Phil Hellmuth
05-18-2006, 04:31 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12846212/page/2/
COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
Michael Ventre
The Dallas Mavericks probably should call the Los Angeles Lakers. It won’t be easy to get all of them on the phone, however, because they’re scattered. After all, they’re on vacation. One could be sunning in Cancun, another could be golfing in Scotland, still another could be cruising off the Galapagos Islands.
But if they can get some intrepid phone operator to gather them all on a conference call, the Mavericks would certainly be lucky, because they would then get to pick the Lakers’ brains and find out how to avoid postseason asphyxiation.
After Wednesday night’s high-anxiety 98-97 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio, the Mavericks now hold a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 Friday night in Dallas. The stage is set. All the Mavs have to do is close out this thing. Eliminate the defending world champions. In front of the home crowd. On national TV. To avoid a Game 7.
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Yep, a basketball team couldn’t ask for a better situation.
Except, of course, that’s what the Lakers thought, too. They had a 3-1 series lead against the Phoenix Suns in the first round. If the Lakers somehow flopped in Game 5, they’d still have Game 6 at home to clinch. Worst-case scenario: Game 7 in Phoenix.
Actually, that wasn’t really the worst-case scenario. As it turned out, the absolute worst-case scenario was an early vacation after choking on a 3-1 series lead.
The difference here is that the Dallas Mavericks are not the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavs are stronger overall and more experienced. The Lakers actually were fortunate just to make the playoffs. Most prognosticators had them winning one game against the Suns, maybe two. That they pushed the second-seeded Suns to the brink is a minor miracle.
The Mavericks have been on track to bust out and vie for the NBA Finals for quite some time now. They’re the bridesmaids who keep losing weight and working out, getting breast augmentations and full makeovers, attending charm school and dressing more provocatively in the hopes that someday that will be them walking down the aisle.
But in a way, that’s part of the problem. Because they’ve been trying so hard for so long, there’s a heck of a lot more pressure on the Mavericks than there ever was on the upstart Lakers. The Mavs have been knocking at this door so long their knuckles are bleeding. Whereas the Lakers have won championships — as recently as 2002 — the Mavs have never appeared in the NBA Finals. If they blow this opportunity, they may spiral downward into a bottomless depression. They’ll collapse into a massive pile of wasted hopes and dreams. Or worse yet, they’ll adopt the mindset of the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s probably unwise to suggest these Mavericks are career pretenders just because they haven’t broken through yet. Many teams have their moment. The old Bad Boy Pistons had to take their lumps from the Celtics before their time came. And the Michael Jordan-led Bulls had to keep attacking until they were ready to unseat the Pistons.
Yet for every team that has ascended to the pinnacle, there is one or two that has tried and then disintegrated. Remember the Portland Trail Blazers with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter? Zero championships. Remember the Sacramento Kings when they had Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Mike Bibby and Doug Christie? They made their assaults, they failed, then they broke apart.
What the Mavericks have going for them this year is a commitment to defense, which reflects the priorities of head coach Avery Johnson. Even though Game 5 in San Antonio Wednesday night didn’t go their way in the end, they battled admirably and were on the short end of a wild series of events in the final seconds and a missed attempt from the corner by Jason Terry. That doesn’t indicate an inherent weakness or character flaw.
Of course, there wasn’t as much pressure in that game as there will be Friday night in Dallas. Collars sometimes feel like nooses after two days of public scrutiny.
On the other side, the Spurs have looked tired and old at times in this series. But the more life you give a team, the more life it craves. The Spurs know that four of the five games thus far have been extremely close. They know that they’re capable of winning on the road, but came up short in Games 3 and 4 in Dallas. They have the personnel and the know-how to win another championship, they just need the will. After prevailing Wednesday night, they may have discovered it.
The reason the Mavericks got this far is because they have been the aggressors for the most part. Their body language suggests a team that won’t be denied, a team that is unwilling to accept second-class status any longer.
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But the Lakers looked like that, too, after they went up, 3-1 against Phoenix. It’s relatively easy to ignore pressure early in a series. It’s a monumental task as the series draws to a climax. Little things start to happen. A foul call here or there alters the mood. The fluke plays that had been going your way before start to go the other way.
The Mavs’ ability to shrug off all that and maintain their confidence will determine whether they advance or whether the Spurs will become the ninth team ever to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
Who was the eighth team? The Phoenix Suns, just recently, against the Lakers.
The Lakers would probably like to get a few things off their chests about that series. If the Mavericks are smart, they’ll listen.
COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
Michael Ventre
The Dallas Mavericks probably should call the Los Angeles Lakers. It won’t be easy to get all of them on the phone, however, because they’re scattered. After all, they’re on vacation. One could be sunning in Cancun, another could be golfing in Scotland, still another could be cruising off the Galapagos Islands.
But if they can get some intrepid phone operator to gather them all on a conference call, the Mavericks would certainly be lucky, because they would then get to pick the Lakers’ brains and find out how to avoid postseason asphyxiation.
After Wednesday night’s high-anxiety 98-97 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio, the Mavericks now hold a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 Friday night in Dallas. The stage is set. All the Mavs have to do is close out this thing. Eliminate the defending world champions. In front of the home crowd. On national TV. To avoid a Game 7.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement
Yep, a basketball team couldn’t ask for a better situation.
Except, of course, that’s what the Lakers thought, too. They had a 3-1 series lead against the Phoenix Suns in the first round. If the Lakers somehow flopped in Game 5, they’d still have Game 6 at home to clinch. Worst-case scenario: Game 7 in Phoenix.
Actually, that wasn’t really the worst-case scenario. As it turned out, the absolute worst-case scenario was an early vacation after choking on a 3-1 series lead.
The difference here is that the Dallas Mavericks are not the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavs are stronger overall and more experienced. The Lakers actually were fortunate just to make the playoffs. Most prognosticators had them winning one game against the Suns, maybe two. That they pushed the second-seeded Suns to the brink is a minor miracle.
The Mavericks have been on track to bust out and vie for the NBA Finals for quite some time now. They’re the bridesmaids who keep losing weight and working out, getting breast augmentations and full makeovers, attending charm school and dressing more provocatively in the hopes that someday that will be them walking down the aisle.
But in a way, that’s part of the problem. Because they’ve been trying so hard for so long, there’s a heck of a lot more pressure on the Mavericks than there ever was on the upstart Lakers. The Mavs have been knocking at this door so long their knuckles are bleeding. Whereas the Lakers have won championships — as recently as 2002 — the Mavs have never appeared in the NBA Finals. If they blow this opportunity, they may spiral downward into a bottomless depression. They’ll collapse into a massive pile of wasted hopes and dreams. Or worse yet, they’ll adopt the mindset of the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s probably unwise to suggest these Mavericks are career pretenders just because they haven’t broken through yet. Many teams have their moment. The old Bad Boy Pistons had to take their lumps from the Celtics before their time came. And the Michael Jordan-led Bulls had to keep attacking until they were ready to unseat the Pistons.
Yet for every team that has ascended to the pinnacle, there is one or two that has tried and then disintegrated. Remember the Portland Trail Blazers with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter? Zero championships. Remember the Sacramento Kings when they had Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Mike Bibby and Doug Christie? They made their assaults, they failed, then they broke apart.
What the Mavericks have going for them this year is a commitment to defense, which reflects the priorities of head coach Avery Johnson. Even though Game 5 in San Antonio Wednesday night didn’t go their way in the end, they battled admirably and were on the short end of a wild series of events in the final seconds and a missed attempt from the corner by Jason Terry. That doesn’t indicate an inherent weakness or character flaw.
Of course, there wasn’t as much pressure in that game as there will be Friday night in Dallas. Collars sometimes feel like nooses after two days of public scrutiny.
On the other side, the Spurs have looked tired and old at times in this series. But the more life you give a team, the more life it craves. The Spurs know that four of the five games thus far have been extremely close. They know that they’re capable of winning on the road, but came up short in Games 3 and 4 in Dallas. They have the personnel and the know-how to win another championship, they just need the will. After prevailing Wednesday night, they may have discovered it.
The reason the Mavericks got this far is because they have been the aggressors for the most part. Their body language suggests a team that won’t be denied, a team that is unwilling to accept second-class status any longer.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement
But the Lakers looked like that, too, after they went up, 3-1 against Phoenix. It’s relatively easy to ignore pressure early in a series. It’s a monumental task as the series draws to a climax. Little things start to happen. A foul call here or there alters the mood. The fluke plays that had been going your way before start to go the other way.
The Mavs’ ability to shrug off all that and maintain their confidence will determine whether they advance or whether the Spurs will become the ninth team ever to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
Who was the eighth team? The Phoenix Suns, just recently, against the Lakers.
The Lakers would probably like to get a few things off their chests about that series. If the Mavericks are smart, they’ll listen.