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Welcome back 228
Game is Thursday, 8:30 CST on TNT and FSSW.
http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/12...92&feedID=3742Despite amazing start, Mavs still looking up at archrival Spurs
By Mike Fisher -- FOXSports.com and DallasBasketball.com
DALLAS -- The heavyweight Spurs and Mavericks have spent the first third of the NBA season recording knockouts of Southwest Division outsiders at a championship pace. On Thursday, the two top teams in the West step into the ring together. But in addition to Dallas undertaking this assignment while looking up at San Antonio in the standings, they'll likely do so with Dirk Nowitzki sitting outside the ropes.
"Ohh... Thursday might be pushing it," he said on Mavs Facebook late Tuesday night, reflecting on his sprained knee. "I don't know about Thursday. We'll see. I've been a quick healer all my life... but we'll see."
Nowitzki's knee injury has been diagnosed as a sprain and he is being listed as "day-to-day" from there. The MVP candidate departed Monday's game in OKC in the first half and the Mavericks nevertheless manhandled the Thunder, 103-93. But on Tuesday, the Dirk-less Mavs lost to the lowly Raptors by a score of 84-76, the Mavs posting season-lows in multiple categories without their MVP candidate.
"We've got to get used to playing without the big fella for awhile," said Dallas center Tyson Chandler. "Without him, we struggled. We had a tough time adjusting."
Meanwhile, the Spurs made a statement by topping the defending NBA list Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
"It's always great to beat the champion," said Manu Ginobili after the 97-82 win. "You know that when you win the championship, you get a big target on your chest and everybody goes hard against you."
Generally, San Antonio and Dallas go hard against everybody. And what they have done against non-divisional foes is stunning: They are a combined 43-6 against non-Southwest teams.
"This division again is back to being one of the toughest divisions in all of sports," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "The Spurs are having a great year, and they're going to continue to be good. Look, this is a long, long year. We're about a one-third of the way through in terms of the number of games played. There's a long ways to go and a lot to be decided."
But the excellence of the Southwest Division? That's already been decided.
The Spurs are 27-4. The Mavs are 24-6. The Mavs can argue that the only real separation between the two was evidenced back on Nov. 26, when the Mavs won in the Alamo City, 103-94.
That, and Dallas' 11-1 road record, is among the reasons Spurs nemesis Jason Terry was recently moved to proclaim his Mavs team as the NBA's best.
"It's still a fight," Jet said late last week. "But we've positioned ourselves now to go out and have a great season. I think personally we're the best team in the league. And that's no disrespect to the Spurs or anybody."
Dallas has been impressive in rattling off 17 wins in 18 tries before Tuesday's aberration. But the truth is, the Mavs have a reason to be a bit stunned at being 24-6 and relegated to second place in the conference and in the division, because Jet's claim is defied by what is happening in San Antonio:
A great team with a high pedigree and a veteran core -- Tim Duncan (34), Manu Ginobili (33) and Tony Parker (28) – seems to have retooled on the fly.
Coach Gregg Popovich's club is suddenly an up-tempo bunch that is fourth in the league in scoring at 105.9 per. That's up from 101.4 last year, when the Spurs remained more of a grind-it-out team. Pop has loosened things up so much that San Antonio is even a league-leader in 3-point tries -- fifth in the league in attempts (22.2 per game) and first in accuracy (40.2 percent).
The Mavs will need step-up efforts to survive here. Caron Butler will likely be joined in the starting lineup by Shawn Marion, and the two forwards will have to be part of the scoring punch to supplement sixth-man Terry, who averages eight points per fourth quarter but will - assuming Dirk is out - need to make major contributions in the other three quarters, too.
Revenge and rivalry is always an issue in Dallas-San Antonio games. They've gone neck-and-neck over the course of the last decade in the division, two of the few franchises to ever post 10 straight years of 50-plus wins – with San Antonio's championships the deciding difference between the two. Mavs owner Mark Cuban pokes fun at the city's "ugly river" and postseason clashes often tell the final tale.
And that's where San Antonio has the most recent edge.
The Spurs booted Dallas from the playoffs in the first round last year in six games. The Mavs might argue that "this Dallas team" isn't "that Dallas team," maybe backed by the presence of Chandler, who has changed the Mavs' defensive production.
But if Dirk Nowitzki is knocked out by injury, "this Dallas team" figures to have a problem with "that Spurs team."
