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You don't watch much basketball then:
Not that there's anything wrong with passing off to an open teammate:
Manu
Dirk
I go Manu, He Is More Clutch, he wants the Ball In clutch Situations....... I always See Jason terry Taking The Final Shot for Dallas
You don't watch much basketball then:
Not that there's anything wrong with passing off to an open teammate:
^ Shouldn't Jordan and Kobe have taken those shots for their team in those situations? Nice D by Manu in both those situations, btw. Very clutch. Heart of a Champion and all that...
Wow the homers in here are crazy to think that Tim/Dirk frontline wouldn't destroy. Manu is great but Dirk is still better.
I like players who play decent D so I gotta go with Manu
Manu is no better at defending his position than Dirk is his. Some of you homers have some serious frontal lobe damage.
Manu is an above average SG defender. Sometimes a great one.
Manu is no better at defending his position than Dirk is his. Some of you homers have some serious frontal lobe damage.
Dirk is usually below average. Sometimes really bad.
I like defensive teams. You can pick Dirk, I won't critizize you.
Additionally, with Duncan being older, he needs help on the block. What help is Dirk gonna give him? not much.
I rather pair Timmy up with a player like McDyesshe will get some help on the defensive and and rebounding.
If Dirk/Duncan where on the same team (in their prime), would that be the best 1/2 combo?
guys like tony and manu look like good defender because of duncan/bruce and the spurs system. They are good help defenders, but their 1 on 1 defense is average.
BTW Findog. If Duncan was 3 or 4 years younger and healthier, then definitely I would pick Dirk over Manu, since Duncan could man the whole paint.
sue me, I like defensive teams. This is same reason why I pick Bowen over Finley
Dirk is a below average help defender and a horrible 1 on 1 defender.
This would mean Duncan has to guard the top bigman on the other team. That is too much to ask for Timmy in a 80 game season at this point in his career.
2003 ForumDirk is usually below average. Sometimes really bad.
I guess you're not familiar with the concept of inside-out.Additionally, with Duncan being older, he needs help on the block. What help is Dirk gonna give him? not much.
So to sum up, Antonio McDyess > Dirk. Umm, okay....I rather pair Timmy up with a player like McDyess
Dirk will never make an All-Defense team, but he has greatly improved on that end.
I'm not saying Dirk has Duncan/B. Wallace/Garnett etc. caliber defender, but he's much better than some people are making him out to be.
the 3 time champ over the choking 7 foot guard
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...pagewanted=all
Dirk Nowitzki was relaxing by his pool on this warm spring Sunday in Texas, reflecting on a topsy-turvy series and seeing where he fit into the picture.
Tracy McGrady has held up his end of the shootout for the Rockets, even as his team lost the last two games in Houston. But Nowitzki, the 7-footer from Germany who had an M.V.P.-caliber regular season for Dallas, has been hitting shots at a 37 percent clip in the playoffs and has just one 3-pointer in four attempts.
Even more out of character, Nowitzki has been playing defense. Really. He has.
''That was kind of my weakness over the last couple of years,'' he said by phone after he left the Mavericks' practice.
''My jump shot always indicated my game. If my jump shot wasn't going, I wasn't playing as hard and I was not as active on the court. But as I got older, I matured. You want to be able to dominate the game in other ways.''
Once criticized as Irk for not having 'D' in his game, Nowitzki is now just irksome in the clutch for opponents. And because of that, the Mavericks, after losing their first two games at home, have evened the first-round series at 2-2.
Consider Nowitzki's fourth quarter in Game 4 on Saturday. He was 0 for 4, but he had five assists, four rebounds and a key steal off Houston's Yao Ming in the final minute, leading to a crucial jumper by Michael Finley to preserve a 2-point lead.
Nowitzki's scuffle for a loose ball set up Jason Terry's winning 3-pointer with 26 seconds left.
''My whole thing with Dirk is, what can you do to help our team win?'' Mavericks Coach Avery Johnson said after practice at American Airlines Arena. ''The last two games, his defense has improved. That's why we won.''
