I thought Dallas beat us fair and square that season. Maybe if Tim didn't have to battle with PF would have helped a bit, but I thought the best team over a 7 game series won.
The Finals was Dirk choking in the big stage as expected.
Spur fan generally believes that the Mavs beat the Spurs in 2006 thanks to artificial help at the FT line, and what happened in the 2006 NBA Finals with Wade and the Heat was simply Dallas getting a taste of its own medicine.
Correct?
I thought Dallas beat us fair and square that season. Maybe if Tim didn't have to battle with PF would have helped a bit, but I thought the best team over a 7 game series won.
The Finals was Dirk choking in the big stage as expected.
Duncan was fantastic that series. He couldn't have done much more. There were definitely some questionable calls against the spurs... mainly down the stretch in some games that were decided by 4 pts or less.
I thought both teams were pretty evenly matched overall though.
in the 2006 finals, the mavs made 126 FTs and heat made 121. not to mention the mavs were fouling Shaq who made just 14 out of 48.
I think Wade was given a better treatment in some games. Dirk was reffed the same way all series.
I firmly believe there was some shady NBA dealings going on in BOTH the Mavs/Spurs series----but ALSO the Heat/Mavs finals....
to answer the OP....Yes...I firmly believe that the Mavs got a taste of their own meds---and even though it is an ugly thought---I do believe the NBA was not innocent of any wrongdoing.
SA had been through a very tough series with Sac Kings and had zero recovery time going into the Dallas series (a day to get home from the West Coast and start the series). Parker and Gino were beat up in the 1st round series and Duncan had the Plantar Facitis.
Dallas got the second game when SA had nothing in the tank. Games three and four did give the Mavies some extra help via some Phantom calls.
SA still should have won that series. I doubt they would have let Miami off the hook.
Yeah, there could be that feeling amongst us Spur fans. But, it's not to the degree that ya'll (still) cry about D-Wade's treatment in the '06 Finals. The Mavericks were just one possession better than the Spurs, and if Manu doesn't foul Dirk at the end of game 7, then we conceivably go on to a repeat. Oh well, we won another le a year later and the Mavericks once again choked in the playoffs.
Did the point of emphasis play a huge role in the Spurs-Mavs series and go a long way in deciding the outcome? I definitely think it was significant.
And did the same thing that benefited the Mavs against the Spurs cost them against the Heat? Yeah, I think it did; Wade has been one of the biggest beneficiaries since the point of emphasis.
But, IMO, regardless of the injuries to the Big 3 and the fouls, if the Spurs don't get screwed with the schedule to start the series ... they don't drop Game 2. And if they don't drop Game 2, the Mavs probably drop Game 3 or 4 on their court because they don't gain the confidence that had always eluded them against their big brother.
The Mavs were the third best team in the West that year if Amar'e doesn't go down IMO. That's not me being bitter or trying to slight Dallas, the Mavs just hadn't cleared the mental hurdle of either team; they were compe ive with both but lacked the belief and/or success against both to surpass them.
The Mavs were a very good team that had a of a star and they weren't gifted a Finals appearance. But they were extremely fortunate with the cir stances surrounding them and their stiffest compe ion; which makes it all the more depressing for Mavs fans that they lost to a team that was no better than the fourth or fifth best team in the league that year.
Sorry, brah, but that's real talk, son. (IMHO)![]()
2006! get over it! I have. ( It helps to ease the pain though if you win the trophy the year after)
correct.
got.
the league had an Agenda that year , and it was to AVOID at all costs the Inevitable Spurs-Pistons rematch
Game 3 of that series was pretty irritating for me to watch. 50 free throws for a jump shooting team? Really?!?!
this is exactly what it was.. and the way they officiated games ultimately hurt both those teams.
I thought it was in the top 5 series I've watched -- very well-matched teams playing very well.
I'll always wonder what the outcome would have been if Finley hadn't been called for the technical (which the NBA officially rescinded after the series was over) which led to an OT Spurs loss. I'll also always feel the foul called on Manu that ended the series was a bit ticky-tacky. But I'm ultimately fine with the loss. It was great basketball.
As for how the Mavs fared afterwards... I think it had more to do with having prepared too much to defeat the Spurs, and too little to become champions. The Nowitzki Mavs have a history of playing complacent ball when they think they are the superior team, and being too mentally weak to fight back when they are proven wrong.
Spurs always have to play the hand they'e dealt. Poor scheduling? Get over it and play. Biased refs? Get over it and play 5 on 8. No excuses.
Dallas played a of a series. The Spurs did their best to counterpunch and came damn close - to a historic epic comeback. Manu's foul on Dirk was the mistake that tipped the series to the Mavs - no way to deny it.
Mavs made it to the finals and couldn't close. It happens.
I agree..Manu's foul will be the moment that will be remembered..I bet Manu still thinks about it all the time, probably difficult for a guy that competes like he does..
I am over 2006. Obviously I would have loved the Spurs to repeat but watching the Mavs get within, what was it, 6 minutes of the le and fold? That was almost as sweet as watching the Pistons rip the Lakers a new one in '04. And don't get me started on the '07 series with the Warriors. I have footage of Stephen Jackson manhandling Dirk in '03 as a Spur. Nellie got that gameplan from Pop. Mavs fan is incredibly lucky that Jackson didn't resign in San Antonio. Of all the reasons the Spurs have never repeated, that has to be one of the top ones.
Agree. No matter how well he played to get us back into that game. That's always the lasting image. I don't think Manu still thinks about it all the time. Too many years have passed. But I'm sure if he watches that game that he'll beat himself up for it again.
There it is right there. That foul, one of the all-time stupidest fouls I've ever seen, in the waning moments of Game 7, with the Spurs up by three, was THE play that turned the game and, in effect, lost the series for the Spurs. Without it, we're not even having this debate.
I agree with others who proclaimed that after the Mavs got by the Spurs that series, it eliminated the mental road block for them. They've had success against the Spurs ever since.
I hope that play keeps Manu awake at night - because I still agonize over it to this day.
Why Manu? Why?![]()
I'm over that series and have been for a while.
But if someone's going to ask for my perspective, opinion or belief on what happened and why it happened, I'm going to tell you MHO.
Manu's foul is seemingly the bane of most Spurs' fans existence, a lot of which has to do with the imagery, but it's ridiculously overblown IMO. The guy had just hit the go-ahead 3 after coming back from a 20-point deficit and the foul only tied the game after Dirk hit the free throw. Dirk not getting called for the foul on Duncan's putback attempt (that he himself copped to) seems lost on most; as does the condition Tim was in to end regulation and his worsened state during overtime due to cramping (talk about imagery, I still see Tim beating the out of his legs after blowing two gimmes and then being denied by Diop at the rim).
Whether it was the schedule, point of emphasis, condition of the Big 3, the ridiculous seeding that had number 1 and 2 meet in the second round or the benching of their bigs, there were plenty of factors that had the Spurs behind the 8-ball and gave the Mavs the opportunity to upset them; it was an and upset, after all.
......
How the did the Mavs blow the lead of being up by 2 games in the finals? I still don't get that.![]()
Game, Set and Match
clearly questionable calls on their home court down the stretch in games...they got bailed out by the refs
and what goes around comes around
I don't think that. I just think Dallas (Dirk specifically) has SA's number, for whatever reason. Dallas took the 2006 championship from SA (Spurs would've beat that Heat team, no doubt). Golden State gave it back to them in 2007.![]()
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