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I've been surprised by how well the young guards have been playing for the Mavs. I still think the Mavs need a couple more seasons under AJ before they are championship-caliber.
Spurs Columnist on Mavs
Buck Harvey: Finley's arrival gives Spurs help, as well as a new threat
Web Posted: 12/20/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
Michael Finley is everything the Spurs hoped he would be. A year ago, Steve Nash was even more for the Suns.
And that's why Dallas' transformation is so remarkable. Mark Cuban paid Finley to leave after letting Nash go for far less than MVP money, and yet his franchise somehow got better.
How much better? Anyone who thinks the Spurs are clearly the best team in the West should understand something.
This race is close and getting closer.
That goes against the usual talk-show stuff. The Spurs have become the championship standard, while the Mavericks are known for other news.
Such as Sunday's. Then Devin Harris, the young point guard, took a microphone before Dallas played Minnesota and wished the home crowd a happy holiday.
Nice, cheery stuff. But then another guard, Darrell Armstrong, asked for the microphone. He added his own holiday wishes and then added, "How 'bout those Redskins!"
Hadn't Dallas already suffered enough that day? According to stories, there were boos. But Dirk Nowitzki laughed, and Cuban joked with Armstrong about it when he returned to the bench.
At some point that evening Cuban rethought the incident. "You can't do that," Cuban said after announcing that Armstrong would be fined $1,000. "We love the Cowboys."
Cuban had no choice but to take this strong marketing stand. He's already taken enough criticism for letting Finley and Nash go.
What has happened in these past few games for the Spurs hasn't helped him. Finley is still listed fourth among the league's highest-paid players, ahead of Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, which isn't entirely accurate. Cuban is able to spread out payments.
Still, it's clear Cuban is subsidizing some Spurs' wins. Finley has been a soldier and a shooter in San Antonio, and the Spurs have needed both. He showed his new teammates something in this Manu-less stretch, especially when he turned on the Hornets' P.J. Brown on Sunday night.
But it's also hard to argue with Cuban over the results. Cuban saved a lot of luxury-tax money when he let Finley go, and he remade the Mavericks at the same time. The results should be scary to San Antonio.
The Mavericks have been scary for a while. With Finley and Nash, they tied the Spurs for the league's best record with 60 wins in 2003, only to lose the conference finals in the Steve Kerr game. Last year, when the Spurs cemented their semi-dynasty, the Mavericks changed coaches in midseason and still finished a whole game back.
They had holes, sure, and these were the kind of holes that stop teams from winning championships. But Avery Johnson has patched most of them with defense and quickness.
Now the Mavericks sit on the Spurs' outside shoulder again, just a game back. Since losing by two points at home to the Spurs on Dec. 1, the Mavericks have won 8 of 9. Their only loss, to the Lakers, required 43 points from Kobe Bryant.
In between, the Mavericks have won at Indiana and at Memphis, and compare that to the Spurs' recent road games. They've suffered two double-digit losses in nine days to teams with losing records, equaling the team's total for the previous two seasons combined.
These slips can be dismissed as flukes, but these also are the games that could mean the difference between first and second in the division. If the Spurs finish second, they would defend their le as the fourth seed.
The Mavericks will feel a few bumps, too, but how many? A.J.'s first 41 regular-season games as a head coach produced a 33-8 record, even while Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels and Jerry Stackhouse have sat out some games.
Finley's jumper might be missed. But A.J. now has versatile athletes to go with a scoring star (Nowitzki), as well as talent the Mavericks didn't have before. DeSagana Diop, signed to a large contract that many questioned, comes off the bench to give the Mavericks shotblocking.
Better for Dallas, Diop is still learning, as are Howard, Harris and Daniels. Give them another few months, and won't the oldest team in the league, the Spurs, need all of their experience and wits to survive?
That's why Finley's arrival changed the Spurs.
As did his departure.
I've been surprised by how well the young guards have been playing for the Mavs. I still think the Mavs need a couple more seasons under AJ before they are championship-caliber.
The Mavs must first start to climb the mountain and be turned back before they may reach the summit.
Become a threat in 2006-07, they will.
They are a good team no doubt. If they meet the Spurs in the playoffs it will be a good match.
Yep.
I don't know if they are good enough to win it all yet - their past history would suggest not (Dirk still seems to shrivel in big games), but then, the Spurs past history wasn't any better before they won. A good young team with promise. Of course, I hope to see that promise crushed under decisive wins by the Spurs in playoffs . . .
