Cant_Be_Faded
04-15-2010, 11:40 PM
Here we are, we all knew it was destiny. Spurs will face the Mavs for the fifth playoff series in ten years. Spurs won the series in 2001, 2003, and lost in 2006 and 2009.
Mavs had significant injuries in 2003. Spurs had injuries in 2009.
The Mavs have seemed to have our number for much of the late 2000's. They always seem to be on top of things, and when we make our run, there they are to snuff out the flame.
As some of you know I live in Dallas, and can't help but keep an ear on things developing in Mavnation. Sometimes it's inevitable to watch some of their games when I'm at a bar drinking.
So I'm going to give my keys to beating the Mavs, as well as the question marks we have going into the post season.
Keys:
1) Minimize Jason Kidd.
Jason Kidd is the Mavs' scrot. You may think Dirk is great, and a great leader, blah blah. Kidd is their real leader. The mavs made a conscious decision to change their team mentality when they traded Harris for Kidd. And we've been witnessing the results of that mentality. They are better at D, and they are far more balanced offensively and defensively than ever before.
Considering only players post-trade, the Mavs have five players averaging double figures. Dirk, Butler, Terry, Marion, and Kidd. These five players account for roughly 75% of their team's scoring.
Compare this to last year's Mavs team, where three players (Dirk, Terry, Howard) averaged double figures, and those three accounted for approx. 65% of their team scoring.
Jason Kidd is the reason for the balance, and is the reason they are such a well-oiled offense. It's all him and his amazing point guard play. From the Mavs perspective, getting rid of Howard was a godsend. He was a black hole who would not buy into the Kidd mentality. He chunked up too many shots and kept the team from operating as a well oiled machine.
Beyond his usual Kidd-esque point guard ability, Jason Kidd has quietly had the best 3 point shooting year of his career.
He's averaging a career-best 42% from beyond the arc, while hitting a career-best 176 total three pointers. Not only that, but he has been hitting them in a clutch fashion.
Jason Kidd also has not lost as much of a step as outsiders would expect. He's still very vulnerable to fast speedy point guards (who isn't?) but he definitely sets a perimeter defensive tone for the entire team, and is still a rebounding threat.
We must minimize his influence on the game. We must play amazing full-court defense the way we did against the Nets in 2003. If we turn it over, do not give them the easy bucket back. Nothing easy. Don't leave him open like in 2003 expecting a fifty pound brick. It's not going to happen this year. And make him play defense like his life depends on it. Parker will have to hit those layups, and hit some jump shots. Make this guy work every second he is on the court.
To steal a line from mookie, stop the Jason Kidd....stop Tommy Boy.
I truly believe if we make him the invisible man this series, the Mavs will revert to a one-on-one style of basketball against us, and this ultimately will fail....especially if we follow the next few keys.
2) Crash the glass
We have been abused like babies against the Mavericks on the glass in the past. We can't give them second chance points, especially with rebounders like Marion and Kidd on the court. The tricky part is we will most likely limit our attempts at offensive boards in an attempt to get back on transition defense. Which is a good plan. But we should focus equally on limiting their second chance points. It will be the end of us. Duncan, McDyess, Blair, we are counting on you to do the damn thing.
3) Establish our bread and butter early.
We need to get Manu, Duncan, and Parker rolling offensively very early. I'm hoping Pop will start out game 1 with one set play we have not seen in a long time after another. Gotta slice and dice them quick, get that confidence going. We can't afford for any of the big three to shoot a bad percentage or play like total shit.
Pop has an advantage here from facing this team so many times in the playoffs. He has to know the Mavs better than Carlisle knows us. Plus, in the 2009 series, we did not show Carlisle anything resembling the offense we are wielding now. This can be a great mental edge.
If Manu can get rolling, and we are running the Manu-Duncan offense that helped us crush the Celtics, Cavs, Magic, and the Lakers, the Mavericks are going to look like the fat guy from Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
4) Have supreme confidence.
