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Series' trend means Dallas Mavericks can expect Spurs' best
By Eddie Sefco / The Dallas Morning News
As seats fill up on the Mavericks' bandwagon, passengers should be advised of one cautionary note.
You might want to buy a refundable ticket.
That's not just logic gleaned from an up-and-down regular season. It's the reality of a playoff series against San Antonio that has proved neither team can stand prosperity.
"Both teams have responded very well to losing and very poorly to winning," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Friday. "It's staring both teams in the face. When either team has won, their next game has been abysmal. That's a challenge for us because we know what kind of game they're going to bring.
"It's not easy after you win. There's a tendency to let down. It's probably human nature."
If that's the case, the Mavericks and Spurs have been super-human because they have had monster collapses after uplifting wins.
The Mavericks went belly-up in Game 2 after stealing Game 1 and the home-court advantage in San Antonio.
After the humbling wipeout, the Mavericks returned home and steamrolled the Spurs, repaying with a 21-point whipping that could have easily been 31 or 41.
Which brings us to today. Game 4 will determine whether the Mavericks can put a stranglehold on the series and go up 3-1 or if the Spurs can serve notice that they aren't dead by leveling things.
The series has reached a point where it's no longer about adjustments and strategy. The teams haven't changed tactics much from game to game. They simply executed their game plans flawlessly in wins and didn't in losses.
Now, the series becomes more about heart, guts and minds. It's a matter of will.
"It's about believing and never giving up hope," J.J. Barea said. "If we get a good start, it'll be great for us. If we let them get that confidence back, it'll be a rough day.
"A lot of it is about whoever brings the most energy to the game. We got different defensive plans, but if we don't bring the energy, none of them will work."
The onus today is on the Spurs to prove they aren't damaged goods mentally after the complete no-show Thursday. The Mavericks' defensive rotations were timed perfect when Tony Parker strutted into the lane. They didn't have to inflict any hard fouls, yet they kept the point guard from getting his offensive game going.
Tim Duncan was a non-factor. The rest of the Spurs didn't have enough punch.
"We bounced back really good in Game 2 so we'll see how we bounce back here," Parker said. "We're definitely going to have to take the challenge. They know how important it is to go up 3-1, and we know how important it is to even the series."
The Mavericks have a strong sense of just how important today is to San Antonio. Going down 3-1 doesn't guarantee a loss, but it's a deficit that has only been overcome eight times, most recently in 2006 by Phoenix against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after Game 3 that handling wins is tougher than handling losses and the Spurs and Mavericks have proven that.
"You know they're going to be better," said Dirk Nowitzki. "Pop's probably going to chew them out, and they're going to make their shots, and we got to be even sharper. The defensive intensity has to stay the same.
"We got to stay humble and stay hungry and use our home-court advantage, hopefully start off pretty good and let the home crowd carry us through."
