IF IF IF IF The mavericks lose this series...

[SpursFanFirst]

The Mavs are NOT losing this series. This is just our first wake up call. They will show that true sense of urgency come Tuesday and keep it going till they win game 6 then 7. No way in we get eliminated round 1! I still dont see it!

FIRST wakeup call? How many does Dallas need? They lost every game to them this season...and then lose to them in game 1 of the 1st round?
I think there have been enough "wakeup" calls.

[sribb43]

The Mavs are NOT losing this series. This is just our first wake up call. They will show that true sense of urgency come Tuesday and keep it going till they win game 6 then 7. No way in we get eliminated round 1! I still dont see it!

Wake up call should have been Game 1 and all the games the Mavs lost to the Warriors this year and losing in the finals after blowing a 2-0 lead. If that isnt a wake up call then you have no business winning a championshio let alone a 1st round series to the Warriors

[td4mvp3]

Wake up call should have been Game 1 and all the games the Mavs lost to the Warriors this year and losing in the finals after blowing a 2-0 lead. If that isnt a wake up call then you have no business winning a championshio let alone a 1st round series to the Warriors

agreed. maybe rustiness is a factor in game one, but game three should have been a cold shower with the alarm clock blaring and someone dunking a toaster in the tub just to get them jolted. the espn radio in dallas had commentors talking, and one of them kept saying she was waiting for the real mavs to show up, the team that won 67 games. i wanted to call in and point out that the same team also lost three straight to the warriors and the streak goes back into 2006, so maybe it's not just a fluke or a team that has lost its iden y.

[Supergirl]

No.

But I do think the Mavs will lose. I predict they come back to win game 5 at home, and then lose to GS in California in game 6.

Avery is still a good coach. One of the best. But no one on that team has an answer to Baron Davis - he exploits the defensive weaknesses of EVERYONE on that team. And Dirk does not have that inner, undefinable THING that champions have. I said that last year after their Finals meltdown, and I still don't see it.

[DallasFan]

And your Mark Cuban.


Do you fire Avery Johnson?


Serious question.

1-8 in your last 9 playoff games.

The team doesnt respond or play well under pressure.

Lots of coaching mistakes tonight.


Do you CONSIDER IT, or DO IT?


QUESTION

No...he's still very young for a coach. He'll just get better. They need to get a big inside presence that attacks the boards and doesn't fumble the ball all the time. A clutch shooter for the PLAYOFFS would be nice also.

[mFFL03]

No...he's still very young for a coach. He'll just get better. They need to get a big inside presence that attacks the boards and doesn't fumble the ball all the time. A clutch shooter for the PLAYOFFS would be nice also.

those guy's names are supposed to be dampier and terry.....

too bad dampier only gets 13 minutes per game though.....

[DallasFan]

I think it's very very possible that Cuban sells the team this summer.

I think you may be right...I've been thinking the same myself. He's not having fun anymore...especially right now

[DallasFan]

those guy's names are supposed to be dampier and terry.....

too bad dampier only gets 13 minutes per game though.....

Exactly...it seems when Terry is on everyone else is off. When Stack and Josh are on, he's really bad. Damp has an injured left arm and it is being VERY downplayed for some reason.

[monosylab1k]

Damp has an injured left arm and it is being VERY downplayed for some reason.

Dampier is horrible for a series like this....which is why i'm so ing happy we're paying him $10M a year to sit his ing ass on the bench during the playoffs instead of using that money to keep Nash.

[phyzik]

If The Mavericks lose this series......







Monosylab1k will not post (per the bet).

[dbreiden83080]

No i keep him but it would really be poetic justice if the Nelson coached Warriors beat them since it was Cuban that really lost faith in Nelson and his approach with the Mavs. There may have to be a revaluating of Nelson's job with the Mavs since it does not look like they are winning a le under Avery anytime soon either.

[Cry Havoc]

I think I just hit on something.... a light clicked on in my brain.

