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A better question might be "Who are the Mavs going to choke on NEXT?"
There's a thousand different ways you can try to break it down and make sense of it.
But the bottom line is that these teams are so evenly matched, the only difference will be who gets a couple of bounces to go their way. In 06, a few extra things went the Mavs way and it made the difference. Who knows what will happen in 07. It could come down to another last second mistake like Dirks and 1 in game 7. Most likely it will be determined by a few little things, since neither team has done any major roster chances.
A better question might be "Who are the Mavs going to choke on NEXT?"
That second line-up would be rough for the spurs vs the mavs, also one huge advantage the spurs had this past Playoffs was that manu was a ton of energy off the bench and finley played well as a starter, theres no way the spurs could start finley vs the mavs tho, and i think you're overating udoka a tad, he's decent but not a game changer
Alright, another Scola thread!
True, it was very close, but the teams aren't that evenly matched. The only reason the series was so close was because the Spurs allowed it to be so close and let Dallas run away with it. If the Mavs were actually as good as they appeared to be in the Spurs series, they would have beaten the Miami Heat in the Finals, and would have beaten GS in the first round in 2007...neither happened. Everyone can throw the "well it was just a hot team or a bad matchup" stuff around all they want, a loss is a loss. By that logic, the Mavs just happened to be on a little hot streak in 2006, made a few lucky bounces, and won the series.
SA, by making a few mistakes and errors, allowed Dallas to appear to be a pretty well-rounded team. That's not the case. Josh Howard and Jason Terry received so much credit after the Spurs series yet haven't done anything since.
Even IF Dallas were that good, their chances to do something great have passed them by. They lost the NBA Finals in 2006, and lost in the first round in 2007. I don't know why the world was so shocked at Miami and Golden State winning....Miami and GS were the favorites in those series.
I'll give you Terry, but Josh Howard was a legitimate All-Star in 2006-07 and was the Mavs' leading scorer in the 2007 playoffs, averaging 21.3 ppg while shooting 52% from the field -- those were similar to Tim Duncan's playoff numbers in 2007 (22.2, 52%). If that's "not doing anything," you're in a pickle to describe Tim Duncan's 2007 playoff run.
I'll give you Terry, but Josh Howard was a legitimate All-Star in 2006-07 and was the Mavs' leading scorer in the 2007 playoffs, averaging 21.3 ppg while shooting 52% from the field -- those were similar to Tim Duncan's playoff numbers in 2007 (22.2, 52%). If that's "not doing anything," you're in a pickle to describe Tim Duncan's 2007 playoff run.Guess he didn't think that one through enough.
The Mavs were built to beat the Spurs just as the Spurs were built to beat the Lakers and earlier the Jazz. Sometimes that kind of focus can leave a team vulnerable to other opponents.
The only thing that really worries me if these two teams meet up again is each teams weakness. The Spurs really have no weakness other than maybe depth, which they sort of adressed with the Udoka signing. The Mavs, on the other hand, have a bigger problem on their hands that they seem to not want to adress. Low post scoring.
Like Chump pointed out, the Mavs are built to beat the Spurs but are vulnerable to teams that take advantage of our inability to score in the post. Golden State put a bunch of athletic wings on the court, totally ignoring low post scoring because they knew we didn't have any. This allowed them to play the perimeter and really get up in the passing lanes and have tons of mismatches on the other end, since all 5 of their guys could shoot from outside or penetrate. Popovich was actually the first to notice this weakness, he just didn't have the right players to exploit it which is a big reason for the Mavs success in the 2006 series against them. Sooner or later you are going to see more and more teams go small against the Mavs untill they address our low post scoring problem, and that's what really worries me for next season.
i still think it's funny that people are oh'n and ah'n over a team that has accomplished jack . the mavs are not a championship caliber team and they have proven that yr after yr.
the spurs made some mistakes in '06 and lost the series to the mavs but by no means were we blown out of the building. the mavs were up and like their finals apparence & their loss to gs in round 1 this past season, the mavs almost choked that spurs series away too. they are a team of wannabe thugs who don't deserve to win a damn thing and if we do end up in the playoffs against each other again i assure you the spurs will be ready and willing to give an ultimate ass whopping to those chumps out of dallas.
the mavs!
Not without Scola
good try...
This post pretty much sums up what I think in a rational way. This season will depend on
1. Health of the big 3
2. How well Udoka comes along
3. Can Bonner make an impact this season
4. Can Horry play to his ability or age?
5. Will our 2 headed monster do any better this year?(oberto, elson)
6. Will Beno be replaced? if so, who will this person translate to our system. Or maybe Beno gets one last chance to make a mends?
