Dirk definately out for Spurs/Mavs...

[adrienne]

not that it was likely that the Mavs would go in to San Antonio and win anyway, but it's basically an automatic loss minus Dirk and Finley, and a slightly still hobbled Terry and Dampier.

[timvp]

Spurs like to lose when the other team doesn't have their best player. They've made a habit of it over the years.

[Duff McCartney]

I agree....but eh big deal. I just want Duncan to abuse Dampier, he's the most overrated player in a long time.

[ALVAREZ6]

I don't think Dampier is overrated. But the Spurs should deffinently beat this empty handed Mavericks team, there's no excuse to a loss this game.
If the Spurs lose, Pop's gonna have to change somethings. What they are i have no idea.

[xcoriate]

Did anyone see the shit when Damp talked himself up and proclaimed hihself the second best centre in the league, just behind Shaq. Duncan better punk him.

[adrienne]

Don't worry, he will, even moreso because Damp's still a bit hobbled.

This could be an ugly game on the Dallas side. They're missing half the team.

[Kori Ellis]

False start for new Mavs
Web Posted: 11/24/2004 12:00 AM CST

Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA112404.1C.BKNspurs.mavs.adv.87b8e6ac.html

The Dallas Mavericks were fresh off a victory over Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat, their 7-1 record a little more than a week ago good enough to lead the new Southwest Division.

Mavs coach Don Nelson, though, knew better than to buy into any early season euphoria.

"We're not this good," Nelson said, and he repeated it enough that even his players understood the wisdom in his warning.

The Mavericks come to the SBC Center tonight with a 1-3 record in their past four games. They still trail the Spurs in the division despite the Spurs' back-to-back road losses.

Worse, the Mavs come into the game with more key players in street clothes than on the court. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Michael Finley are injured and won't be in uniform tonight. Nowitzki badly sprained his left ankle in a loss at Denver on Sunday and will miss a week to 10 days.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ordinarily doesn't like to play teams missing key players, but he might make an exception in this case. Nowitzki is the kind of player capable of carrying a team through a patch of misfortune, if only he weren't the latest victim of bad luck.

Nowitzki was off to the best start of his seven-year NBA career — averaging 27.3 points and 10.6 rebounds a game — when the crazy rash of ankle sprains besetting the Mavs hit him, too.

Nowitzki's summertime response to the loss of his best friend and favorite teammate, Steve Nash, set him up for such a great start. Nash signed a free-agent contract with the Phoenix Suns in July, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban deeming the $64.6million the Suns gave Nash too steep a price for a point guard who will be 36 by the time the contract ends.

Since Nash had directed the Mavericks into one of the highest-scoring and most exciting teams in the NBA and had helped make Nowitzki one of its top scorers, Nowitzki's initial reaction was shock and wonder.

He was shocked the Mavs didn't pay to keep Nash. And he wondered where his shots were going to come from without Nash.

"Well, I was skeptical what direction we were going," Nowitzki said last week on the day Nash returned to Dallas with the Suns. "He was all motor. He got us running every night. But at that point we hadn't made any moves yet. (It was) before Damp (Eric Dampier), before we got (Jason) Terry. Once we got them and everyone else, I was excited about the season again."

Once he got over the shock of losing the guy who created so many open shots for him, Nowitzki worked to change his mindset. Nash's departure, he knew, had made the Mavs his team, and he needed to put his stamp on them. He knew he had to take on more of a set-up role himself, but he also knew he was going to have to work harder to get his shots.

For now, of course, the Mavericks are running more for Jerry Stackhouse, who is coming off the bench but getting starters' minutes. Because of the injuries, Nelson has had to rely on Stackhouse even more than he had planned.

Stackhouse said the Mavericks knew Nelson was right about the false promise raised by that 7-1 start.

"I really don't think anybody in here has been satisfied," Stackhouse said. "Obviously, it's good to win games, and we've been able to win games even though we're still growing together. We still feel we've got a lot of things to work on."