Best Mavericks team ever?

[stretch]

The one that obviously played the best was the 2006 that went to the finals, but IMO, the 04-05 squad had the best talent and balance overall. We had so many people who could come in and score 20 on any given night (Dirk, Finley, Stack, Howard, Terry, Van Horn, Daniels, and even Damp was scoring better back then too). We had Henderson playing great defense and hustling like crazy with his rebounds and putbacks, Darrell Armstrong getting hotheads like Mike James ejected with his stingy defense... the only things that held us back was that it was the first year that those guys had been together, and they barely had any time to gel with Avery. At the time, Avery was a perfect coach for the Mavs, as they were loaded with scorers, and just needed to work on hustling and defense. unfortunately now they are fine on those areas, but they only have 3 legit scorers in Dirk, Terry, and Howard so the system doesnt work well for us at all.

the 04-05 squad is still my favorite. if they had kept Finley and just added Diop, they would have definitely won the title in 2005-2006. getting rid of his contract hasnt done anything for us since, except deprive us of some very needed scoring and shooting ability, as well as leadership that would have come in extremely handy in the finals, and last year.

[lefty]

1988.
They almost beat the mighty Lakers in the WCF

[monosylab1k]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DAL/2000.html

not the best, but my favorite.

You had the Dynamic Duo of Finley/Ceballos, Dirk & Nash started coming into their own that year, Cuban bought the team, there was the failed Rodman experiment, and for the first time in many years, there were genuinely high hopes going into the next season.

[clambake]

1988.
They almost beat the mighty Lakers in the WCF

:tu

[SpursDynasty]

The best Mav teams have been the Dirk/Nash/Finley ones.

Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, etc. are all fake.

[stretch]

The best Mav teams have been the Dirk/Nash/Finley ones.

Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, etc. are all fake.

But Jeff, those teams didnt play defense or rebound.

Say, how has your drumming been going lately? Still at Buffalo Wild Wings?

[JoeTait75]

Probably not the best edition, but my personal favorite Mavs team was the 2001 team that beat Utah in the playoffs. After so many down years, it was nice to see the Mavs back in the mix and kicking a little ass.

[manufor3]

06 probably

[lefty]

Probably not the best edition, but my personal favorite Mavs team was the 2001 team that beat Utah in the playoffs. After so many down years, it was nice to see the Mavs back in the mix and kicking a little ass.

2001 is the one I hate the most; because of Juwan Howard, we lost Derek Anderson for the rest of the playoffs

[JoeTait75]

2001 is the one I hate the most; because of Juwan Howard, we lost Derek Anderson for the rest of the playoffs

It's Derek Anderson. A strong wind would put him out for 4-6 weeks.

[jack sommerset]

Hands down 2006.

[Indazone]

The best Mavs teams were headed up by Shawn Bradley. Unfortunately he was replaced by the 2nd best Center in the NBA in Eric Dampier. But we all know that while Shawn was the true power behind the Mavericks and who could ever forget steller moments like this.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/04-05/0426bradley.jpg

[Indazone]

lmao

yeah yeah...I know

"America eating my lunch..."

:P

[clambake]

The best Mavs teams were headed up by Shawn Bradley. Unfortunately he was replaced by the 2nd best Center in the NBA in Eric Dampier. But we all know that while Shawn was the true power behind the Mavericks and who could ever forget steller moments like this.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/04-05/0426bradley.jpg

didn't this happen in the second round of the.................oh, sorry.

[Findog]

06 was the best team. The team that upset the Jazz in the first round, the 03 Conference Finals squad and the 88 gang that took the Lakers to 7 are my favorites.

[Findog]

1988.
They almost beat the mighty Lakers in the WCF

ALMOST. That's our BELIEVE.

If Derek Harper isn't dribbling out the shot clock and Roy Tarpley isn't sticking blow up his nose, then Toni Braxton is wrecking a promising young team, we're giving up 2-0 Finals leads, as well as letting the 1994 SuperSonics off the hook.

[endrity]

On paper the 05 team was good, but in reality it was a bad mix. It was still a lot of new faces put together that knew little of each other, and went through a coaching change in the season.

First of all that team was small up front. KVH played one good quarter of a season after he was traded, but then broke his hand and couldn't help us in the playoffs. Against the Suns he would have been really helpful. We had no one to back up Dampier, and no Henderson was a nice guy that tried, but that was it.

And then there was Finley. Great guy, very important on what he had done for the Mavs in the past. HOWEVER, he had a lot of pride. Sometimes that's a bad thing. Finley refused to play much D, kept hoisting bad shots, especially his Suns series was atrocious where he singlehandedly killed our flow every single game in the 4th quarter. He was refusing to aknowledge that this was a new roster, build around Dirk to help him develop.

Without him, as well as with the addition of Diop and the growth of Harris, the team gained a lot more stability and rhythm that seemingly couldn't with him. I think his problem was the 03-04 season when we added the Toines. Everybody said he would suffer, yet Finley played a great season himself, but it ended up being the price for taking the ball out of Dirk's hands. The FO had seen enough of that.

When you are talking about heart though, my favourite team is 02-03 team. I don't think we could have beat SA even with Dirk, but that was one resilent group with amazing chemistry.

[lefty]

It's Derek Anderson. A strong wind would put him out for 4-6 weeks.

