Mavs fans

[Dre_7]

Question: How do you think your team will do in the playoffs??

Im not trying to smack talk or anything, I just want honest answers from Mavs fans. Thanks.

[mavsfan1000]

Well to be honest I will say the mavs will beat the Grizzlies or Clippers in 6 games. They will lose to the Spurs in 7 games though. Home court advantage will win it for the Spurs.

[Pandaemonaeon]

Depends. If we play like the way we did during the first half of the third game against the Spurs, I think we could beat anyone. Anything below that, you could just stick a fork on us.

[v2000]

Question: How do you think your team will do in the playoffs??

Im not trying to smack talk or anything, I just want honest answers from Mavs fans. Thanks.
IMO, they have the potential and talent to beat anyone, anywhere. but lately, they have looked like a flat out STUPID team. Terry has been complete garbage. I'd rather have Ryan Bowen on my team right now, than Terry, because he has been so shitty, and mentally, he seems more interested in thinking whether he is going to get pussy that night, than he is about guarding his man and winning the game. This team has the talent and pieces, but i dont know if they are mentally ready to win. some guys definitely are, like Dirk, Armstrong, Howard, and Stackhouse. Dirk now seems like he is playing with so much heart, and he seems like there is nothing he wants more now, than to win. but then we have other guys who dont seem to think much, like Terry, Daniels, Damp, and Diop, and it is costing us, BIG TIME right now.

[LEONARD]

Grizz / Clips...5 games, maybe 6.

Spurs...I expect a 7 game'r, so anything can happen...

[Pandaemonaeon]

On my good side:

1. Dirk - normally he backs up anger and frustration by folding into a pussy and jacking up silly shots but this season he's turned it into something positive by torching them (ie. Bowen, Marion) in response. Good job :)

2. Howard - still can't shoot and has massive tunnel vision but easily one of the most valuable components of the team.

3. Armstrong - 40-years-old but plays with more heart and energy than most of the Mavs combined.

4. Griffin - eventhough you don't have a jumpshot, your intangibles makes it all worth it.

5. Harris - get well soon PGOF!

On my bad:

1. Stackhouse - Stackhouse is a fucking cunt. I've been defending him for 2 straight seasons now but when he said Kobe was the MVP during the game -- that just took the fucking cake. Dirk's been feeding off the MVP energy all month long and was on his way to score 50 again then you made that stupid speech. You suck at being a teammate and you suck even worse at shooting!

2. Terry - at this point I would rather have Mike James. Yes he's a bad shooter and takes bad shots but that was the same knock on Terry in Atlanta and he ended up being one of the best shooters in the league. What I like about James is his defense and most importantly his BALLS! There is absolutely no fucking way he's going to let a point guard torch him, or if he does get torched he's not going to walk away without torching him in return.

3. Daniels - it is so fucking hard to read what's going on with someone who looks like he snorts 20 pounds of coke before the game. Please tell me if it was a contract year or did Dampier's enthusiasm rub off on you?

4. KVH - gets injured more than he gets rebounds. Throws more games than he plays defense.

5. Powell - what the hell are you doing on the court?

6. Marshall - upside upside upside upside upside

[ShoogarBear]

LMAO at Stackhouse. Are all Dallas fans finally waking up to that asshole?

[ALVAREZ6]

You guys honostly think the Mavs-Spurs series will take 7 games to lose???

[Pandaemonaeon]

He was actually doing okay at first then AJ had the idea of starting him AND giving him 35 minutes which was followed by him stopping to play defense and re-subscribing to GOAT magazine.

[ShoogarBear]

Trust me, this is the real Jerry Stackhouse you're seeing now.

[StylisticS]

LMAO at Stackhouse. Are all Dallas fans finally waking up to that asshole?

Nah. I seen it along time ago lol . He's the type of person in what you see is what you get from him. I hope he is out of here after the season ends.

[v2000]

until stack truly does something bad to this team, he is still my boy. he hasnt been shooting great lately, but he has been a great part of this team's success this year. everyone has their own opinions, and while I dont agree that he should have said that Kobe is MVP, its not like it will be a big problem either. its not like Dirk will play any less harder just because of one of stackhouse's opinions. this is NOT a big problem AT ALL... at least not like some people are saying.

[Darrin]

As an outside observer, I see the Mavs struggling to beat the first-round team. They will win probably in 6 games. Going into the series people will talk about how both the Spurs and Mavs had hard-fought series. It'll be a good matchup for the first 3-4 games, but then the Spurs will kick it into the gear it doesn't appear Dallas has, and it's another second-round exit.

I think this series will be pivotal to future moves. I think if they beat San Antonio, they are going to end up in the Finals and the team will have learned how to play deep playoff basketball against the best in the league. I think if they lose, I wouldn't be suprised to see wholesale changes that leave only Josh Howard untouchable.