Welcome back 228
If Dirk's out, the Spurs probably lack motivation and lose, tbh.
mavs are capricious/unpredictable like a baby's face imo, at least true for this season. they've defeated a number of quality teams at AAC this season but also have lost several games to rubbish teams. i suggest we pretend like craps for 3 quarters and pull out our full power in the 4th, then it'll be an easy win.
I disagree with this. Spurs have a healthy respect for the Mavs and know with a win, they tie up the season series in case of h2h tie breakers while giving them a little bit of breathing room.
http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2010/12...-role-reversalDallas and San Antonio Rivalry Still Strong Despite Role-Reversal
by Bryan Gutierrez
Mavs Moneyball
Dirk Nowitzki's status is still uncertain for the big match-up against the San Antonio Spurs. No matter who is on the court, the Mavericks will have their hands full with their I-35 rivals. The Spurs will come in to the American Airlines Center on Thursday night with the league's best record at 27-4. It doesn't matter if it's recognized by the NBA but the Mavericks/Spurs rivalry is right up there in terms of the game's best rivalry. The Texas showdown has added a new wrinkle this season as the Mavericks and the Spurs appear to have swapped their personalities.
Dallas has won four straight regular season games against San Antonio including five of the last six. The Mavericks have taken the last three meetings in Dallas and have won five of the last seven games at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks are behind the Spurs in the all-time series history at 62-83 but they have a chance to create a winning home record against the Spurs. All-time, the Mavericks are 36-36 in home games against the Spurs.
***
The Spurs are handling their business, but they're more inclined to run you out of the gym now instead of making it a grind it out game. Tim Duncan isn't asked to carry the load, that role now comes in waves between Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson. San Antonio is among the league leaders in points/game (105.9). That alone should tell you it's a different team; they're a different team but still taking care of business. "They're playing well," Dirk Nowitzki said of the Spurs. "Good teams play hard, and you have to give them credit. It almost seems like they changed their philosophy a bit, but for some reason, the Spurs always win. They used to win games, 75-74, and now they win games 110-109, but it's the same thing. They always win."
For the Mavericks, the emphasis is now placed on defense and the numbers are backing it up. They are in the top tier in the major defensive statistics such as points allowed, opponents field goal percentage and points per shot. Their overall point differential is up as well to +5.6, yet they're still looking up at the Spurs who have a +8.3 differential. The teams have different philosophies but the results haven't changed. The Mavericks are chasing the Spurs for the league's best record and they're only 2.5 games back in that race as they have the third best record in the league at 24-6. That just goes to show that the two teams are representing their division and their conference.
"The West is tough,'' Rick Carlisle said. "This (Southwest) division again is back to being one of the toughest divisions in all of sports. The Spurs are having a great year, and they're gonna continue to be good. Look, this is a long, long year. We're about a third of the way through in terms of the number of games played. There's a long ways to go and a lot to be decided. And I'll be saying that when there's four days left in the season. That's just how it is every year, because there's a lot of things that change the last four or five days in terms of seedings and all those kinds of things."
Over the past ten years, the two teams have crossed paths numerous times in the playoffs so they are familiar with each other. For the longest time, the Spurs were the big brother and kept derailing the little brother Mavericks. The Mavericks were eventually able to break through and it gave them an enormous confidence boost. In general, the league is about taking advantage of match-ups. Dallas has always used San Antonio as a frame of reference and tried to follow the Spurs' blueprint to build a championship contending team. Now, the fear factor is completely gone and the Mavericks truly feel they can hang with the Spurs and beat them.
In the last game against the Spurs on November 26, the Mavericks were led by Dirk Nowitzki's 26 points on 12-14 shooting and 2-2 from three-point range. Nowitzki's status is still in doubt as he is recovering from a sprained knee. If the Mavericks don't have the big German, they will need to find a way to keep the offense moving and remain fluid against the Spurs. They were unsuccessful in that task against the Toronto Raptors and the Mavs were held to a season-low 76 points.
The Spurs, like the Miami Heat, are a team that evokes a strong emotional response from Jason Terry. The scoring guard says that no matter how well the Spurs are playing, or any other team for that matter, he and his teammates view themselves as the best that the league has to offer. The former Sixth Man of the Year award winner doesn't see that changing through the course of the long season. "Our goal is to win the Western Conference, and to do that we've just got to keep winning and getting better. It's so far away from the end of the season, it's not even funny. But since (the Spurs) are close to us, and they're ahead of us right now, beating them would give us another game up. So, that's what we're looking at."
