NBA: OFFICIAL Mavs @ Spurs Opening Day Gamethread sponsored by Dirk

[Kyle Orton]

We staaaaaaacked

welcome back mavs brethren and spurs got. Tonight is the first step to hoisting another championship. 2011 is fresh on our mind with the return of big daddy and possibly that Puerto Rican got. We have upgraded on paper but can rick work his magic? I had a dream last night that the Mav krew returned from exile to regulate some grey named gots. Get the in here!!!!!

spurs missing finals mvp kawhi Leonard but they have firepower all over and are looking to make a statement win to start their championship defending campaign. The be@ners will be out tonight at AT&T. Should be a good game

mavs 117 spurs 105

[Phillip]

lol spurs
lol spurfans predicting 82-0 and 16-0 postseason like they do every single year
lol old
lol done
lol truth bombs
lol spurfans can't handle the truth

[Killakobe81]

Funny stuff, should be a good game.

[ElNono]

[baseline bum]

[Cry Havoc]

No Kawhi, gonna be a rough game to win, even at home.

[daslicer]

We staaaaaaacked

welcome back mavs brethren and spurs got. Tonight is the first step to hoisting another championship. 2011 is fresh on our mind with the return of big daddy and possibly that Puerto Rican got.

2011 has been fresh on your mind for 3 years now. It was a well earned le but its a championship nobody remembers except the Mav krew.

[The Gemini Method]

Think the Mavs gave the Spurs the most trouble in last year's playoffs. This is always a great game to catch with both Texas teams knowing each other well. Banner nights always seem to either motivate the home team or over-exert them like muh Kangs and they lose

[Bill_Brasky]

Dirk is a got flopper etc

[Phillip]

No Kawhi, gonna be a rough game to win, even at home.

Why? He's only the 4th, maybe 5th most important player on the team tbqh

[Jodelo]

Dirk is a got flopper etc

The irony...

[Cry Havoc]

Why? He's only the 4th, maybe 5th most important player on the team tbqh

Probably 3rd after Parker/Tim at this point. If he plays like he did in the Finals though, you best hold onto your butts.

[Phillip]

Probably 3rd after Parker/Tim at this point. If he plays like he did in the Finals though, you best hold onto your butts.

He played well because he was getting virtually no defensive attention. They were far more focused on Tim, Tony, Manu, and even Diaw. He pretty much just got a bunch of cleanup buckets and wide open jumpers from the attention those other guys were getting. I still have yet to see him consistently prove to be an offensive force when actually given a moderate level of defensive attention.

Manu is still more important and in some ways could have arguably been the true finals MVP, as it seemed every time he came into games, he would knock in a couple 3s, create open shots for everyone and the Spurs would immediately go on a 14-2 run or something like that. Manu was on a mission this past year and didn't get nearly enough credit IMO.

[Darth_Pelican]

Experts' Western Conference picks

Oklahoma City Thunder Marc Stein ESPN.com	Oklahoma City Thunder J.A. Adande ESPN.com	Oklahoma City Thunder Chris Broussard ESPN Mag	San Antonio Spurs Chad Ford Insider
San Antonio Spurs Israel Gutierrez ESPN.com	Los Angeles Clippers Michael Wallace ESPN.com	Oklahoma City Thunder Brian Windhorst ESPN.com	Oklahoma City Thunder David Thorpe Insider
San Antonio Spurs Amin Elhassan Insider	San Antonio Spurs Tom Haberstroh Insider	San Antonio Spurs Kevin Arnovitz ESPN.com	Los Angeles Clippers Kevin Pelton Insider
San Antonio Spurs Henry Abbott ESPN.com	San Antonio Spurs Ramona Shelburne ESPN.com	Los Angeles Clippers Bradford Doolittle Insider	San Antonio Spurs Larry Coon Insider
Oklahoma City Thunder Dave McMenamin ESPN.com	Golden State Warriors Ethan Strauss ESPN.com	Oklahoma City Thunder Royce Young ESPN.com	San Antonio Spurs Chris Forsberg ESPN Boston
San Antonio Spurs Nick Friedell ESPN Chicago	Oklahoma City Thunder Tim MacMahon ESPN Dallas	San Antonio Spurs Arash Markazi ESPN Los Angeles	San Antonio Spurs Baxter Holmes ESPN.com
San Antonio Spurs Ian Begley ESPN New York	Los Angeles Clippers Mike Mazzeo ESPN New York	Los Angeles Clippers Ohm Youngmisuk ESPN New York	San Antonio Spurs Gonzalo A. ESPN Deportes
Final tally: San Antonio Spurs (14 votes); Oklahoma City Thunder (8); Los Angeles Clippers (5); Golden State Warriors (1).

Ethan Strauss

[spurraider21]

Dallas is going to be good in 2011 with this team

[dirk4mvp]

Parsons drops 38/15/8 in a win, celebrates at McDonald's, then drops a flaming brown sack of on Duncan's doorstep upsetting him from dwelling in the basement playing Dungeons and Dragons

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Lol dirk and cuban having too see the spurs raise their 5th banner

[SPM]

2011 has been fresh on your mind for 3 years now. It was a well earned le but its a championship nobody remembers except the Mav krew.

Ironic........ A Spurs fan talking about championships nobody remembers

[dirk4mvp]

Ironic........ A Spurs fan talking about championships nobody remembers

[Blizzardwizard]

I'm surprised Brian Windhorst didn't pick LeBron James to win the West.

[SPM]

Dallas is going to be good in 2011 with this team

You're trying too hard got

[Killakobe81]

Love the trash talk ..

[Floyd Pacquiao]

5>1 though
dirk
cuban wasting dirks prime
1 and done
cubes blowing up 11 for deron Williams and Dwight Howard
triple D dynasty
Chandler Parsons
Raymond faton
tosb tyson Chandler
mavs

[DPG21920]

Would not be at all surprised if Spurs lost tonight. Kawhi/Tiago are a huge part of the starting lineup and defense and Mavs will be a very tough cover. It's going to take putting up points and luckily TP should destroy anyone on the Mavs. But will be tough.

Philip, don't be silly with the Kawhi talk. Overall, he's incredibly important for what the Spurs do and whether he's 3rd or 5th on any given night doesn't matter because the gap between the 1st and 5th isn't large.

[ElNono]

Top 3 current international players playing in this game:

1) Manu
2) Enrique
3) Dirk