:lol

[monosylab1k]

The best Mavs teams were headed up by Shawn Bradley. Unfortunately he was replaced by the 2nd best Center in the NBA in Eric Dampier. But we all know that while Shawn was the true power behind the Mavericks and who could ever forget steller moments like this.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/04-05/0426bradley.jpg

And who can forget stellar box scores like this?
http://www.nba.com/games/20050507/HOUDAL/boxscore.html

[Armando]

The one that obviously played the best was the 2006 that went to the finals, but IMO, the 04-05 squad had the best talent and balance overall. We had so many people who could come in and score 20 on any given night (Dirk, Finley, Stack, Howard, Terry, Van Horn, Daniels, and even Damp was scoring better back then too). We had Henderson playing great defense and hustling like crazy with his rebounds and putbacks, Darrell Armstrong getting hotheads like Mike James ejected with his stingy defense... the only things that held us back was that it was the first year that those guys had been together, and they barely had any time to gel with Avery. At the time, Avery was a perfect coach for the Mavs, as they were loaded with scorers, and just needed to work on hustling and defense. unfortunately now they are fine on those areas, but they only have 3 legit scorers in Dirk, Terry, and Howard so the system doesnt work well for us at all.

the 04-05 squad is still my favorite. if they had kept Finley and just added Diop, they would have definitely won the title in 2005-2006. getting rid of his contract hasnt done anything for us since, except deprive us of some very needed scoring and shooting ability, as well as leadership that would have come in extremely handy in the finals, and last year.



2006 hands down

[BUMP]

i think 06-07 was really the best team, i just think we ran into the team that gave us the most problems out of anyone in the NBA. i think we were on a mission but n the season they clearly had our number, we obviously didnt take them seriously enough, and they took advantage in the postseason. We panicked and tried to make all these adjustments and we were a 67 win team adjusting to a 42 win team

[endrity]

i think 06-07 was really the best team, i just think we ran into the team that gave us the most problems out of anyone in the NBA. i think we were on a mission but n the season they clearly had our number, we obviously didnt take them seriously enough, and they took advantage in the postseason. We panicked and tried to make all these adjustments and we were a 67 win team adjusting to a 42 win team

I would like to believe that, and actually did for about a year. I am seriously question the "perfect storm" idea now.

First off, for the third year in a row, we are seeing teams with great regular season records struggle in the playoffs. Maybe in the modern NBA, with talent so spread out, it takes a huge toll on a team to try to win more than 62 games. There are no teams with deep benches ala 86 Celtics anymore.

Second, that Mavs team was tailing off by the end of the regular season. Some was because of injuries, but some of it was because they simply seemed a bit tired psychologically.

Also, it seemed like we were a great efficinet offensive team in the regular season by playing iso after iso situation. But in the playoffs, for the second straight year, people are sitting on our plays.

And after seeing the Hornets and Warriors both look at least beatable in the second round by other teams, can we really say that it was just a perfect storm to beat us???

To be honest I enjoyed the wins, but the 07 team played ugly basketball and I never enjoyed watching it. I loved this end of the season Mavs team, when Dirk pretty much said screw you to Avery and decided to do what he felt was right. We went down, but Dirk was showing us all his full arsenal in the last month, one one good leg.

[jack sommerset]

Did the 03 team lose Dirk to injury against the Spurs in that series?

[JoshTheChild]

the 04-05 season had the best on paper, but the 2006 had the best team chemistry. too bad for the mavs that finley wasn't on it. I believe they would of been the champs that year

[stretch]

the 04-05 season had the best on paper, but the 2006 had the best team chemistry. too bad for the mavs that finley wasn't on it. I believe they would of been the champs that year

I couldn't agree more.

[JoshTheChild]

I couldn't agree more.

ya man finley hit some clutch shots in that SA and mavs series in 06. just imagine had he been on dallas. Dallas prolly would of ran away with the title easily. would of beat the heat in 4 no more than 5

[stretch]

ya man finley hit some clutch shots in that SA and mavs series in 06. just imagine had he been on dallas. Dallas prolly would of ran away with the title easily. would of beat the heat in 4 no more than 5

Yup. And the thing that would have meant the most was his leadership. the team respected him very much and he was always the heart of the Mavericks and the mental leader on the court. he was a big reason for our great resiliency in the past.

[JoshTheChild]

ya I never felt that finley was appreciated enough in dallas when he was there

[Red Hawk #21]

My favorite mavs team was the 05-06 ones that went to the finals, Dirk is my second favorite player besides Dominique wilkins so I wanted him to win a ring. I also love Jet too because he played here in the Atl. They were going to win that series until refs started allowing Wade to jump into players and get fouls called while Harris, Howard, Stack, Daniels all got beat up on drives with no calls. Haslem played Dirk compleletely overagressive the whole series and he was barely in foul trouble.

That Finals was the most unfair kind of shit I have ever seen but its Mark Cuban's fault. If he hadn't dissed refs and Stern and many others his team would have championship rings. There would be no talk of Dirk being a "choker" because he would have a ring, the Mavericks would have been highly respected because the West was so tough that year. 97 freethrows in 6 games for Dwyane Wade, tons of phantom fouls for Wade, Dirk looses a tooth and still a foul was not called. What a shame...