It's been three years since these two teams met in the Conference Finals. If the Mavericks, for all their scheme, leadership, and personnel adjustments are right back where they were in 2003, I don't think this team will survive that mental roadblock.

A couple of recent examples:

- The Blazers get older and wiser trading for Steve Smith, Scottie Pippen, and Detlef Schrempf after their brief Conference Finals with the Spurs in 1999. They run into this Lakers team that's been on a roll. They fall into a 3-1 hole, and it looks like another early postseason exit. They climb out of the series deficit, force a game seven, have a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, and lose the game. They still haven't recovered.

- The Pacers do it this time. In 2002, they took the Nets to the brink of elimination on a Reggie Miller jumper that forced overtime in the deciding game. In 2003, they had the number one seed locked up until all of these unstablizing forces like deaths in the family, sick friends, etc. left them with a sub-.500 finish after the All-Star Break and a first-round knockout to the Celtics. In 2004, they did it. They finished with the number one seed, they got their defense on, Ron Artest was a model citizen and Defensive Player of the Year, and they finally made it to the Conference Finals. They lost to the Pistons in six games, and they never recovered.

- In 2004, the same playoffs that the Pacers were dismantled, the Pistons were hardened.

In 2003, with an 8-point fourth-quarter lead, the Pistons go into an infamous scoring drought that leaves Jason Kidd fading away from the basket in the corner over Chauncey Billups and Memo Okur for a 74-72 win in game one. The same thing would happen in game two - a fourth quarter collapse and a last-second winner this time by Richard Jefferson. The Pistons season would end bitterly in two blowout losses in the Meadowlands. But like the other two examples, they had "reasons" for such a bad series: Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups were hurt. They also learned during halftime of game 3 of that series that the Pistons would get the number 2 pick in the draft! Hope was still alive.

They would re-tool with the Pacers and Nets in mind. They got the one player that Rod Thorn wanted before the season after they decided not to give Kenyon Martin max money - Rasheed Wallace. This made the Pistons more versitle, much bigger upfront, and a guy with the express purpose of freeing up Ben Wallace to do his thing against the Nets and Pacers.

The Pistons go crazy in the first two games of their re-match in 2004. They hold the Nets to 58 points in game one, and storm back from a 12-point halftime deficit to win by 15 in game two. The Nets then lay the pounding on the Pistons in the Meadowlands, 0-4 in New Jersey the past 2 years. This sets up the 3OT thriller that ended on Brian Scalabrine's 3-point dagger and left everyone second-guessing Larry Brown for not playing Memo Okur with Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, and Tayshaun Prince fouled out of the game.

3-2 series hole heading into a building the Pistons have no speakable success in. They aren't 0-4. The point differential is 93.8 ppg vs. 77.5 ppg in favor of New Jersey. Beat-downs. New Jersey starts off Game six with a 13-2 advantage, and it looks like the Pistons are going home early. All of their re-tooling, the result was the same - they couldn't beat the Nets. The Pistons storm back to make it a close ballgame, Rasheed Wallace makes a huge turnaround on the right block. And then, Rip Hamilton curls off a screen right of the key and nails the shot of his Pistons career. The Pistons win 81-75 in the Meadowlands to tie the series. Game seven is a laugher in favor of Detroit, 90-69. The Pistons finish the rest of the playoffs 8-3 to win their first Championship in 14 years.

I guarantee you if they don't win that series, this team isn't what it is today.

This is a long post, I know. The simple truth is that this Spurs/Mavs series will define a lot for the Mavericks. If they have any hope of winning a Championship in this era, they cannot afford to have a mental block where the Spurs are concerned. Every great team has had to slay another great team. It's just the way it works.

[LEONARD]

...and it's another second-round exit.

I can see it now...if the Spurs do beat the Mavs, everyone will say "another 2nd round exit for the Mavs"...but really, it would really only be due to the f'd up playoff system that they didn't meet the Spurs in the WCF's. The Mavs aren't a "2nd round exit" team this year, even if they lose in the 2nd round. They just need to beat the Spurs to avoid that...

[mavsfan1000]

If the mavs somehow get passed the spurs I could see them winning it all. Their confidence would skyrocket. That is asking a lot though.

[Darrin]

If the mavs somehow get passed the spurs I could see them winning it all. Their confidence would skyrocket. That is asking a lot though.

If you don't expect a lot this season, when will you? The Mavs will either beat the Spurs, a team they would have to face in the Conference Finals anyway, or they won't.

Moral victories of being able to beat every team in the playoffs but San Antonio won't change the fact that in 2001, 2003, and 2006, the Spurs beat them in the playoffs.