let's face it, Dallas pulled a choke job tonight

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Originally Posted by Shank

Leave it to a Spurs fan to assume one game means a dominating championship season. The Knicks are 1-0, too. Chalk it up.

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so we're gonna have 2 82-0 teams? :dizzy

Wait, weren't all the Mavs fans in June saying that Game 7 meant domination?

Big game.
Dallas showed some frustration that proves they are still unsure of their ability.
Spurs owned them when it counted.

Eh, I'd be more worried about the holes I saw (poor defense in stretches, bad ft's, bad passes, lack of aggressiveness on rebounds in stretches) if it weren't the first game of the season. I mean, yeah, those things need to be addressed and fixed if we are to take the championship back. But I'd be worried in February or March, not the day after game 1.

I do think that the defense in the latter part of the third and in the fourth was terrific. They clamped down to give themselves the opportunities they needed, and packing the lanes forced Dallas to jumpshoot, which is what we want. We want them to play Spurs ball, not the other way around.

This keeps up (and improves) - as Obstructed_View said, the rest of the league should be praying for injuries. One game (albeit an important one in terms of division, rivaleries, fans, revenge, psychological edge, whatever) doesn't mean we should just get the trophy handed back, but it does set a nice tone to the season and indicates we have much to look forward to.

^^ exactly

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Originally Posted by leemajors

so we're gonna have 2 82-0 teams? :dizzy

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The Lakers are the original 82-0 team this year, and unlike the Spurs and Knicks, have an actual multi-game streak going.

Unfortunately, we know they'll start losing as soon as Kobe comes back.

Spurs have a tough start, 2 b2b's in 5 days, 3 games on the road, but TOR and NYK should go well.

new york will be tough
new york is out to prove how bad larry brown is

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Originally Posted by ShoogarBear

Biggest difference: the Mavs didn't drive the lane with impunity like they did with the Small Ball Fiasco.

Remember Harris, Terry, and Howard putting on a layup show? None of that tonight.

If you turn them back into the jump shooting pussies of old, then fading in the fourth is what's supposed to happen.

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That's exactly what happened. The Mavs played very soft like they used to prior to last season. Plus, the Spurs looked like they wanted it more. Props to the Spurs though.

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Originally Posted by cheguevara

Before Spurs fans start celebrating the championship, let's face it. Dallas went dead cold in the 4th and gave the game away. Not only that, we almost give the game away with our fts.

JUst pointing out we still have not beat the Dallas from last playoff series. We can't count them on choking time and time again, or can we?

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LOL... This guy.... Does he watch the Spurs?

Teams always score less against us in the 4th, we turn up the intesity on D and go get the win. That game wasn't ever in question to a true Spurs fan.

How bout Tony from the FT line? He could be HUUUGE for us this year from there if he keeps it up.

The Mavs didn't choke. They were shut down.

28% FG shooting in the 4th tells me all I need to know.

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Originally Posted by Joepa

The Mavs didn't choke. They were shut down.

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The Suns choked against the Lakers.
Coming from ahead by 19 to lose by 8; now that's a choke job.
The Spurs did what they do: turn up the intensity on defense, start grinding, and got the win.
That's the difference.

There's no doubt the Mavs can play much better than they did. They weren't aggressive at all on their S&Rs.

But the difference is that the Spurs have indicated now that they don't have to abdicate to the Mavs style of play and can go back to playing more classic Spurs ball.

So whatever perceived advantages the Mavs may have had in June are out the window. It's back to square one for everybody, and now it's AJ's turn to make adjustments.

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Originally Posted by cheguevara

Before Spurs fans start celebrating the championship, let's face it. Dallas went dead cold in the 4th and gave the game away. Not only that, we almost give the game away with our fts.

JUst pointing out we still have not beat the Dallas from last playoff series. We can't count them on choking time and time again, or can we?

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Commie bastard....

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Originally Posted by ShoogarBear

But the difference is that the Spurs have indicated now that they don't have to abdicate to the Mavs style of play and can go back to playing more classic Spurs ball.

So whatever perceived advantages the Mavs may have had in June are out the window. It's back to square one for everybody, and now it's AJ's turn to make adjustments.

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That's so true it hurts to read it.

Time for me to let last year go, already. :)

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Originally Posted by ShoogarBear

There's no doubt the Mavs can play much better than they did. They weren't aggressive at all on their S&Rs.

But the difference is that the Spurs have indicated now that they don't have to abdicate to the Mavs style of play and can go back to playing more classic Spurs ball.

So whatever perceived advantages the Mavs may have had in June are out the window. It's back to square one for everybody, and now it's AJ's turn to make adjustments.

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Yeah, I agree about it going back to square one for both teams. The only thing the Mavs accomplished by beating the Spurs in the playoffs was to get them out of their heads. The Spurs might be better but they don't have that mental edge that they always used to have over Dallas.

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Originally Posted by mabber

Yeah, I agree about it going back to square one for both teams. The only thing the Mavs accomplished by beating the Spurs in the playoffs was to get them out of their heads. The Spurs might be better but they don't have that mental edge that they always used to have over Dallas.

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Depends what you mean by "better".

Man-for-man, the Mavs have had better personnel than the Spurs every year since 2001.

The Spurs in all that time only had two advantages:
1. Mental edge/coaching/discipline/teamwork, which I'll lump together as one thing.
2. Tim Duncan, who when he's at his best was the best player on the court, Dirk included.

Number 2 doesn't happen as frequently as it used to. And if it came down to an individual basketball skills contest the Mavs would wipe the floor with the Spurs.

So I think that "mental edge", which is also in part contributed by the collapse in the Finals, is still there, just not as big.

Put it this way: if the Mavs had beaten the Heat, the Spurs would probably have been in serious, serious trouble for the rest of Duncan's prime.

Both teams can play better. Neither Dirk or Duncan had a spectacular game.

But it is unfair to simply say that the Mavs choked because it implies that the fact they lost has nothing to do with the way that SA played.

The fact is that SA played great defense in the 4th. Francisco Elson was a huge pick-up for the Spurs and will cause AJ to spend many more sleepless nights to figure out how to deal with him than anyone that the Mavs picked up on the off-season will do to Pop.

The Mavs fans on this message board need to just settle down and stop being so defensive. Are we glad the Spurs won? Hell yes! If the Mavs would have won, they would have been prancing around holding up fake trophies to make sure their arms were in shape for their june championships.

I don't understand why the mavs didn't start Harris on Parker. I guess we'll save that for the playoffs again.