wouldn't. Dirk would. Brandon Bass would (angrily). Damp may or may not catch the ball or be upcourt. Jerry Stackhouse's leg would've broken off. Antoine Wright, probably. My point? The Mavs had three guys that would've dunked the ball and two of those guys didn't play regularly if at all. Marion can dunk whenever. In traffic, on the break, on the alley-oop. He's long, he gets steals, he can shoot a little. He's got a swagger missing from this team since Marquis Daniels left and Josh Howard turned into a poor man's Dell Curry.

5. Chris Kaman needs the Hulk Hogan haircut back.

6. Reason No. 431 why Jason Kidd's a Hall of Famer: He's one of probably a dozen guys in NBA history that can shoot 1-6 and still be invaluable with 10 minutes left in the game.

7. Can't believe the Clips are 0-4. Figure they'd run into some silly team by now.