Ludden: Nowitzki, Mavericks look loaded for bear

[admiralsnackbar]

Gino would be allready in retirement due to consistent injuries hitting the floor all the time and Parker would cut half of his drives into the paint. Watch Parker taking more outside shots.

Just telling...its not that 2 of the spurs big 3 has a major protection and easier living with the handchecking rule...

I didn't mean to specifically call out Dirk as much as I meant to tie my observation into my earlier point about Dirk's dominant play.

That said, while you're right that Manu's and Tony's careers may be lengthened by the hand-check rule, they have also been forced to play down some of their defensive skill to the detriment of their (and the NBA's) overall game, IMO. They are also both players who found ways to score despite contact well before the rule was ins uted. Perhaps Dirk has, too, but I have seen less evidence for that, and I might go so far as to say that (from what I've seen over the years) contact has a habit of getting into his head and making him a less effective player.

[Spurs Brazil]

“I thought we had a lot of guys who played like dogs,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, and it’s no secret who he thought was woofing the loudest. They traded for Jefferson in the offseason, and so far he has delivered only a luxury-tax bill.

SOFT Jefferson needs to give us something.

The Spurs will need to locate a spark somewhere, and they don’t have many options. From Jaren Jackson to Stephen Jackson to Steve Kerr to Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry, they won championships by finding role players who could contribute under pressure. They thought they had another before last season’s playoffs exposed Roger Mason’s limitations.

And Pop rewarded this choker with 10 minutes yerterday.

[Drachen]

why not go with the PHX gameplan for the Mavs. Let Amare (Dirk) go absolutely crazy, and contain everyone else, especially Nash (Kidd).

[spurs10]

lol at this homer...Dirk is the man...show some respect

Dirk's career has been twelve years of not getting it done, in the end. Yes, he had a great game last night and is not easy to contain one on one for the Spurs. Everything in Ludden's article is right, but we aren't going to play that sloppy again in this series. Get well Hill and get your head right RJ! It's never a good thing to piss off a hungry bear, no matter how loaded you think you are.They played the best game of their lives,
us not so much and they won by 6.

[Shank]

Dirk's career has been twelve years of not getting it done, in the end. Yes, he had a great game last night and is not easy to contain one on one for the Spurs. Everything in Ludden's article is right, but we aren't going to play that sloppy again in this series. Get well Hill and get your head right RJ! It's never a good thing to piss off a hungry bear, no matter how loaded you think you are.They played the best game of their lives,
us not so much and they won by 6.

They placed the best game of their lives? How so?

[DubMcDub]

You guys keep saying "just double him" like Pop hasn't tried that before. He tried it all last year in the playoffs when the Mavs had jack besides Dirk, and it didn't work. Now the Mavs have a much better roster around Dirk, so it's certainly not going to work.

, Pop even tried it in the fourth quarter last night several times, and it didn't work. Those were some of the easiest shots the Mavs got all night when the ball rotated away from Dirk.

[DubMcDub]

They placed the best game of their lives? How so?

I know, right? I love how shooting 47.3% and letting the other team shoot 50% is somehow "the game of the Mavs' lives." You could argue that not a single player besides Dirk even played above average.

[vanvannen]

If Dirk plays 3 more games like last night, he damn right deserves to kick the Spurs out of the playoffs. , he deserves to get the freaking ring!

[crc21209]

I know, right? I love how shooting 47.3% and letting the other team shoot 50% is somehow "the game of the Mavs' lives." You could argue that not a single player besides Dirk even played above average.

Caron Butler was nailing 3's after dancing around with the ball...are you kidding me?

[badfish22]

Considering Butler only made one 3 I wouldn't say he was nailing 3's

[crc21209]

Considering Butler only made one 3 I wouldn't say he was nailing 3's

The guy is a career 31% 3 point shooter and is shooting 29% on them for the year...

[DubMcDub]

Caron Butler was nailing 3's after dancing around with the ball...are you kidding me?

He made one three. He shot 8-19 (42%). He had 5 turnovers.

Yeah, you're right, he played the BEST GAME EVER.

[DubMcDub]

The guy is a career 31% 3 point shooter and is shooting 29% on them for the year...

And he shot 33% on them (1-3) last night. 2-4% above average = game of his life?

[badfish22]

The guy is a career 31% 3 point shooter and is shooting 29% on them for the year...

and he shot 33% last night...

PERFECT GAME!

[crc21209]

He made one three. He shot 8-19 (42%). He had 5 turnovers.

Yeah, you're right, he played the BEST GAME EVER.

42% is actually a pretty damn good shooting %, did you see Kobe or Durant yesterday? Going 5-15 and 6-20 at one point...now that's pretty bad..

[sefant77]

Guy is true, Terry definatly played the best game of his life, he wasnt even near his averages...