Jason Terry added: "It's still a fight. But we've positioned ourselves now to go out and have a great season. I think personally we're better than every team in the league. And that's no disrespect to the Spurs or anybody."
On Thursday Night, it's fight night against the Spurs. The roles might be different but the rivalry still has plenty of gas left in the tank.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...one-literally/Dallas is in the zone. Literally.
Kurt Helin
The Miami Heat have just one loss in their last 16 games.
Courtesy the new and improved Dallas Mavericks. A team that has actually swept the Heat this season and racked up wins against the Thunder, Magic, Jazz (twice) and the Spurs. And that is all in basically the last month alone.
(Yes, the Mavericks lost last night to the lowly Toronto Raptors, but that was the second night of a back-to-back and having to play without Dirk Nowitzki. Yes, they probably still should have won, but even good teams get to write off a few isolated bad games a season.)
Maverick backers are starting to believe that this season is different. That the team’s early play proves the point.
Right now, Dallas is in the zone. Because they are in the zone. Literally.
Dallas’ offense this season is pretty much just as productive, just as efficient as last season. The defense is the difference. Dallas is giving up 3.2 points per 100 possessions fewer this season compared to last (according to Hoopdata), moving them from a middle-of-the-pack NBA defense to seventh right now.
The Mavericks have made two big defensive changes this season. One is bringing in Tyson Chandler who, when healthy, is one of the better rim protectors and defensive centers in the game. And he has stayed healthy (that sound you hear is Mavs fans knocking on wood).
The other is they have adopted playing a matchup-zone defense more than maybe any other team in the NBA.
Zone defenses have been considered an NBA gimmick — you could run it for a few minutes to throw a team off balance, but once they adjusted it was too easy to rip apart. However, teams have started to stick with it longer (see the Suns in the Western Conference finals against the Lakers last year).
What Dallas does (and other teams are starting to do also) is different. For basketball junkies, if that zone the Mavericks run looks familiar, it’s because it’s had a lot of success before — with Don Chaney at Temple. You remember him and his askew tie from many an NCAA tournament. Mavs assistant coach Don Casey brought the defense with him, and he learned it from current Clippers assistant Dean Demopoulos who was a long-time assistant of Chaney.
Chaney’s zone called for constant ball pressure and help defense in ready positions on other men. It’s not a classic zone but sort of a melting pot of several zones designed to pressure teams. It takes some skill and practice because men are handed off to other defenders and the positioning can feel awkward.
Dallas runs an almost hyper-aggressive form of what Cheney used to at Temple — you can do that with the longer, better athletes of the NBA — and they’ve added traps and more.
During the regular season, there can be no doubt it is working. Combine the zone defense with an MVP-caliber player (Nowitzki) on offense and deep talent across the board and you get a lot of wins. You get 24-6.
Before the season, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban boasted that the depth of the Mavericks made them a threat to the Lakers. That needs to be proven because in the playoffs, when bench rotations shorten, having a lot of depth matters less than quality players. We know the Lakers and the Spurs have quality, Dallas needs to prove it goes beyond Dirk. It also remains to be seen how the Mavs defense will hold up in a seven-game series where more weaknesses can be exposed and matchups exploited as teams delve deeper into game preparation.
Which is to say, the Mavericks still need to prove they are really contenders for a le. But right now they are very, very good.
They are in the zone.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...e-with-dallas/Spurs’ reward for thrashing Lakers? A date with Dallas
Jeff McDonald
...Dallas’ spot on the schedule was one reason Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wasn’t quite turning backflips after Tuesday’s demolition of the Lakers.
“I don’t attach any more importance to one game or another,” Popovich said. “If we go into Dallas and play well, we’ll be thrilled. If we go in there and play horribly and get our butts kicked, we’ll feel terrible.”
...Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said he’d prefer to face an elite team like the Mavericks on the heels of such a stirring victory as Tuesday’s. It leaves little room for a letdown.
“The Lakers are the champions, and Dallas is our rival,” Ginobili said. “Having them almost back-to-back is great. It’s a great challenge for us.”