I know, I know. This kind of goes without saying. But you have to realize in a game as mental as basketball, one of the biggest edges the Mavericks have against us is that they know in their heart of hearts that they can beat the living crap out of us and have fun doing it.
No doubt in their heart none of them is that confident at actually winning a championship, but they are as confident as a team can possibly be at playing us.
We have to match that mental toughness, that confidence, and crush theirs. No matter how bleak it looks, no matter how flat we've been playing, no matter the score, we have to keep believing in who we are, and stick to what got us here.
This swings us back to key number 1. If we can make Jason Kidd the invisible man I have no doubt that will be a crack in the confidence of the Mavs that we can exploit down the stretch of this series.
Questions going into the series.
1) How's our health?
Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Hill, am I missing anybody else? Hope McDyess has another gear he's been saving as well. It's now or never.
2) Lineups?
Seems kinda obvious that Spurs should stick with what got us here, but with Hill somewhat of a question mark, and Pop being crazy, we really don't know for sure what we'll trot out there.
Also, do the Mavs call Rodrique Beaubois' number? This guy is their new Devin Harris, and his situation is exactly analogous to the Spurs' with George Hill last year. We all know he's better than the guy getting the most minutes at the spot (J.J.J.J. Barea for the mavs, Roger Mason for us last year). But will the coach overcome his stubbornness and utilize someone who can definitely pose a matchup problem for us? May work, may not, who knows.
3) Can we make our 3's ?
Posted a poll related to this earlier, but Bonner you better shake that mental cobweb bull shit and make those wide open threes. Because Bonner will be open. You can bet money on that. If he hits his threes this series becomes alot easier. I also hope Ginobili keeps up his awesome 3 point shooting streak he finished the season with. We saw what our three point shooting numbers looked like last night without him. Yuck.
4) Can Duncan be Duncan?
One might say that this is the best lineup of bigmen the Mavs have ever had to throw against Duncan. Haywood is playing damn good for them right now, and Dampier has always been more than ready to rough up Duncan and hard-foul the shit out of him. We just have to believe in Duncan's ability to efficiently pass out of any double teams and beat his man if they leave him 1 on 1.
That's all I can think of. Hope we put the woman and children to bed and go lookin for fuckin dinner.
:smchode:
Mavs had significant injuries in 2003. Spurs had injuries in 2009.
The Mavs have seemed to have our number for much of the late 2000's. They always seem to be on top of things, and when we make our run, there they are to snuff out the flame.
As some of you know I live in Dallas, and can't help but keep an ear on things developing in Mavnation. Sometimes it's inevitable to watch some of their games when I'm at a bar drinking.
So I'm going to give my keys to beating the Mavs, as well as the question marks we have going into the post season.
Keys:
1) Minimize Jason Kidd.
Jason Kidd is the Mavs' scrot. You may think Dirk is great, and a great leader, blah blah. Kidd is their real leader. The mavs made a conscious decision to change their team mentality when they traded Harris for Kidd. And we've been witnessing the results of that mentality. They are better at D, and they are far more balanced offensively and defensively than ever before.
Considering only players post-trade, the Mavs have five players averaging double figures. Dirk, Butler, Terry, Marion, and Kidd. These five players account for roughly 75% of their team's scoring.
Compare this to last year's Mavs team, where three players (Dirk, Terry, Howard) averaged double figures, and those three accounted for approx. 65% of their team scoring.
Jason Kidd is the reason for the balance, and is the reason they are such a well-oiled offense. It's all him and his amazing point guard play. From the Mavs perspective, getting rid of Howard was a godsend. He was a black hole who would not buy into the Kidd mentality. He chunked up too many shots and kept the team from operating as a well oiled machine.
Beyond his usual Kidd-esque point guard ability, Jason Kidd has quietly had the best 3 point shooting year of his career.
He's averaging a career-best 42% from beyond the arc, while hitting a career-best 176 total three pointers. Not only that, but he has been hitting them in a clutch fashion.
Jason Kidd also has not lost as much of a step as outsiders would expect. He's still very vulnerable to fast speedy point guards (who isn't?) but he definitely sets a perimeter defensive tone for the entire team, and is still a rebounding threat.
