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Not even close to Mavs/Spurs.....
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 les.
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.
Not even close to Mavs/Spurs.....
exactly.
Mavs/Spurs are the biggest rivalry. Mavs/Suns games are fun to watch, but I don't get nearly as fired up during them as I do with Mavs/Spurs games.
I agree, but I think the guy is probably right about it being the league's #1 rivalry. At least in terms of what everyone else wants to see (outside of Dallas & San Antonio).
If the Suns manage to win this one, this will become the league's official biggest rivalry. Spurs should stay out of the rivalry limelight till playoff time.
This was written by a Suns writer. Geographically, the Suns have no rival. Theirs seem to fluxuate from Los Angeles (at random), to Seattle (early 90s), to Houston (mid 90s), to San Antonio and Dallas (of late). No real rival, just sporatic opponants. Dallas/San Antonio is bigger because of the Texas factor. Los Angeles had Sacramento for the same reason. Dallas/Phoenix is a big matchup because each's history of trades with the other and the Nash factor. Them winning has merely heightened such amongst the players and fans.
mavs and spurs fans know what the biggest rivalry is....
Yeah, race for douchiest franchise in Texas...
I thought the Mavs were in the lead, but when I found out Tony Parker recently came out with a rap video that starred Brent Barry... well, Spurs might have taken the lead on that one...
that video is sooo 2006. it came out quite a while ago, and it's utterly hilarious.
I can't see how anyone could realistically argue that Phoenix-Dallas could be a better rivalry than Spurs-Mavericks. Spurs/Mavs has all of the trappings of a great rivalry: two teams in close geographic proximity; teams that are quite evenly-matched; teams with personnel who've changed sides in recent years; excruciatingly close and tight games in the biggest settings; great players on each side who want very badly to beat the guys on the other side; and fan bases that largely despise each other.
I still think it might take another playoff series to reach the level of what I think is the most underrated rivalry in recent history: Spurs-Lakers (5 playoff series in 6 years, with the winner of the series advancing to win a le on 4 of those occasions). But it's getting close.
There's no such thing as a rivalry between soft jumpshooting teams. It's a contradiction in terms.
Remind me, what do the Bulls do again?
Gordon and Hinrich, no?
Ben Wallace collects a hefty paycheck for doing next to nothing, for starters.
They shoot jumpshots
One damn thing for sure is the Bulls aren't soft. They're a good defensive team and have players that aren't afraid to mix it up in the paint. And I believe they've beaten The Spurs, Mavericks and Suns by double digits this year.
This Mav's team isn't any softer than the Bulls...that's for sure.
I haven't got the slightest idea. But unless their coaches or personnel have seriously changed in the last year, the Suns play like a YMCA team and the Mavericks are only slightly tougher.
That's not to say that any team in today's NBA plays like professionals, merely that the idea of a "rivalry" existing between a sorry bunch of gutless chokers is preposterous.
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