*********************
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...avericks-24-6/Thursday: Spurs (27-4) at Mavericks (24-6)
Jeff McDonald
...Nowitzki is NBA’s sixth-leading scorer at 24.1 points per game. If he can’t play, Marion would start at power forward. … Spurs’ Bonner leads NBA in 3-point percentage (51.6 percent). Mavs’ Stevenson is second (50 percent).
Should be a great game Spurs fans
So Dirk's not playing?
Edit: NVM
Last edited by ElNono; 12-29-2010 at 11:12 PM.
Terry has always been delusional about the Mavs being the best team, even though they've never won. And when he says "no disrespect to the Spurs", he means "I disrespect the Spurs."
Remember when they got knocked out by the Warriors and he scoffed at the Spurs saying "They didn't have to play us" ? That is his true at ude.
if dirk is down, spurs better win this. need to put some distance between them and the spurs.
There's been nothing confirmed on Dirk yet.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...de.35812a.htmlWith or without Dirk, Mavericks face tough challenge against Spurs
By Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News
If there was any doubt about who the best team in the NBA is right now, it was erased Tuesday night.
There's no way to rank anybody above the San Antonio Spurs so far this season. Not after they dismantled the two-time defending champion Lakers on Tuesday in San Antonio. And not after the Mavericks were embarrassed by Toronto.
The Spurs visit American Airlines Center tonight, and there is no word on whether Dirk Nowitzki will play as he recovers from a sprained right knee. Without him, the Mavericks were easy prey for the Raptors, although in their defense, that was a tough game to take seriously.
"These are the most dangerous teams," Shawn Marion said of Toronto. "They're the hardest teams to get up for."
Call it human nature.
If that's the case, then it should make tonight's game the easiest for ramping up one's adrenaline. The Spurs have just four losses, one to the Mavericks in San Antonio. Their 27-4 record is the only one in the Western Conference better than the Mavs' 24-6.
"They're the best team in the NBA right now," Jason Kidd said. "They have the best record and they're playing extremely well. If Dirk can't go, we've just got to pick up the slack until he gets back."
The Spurs will be properly motivated, whether Nowitzki is in the lineup or not. They certainly will want to avenge the 103-94 loss to the Mavericks on Nov. 26.
The question for the Mavericks: What can they be without Nowitzki? They have played most of one game without him and dominated with their toughness and the way they moved the ball against a good Oklahoma City team.
The next night, against a lesser opponent, they mailed it in.
"Taking him out changes a lot of things," Tyson Chandler said. "We're going to have to adjust and get used to playing without the big fellow."
Maybe, for a while. And there can be no doubting the importance of tonight's game. With a win, the Mavericks will have a 2-0 lead in the season series and a leg up on any tiebreakers that might exist between the two teams at season's end. They also can send a message that this team has backbone far beyond its superstar.
The numbers, of course, say otherwise.
When Nowitzki's been on the court this season, the Mavericks are plus-283, meaning they have scored 283 points more than their opponent, or just under 10 points per game in the 29 that he has played.
When he's off the court, they have been outscored by 116 points, or four per game.
That's not surprising, given the MVP level Nowitzki has played at so far this season. But it is an indictment on the rest of the team.
Coach Rick Carlisle has stressed balance, and there have been times when the Mavericks have spread the wealth offensively. Caron Butler is having a solid season, and while Jason Terry's shooting comes and goes, it usually is money during the fourth quarter.
Marion and Chandler are also putting together quality seasons.
Yet there can be no denying that the entire Maverick universe revolves around Nowitzki. Without him, they must strengthen themselves from within and make sure their defense doesn't let them down against a Spurs team that is in the top five of the league at more than 105 points per game.
"We have to have help from all different places," Carlisle said. "And balance is one of our calling cards."
True. But the Mavericks will never find true balance without their MVP candidate on the floor.
*********************
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...ap.3585f0.htmlPreview: Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs
Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News
Scouting the Spurs
Tim Duncan's team? Not anymore. He went 1-of-7 from the field and scored just two points with four rebounds and the Spurs still whacked the Lakers by 15 points on Tuesday. ... DeJuan Blair has become a functional center, averaging about seven points and seven rebounds per game as the starter. ... They are 3-point gunners, shooting nearly 40 percent from long range. They have taken nearly 100 more than the Mavericks and shoot them even when they aren't falling, as their 9-of-32 night against the Lakers shows. ... Their 27-4 start ties the second-best in NBA history after 31 games, trailing only the 2007-08 Boston Celtics , who were 28-3. ... Says Dirk Nowitzki: "They used to win games, 75-74, and now they win games, 110-109, but it's the same thing. They always win."