We must minimize his influence on the game. We must play amazing full-court defense the way we did against the Nets in 2003. If we turn it over, do not give them the easy bucket back. Nothing easy. Don't leave him open like in 2003 expecting a fifty pound brick. It's not going to happen this year. And make him play defense like his life depends on it. Parker will have to hit those layups, and hit some jump shots. Make this guy work every second he is on the court.
To steal a line from mookie, stop the Jason Kidd....stop Tommy Boy.
I truly believe if we make him the invisible man this series, the Mavs will revert to a one-on-one style of basketball against us, and this ultimately will fail....especially if we follow the next few keys.
2) Crash the glass
We have been abused like babies against the Mavericks on the glass in the past. We can't give them second chance points, especially with rebounders like Marion and Kidd on the court. The tricky part is we will most likely limit our attempts at offensive boards in an attempt to get back on transition defense. Which is a good plan. But we should focus equally on limiting their second chance points. It will be the end of us. Duncan, McDyess, Blair, we are counting on you to do the damn thing.
3) Establish our bread and butter early.
We need to get Manu, Duncan, and Parker rolling offensively very early. I'm hoping Pop will start out game 1 with one set play we have not seen in a long time after another. Gotta slice and dice them quick, get that confidence going. We can't afford for any of the big three to shoot a bad percentage or play like total shit.
Pop has an advantage here from facing this team so many times in the playoffs. He has to know the Mavs better than Carlisle knows us. Plus, in the 2009 series, we did not show Carlisle anything resembling the offense we are wielding now. This can be a great mental edge.
If Manu can get rolling, and we are running the Manu-Duncan offense that helped us crush the Celtics, Cavs, Magic, and the Lakers, the Mavericks are going to look like the fat guy from Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
4) Have supreme confidence.
I know, I know. This kind of goes without saying. But you have to realize in a game as mental as basketball, one of the biggest edges the Mavericks have against us is that they know in their heart of hearts that they can beat the living crap out of us and have fun doing it.
No doubt in their heart none of them is that confident at actually winning a championship, but they are as confident as a team can possibly be at playing us.
We have to match that mental toughness, that confidence, and crush theirs. No matter how bleak it looks, no matter how flat we've been playing, no matter the score, we have to keep believing in who we are, and stick to what got us here.
This swings us back to key number 1. If we can make Jason Kidd the invisible man I have no doubt that will be a crack in the confidence of the Mavs that we can exploit down the stretch of this series.
Questions going into the series.
1) How's our health?
Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Hill, am I missing anybody else? Hope McDyess has another gear he's been saving as well. It's now or never.
2) Lineups?
Seems kinda obvious that Spurs should stick with what got us here, but with Hill somewhat of a question mark, and Pop being crazy, we really don't know for sure what we'll trot out there.
Also, do the Mavs call Rodrique Beaubois' number? This guy is their new Devin Harris, and his situation is exactly analogous to the Spurs' with George Hill last year. We all know he's better than the guy getting the most minutes at the spot (J.J.J.J. Barea for the mavs, Roger Mason for us last year). But will the coach overcome his stubbornness and utilize someone who can definitely pose a matchup problem for us? May work, may not, who knows.
3) Can we make our 3's ?
Posted a poll related to this earlier, but Bonner you better shake that mental cobweb bull shit and make those wide open threes. Because Bonner will be open. You can bet money on that. If he hits his threes this series becomes alot easier. I also hope Ginobili keeps up his awesome 3 point shooting streak he finished the season with. We saw what our three point shooting numbers looked like last night without him. Yuck.
4) Can Duncan be Duncan?
One might say that this is the best lineup of bigmen the Mavs have ever had to throw against Duncan. Haywood is playing damn good for them right now, and Dampier has always been more than ready to rough up Duncan and hard-foul the shit out of him. We just have to believe in Duncan's ability to efficiently pass out of any double teams and beat his man if they leave him 1 on 1.
That's all I can think of. Hope we put the woman and children to bed and go lookin for fuckin dinner.
:smchode: