Game Blog: Spurs @ Mavs- Dec. 30

[Crookshanks]

good foul by Manu - stopped the fast break

[GinobiliForTres]

LOL Terry, getting torched by Neal.

Also, ultra small ball from Pop - 4 guards and Tim.

then parker throws it away

[ffadicted]

Fuck

[HarlemHeat37]

Horrible and predictable play from Parker..

Manu should have been handling the ball, he has the better match up..I'd rather take my chances against Butler, not Kidd..

[Capt Bringdown]

Ass move by Parker, what was he thinking?

[CFH]

Hill!

[lefty]

hillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

[ffadicted]

wow hill bailing us out there

[NRHector]

lol Cuban

[siraulo23]

finally...

[100%duncan]

Iupui!

[L.I.T]

Our bench guards outplayed Manu and TP. Big game players.

[TampaDude]

Hill with the sexy move.

[MI21]

Pretty painful performance from everyone bar Timmy, McDyess, Neal and Hill. Still, a win is a win.

[Budkin]

Hill making up for TP's brainfart.

[Capt Bringdown]

Without Hill's drives, I think we lose this game. Awesome!

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Neal is the most amazing Spurs FO find since Manu. Seriously.

[janetcn12]

Congrats to Spurs. I see another win. 50 seconds to go and Neal free throw

[Crookshanks]

Okay - Spurs should have this game. Just play smart and run the clock

[GinobiliForTres]

Pretty painful performance from everyone bar Timmy, McDyess, Neal and Hill. Still, a win is a win.

agreed. neal with 21.

[ohmwrecker]

All those saying "trying to lose" please check you heads, now like... :rolleyes

Could you try and make an ounce of sense?

[timtonymanu]

Typical JET. Hitting 3's when the game is already out of reach.

[TampaDude]

JET just being JET, but I think we got this...IF we hit our FTs here.

[Budkin]

I knew this game was going to be close... shorthanded teams, especially ones named the Mavericks are especially dangerous.

[Creation88]

thank God the Spurs killer didn't play tonight, maybe next time Ian Mahimi.

[CFH]

Come on Manu, make your free throws...

[Spurs Brazil]

Yes Hill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

Hill and Neal amazing

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Pretty painful performance from everyone bar Timmy, McDyess, Neal and Hill. Still, a win is a win.

:tu

[Texas_Ranger]

oh c'mon Manu!

[Capt Bringdown]

Pretty painful performance from everyone bar Timmy, McDyess, Neal and Hill. Still, a win is a win.

No way, Jefferson showed something by battling thru a bad night. Last year he would have thrown in the towel, but he ending up making some critical plays.

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

how come he is not doing the jet dance?

[CFH]

Dammit Terry hitting B2B 3's...

[ffadicted]

can we just get out of here with a W please... fuck

[siraulo23]

spurs pulling a tmac?

[Crookshanks]

crap - now JET starts hitting the 3's. Spurs should've had that rebound

[Mal]

Die Terry, just die

[TampaDude]

Not over yet...JET is locked in...we gotta make our fucking FTs or we will lose this game. JET will not fucking miss now.

[Supergirl]

Mavs are a dangerous team to leave open on the 3 pt line...kind of like the Suns of 2003-2007

[HarlemHeat37]

Well, the Spurs are going to win this game, but this Mavs stat-padding is putting my bet in danger..it would help if the Spurs could get a rebound and make some free throws here..

5-point lead, I need a 4-point W..

[lefty]

Mavs with a 6-0 run

[Whisky Dog]

Damn horrible D on turtle's first 3 but just a bad bounce of the ball on his 2nd. Come on, seal this fucker with some free throws.

[Supergirl]

desperation 3's going in, Spurs just need to keep their composure and not fuck up...

[Mal]

Kill them, dont give them any hope.

[TampaDude]

Better make both of these, Manu!!!

[Supergirl]

Manu makes both Fts, 3 possession game

[CFH]

Okay, that should be it

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

yayyyyy spurs win :flag:

[TampaDude]

Okay...I think we can finally exhale now...

[Crookshanks]

Okay - we got this now. Whew - I'm glad this game is over!

[100%duncan]

LOL Terry. LOL Chuck.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Fuck, Terry ALWAYS does this! He does nothing until the last couple of minutes then can't miss. :pctoss

[Supergirl]

Loving that Gary Neal is the high scorer of the game.

[Libri]

Spurs have this. :D

[janetcn12]

Yes Tp free throw...great ...winning

[Fireball]

Game over ... thanks very much

[ffadicted]

lol @ Reggie Miller shut the fuck up man

[Whisky Dog]

Ballgame.

Last game of the decade came down to the Spurs and Mavs, and fittingly the Spurs owned them like they owned the decade.

Go Spurs Go

[siraulo23]

spurs winnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Capt Bringdown]

Why is Duncan headed to the locker room before the game ends?
-nevermind-

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Well, the Spurs are going to win this game, but this Mavs stat-padding is putting my bet in danger..it would help if the Spurs could get a rebound and make some free throws here..

5-point lead, I need a 4-point W..

You bet Spurs -3.5!?

[lefty]

Why is Duncan headed to the locker room before the game ends?
He may have spotted Joey Crawford

[Gospursel]

mavs shot better from three point land than in their regular field goals...

[TampaDude]

We played kind of a sloppy game tonight, but a win is a win!

GO SPURS GO!!!!!

[janetcn12]

28 - 4...Congrats Spurs for winning again...win-win...see u on saturday

[lefty]

Chris Quinn with 0 turnover tonight

Impressive

[timtonymanu]

Yeah Spurs end the year with a win. 28-4. The Spurs didnt get their 28th win last year until Feb 3.

Happy New Year everyone! :toast

[Spurs Brazil]

Good win

Big props to Neal, Hill, TD and Dice

[Budkin]

Yeah Spurs end the year with a win. 28-4. The Spurs didnt get their 28th win last year until Feb 3.

:wow

[Budkin]

I love how different guys can step up on any given night when others are struggling. The sign of a well balanced team right there.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Yeah Spurs end the year with a win. 28-4. The Spurs didnt get their 28th win last year until Feb 3.

Happy New Year everyone! :toast

Fuckin aye! :toast :D

[HarlemHeat37]

You bet Spurs -3.5!?

Yep..good payout:lol..

[ohmwrecker]

Cheryl Miller better not mention La Salle again. Did she not read the press junket on Gary Neal?

[lefty]

Yeah Spurs end the year with a win. 28-4. The Spurs didnt get their 28th win last year until Feb 3.

Happy New Year everyone! :toast
Doest that mean the Suns will sweep us 1 month before the playoffs even start ?

Yay

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I love how different guys can step up on any given night when others are struggling. The sign of a well balanced team right there.

Me too. We are legitimately deep, legitimately good, and have legitimate chemistry. Great signs going into the new year. :tu

[100%duncan]

Glade we won

[100%duncan]

Glad we won

[EricB]

Gary Neal continues the modern day jaren Jackson impersonation...

[ShoogarBear]

He may have spotted Joey Crawford

More likely Joey spotted him.

[timtonymanu]

I love how different guys can step up on any given night when others are struggling. The sign of a well balanced team right there.

It feels great unlike the last two years we had only the big 3 to count on with Finley and Hill having some good games. This year we can have anyone involved in the O and they will deliver.

[jjktkk]

I love how different guys can step up on any given night when others are struggling. The sign of a well balanced team right there.

Thats a mark of a great team.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Yep..good payout:lol..

Fuck me! They were only giving the Mavs 3.5!? Over here it was 10.5! Thankfully, I didn't bet it. I would've put $1000 on 3.5!

[TampaDude]

I love how different guys can step up on any given night when others are struggling. The sign of a well balanced team right there.

Yup...that's the mark of a championship team. :lobt2: #5 is ours for the taking.

GO SPURS GO!!!!!

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Gary Neal continues the modern day jaren Jackson impersonation...

