Ludden: Nowitzki, Mavericks look loaded for bear

[Winehole23]

I just watched the 1990 Portland-SA series again and could not help but wonder how Dirk's play would fare back when the PO's meant no whistles unless blood was drawn.

It's kinda dismaying seeing how pussified the game has gotten since then.

It's different for sure, but there's a lot more $$$ invested in players than say, 20 years ago, and the players themselves are a bit more athletic. The NFL has been moving steadily in the same direction over the same time frame. Refs don't swallow their whistles in the playoffs as much as they once did.

[Winehole23]

The shallow thing to say would be that the Detroit Pistons ruined it for us all in the late 1980's, but it's probably a little more complex than that.

[ezau]

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.”

Pop has thrown everything at him and he still cannot win a championship. Dirk will go down as the greatest ringless go-to-guy in history. Stay hungry gots