I'm really looking forward to the Duncan-less Spurs/Mavs game

[lefty]

It could be interesting to see what we can do against Dallas without Timmy.

Manu is playing like long-haired Manu, Tony has reached another level, and Cisco and Oberto are more familiar with Pop's system (but again, Cisco and Fab are better with Timmy)

It could be fun

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

If only Mahinmi were called up, then nail 20 & 10 against them. Then all my fantasies would come true...

[SequSpur]

I'm not, I have fucking tiered tickets for that game..... Told you mofos!

[sribb43]

This pretty much will sum up the game on Wed:

-Mavs will suck again on the road
-Avery will play small ball and play Bass/Dirk together in crunch time and give up crucial offensive rebounds
-J-Ho will not pass the ball
-Dirk will once again look like a roll player
-Stack will shoot 2-10
-Devin will pickup 6 fouls on block/charge calls
-JET will show up and score 30(only player on Mavs with some balls (Stack sometimes does))
-Oh ya, Spurs will win without Duncan and the city of Dallas will start chanting "FIRE AVERY" at home games

[The Red Hood]

I don't know if I'm looking forward to it but, it is going to be interesting to see who steps up for the Spurs.

[xamila rey]

i wonder what the starting line up is gonna be..
i dont think the one tha Pop used for starting the 3rd quarter would work against Dallas.

My idea is that he may start with Oberto, Bonner, Bowen, Finley and Parker.

[Walter Craparita]

I had tickets to this game but gave them up due to finals :(

[ThomasGranger]

Finley is overdue for a big game, especially after those last two stinkers. Hopefully he goes off against the Mavs.

[Capt Bringdown]

Never look forward to seeing the Spurs without Duncan on the court...

[SouthernFried]

i wonder what the starting line up is gonna be..
i dont think the one tha Pop used for starting the 3rd quarter would work against Dallas.

My idea is that he may start with Oberto, Bonner, Bowen, Finley and Parker.

God, I hope not. That's a terrible lineup. Right now, at least start Barry, if not Manu. Who the hell is gonna get boards with this lineup? Terrible defensive lineup as well. I hope Pop doesn't go with this.

I'd prefer to have Oberto as a PF and Elson as C. The way Finley's playing, I'd almost say sit him if he doesn't make at least his first 2 outta 3 shots, coming off the bench.

Bonner backup PF, Horry backup C.

This is who I'd like to see start:

Parker
Manu
Bowen
Oberto
Elson

That lineup at least gives us some D and rebounding (comeon Elson, step up...and box out) as well as scoring.

Off the bench

Jacque (prefer washington)
Brent
Horry
Finley (only because I don't want him starting. I'd prefer he not play at all)
Udoka
Bonner

Hopefully we can get some scoring outta Finley and Brent. Horry's kinda an unknown right now.

Man, Duncan leaves a damn big hole. After him, seriously weak at PF slot.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

This pretty much will sum up the game on Wed:

-Mavs will suck again on the road
-Avery will play small ball and play Bass/Dirk together in crunch time and give up crucial offensive rebounds
-J-Ho will not pass the ball
-Dirk will once again look like a roll player
-Stack will shoot 2-10
-Devin will pickup 6 fouls on block/charge calls
-JET will show up and score 30(only player on Mavs with some balls (Stack sometimes does))
-Oh ya, Spurs will win without Duncan and the city of Dallas will start chanting "FIRE AVERY" at home games

Wow! A bit of dissent in Dallas, huh? Slamming J Ho and Dirk is not typical Mav fan behaviour! :lol

[BeerIsGood!]

I wonder if the Spurs will call up Mahinmi, and if they do how much actual game time he would get. This doesn't look good, because as is Elson, Oberto, and Bonner are going to log some mega minutes as Horry can't be expected to contribute much right now starting cold. With Mahinmi they would at least have some depth and another 7 footer to use his 6 fouls, but Pop probably doesn't want to retard his growth over some December games. I just think Elson, Oberto, and Bonner are going to have to buck up and take the challenge on strong.

[sribb43]

Wow! A bit of dissent in Dallas, huh? Slamming J Ho and Dirk is not typical Mav fan behaviour! :lol

Well based on early trends in the season, its not to far fetched to see any of those come true. also

if mavs win w/o duncan playing - no one cares bc we should have beat them
if mavs win w/ duncan playing - its regular season and no one cares
if mavs lose w/o duncan playing - its the end of the world as we no it

[themvp]

It's just a regular season game in December.

[urunobili]

i think Robert Horry should start and he will pick up the slack as he is a big time Mav hater...

[SpursIndonesia]

The Spurs will get blown up. :D

Hopefully, my jinx is working. :smokin

[Findog]

Spurs will take this one. The Mavs are playing like shit right now, and being the mental midgets that they are, they'll show up expecting the Spurs to lay down without Duncan and give them an easy W.

[sribb43]

Spurs could run out a lineup of.....

Pg: Vaughn
Sg: D-Wash
Sf: Udoka
PF: Mahinmi
C: Oberto

and they would still lose

[Budkin]

I don't know, playing the Spurs seems to cure all the Mavs ills. They always get up against the Spurs and it's the Spurs worst matchup by far. But without Timmy that could mix things up a bit.

