The mood at the Dallas-area Chipotle was jubilant.
“…and then it went straight in! Like it was no big deal! Ha ha ha, WOOOOOO!” Shawn Marion was retelling the story of Vince Cater’s game winning shot earlier that afternoon against the Spurs. Ignoring, of course, that the shot was the whole reason they were there and it was unlikely that anyone had forgotten the details.
Dirk Nowitzki spoke up, gesticulating wildly, disregarding the fact that both his hands held burritos. “I’ve hit a lot of clutch shots in my time, but I ain’t never, NEVER, seen a shot as ridic as that, much less hit one! All the way in the corner! You were practically in the locker room, damn Vince, du bist wunderbar!” Finished talking, he crammed one of his two burritos haphazardly into his mouth.
Vince Carter was more reserved than his teammates, though his happiness was evident in the wide smile that was permanently affixed to his face. “Oh, stop it Dirk. It was just a lucky shot. This win was a team effort. And let’s not forget about the assister on my great shot. Jose delivered the ball in the perfect spot! And he’s the one who decided to treat us all to some authentic cuisine from his Mexican homeland!”
The assorted Mavericks team-members clapped and hooted in appreciation, both for the food and the victory. Jose Calderon himself, however, looked somewhat sullen.
“You got pretty much everything wrong in that statement, Vince. First, that was a great shot made possible entirely because of your own skill. I had little to do with it. Second, I would hardly consider Chipotle ‘authentic Mexican cuisine’. And third, it doesn’t matter how authentic it may or may not be because I am not even Mexican.”
Vince looked unconcerned about his incorrectness. “Huh, what was that Jose? Hey, who wants to see Dally eat some burritos? We’ve got like 5 of them here and if he can eat them in 10 minutes he gets my entire playoff bonus!”
The Mavericks hooted and hollered some more, this time in appreciation of Samuel Dalembert making a pig of himself. As he messily and noisily consumed the first of his burritos, Jose smiled a bit. Grabbing a burrito of his own and shrugging, he joined his teammates in cheering him on.