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Oops I was a jinx... Mavs caught up.
I refuse to give Dallas any credit until they take us to six games in a playoff series.
Oops I was a jinx... Mavs caught up.
Not in this lifetime
I lost all respect for them when they started the Hack-A-Bowen in the second quarter of the first game of the 2003 WCF. And they even f*cked that up.
Uhhhhhh the mavs went on to win game 1 of the conf finals in 2003
Was referring to how they hacked Bowen when he didn't even have the ball.
Hey Mr. Stat man, care to show a relationship between Dampier's stats and his contract?
They also tried doing it in Game 3, but Bruce somehow miraculously learned how to shoot them.
Parker has been running circles on almost every opponent this year.
Ginobili- This guy is deep---talentwise, emotionally, mentally, etc. How do you slow him down?
Bowen not stopping Howard? Did you miss last season's WCF? WTH did Bruce do to Marion?
Tim Duncan? I wouldn't even start talking about him.
Can't say I blame them. They've been colonized by Mouse and Mouse-lites.
There's nothing wrong with being ranked behind SA and Detroit; I'd take that as a compliment considering those teams won les the last 3 years. If we want to go higher, we better do something in June. Until then, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone scoffs at anything less.
That said, I expect a little bit of credit (halfbaked ones doesn't count) given the strides the Mavs have done this season. Yes, they're arguably not going to beat the Spurs and still far from being a well-oiled machine but you got to admit - this team is really good.
All the Mav fans just figure out when the last possible date is for the 2nd round and then prepare your annual fishing trip. Mark it down Dirk will walk off that court with the same dazed expression as always in the playoffs. Much more worried about the Suns still.
The Mavs are defiinetely the team likely to win sixty that is also most likely lose in the first round as you will have the 4th seed. Almost assuredly, the Spurs will hold you off. If you cannot catch them with a 13 game winning streak it is obvious the Spurs are in the process of making their annual run.
Do you also think that the Grizz or Clippers fear the Mavs as much as the Spurs - they would lick their chops to avoid the Spurs - please enough about the Mavs till they do something.
If for some reason, i.e. Spurs health they win the Division I am sure Phil Jackson and the Lakers or any other team in the 8 spot would much rather play the Mavs than the Spurs period.
Where is the best fishing spot around your twin cities? You guys must know it well.
Statistics can be used to "prove" almost anything you want them to say. Dampier's stats may show how well he rebounds against the Spurs to one trying to prove a point. But when one considers other factors, like who was missing from the Spurs frontline, and how many of the boards were just stat padding during garbage time, they may get a different picture.
When fans start to understand the difference between the regular season and playoff success, stats from the regular season don't equate to much.
I will cut you some slack for not understanding the difference between the regular season and the playoffs, after all, you are a Mavs fan.
In the regular season, even for big regular season games, teams have little time to prepare and make adjustments for specific matchups. In the playoffs, the intensity of win or go home and the added time to fucus on every aspect of the individual and team matchups make for many playoff surprises for those who base much of their understanding of the game on regular season stats.
Once the Spurs perimeter defenders adjust to the speed and tendencies of the Mavs dribble penetrators, as I believe they will in a playoff series, I don't see Dampier or the rest of the Mavs getting as many rebounds as their regular season stats may indicate.
Dirk's ability to draw one of the bigs out of the paint has had a positive impact on the Mavs offensive rebounding numbers during the regular season. Against the Spurs in the playoffs, expect to see more Bowen and Manu guarding Dirk to keep Tim in the paint.
The Mavs are playing really good defense, thanks to a product of the SA spurs (AJ), however experience counts for a lot. It's a big deal for them to go toe to toe with a team that has one 3 out of 7 les. It's not a big deal for SA to swat the same fly that they swat on a regular basis.
I think the mavs are going to be more of a challenge this year than any other, and them taking us to 6 games is definitlely a strong possibility. But I'm not willing to say they're the best team in the league until they get it done in the playoffs.
This says it all.
As Pop said in his recent interview, every team in the league wants to bring it all against the Spurs. A victory over the Spurs gets teams on rolls, saves a coach his job, gets a FA a big raise ... or validates to players and their fans that they are serious contenders. The Spurs on the other hand just see each game as a stepping stone to put in their systems in place for the playoffs.
It has been great that the Pistons and Mavs have played well enough to allow the Spurs to play somewhat under the radar. This will cause other teams, coaches and fans to try to make their seasons in the second half with big games against the Pistons and Mavs. This may cause some minor slippage by the Pistons and Mavs and allow the Spurs to somehow pass them for home court.
How do I begin dissecting this statement? Don't Bowen, Ginobili, Horry, Barry, Finley and Van Exel count as outside shooters? That the Spurs absolutely tore it up from 3-pt land in their last playoff run was a significant reason why we got past Phoenix and Detroit.
If you tell me that Nowitzki, Stackhouse, Van Horn and Terry are more reliable shooters in the playoffs than what the Spurs have, I'd like to see you defend that claim. Most of the statistics you've pulled up in your claims are all related to the regular season. Yes, we know that the Mavs are a great regular-season team. They won 59 last year, same as the Spurs. How about pulling up a few statistics pertinent to the playoffs?
Nowitzki: Remember last year? Dirk went from scoring 26.1 pts on 46% (40% 3FG) shooting over 82 games to 23.7 on 40% (33% 3FG) shooting. Dirk's Achilles heel was exposed last year: guarded by smaller, quicker players like McGrady and Marion, his game unraveled. Bowen will be waiting.