[Cry Havoc]

How about starting Horry? Seriously. He and Elson have the athleticism to keep up with the Mavs.

Parker
Barry
Bowen
Horry
Elson

to start the game. 4 of those players can drain the trey, keep the Mavs defense from relaxing.

Bring in Manu for his usual boost, play him and Parker for 35-38 minutes. Put Finley and Oberto as needed to guard the slower players on Dallas.

Mix it up! Go really small and run out Parker, Vaughn, Manu, Bowen, Elson. Let the guys have fun with the game.

[thousandth]

Starting 3rd quarter vs Blazer. Parker Finley Bowen Bonner Elson. Again vs. Mavs? Hell, no! Pop wouldn't do that, would he?

[Capt Bringdown]

I don't know, playing the Spurs seems to cure all the Mavs ills. They always get up against the Spurs and it's the Spurs worst matchup by far. But without Timmy that could mix things up a bit.
I agree. And the Mavs in turn seem to put the Spurs into a funk, even Pop.
Are we intimidated?

[Tippecanoe]

mavs always turn it up 4 notches when playing the spurs. dont be surprised if dallas blows out san antonio and then loses to denver the next day by 20

[nkdlunch]

It's a win win situation.

[Avitus1]

It'll be interesting. Sadly I wont be able to see the damn game cause I live in Killeen.

[raspsa]

Yeah, me too. I think the game will be more interesting than the last time they met. Looking forward to how the Spurs react w/o TD. Time for the Spurs Bigs to step up.

[ludda]

I think we take this one. Mavs are in a funk. Manu will lead us to victory.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

i have a hunch that the we'll win the game by a substatntial amount...mavs will take it easy on us since duncan is out.

[xamila rey]

i expect Finley to have a good game.

[T Park]

:lol @ all the Finley haters resurfacing after hiding during the playoffs.

[urunobili]

Mavs will double team Tony and Manu all night... bad loss for us...

[TDMVPDPOY]

manu will go for 50pts in a easy win for the spurs

[island_dude]

I look for it to be a tough game. I think the Spurs could still win even without Timmy. I remember a few years back when they blew the Mavs out at home while Duncan sat out.

Does anyone know if this game will be on ESPN? I don't see it scheduled, but Mark Stein mentioned it being on there in an article that was posted.

[41times]

This pretty much will sum up the game on Wed:

-Mavs will suck again on the road
-Avery will play small ball and play Bass/Dirk together in crunch time and give up crucial offensive rebounds
-J-Ho will not pass the ball
-Dirk will once again look like a roll player
-Stack will shoot 2-10
-Devin will pickup 6 fouls on block/charge calls
-JET will show up and score 30(only player on Mavs with some balls (Stack sometimes does))
-Oh ya, Spurs will win without Duncan and the city of Dallas will start chanting "FIRE AVERY" at home games

Either this guy is a Spurs fan in disguise or he has not watched any Mavs vs. Spurs game over the last 2 years!

The Mavs match up with the Spurs better than any other team in the NBA. They have beaten them 2/3 of the time over the last 16 games. This game will be no different.

The Spurs will put up a great fight with the battle cry "win one for Timmy" but his back up (who ever it may be) will not be enough unless Manu, Parker score 60 points and that is very unlikely.

Mavs by 10 in a meaningless game to the Spurs because they will say No Timmy and it's not post season.

Mavs by 10 in a Meaningful game to the Mavs because they are 3 down in the division and a win would insure a minimum of a split in the head to head tie breaker, which could prove to be very important come April.

[phyzik]

would be a great confidence booster for the Spurs to win this one without Timmy

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

This game, sans Timmy, could be interesting. Without Timmy and Manu it could be embarrassing.

[Budkin]

The Mavs always play us tough as nails and ever since "the foul" they've owned us badly. We're due a win, but I'm not sure we're going to get it without Timmy. I feel good about it, but if Manu ends up sitting it out... well, not so much.

[milkyway21]

Reserve forward Robert Horry received a standing ovation when he made his season debut in the fourth quarter. Horry, who had sat out the first 17 games while preparing himself mentally after a family emergency cost him most of training camp, had two blocked shots and two rebounds in six minutes.


I'm looking forward to seeing Horry taking over like what he did when Duncan went down due to injury in Detroit in 2005. He had a big game in one of their games if I remember correctly while Duncan had to stay home to recuperate.

[Udrihlooms]

Without Tim, we can only rely on the element of surprise to beat teams like Dallas and Phoenix. We can also hope that they'll lower their guard a bit, so we can insert a haymaker punch.

That's how critical the greatest PF in history, to us. Without Tim to punish them inside and in the middle, it'll be easy to clog the lane to prevent TP's penetration and then they'll play rough vs. Manu.

[Pistons < Spurs]

Looks like there's a possibility that Manu doesn't play either....



Devin Harris will play tonight, but there's a chance San Antonio's Manu Ginobili won't.

The Spurs, already without Tim Duncan, will wait until game time to decide if Ginobili can go. Their sixth man, who is averaging 19.4 points per game, suffered a jammed index finger on his shooting hand (left) in Sunday's win over Portland.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/120507dnspomavsdate.21bcd39.html

[lefty]

I had a good feeling about that one; as I said, we have the best backourt in the L