Well, if the Mavs were willing to let the rock of their franchise, Michael Finley, walk for basically nothing, they must have had a lot of confidence in the talents of Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard. Maybe they're right. Michael Finley could only inhibit their development by taking their playing time. DeSagana Diop was a decent pick-up to solidify their interior defense. And, the tandem of Jason Terry and Devin Harris at the very least compares to Steve Nash. I think Dallas is the deepest team in the league as well when they're healthy. I think it would be a very intriguing match-up if Dallas and San Antonio meet in the playoffs.
like Barkley said " the Mavs are a soft cake team built for the regular season"
they are a good team, but the playoffs are a whole other level of basketball
same thing was said of the spurs for years.
I think the Mavs are legit in terms of sheer ability and I think they're going to be tough come playoff time. I wonder, though, about their ability to get it done in tough moments in big games. For instance, they could have gone a long way toward taking the tiebreaker from the Spurs and inducing a bit of doubt by winning that 2nd game in Dallas. They had the lead late, but made some pretty silly plays. Same game, the Spurs maintain their poise and make the plays required to get the win. It may sound silly to draw that from a regular season game, but I think there's a grain of truth in that last minute of that game about where these teams stand. It's reminiscent, to me at least, of the difference between the Spurs and the Jazz from about 1993 to 1998 -- the Spurs had talent and could win regular season games, but when things got tight against Utah, the Jazz just always seemed to know how to get it done. Obviously, the Jazz struggled to do enforce that against other teams, so the analogy is somewhat weak, but the context is similar.
I also don't think the Mavs were as close to the Spurs last year as Buck suggests. They were 1 game back at the end, but that was after the Spurs limped to the finish line with Tim's ankle injury and the other, assorted maladies that they suffered late in the season. On the day that Tim got hurt (3/20), the Spurs were 50-15 and the Mavericks were 7 games back at 43-22. By mid-April, despite the fact that the Spurs went 9-6 in their next 15 while the Mavs went 13-2, the Spurs were still up by 3 games with 2 games left in the season -- the Mavs won both of their last 2, while the Spurs had nothing to play for and dropped both of theirs while giving minutes to the bench against Memphis and Minnesota. Had the Spurs won those games and held on to a 3 game lead in the division, I don't suspect you'd be hearing about how the Mavs closed the gap or anything like that.
And you agree with everything Barkley says.
i think barkley knows what it takes not to be able to win a championship. i believe what he says about that. has he been wrong about the mavs so far? no.
The mavs aren't soft. If they were soft they would be constantly outrebounded and struggle on defense. This might've been a problem for mavs a few years ago but now they built the right players around Dirk. Dampier and Diop have been a huge reason for the mavs improvements here.
psitons will be swept by the heat
So once the Pistons hit a rough patch, will you come back as a Mavericks fan? We already have mouse to play the Mavericks troll. He's funnier than you.
The Mavericks have a very good team. I watch a lot of games, and the intensity of the teams when they play the Spurs and the drop off when they play someone else is very noticeable. The Spurs are getting the very best from every team every time out. When a team does beat the Spurs they celebrate like a game 7. The Mavs are not getting that same type of opposition....just my observation/opinion. The Spurs are battle tested under tough playoff conditions, and face it every night. Things will be just fine.
BigVee has some good points.
dude, dont believe the hype. buck harvey always tends to bring the spurs down to prove some point that hardly ever comes to pass. he bad mouthed them last year, in '03 and in '99. the mavs may be doing good now, but i'm not selling my spurs banner yet. not by a long shot. manu hasnt been anywhere near 100% or 75%. tim is going thru his yearly funk now. i know tony has improved tons, hopefully he remembers that in the playoffs, but manu is the catalyst. the spurs are running 80% now. coach pop is one of the best coaches in the league. the best. there is no way Pop is going to let people walk over us in the playoffs. mavs fans, embrace your one banner because when the 00:00 is showing on the last game of the Finals, there'll still be ONE BANNER. earn your respect, dont demand it. VIVA LAS ESPUELAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
eggggzactly. you dont have a target on your back when you finish second in the southwest division and lose to the phoenix suns. sorry. stop the engraving
Mavs would have kept Finley if they could have afforded him. But they got lucky and had young talent to minimize the loss.
Their talent will get them to the playoffs, but history shows (for all teams, not just the Mavs) that they will need at least one postseason before being able to withstand the pressure of the playoffs.
wtf was finley tonite?
on the bench being saved for the Knicks.
Harvey and Dallas. PHX is the real western challenger and maybe HOU
lol Phoenix is not, and Houston is a lottery team right now.
And it was true.
I respect Dallas,they are an improved team, but I think it is funny as that Kobe had more points than the entire Mavs 62:61 after 3 quarters. Obviously, they have no Bruce Bowen!
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