Scouting the Mavericks
They have won four consecutive regular-season meetings with the Spurs over the last two seasons, all by nine points or less. Of course, in between they lost four of six in the first-round playoff series last season. ... In the first meeting this year on Nov. 26, Tyson Chandler outscored DeJuan Blair, 19-0. ... Much depends on whether Dirk Nowitzki plays or not, but if he doesn't, Brian Cardinal may see more action. He had season highs in points (eight) and rebounds (seven) Tuesday against Toronto , playing 21 minutes ... Jason Kidd is averaging 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds over the last three games. ... J.J. Barea has struggled with the 3-ball all season, but he has made two of his last six, a significant uptick from the 7-of-57 he was before that.
and then he proclaimed that the Mavs were better than the Spurs last year which was followed up with a first round exit by the 7th seeded Spurs.
Terry's a talker but he never backs it up when it counts.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010123006San Antonio (27-4) at Dallas (24-6)
Tipoff: 9:30 pm EST Thu Dec 30, 2010
TV: TNT
By Jeff Bartl
Statistically, Tim Duncan is having one of the worst seasons of his career. That hasn't stopped the San Antonio Spurs from getting off to their best start in franchise history.
The Dallas Mavericks are struggling to adapt without injured superstar Dirk Nowitzki.
The top two teams in the Western Conference meet Monday night when San Antonio travels to Dallas in search of its 13th win in 14 games.
Duncan is averaging 13.2 points and 9.4 rebounds, far below his career norms of 20.9 and 11.5. His two points on 1-for-7 shooting in Tuesday's 97-82 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers matched a career low set two other times, most recently Dec. 2, 2007. The other two times Duncan finished with two points, though, were games which he left early due to injury - playing less than 11 minutes in each case. The two-time NBA MVP played nearly 30 minutes against the Lakers.
Duncan has scored in single digits in three of the last four games after recording four straight double-doubles Dec. 15-20.
DeJuan Blair had 17 points and 15 rebounds to help make up for Duncan's lack of presence in the paint.
With Manu Ginobili also struggling Tuesday, Tony Parker picked up the slack.
Parker scored 23 points for the Spurs (27-4), who are off to the NBA's best 31-game start since the 2007-08 Boston Celtics opened 28-3.
Duncan and Ginobili sat most of the fourth quarter against the Lakers.
"It means Tony Parker was amazing tonight," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
In-state rival Dallas didn't fare nearly as well in its first game without Nowitzki.
The Mavericks (24-6) lost for only the second time in 19 games, falling 84-76 at home Tuesday against Toronto. Dallas shot 41.3 percent as Nowitzki nursed a sprained knee suffered in the second quarter of Monday's win against Oklahoma City. He's listed as day to day, but the Mavericks may lose his 24.1 points for multiple games.
Shawn Marion started in place of Nowitzki and scored 12 points, and Jason Terry scored a game-high 18 as the Mavericks set a season low for points. The last time Dallas produced such a low total was Dec. 5, 2009, in an 80-75 loss to Atlanta.
"We've got to get used to playing without the big fella for a while," center Tyson Chandler said. "We had a tough time adjusting. Our defense held them to 84, but offensively we had nothing."
Dallas is one of the few teams to have beaten San Antonio, winning 103-94 on the road Nov. 26. The Mavericks outscored the Spurs 32-21 in the fourth quarter to pull away, snapping San Antonio's 12-game winning streak and extending their own streak to 12.
Nowitzki, who scored 26 points in the victory, is likely to miss his second straight game.
Dallas has defeated San Antonio four straight times overall and three straight at home.
*********************
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Manu Ginobili SA 19.1
Dirk Nowitzki Dal 24.1
Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 9.4
Tyson Chandler Dal 8.9
Assists
Tony Parker SA 7.1
Jason Kidd Dal 8.7
Last edited by duncan228; 12-30-2010 at 01:19 AM.
Mavs by 6
Great, now even if we win Chuck will still rag on the Spurs. Not that I care what he thinks, but it's annoying.
Terry. I can't stand that asshole.
dirk missing = it's a trap
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