Johnson's message to Nowitzki has been clear: ''You have a lot of guys on this team that are capable. You don't always have to feel that it's you against the Rockets.''
But the Rockets have certainly focused on him, at times leaving Terry and Finley more open on the perimeter. Credit the Rockets for their defense, Nowitzki said, singling out McGrady.
''Really this whole series, they've been running two guys at me, sometimes three,'' Nowitzki said. ''They know that's my strength. Getting my team involved is something I want to work on the next couple of years. I want to be a great passer.''
Nowitzki finished the regular season with career highs in assists (3.1 per game) and blocks (1.5) to go along with his 26.1-point scoring average. His 3-point attempts were down, but his efficiency was up.
When Johnson took over for Don Nelson on March 19, he changed offensive strategies and had Nowitzki taking fewer quick 3-pointers. The Mavericks' shooting percentage jumped to sixth in the league from 22nd over the final 30 games.
''The last couple of years, we've always been a jump-shooting team and we never really won anything,'' Nowitzki said. ''Our approach changed -- those last couple of weeks before the playoffs, I wasn't scoring like 30, 35 to win -- but we were still on a nine-game winning streak.''
In this series, Johnson has gone with a smaller lineup, keeping Nowitzki on the low block more to create mismatches. His lone 3-pointer of the playoffs was at the first-quarter buzzer Saturday.
''If you're not getting in rhythm early, not getting the shots you're looking for, you miss a shot that's usually money -- it's been difficult,'' said Nowitzki, who has averaged 23.3 points in the playoffs. ''But we're tied. We're not doing that badly.''
Finley said: ''I'm a true believer that work pays off, and Dirk is one of the hardest workers in this league. His day will come and he will shoot lights out. He's shooting terrible and we're winning, that's still a good thing.''
Nowitzki said he planned to return to American Airlines Arena with his personal coach from Germany, Holger Geschwinder, for an evening practice. In the late afternoon, he and Geschwinder were discussing, feet dangling in the pool, how to make adjustments.
''Before Dirk turned professional, we had a seven-step plan for his game,'' Geschwinder said. ''We're at Step 5. Every summer, we add another tool, and now we're starting to do more on defense.''
The two worked on Nowitzki's foot speed and strength, helping him guard three positions. They conferred with Nelson, as they had previously, to develop a plan, but offensively that changed when Johnson became coach.
''We have a little confusion -- we had not been prepared like in years before,'' Geschwinder said. ''But in the last game, you have seen at least one hook shot from Dirk. If he is more confident in that shot, then he's unstoppable.''
Nowitzki has been named to the all-N.B.A. team four straight years, but never higher than the second team.
''It's so important for him to make that step where he's on the first team all-N.B.A., he had to develop the rest of his game,'' the assistant coach Del Harris said, noting Nowitzki's shot deflections and loose-ball hustles. ''These, what appear to be incidental items, appear to be the ones which set guys apart like Jordan and Kobe and Garnett.''
Jeff Van Gundy, the Rockets' coach, saw as the season progressed how Nowitzki changed his game. ''I think he really figured it out defensively how to be better in a lot of different ways,'' Van Gundy said. ''He's really a great, great player.''
Lucky for the Spurs that Pop and Buford run the team and not you. They'd trade Manu for Dirk in a heartbeat.
that is true.
Dirk > Manu
I bet if I started a poll stating who would you pick, Gino or Kobe, Gino would win that poll too.
Again, I love Gino and loathe Kobe's personality, but I'd take Kobe in half a heartbeat if possible.
Manu fan is just pathetic sometimes. In the words of the late Pimp C, "You embarrassing us".
What do you expect from those Argentine savages from south america? they aren't even NBA fans, just manu fans.
Dirk>>Manu.
^ lol pink
You mad 'cause you didn't get the result you expected?
Start it, I'm pretty sure Kobe would win. I know I'd vote for Kobe.
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