Lastly, I think Beno or Barry get shipped sometime this year, but will be after season has gone along for a while and other teams problems escalate.
Yoda
Do or do not, there is no try
can the mavs get out of the first round
I donīt know,and donīt really care.Itīs their problem not ours.
No one here is saying that it some sort of lock with the Mavs beating the Spurs, only that they have the best chance of doing it of any other team.
What the Mavs do against any other team matters very little if the Spurs are their current opponent. The Mavs are built to beat the Spurs and Pistons.
The talk on Udoka was that he was brought in to guard Howard so that Bowen could check Dirk. In order for Udoka and Bowen to do that they would have to be on the floor for a large amount of time as Dirk and Howard will not be sitting much.
The question becomes if Uduka is on the floor, then one of the other "normal" starters will have to sit. The talk of Manu or Finley has little baring on this unless your saying that Udoka will start in place of Manu/Finley making the starting line-up looking like this
Parker
Bowen
Udoka
Duncan
Oberto
I don't think that the Spurs would do well with that line-up playing a lot of minutes. maybe the answer is to bring Udoka off the bench to cover Stackhouse and allow the regular Spur starters to play their game.
What I'm saying is that in order for Udoka to do the things that some of you are hopeing that he can do, namely guard Howard, he will have to start playing against the Mavs starters ... If does that, someone has to sit.
Rockets are going to knock out the Suns and the Mavs to get to the WCF vs. Spurs so who cares
I agree with this, Chump, plus FWD brings up a good point about the value of Josh Howard. Dallas' addition of Eddie Jones may become an issue if Eddie can stay healthy. It does help to get another player like Udoka who can defend so there is another matchup option.
I still think it will boil down to how well the Spurs can play the 2-man game, particularly with Dirk and either Harris or Terry. When executed well, as Dallas does, it neutralizes San Antonio's team approach to defense. If a smaller player gets stuck in the switch on Dirk, it's usually an easy score. The thing that makes Dallas' two-man game so effective is so many of their combinations can hit from the outside. Golden State was able to defend Dirk with Matt Barnes, since Matt was strong enough and intense enough to play over the screens, and quick enough to recover the times he did play under. Golden State was able to win by playing small with 3 guards and score with surprising ease, particularly on penetrations. They are a pretty athletic bunch and were fairly tenacious defensively (for a Nelson team) on Dallas.
One encouraging thing for the Spurs is the vast improvement and confidence of Tony Parker. He has really become a true All-Star and might have just become the kind of dominating player that can keep Dallas from having the Spurs' number.
Not that I am disagreeing with the facts you stated above, but one other important thing to note about Josh Howard is that despite those great stats (21.3 ppg, 52% shooting), he averages something like 3 points in the 4th quarter of games last season. He's a great complementary player, but Dirk has yet to prove he can consistently be a great 4th quarter player in big games. This is the Mavs biggest weakness....the strongest, most mentally tough player on the their team appears to be their coach.
I'll give you Terry, but Josh Howard was a legitimate All-Star in 2006-07 and was the Mavs' leading scorer in the 2007 playoffs, averaging 21.3 ppg while shooting 52% from the field -- those were similar to Tim Duncan's playoff numbers in 2007 (22.2, 52%). If that's "not doing anything," you're in a pickle to describe Tim Duncan's 2007 playoff run.
Other than Dirk all other players are average at best. Meaning they can not lead Dallas to any series win. Dirk himself has not shown consistent ability to lead from front when pressure was on. Discounting this, I do not see Dallas winning a series against SA again.
rockets may end any fantasy of a repeat for you and the spurs with a devastating Mavericks-style first round defeat of the spurs.Rockets first round.....Spurs win.
Suns second round....Spurs win.
Mavs third round......Spurs win.
Finals.....................Spurs win.
And we still will get an *.
I think we'll beat them, because the last 2 years, Spurs have become mentally tougher while Mavs morale has been affected forever (Miami and GS series), and Spurs will smell blood if they meet them
Keep telling yourself that dude.
The Mavs are looking to avenge those embarassments and they match up better with the spurs as do the Rockets......the other TX teams are gunning for your spurs.
Be like that with Scola. He's on Houstons team not ours.
I still believe that Jason Terry is a bull and now with Tony non-stop improving, Terry would be Tony's hands down.
Duncan is the best player in the world, he is the differnce.
Manu can be The Man because he wasn't in 2007.
Udoka is definetly an upgrade.
Nowitzki is the only one I'm afraid of.
But he choked in 2007.
Howard is the only one who can supply Dirk seriously.
Anyway Dallas is a BULL .
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