...except he's a much more active and better defender IIRC. ;)

[Crookshanks]

LOL Chuck says he's going to participate in a triathalon - and Kenny says Chuck will get exhausted just filling out the form! :lmao

[TampaDude]

Seriously, Kidd has to be doping...there's no fucking way he could maintain this level of play at almost 38 years old otherwise.

[Texas_Ranger]

lol Kidd had a triple double

[NRHector]

Charles is a dumbass

[TampaDude]

Hey, Chuck...Phil Jackson is the luckiest coach in the NBA. Pop is the best.

[EricB]

...except he's a much more active and better defender IIRC. ;)


Ehhh jaren when he cared played decent defense. But Neal has a pull up shot 15 and in, and jaren didnt have that.

So right now yeah Neal might be better.

[EricB]

Hey, Chuck...Phil Jackson is the luckiest coach in the NBA. Pop is the best.

I'm a pop fan, but I disagree.

[TampaDude]

Chuck is on acid.

[ElNono]

Great win... Putting 99 on the best defensive team in the L gotta give you confidence.
Onto OKC now.

[TampaDude]

I'm a pop fan, but I disagree.

Give Pop players like Jordan, Pippen, Kobe, Shaq, and Gasol, and I guaran-fucking-tee you he wins at least as many titles as PJ has.

[EricB]

Great win... Putting 99 on the best defensive team in the L gotta give you confidence.
Onto OKC now.


I was just happy they didn't put Chandler to the line a million times.

[Crookshanks]

Hey, Chuck...Phil Jackson is the luckiest coach in the NBA. Pop is the best.

I agree! Phil Jackson had the luck to coach Michael Jordan - just about any coach could've won championships with Michael. Pop has had some superstars, but he's built good, solid teams year after year after year - and won championships.

[Budkin]

Gary Neal continues the modern day jaren Jackson impersonation...

Dude totally! I've been thinking that all year... the same type of situation there... guy just comes out of nowhere and becomes an amazing role player.

[EricB]

Give Pop players like Jordan, Pippen, Kobe, Shaq, and Gasol, and I guaran-fucking-tee you he wins at least as many titles as PJ has.

Possibly. But I just think head to head Phil Jackson has been better. Pop is damn good but Jackson to me is just a better x's and o's coach.

[TampaDude]

I agree! Phil Jackson had the luck to coach Michael Jordan - just about any coach could've won championships with Michael. Pop has had some superstars, but he's built good, solid teams year after year after year - and won championships.

Yup...don't forget that the Spurs are a small market team. Pop has done more with less than any coach in the NBA, hands down.

[EricB]

Dude totally! I've been thinking that all year... the same type of situation there... guy just comes out of nowhere and becomes an amazing role player.


Similar skill sets. Neal a better ball handler and overall scorer.
He just reminds me of jaren Jackson whenever he plays.

[Avitus1]

Gary Neal is awesome!

[ducks]

neal is the mvp tonight

[Trimble87]

Give Pop players like Jordan, Pippen, Kobe, Shaq, and Gasol, and I guaran-fucking-tee you he wins at least as many titles as PJ has.

I wont argue that Phil has had very good luck with players. But having to deal with the personalities of Kobe and Shaq on the same team and keeping them on the same page for 3 titles can't have been easy. I hear alot of people say "Oh well Phil has had the best ever play for him." But its just as easy to say "Well, Pop had the best PF who is completely and utterly unselfish, who made it easy in the lockeroom and easy on the court." Very different roads, but I wouldn't say either is easier/harder... just different.

[Texas_Ranger]

Just look at our starters +/-. Only Manu with a +.

[easy7]

Really good game, glad Spurs won.

[ducks]

Just look at our starters +/-. Only Manu with a +.

the bench scored 42 or so points

[#41 Shoot Em Up]

Great game Spurs fans.
Came out and took care of business.

[TampaDude]

The Spurs have the best bench in the NBA, and it's not even close.

[timaios]

Just look at our starters +/-. Only Manu with a +.