Stackhouse: The only playoff action he's seen is last year with the Mavericks. He should have been the X-factor for Dallas with Joe Johnson getting injured. Didn't happen. Working against the likes of Jimmy Jackson and Q, he shot under 40% for the series.
Van Horn: What can I tell you about Van Horn and the playoffs that you don't already know? The man's regular season shooting of 17 ppg at 44% drops down to 12 ppg at 40% in the playoffs. And he doesn't have much to contribute on the defensive end either. In fact, it was a real blessing in disguise for the Mavs that he went down injured in the playoffs last year.
Terry: Again, his only playoff experience was last year. I must admit though, he's shooting extremely well this season, so I won't hold his dearth of playoff experience against him. He may really be a difference maker.
How about the Spur shooters?
Horry: Stats can never measure what Horry brings in playoff games, but here are a few. Horry's 3-pt% in the 2004-05 regular season was 37% (identical to this season so far, btw). In last year's playoffs however, this jumped up to 45%. And his stats improve across the board in the postseason, too.
Ginobili: Ginobili didn't really have an awesome regular season last year (16/3.8/3/3 at 47% FGP, 37.6% 3FGP). He really made a name for himself in the playoffs, with 20.8/5.8/4/2 at 51% FGP, 44% 3FGP.
Bowen: Bruce shot an impressive 43% from 3-point land in last year's playoffs, up from his 04-05 regular season average of 40%. This year? He's shooting the trey at an amazing 45%.
Barry: Spurs fans are so critical of Barry that it would seem to the casual observer that Barry's shooting is similar to the likes of Van Horn and Antoine Walker. While he may pass up too many shots, he shot 42.5% from 3-point range in last-year's play-offs, which was easily better than any Maverick player's 3-pt shooting. And he is the 2nd swingman off the bench.
I won't talk about Finley or Van Exel as they haven't played a single playoff game as a Spur. But already they have shown that they are an upgrade over Devin Brown and Beno respectively (the 2 corresponding players in last year's playoff run).
Notice a trend in the stats I've given? Historically, the overall performance of key Spurs like Horry, Bowen, Ginobili really kicks into gear in the playoffs, while the Mavs' goes down south. That is the reason why playoff-tested veterans are valued more than regular season wonders. And that is why, until proven otherwise, Nowitzki, Van Horn and Stackhouse can't be compared to Duncan, Horry, Ginobili, Bowen etc.
Like you said: that's last year. This season, Dirk's no longer fazed by smaller defenders - he'll either just post you up closer to the basket or look for open cutters. And one drawback of sending your small defender to hound Dirk is that there will be a mismatch on one end. In Houston's case, Yao ended up with either Howard or Terry and they punished him for it. I don't know exactly who's going to guard whom but I suppose SA could afford this risk with Griff around but I expect AJ to use Stack more to address this.
But as always, it remains to be seen if these 'adjustments' would translate to the playoffs or how it would fare against the almighty Spurs. We'll see.
He's been in the playoffs with the Pistons, I think. Yes he shot around 40% but what else is new? I thought he did great against Phoenix and was arguably the 2nd or 3rd best player during that series because he played his heart out.
With all due respect, I haven't seen Dirk developing a pure post-up game to take advantage of size mismatches. About the best that can be said is that he'll face up from about 10-15 feet, knowing he's a bounce from the hole, but more often than not, he resorts to that fade-away. He hits it with some regularity, but it's hardly an aggressive play against a smaller defender.
I would think that among the starting groups, Pop would do much like he did against Phoenix in the '05 WCF -- play Bowen on Nowitzki and play Duncan on Griffin, particularly early in games. If Griffin wants to try to take advantage of that matchup, he's taking the ball out of the hands of other scorers, which I think the Spurs would find an acceptable result.
I think the Spurs would also take the idea of Stackhouse playing lots of minutes in Griffin's place, largely because Stackhouse can't defend the way Griffin can. As for the matchups on the defensive end, the remedy is relatively simple from the Spurs standpoint as long as Robert Horry is healthy.
Bowen can't guard Nowitzki. Too small.
As long as Dirk is primarily a jumpshooter, the length of his defender is relatively insignificant, since it's about denying him the catch, keeping a hand in his face, and forcing him to take bad shots -- shots that are rushed and out-of-rhythm. If Dirk decides, all of a sudden, to become a back-to-the-basket post player, then you might be right. But Dirk isn't that guy and doesn't show any real signs of wanting to be that guy. Accordingly, a smaller defender can be effective in at least trying to make him a volume scorer.
Did you forget that Chris Bosh didn't get the ball at all in OT in Toronto? Bowen plays Nowitzki pretty good.
Length does matter. Mcgrady might be a smaller but he had some length. Same with Ryan Bowen. Bowen won't even be seen. Dirk will post up Bowen and shoot a fade away from close range. If you watched the Heat game that is exactly what he did to Posey.
At least you got one thing right in that post, and my wife agrees with it.
It's not a pure post-up game, but we all know he's almost automatic when shooting a jumper from 8-10 feet around the basket... something which he could do with relative ease these days by just backing down his defender all the way near the basket - as seen on Posey and Artest. If teams aggressively double team him on the elbow, he'll just pass out and swing the ball.
I think he'll do much better when hounded by T-Mac this time around.
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