mabber
03-14-2007, 08:11 AM
Suns vs. Mavericks has become marquee rivalry in NBA
Jerry Brown, Tribune
They have the two best records in the NBA and own the league’s two longest winning streaks — both of which rank among the all-time best — this season.
Their superstars are the two, clear-cut candidates for the Most Valuable Player award.
In the past two playoff runs, each team has ended the other’s season — winning the deciding Game 6 on the enemy’s home floor. Both have front-row, in-your-face owners who live and die with every possession and official’s whistle.
Throw in the Steve Nash factor — one team let him go but still thrived, while the other used him to revive its franchise — and there isn’t a better rivalry in basketball than the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns.
“It was Dallas-San Antonio for a while, it was Miami-Detroit, but right now Dallas-Phoenix has to be the best matchup in the game,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said. “One team might win 70 games, the other might win 65. One team was 33-2 over one span (Phoenix) and the other was 36-2 (Dallas).
“They play exciting basketball, and there is plenty of intrigue between the two franchises. Right now, it just doesn’t get any better.”
They meet twice in the next 19 days – starting with tonight’s showdown in Dallas – with national television zooming in and media everywhere splitting hairs. The Suns still harbor a faint hope of catching the Mavericks for homecourt advantage through the postseason, but the meeting is more about sizing up each other for an anticipated Western Conference finals matchup in June and, for Phoenix, sending a message that the scales haven’t tipped in Dallas’ favor.
“We’d love to play well against them and measure ourselves to see what we’re doing,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It means a little bit in March, more when we play them in April. One thing’s for sure, it will be a great game.”
When the teams met Nov. 9 in Phoenix, the Suns and Mavericks were a combined 1-8 and warning flags were flying. Since then, they have won 100 of 116 games (an .826 winning percentage), are the only two teams to already clinch playoff spots and are jogging home to easy division titles.
In January Phoenix was unbeatable, Nash was headed for a third straight MVP, and the Suns were the chic pick to win a championship. Since then, the Mavericks have pulled away in the West, and Dirk Nowitzki has replaced his best friend as MVP polesitter while his team has established itself as the team to beat.
This might be true for the league and the Suns but the Spurs are still the Mav's #1 rivalry.
Jerry Brown, Tribune
They have the two best records in the NBA and own the league’s two longest winning streaks — both of which rank among the all-time best — this season.
Their superstars are the two, clear-cut candidates for the Most Valuable Player award.
In the past two playoff runs, each team has ended the other’s season — winning the deciding Game 6 on the enemy’s home floor. Both have front-row, in-your-face owners who live and die with every possession and official’s whistle.
Throw in the Steve Nash factor — one team let him go but still thrived, while the other used him to revive its franchise — and there isn’t a better rivalry in basketball than the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns.
“It was Dallas-San Antonio for a while, it was Miami-Detroit, but right now Dallas-Phoenix has to be the best matchup in the game,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said. “One team might win 70 games, the other might win 65. One team was 33-2 over one span (Phoenix) and the other was 36-2 (Dallas).
“They play exciting basketball, and there is plenty of intrigue between the two franchises. Right now, it just doesn’t get any better.”
They meet twice in the next 19 days – starting with tonight’s showdown in Dallas – with national television zooming in and media everywhere splitting hairs. The Suns still harbor a faint hope of catching the Mavericks for homecourt advantage through the postseason, but the meeting is more about sizing up each other for an anticipated Western Conference finals matchup in June and, for Phoenix, sending a message that the scales haven’t tipped in Dallas’ favor.
“We’d love to play well against them and measure ourselves to see what we’re doing,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It means a little bit in March, more when we play them in April. One thing’s for sure, it will be a great game.”
When the teams met Nov. 9 in Phoenix, the Suns and Mavericks were a combined 1-8 and warning flags were flying. Since then, they have won 100 of 116 games (an .826 winning percentage), are the only two teams to already clinch playoff spots and are jogging home to easy division titles.
In January Phoenix was unbeatable, Nash was headed for a third straight MVP, and the Suns were the chic pick to win a championship. Since then, the Mavericks have pulled away in the West, and Dirk Nowitzki has replaced his best friend as MVP polesitter while his team has established itself as the team to beat.
This might be true for the league and the Suns but the Spurs are still the Mav's #1 rivalry.