LOL Parker -17 in 37 min
LOL Hill +20 in 34 min

:wow:wow:wow

[Texas_Ranger]

LOL Parker -17 in 37 min
LOL Hill +20 in 34 min

:wow:wow:wow


Trade Parker!!! :hat

[Manu20]

is it funny at the end of the tnt telecast they were saying the best team in the league with the emphasis on "RECORD WISE"!!

[silverblackfan]

Trade Parker!!! :hat

Here we go...:lol

[Texas_Ranger]

Here we go...:lol

I was sarcastic. :fro

[duncan228]

San Antonio Spurs 99, Dallas Mavericks 93: No Dirk for Dallas, but it counts just the same in the standings (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-99-dallas-mavericks-93-no-dirk-for-dallas-but-it-counts-just-the-same-in-the-standings)
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of Hell

AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER — Gary Neal is becoming a name that teams, fans and media members are having to remember. The face? Well, that takes some time.

In the visitor’s locker room after the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center, there was a small scrum gathered around Neal. This is becoming a frequent occurrence in the Spurs locker room, so I hung back, as there’s only so many times I can ask him about his exploits from the 3-point arc.

Another media member leans over to me and asks, “Who is that guy?”

Politely, I give him the name of the guy who just scored 21 points off the bench for the Spurs.

“Oh, that’s Gary Neal!” the man says. And he’s off, taking his rightful place in the front of the media scrum.

Keep reading → (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-99-dallas-mavericks-93-no-dirk-for-dallas-but-it-counts-just-the-same-in-the-standings#more-12153)

[duncan228]

Some post-game quotes.


Duncan, Neal lift Spurs past Dirk-less Mavs (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010123006)
By Jaime Aron

Beating the Dallas Mavericks without Dirk Nowitzki on the court just wasn’t as much fun for the San Antonio Spurs.

At least, that’s what San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich claimed.

Tim Duncan bounced back from one of the least productive games of his career to score 17 points and reserve Gary Neal had 21, sending the Spurs to a 99-93 victory over the Nowitzki-less Mavericks on Thursday night in a showdown between the top two teams in the Western Conference.

“We don’t take too much out of the win,” Popovich said. “We didn’t show very much. We didn’t improve as a team, that’s for sure.”

Nowitzki missed a second straight game because of a sprained knee, and Dallas has lost them both after winning 17 of 18 with its leading scorer in the lineup. The only solace for the Mavericks was playing harder than they did while getting whipped by Toronto and hanging close against the mighty Spurs.

Caron Butler scored a season-high 30 points and Jason Kidd had a 12 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, but Dallas blew an early lead and never regained the lead. The Mavericks got close plenty of times, especially in the third quarter, but Duncan would make a shot or Neal would hit a 3-pointer to keep San Antonio ahead.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “It was tough, it was frustrating, but our guys kept battling. I take the positives out of it, but right now we’ve got to really work together. Without Dirk in the lineup, the margins for error are extremely slim.”

San Antonio won for the 12th time in 14 games and improved to 28-4, extending the best start in franchise history and the best record in the NBA. Coming off a thorough victory over the Lakers, this was a pretty good way to end 2010.

The Spurs broke the game open with a 21-2 run that started late in the first quarter. They avenged one of their few losses this season and ended a four-game, regular-season losing streak to their division rivals.

Duncan, who tied a career low with two points last game, opened the game with his trademark bank shot. In keeping with the way San Antonio has played this season, the ball didn’t go through him much but he showed he could still be effective. When Dallas tightened things up in the third quarter, Tony Parker fed him the ball on three straight possessions and he delivered every time.

“Timmy played great,” Parker said. “He got some big baskets for us. He was drawing double-teams. He was huge in the third quarter.”

Duncan was 5 of 9 from the field and 7 of 7 from the line. He also had 11 rebounds.

“It’s nice to get some baskets to go down, get some rebounds and play a little better to help the team,” he said. “We can attack in different ways. That’s what we’ve been hanging our hat on all season.”

