i think its hard for neutral fans to realise how differently the mavs play when they play the spurs. They just bring their a game every time, its like theyre comfortable seeing the black and white jerseys in front of them. Josh howard always goes circa 2006 and plays like an all-star, and dirk becomes clutch and always plays like the mvp he is.
Even guys like bass, and dampier seem to step their games up. Not to mention the single reason nearly all spurs fans despise the mavs, jason terry. I think alot of spurs fans like dirk as a player and person - but its damn hard to respect the mavs when you have that turtle headed bag running around disrespecting everyone and punching people in the balls while celebrating to the crowd after every made 3, even in the first quarter.
As for the series, i actually would have preferred to play the rockets without hca as the 5 seed, they just dont scare me at all.
But playing the mavs sure beats the out of going to the rose garden. And i think the blazers actually have a legit shot at knocking off the lakers - as far fetched as it is. So id rather the portland have a crack at la before the spurs do.
Anyway, i digress - better not get ahead of myself, im really not confident at all, without manu, the spurs just matchup horribly with this team, so i wouldnt be overly surprised to see the mavs win the series. Either way, this series should be a dogfight.