[crc21209]

And he shot 33% on them (1-3) last night. 2-4% above average = game of his life?

I didnt make the "perfect game of his life" comment, where did you get that from? I'm saying you know he played pretty well when he dances back and forth with the ball, and nails a 3 pointer...

[DubMcDub]

I didnt make the "perfect game of his life" comment, where did you get that from? I'm saying you know he played pretty well when he dances back and forth with the ball, and nails a 3 pointer...

"Dances back and forth with the ball" = a few hand-to-hand dribbles in iso on the perimeter while he's sizing up his man. Yeah dude, that's crazy.

And no, you don't "know he played pretty well" on the basis of one three. That's ridiculous. He played fine, had a nice little game. He did not play superbly or significantly above his average in any way. If you think otherwise, you've got something coming.

[spurs10]

Dirk shot @ 95% fg and 100% ft's...not the best of his playoff career? Kidd almost a triple double? When have Butler and Haywood played better in anything that mattered?

[Shank]

Dirk shot @ 95% fg and 100% ft's...not the best of his playoff career? Kidd almost a triple double? When have Butler and Haywood played better in anything that mattered?

Dirk has made 80+ fts in a row.
Kidd triple-doubles are a suprise to you?
Butler had a good game and will continue to be aggressive.
Haywood was suitable. I'd worry more about the Mavs ability to play a real center for all 48 minutes with Haywood and Dampier combined.

[Capt Bringdown]

Nowitzki has already taken a lot from these Spurs. He won last year’s series with 31 points in Game 5, he won the teams’ epic 2006 series with 37 points in Game 7 and he very well could have won the 2003 series had he not missed the final three games with an injured left knee. The Spurs have never had an answer for him, and they don’t look much closer to finding one now.

I don't understand this. Why can other teams beat Dirk and Mavs, but the Spurs can't?
I guess Dirk deserves the le of ultimate Spurs Killer even more than Kobe.

[Bob Lanier]

Jefferson made one shot in 32 minutes and now looks just as indecisive on the court as he did at the altar eight months ago.

[duncan228]

Nowitzki expects defensive adjustments from Spurs in Game 2
By Brandon George / The Dallas Morning News

Dirk Nowitzki gave San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich all the credit in the world for being a defensive wizard before the team’s best-of-7 first-round playoff series started.

But Nowitzki wasted little time Sunday in Game 1 of making a mockery of his own words. The first three quarters, the Spurs tried to defend Nowitzki primarily one-on-one. Antonio McDyess and Matt Bonner couldn’t even slow Nowitzki as he scored 32 of his game-high 36 points by the start of the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, the Spurs started sending double-teams Nowitzki’s way and he became more of a distributor than a scorer. Nowitzki said Monday that he expects Popovich to show him several different looks in Game 2 on Wednesday.

“You anticipate adjustments, but the mindset doesn’t change,” Nowitzki said. “If they’re going to double-team me more and swarm me more like they did in the fourth quarter … I have to make the right play.”

That means making the right pass. He did that well late in Sunday’s 100-94 victory, and Caron Butler and Jason Kidd continued to knock down shots.

When the Spurs weren’t forcing Nowitzki to pass, he made 12 of 14 shots.

Nowitzki said that Popovich won’t surprise him Wednesday.

“He has thrown everything at me the last 10 years we’ve been competing against each other,” Nowitzki said. “[He’s guarded] me with smalls, switching on pick-and-rolls, fronting me as soon as I walk across half court, double-teaming me with three guys and playing me one-on-one. There’s not much I haven’t seen yet.”

Butler said the Mavericks worked some Monday in practice on adjusting to Spurs’ double-teams, especially if Nowitzki is swarmed.

“Where is the shot going to come from, what to expect,” Butler said. “We’ll be prepared.”

[Ice009]

The problem is the fouls we are using on Dirk are soft.

I said in the game thread we need more bruisers like Tony Massenburg. I really think if he wasn't injured and the Spurs were able to get him back in 2006 he would have made a different with his toughness in that Mavs series.

Tony would foul Dirk 6 times, but they would be 6 of the hardest fouls you've seen and the opposing player would definitely feel it.

If the Spurs are going to foul they can't keep doing this soft ass pussy fouls. If you gotta foul, foul hard, but no dirty stuff. I want the Spurs to play physical defense.

I've had enough of Bonner. Larry Bird said he was insulted when he had a white guy defending him . I am pretty sure that was the quote about Bird.

[kaji157]

The Spurs need to be very phisycal during the first and fourth quarter. The Mavs are going to get all the calls anyways so by going hard in the first you might get in their heads, and in teh fourth you make them work for their fouls. When Dirk fades away i expect the Spur guarding him to brake his arms if he is going for a foul, and if he is going to risk touching dirk with their bodies, they better land on him.