Neal is the latest breakout player uncovered by the Spurs—an NBA rookie after spending the last three years playing in Italy, Spain and Turkey. He’s scored 22 points twice in the last two weeks and just missed doing so again. He was 5 of 8 on 3-pointers.

“He’s a stone-cold shooter,” Duncan said. “He feels he deserves to be here, and he does. He’s shown he can make plays for us.”

Manu Ginobili scored 15 points, despite a sinus problem that makes it hard to breathe through his mouth, and Tony Parker added 14. George Hill scored 12.

Nowitzki’s absence takes 24.1 points per game out of Dallas’ lineup. Butler and Kidd upped their games, but the Mavericks didn’t get enough from other guys.

Jason Terry was 3 of 16, with a rut of 11 straight misses. Shawn Marion was Dallas’ only other double-digit scorer with 10. Brian Cardinal started in Nowitzki’s place and had nine points.

“Without Dirk, we gave ourselves a chance to win,” said Kidd, whose triple-double was the 106th of his career. “Going into the fourth quarter, down by (seven), you can’t ask for anything else.”

Nowitzki is expected to join the team on a trip to Milwaukee for a game on New Year’s Day.

NOTES: Mavs C Brendan Haywood suited up but didn’t play for the first time this season. He’s yet to play a minute against the Spurs in two meetings this season; he was suspended last time they met. … Neal was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers through three quarters. His lone miss was an air ball that wasn’t even close. … Mavs owner Mark Cuban flew in from a vacation in the Cayman Islands for this game and was headed back Thursday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2010123006

[EricB]

No Haywood and no Mahinmi.

Clearly Carlisle is an idiot.

[maddnezz]

Turuble, just turuble Chuck.

[Bukefal]

No effort, no motivation, they did not even try. But well a win is a win. Positive thing is that, even though the Spurs played shitty, they still can beat the mavs.

Im sure they'll be back against OKC.

[Spurs Brazil]

Mavs still count on Terry in the clutch

Team has seen enough to know guard's recent struggles don't represent a trend
By Tim MacMahon
ESPNDallas.com

DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks proved they don't need Dirk Nowitzki to compete with an elite team Thursday night.

But they at least need some sort of contribution from their second-leading scorer to beat a contender while their MVP sports a suit and tie and nurses a sore right knee.

"They got nothing from me," Jason Terry said after the Mavs' hard-fought 99-93 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at American Airlines Center.

That was one of the few times Terry was on target all night. This is a man who scored eight points on 3-of-16 shooting and performed even worse than the box score indicates.

The man the Mavs consider their closer didn't score a point in the fourth quarter until knocking down a couple of 3-pointers in the final minute. Those shots came after the Spurs had pretty much sealed the win that extended their lead in the Western Conference standings to 3½ games above their Interstate 35 rivals.

Terry missed his previous 11 shots from the floor. When that happens, a 30-point performance by Caron Butler and the 106th triple-double of Jason Kidd's career are bound to go to waste.

"We still played hard and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game," Terry said. "But we're not going to win many games if I don't do it without Dirk."

Furthermore, the Mavs won't win many, if any, playoff series if Terry can't be a consistent clutch counterpart for Nowitzki. That's been made painfully clear over the past four postseasons, when Terry's scoring numbers have steadily dipped while the Mavs earned their way out of the first round only once.

But the Mavs' belief in Terry is unshakable. For good reason. He usually delivers.

Terry is averaging 39.7 points per 48 clutch minutes this season, according to 82games.com's definition of crunch time. He annually ranks among the league leaders in scoring when games are tight in the final five minutes.

No matter what happens through three quarters, Terry flashes four fingers and feels like he's primed to take over. He's broken out of a scoring slumber to dominate the fourth quarter several times this season, highlighted by lighting it up in the final frame for all 19 of his points in a recent road win over the mega-hyped Miami Heat.

"We always believe that when we need a basket, he's going to knock one down for us," said Kidd, who had 12 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. "We're going to get him the ball in position to be successful."