Watching the Denver - SA series has kind of given me an insight into how the Mavs are getting beaten so solidly every night.

I know, I know, it makes no sense. Or does it? I was watching last game and noting how often they would call a pick-and-roll for Iverson. Except the man they were using to pick is the one Bowen was guarding. And Bruce is so heady with his defense he can simultaneously shut down Iverson (which is within his ability anyway) and keep the pass from being made to the man being guarded by Parker.

Every time I saw Bowen switch onto AI, it was almost like Iverson was shriveling up. His ball handling became a lot more guarded and less explosive. Every time I saw Bowen jump out on that pick, I was like, "Oh, thank God they set a pick and now we have Bowen on Iverson."

I'm not really sure if Denver recognized this; they ran the same play most of Game 3 and got solidly shut down each time. It seems like they need Iverson to get a little space so he can collapse the defense. But that doesn't happen against Bowen.

Now, think back to 2006. What beat the Spurs? Why, the Mavs vaunted pick-and-roll attack, that's what! Bowen had problems guarding Dirk from the start, but when they moved Bowen off on a switch, it left Parker or Finley on Dirk, which was just hopeless (wow, Nowitzki was so much more aggressive last year in the playoffs). This led to so, so many easy buckets for Dallas and we just couldn't stop it. The court was too spread out, and our defense was unable to pull off their man quick enough to help out with Dirk.

Fast-forward to 2007. The Mavs are still calling the plays. They are still attempting to run their offense. Except two monstrously important things have changed:

1. Golden State plays a much different style of defense than the Spurs. This goes without saying, but the simple fact is that Golden State's helter skelter fly everywhere defense works a lot better against Dallas than the Spurs grounded, scientific, smart approach to the game. The Spurs want to lock down EVERY PLAYER on EVERY PLAY, but the problem is that Dallas had players to exploit that, even in their natural matchups. Golden State's defense is inconsistent, but it's daunting, and Nellie has them playing crazed. You might make the pass for an open shot once, but there are going to be hands EVERYWHERE in your face, and the next time they will probably get a steal if you're intimidated or just a second late.

The Spurs never want to give up an open jumper or a good look, while the Warriors really don't care, as long as they force a lot of turnovers. This has the Mavs offense a step slow, hesistant to do anything for fear of giving up a fast-break. And this leads to the next point:

2. The Warriors are, size and speed wise, a very uniform team. This probably would work against them if/when they play a team with a dominant big, like Yao and the Rockets or Duncan's Spurs, but in this matchup, there is no way for the Mavs to get in close to the rim. Damp and Diop are probably as strong in the post as the GS players, but the Warriors are just playing with emotion and adrenaline, and obviously more aggressive. And the Mavs big men CANNOT handle being double-teamed. They make bad decisions. This forces Dallas to rely on their old friend, the pick and roll, to get them points. They leaned on it against the Spurs, and it worked wonderfully as Dirk or Terry could find a mismatch.

But what do you do when the guy jumping out to guard you is much the same as the one you just rolled the pick off of? This completely negates the effectiveness of the pick-and-roll and reduces it to little more than a slowed offensive maneuver, except now that you're clustering two players together, you're reducing the number of open players to pass the ball to. So the pick and roll that dominated the Spurs seems to have almost become a crutch for Dallas. They use it almost exclusively to get Dirk shots, because against almost every other team in the league, it results in a huge mismatch.
Not so with Golden State. They just keep throwing players at him, playing physical, overpowering the Mavs smaller players with strength. And the thing that allowed the Mavs to win 67 games -- and beat the Spurs last year -- might just have become their Achilles' Heel here. Golden State knows exactly what to do to beat the Mavs main offensive attack. Lots of mid-height, athletic jumpers who aren't afraid to play 1-on-1 defense.

It might be too much for the Mavs to solve in a 7 game series.

[ALVAREZ6]

no I would not fire Avery, I'd fire myself