Terry got the ball in prime scoring position plenty of times Thursday night. He just couldn't find a way to put it in the hole, missing several shots he called easy.

"I just kept telling him in the second half and fourth quarter, 'Just keep playing your game and staying aggressive because you're going to break out of this,'" said coach Rick Carlisle, who was criticized for playing an ice-cold Terry instead of red-hot Rodrigue Beaubois in the season-ending Game 6 loss to the Spurs in April. "Just keep believing. And it's as simple as that."

Added Terry: "I was thinking the same thing: Be aggressive and make it happen. Obviously it didn't, but that's one out of 10 times."

It's actually two straight games. Terry was shut out the final 8:29 during Tuesday's loss to the Toronto Raptors.

That's still not enough to consider it a trend. And the Mavs certainly don't consider it a sign of trouble. It'll take a lot more than that to rattle their confidence in their closer.

Tim MacMahon covers the Mavericks for ESPN Dallas. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/columns/story?columnist=macmahon_tim&id=5973289&ff

[Spurs Brazil]

Rapid React: Spurs 99, Mavs 93

December, 30, 2010 Dec 3011:12PM
By Tim MacMahon
How it happened: It’s tough enough to beat the San Antonio Spurs under any circumstances.

It’s a massive challenge for the Mavericks with MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki sitting on the bench in a suit. It’s essentially impossible if Jason Terry, the Mavs’ second-leading scorer, also takes the night off.

Terry suited up and played 30 minutes, but his jump shot didn't arrive at the gym until it was too late. He wasn’t even able to turn it on for crunch time, which has happened so many times this season and throughout the course of his career.

With Terry misfiring at a 3-of-16 clip, the Mavs simply didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Spurs.

Jason Kidd raised his game, stuffing the box score with 12 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. So did Caron Butler, who scored a season-high 30 points. But the Mavs needed their closer to come through, and as was the case during the first-round playoff series loss to the Spurs last season, Terry couldn’t deliver, missing 11 straight shots until a couple of meaningless 3-pointers in the final minute.


Some guy named Gary Neal was the best reserve guard in this game. The 26-year-old rookie scored 21 points for the Spurs, 13 more than Terry.

It seemed during the second quarter that the Spurs might run the Mavs right out of the gym. San Antonio went into can’t-miss mode during a 21-2 run. But the Mavs balled up their fists and fought back, slowing down the game and disrupting the Spurs’ rhythm by going to a zone.

The Mavs just couldn’t complete the comeback, never seizing the lead in the second half.

What it means: The Spurs widened their lead in the Western Conference. Their 28-4 record, the NBA’s best, puts them 3 1/2 games ahead of the Mavericks. It’s only the second time this season the Mavs have lost back-to-back games. However, it’s not as if the Spurs sent a message. The Mavs made San Antonio scrap for the win despite Dallas’ MVP wearing a suit and tie.

Play of the game: Kidd chases down Tony Parker from behind on a fast break and swats his layup attempt off the backboard with his left hand. Bodies fly to get the loose ball, which Brian Cardinal comes up with by diving on the floor near midcourt. Cardinal gets the ball to Kidd, gets up off the floor and gets it back for a transition 3-pointer from the top of the arc. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, perturbed by the hustle-created 5-point swing in the first quarter, responds by calling timeout.

Stat of the night: Mavs big man Brendan Haywood hasn’t played a minute against the Spurs this season. He was suspended for the Mavs’ win in San Antonio earlier this season and didn’t play in this game due to coach’s decision.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4672939/rapid-react-spurs-99-mavs-93

[elec99]

Good to see we can still win while playing crappy.

In my book, we kept jet to 2 points. Those two hail marys near the end occurred when I believe the game was already decided, thus no pressure on big head. This is huge.

Is butler unstoppable? Did he ever play this well with the wizards??

Mavs d was focused on keeping manu and parker out, parker still got in but manu had to settle for the outside. If he wasnt hitting his shots as in the laker game then outcome might be totally different.

They got so many bigs but thankfully none have a post offensive game. We're either gonna have to develop the crap out of tiago or get someone. We needed 50 rebounds to get the same amt of field goal attempts. We're probably not gonna get 50 rebounds with dirk in the game.

Finally, mavs played faster than usual since no dirk. With him in it'll be slower, butler's not gonna have 30, and less fast breaks.

[timtonymanurich]

Karen Butler (yes, I mis-spelled Caron intentionally) won't give the Dallas Cubans 30 every night they play the Spurs. Karen was making shots that had little to no chance of going in, and had a better-than-average-night. People can say all they want that Dorks' 26 pts he usually drops in woulda been the game changer. I call shenanigans on that. Karens 30 last night is 15 pts MORE than he averages, which according to last time Spurs played Dallas, Karen scored a humble 8 pts. So there's a difference of 7 pts (Down from his avg of 15). Dirk scored 26 on us last meeting which was where he shot (a ridiculous) 12-14 from the field. It's safe to say that he wouldn't have shot 12-14 last night. To be sportsman like, let's say he shoots 8-14 and gets 0 FT's as he didn't shoot any FT's in the last Spurs/Mavs meeting so Dirk ends with 20 pts (I'll give him two made 3's).
Altogether, Dorks Pts are -6 below his average, Caron's 15 avg; 15+6 = 21 pts between Dork and Karen (sounds like a married couple). Spurs won by 9 as that last 'prayer three' by Steve Novak (who is he??) is irrelevant.

In short, Karen played well enough statistically to replace Dorks # and the Mav's still would have lost.

[duncan228]

The New York Times chimes in, has some quotes.


Texas Rivals Are Older, Wiser and Tough as Ever (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/sports/basketball/01mavs.html?_r=1)
By Jonathan Abrams
The New York Times

DALLAS — Over the last few seasons, the Dallas Mavericks have changed their point guard, their coach and a sizable chunk of their roster as they tried to keep the window to a championship propped open.

The San Antonio Spurs have been disregarded so many times that they can now be included among the living dead, even though they still possess their three big mainstays: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

On Thursday night, these two longtime Texas rivals, both playing better than expected this season, intersected again. The Spurs won, 99-93, but with an asterisk, since the Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki was out with a sprained right knee. And while the victory gave the 28-4 Spurs a three-and-a-half-game lead over the 24-7 Mavericks in the Southwest Division, the overall feeling is that this season’s battle between the teams has only begun.

The Spurs have the best record in the N.B.A.; the Mavericks are second, tied with Boston. More significant, San Antonio and Dallas are making the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers appear vulnerable in the Western Conference for the first time since they obtained Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008.

“It looks that way,” said Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks general manager, who paid close attention as the Spurs trounced the Lakers, 97-82, on Tuesday in San Antonio. “The Lakers certainly haven’t been firing on all cylinders. That being said, they always seem to get things right come playoff time. That’s the expectation.”

Expectations, of course, do not always pan out. Few, for instance, thought the aging Mavericks and the aging Spurs would be so dangerous this season. Fewer still would have expected the way they have gone about it.

Dallas, traditionally an offensive juggernaut and never renowned for its defense, is stopping opponents with an innovative matchup zone.

“In past years we did everything offensively and we were considered a soft team,” Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. “That’s way behind us now.”

San Antonio, traditionally a defense-first team with Duncan as the pillar of a deliberate offense, can resemble the up-tempo Phoenix Suns on some nights.

“The normal thing when you think about San Antonio is they’re going to walk it up sometimes and go into the big fellow, but they’re getting up and running and putting up a lot of points,” Mavericks guard Jason Kidd said.

San Antonio is averaging an N.B.A.-best 112.5 points per 100 possessions, according to
Basketball-Reference.com (http://www.basketball-reference.com/).

Its 40.2 percent shooting percentage on 3-pointers entering Friday’s games was also a league best.

“It seems like every year someone writes them off,” Nelson said. “My reaction is, you don’t know Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan that well.”

Popovich, of course, is the longtime coach who has led the Spurs to four N.B.A. championships (1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007), each of them with Duncan playing a key role.

Duncan is no longer the focal point of the offense and is posting career lows in points and rebounds. Either San Antonio is adjusting to his age — he will be 35 in April — or pacing him for the playoffs, or both.

Meanwhile, Parker and Ginobili are healthy and Richard Jefferson is finally acclimated in his second season with the team.

Forward DeJuan Blair, in his second year, and guard George Hill, in his third, contribute nightly.

This season’s annual diamond-in-the-rough find for San Antonio is Gary Neal, an undrafted 6-foot-4 guard from Towson University who spent several years playing overseas. He led the Spurs in scoring during a recent three-game span and made five 3-pointers Thursday against the Mavericks, nullifying Kidd’s triple-double.

“I’m still not buying it,” a tight-lipped Popovich said when asked about his team’s scoring surge. “That’s the truth, that’s the truth. I don’t know what else to tell anybody. That’s not who we are. I don’t know how we score. I have no clue.”

Popovich even talked down the Spurs’ victory on Thursday, saying afterward that “we didn’t improve much as a team, that’s for sure.”

In contrast, Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle was upbeat despite his team’s second straight loss, both at home and both without Nowitzki.

“Our guys kept battling,” he said.

Still, those battles are all uphill without Nowitzki, who at 32 remains the Mavericks’ anchor and is again producing numbers worthy of an N.B.A. most valuable player.

In 29 games this season, he is averaging 24.1 points. His shooting percentage (54.5) is the best of his career.

The roster that now surrounds him includes a future Hall of Famer (Kidd), two former All-Stars (Caron Butler and Shawn Marion), a former sixth man of the year (Terry), and a gold medalist from last summer’s world basketball championships (Tyson Chandler).

In the West, every move is made with the Lakers in mind. And with Chandler, acquired in an off-season trade with the Charlotte Bobcats, and with Brendan Haywood at center, the Mavericks have one player (Haywood) who can pound with the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum and another quick enough (Chandler) to keep Gasol away from the basket.

Dallas has been limiting opponents to 93.3 points, sixth best in the league and 6.0 points fewer than they allowed last season. The 7-foot-1 Chandler is a linchpin of the defense, and Carlisle is using his matchup zone more this season after slowly installing it the past two years.

The zone contains elements of man-to-man, and Dallas can use it most of the game or as infrequently as several possessions.

“We like to call our zone ‘amoeba’ because we don’t even know what we’re doing in it,” Terry joked.

Zones are sometimes frowned upon in the N.B.A. Their detractors say they take accountability away from individual players and are susceptible to illegal defense calls. Carlisle was originally hesitant to use one, he said, but the matchup zone is ideal for his personnel, a blend of savvy, veteran players.

“It’s a complex defense,” Carlisle said. “The perception is that zone is probably an easier defense to play than man-to-man. Nothing could be further from the truth. Zone is more difficult. It requires a lot more communication.”

Over three decades, the Mavericks have never won a championship. They have had some great starts but not necessarily the greatest finishes.

They reached the N.B.A. finals as their conference’s fourth-seeded team in 2006 and lost to Miami; were upset by Golden State in the first round as the top-seeded club in 2007; and finished nearly every place in between in qualifying for each postseason over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks and the Spurs have met in the playoffs five times in the last decade and San Antonio won three, including last season’s first-round confrontation, which the Spurs won in six games.

“I think it’s one of the top rivalries in any sport in the state of Texas,” Mark Cuban, Dallas’s owner, said in an e-mail message. “I know the players on both teams respect each other and in many years have a strong dislike for each other come playoff time. But outside the state of Texas, people could care less. It’s up there in national interest with Indiana versus Purdue in football.”

Perhaps Cuban was being sarcastic, but he had a point.

If the Spurs and the Mavericks emerge as the strongest teams in the West this season, their Texas rivalry — staged from a distance of about 270 miles — will receive attention beyond the state’s borders. At this point, neither can shake the other and exhale.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/sports/basketball/01mavs.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1