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A Spurs Bias in a thread being pro spurs, on the Spurs board., true there's a Spurs bias in this thread, but we have to feel good about our team against your guys, since you've had our number for the last two years.
Shocking.
Well, yeah. Tony and Manu shot poorly, so did Dirk and Terry. I hate to invoke the Rasheed Wallace cliche, but it's true. This isn't the Spurs barely beating Minnesota by never getting out of second gear. They played it as high-intensity as it gets in the regular season. Has it occurred that maybe the reason San Antonio wasn't able to do EVERYTHING it wanted had something to do with Dallas? Some things are different on both sides now, but our most important players are still here. If there's anything holding us back, it's Terry's lack of composure and Avery's inexplicable decisions as coach.
Avery's a good coach, but he seems like the grinding, Mike Fratello type that eventually loses a lockerroom. Kidd took the P.C. route and said he supported the decision, but you know he's perturbed by it. Should we meet in the playoffs, it will be war. That HASN'T changed, no matter what whottt thinks.
A Spurs Bias in a thread being pro spurs, on the Spurs board.
Shocking.
whottt, I understood your argument, and I agree with you that we no longer need to fear the Mavs like we used to because they simply don't present the matchup nightmares any more. They did play better than us tonight, hit some really difficult shots, and still lost.
However, I think writing them off right now is premature.
The Mavericks are very good. So I'm not ready to bury them yet.
But ...
With Tony Parker not in game shape and Manu worn out and not able to throw it in the ocean in the second half, this was a sweet win.
I loved that Finley and Bowen were the ones to nail the Mavs and put them away.
In a playoff series, my money is on the Spurs but you gotta still have some respect for the Mavs talent.
And you know why Kidd wasn't on the floor at the end? Becuase AJ couldn't run his Iso offense with Kidd out there...and he knows that's what gave the Mavs their edge against us.
Thing is...Devin Harris was a huge part of them being able to go Iso on us...I mean when you assume Dirk is going to get his because he's a Supertar...it's Devin Harris that was the problem, because he had a Superstar impact on us because of his ability to Iso on Parker(and defend him).
They can put Kidd out there all they want...it's still not going to be as effective as they've been when they went Iso on us for the last 2 years...AJ knew that was the Spurs weakness, because he knows their D inside and out, that's what the Mavs have been doing to us for 2 years that had even die hard Spur fans hoping they ran intot he Warriors before us in thye post season...and that's why Kidd wasn't out there.
Kidd will be out there in the future, but that won't be an advantage against us, kryptonite to our D, like it was with Harris.
I'm not sure if we should send the thank you note to Mark Cuban or Don Nelson...I'm thinking Nelson...he's the reason the Spur Killing Mavs have been deconstructed.
Mavfan, best to pay Nelly his money...he may not know jack about how to win an NBA le, but he's smart enough to take a team he knew like the back of his hand apart at the seams...
He won. He completely ed you guys...you better hope LA or Phoenix takes us out in the post season, because you won't be doing it...you don't even have a youth edge against us....
Because Avery is an idiot. Or still a Spur. I can't decide which.
If you saw his jersey retirement ceremony, you'd know the answer
If you saw his jersey retirement ceremony, you'd know the answer
Aha! So there was a method to Pop's madness!
Of course. But I was just being mindful of the better Mavs fans on here on gamenight.
There's a little bit of Spurs homerism after these kind of "statement game" wins.
As a Spur fan I don't see much to crow about after this game. I kept waiting through the first 3 quarters for the Spurs to hit the next gear and pull away, but it didn't happen. We seemed to have the better talent but were unable to knock down our open shots throughout the first half. The refs seem to call fouls far too easily on whoever defends Dirk, and it happens so regularly we just have to accept it as a fact of life that the flopping vagina will get ticky-tack calls.
Somehow the Mavs always seem to raise their game against us. Bass looked like a stud tonight knocking down the 18-footers and putting it on the floor against Duncan. Howard exploited Finley whenever he could. Devean freaking George, a scrub to the nth degree, was making some off-balance that he jacked up. I mean they were up 10 before Terry remembered he was a little and started throwing a hissy fit.
The Mavs are still a threat. Hopefully Parker and Manu will be a bigger factor in our rematch in Big D.
You pretty much answered your own question right there. The Spurs spotty shooting in the first half should have put them down by 20. Instead they were tied.
Exactly. The Mavs play us like they're the 1996 Chicago Bulls. For us to miss shots like that and Dirk to shoot one less free throw than our whole team, and us to win the game is a huge accomplishment. The Mavs are not a bad team, but they play us tough and I agree that we would have typically lost a game like this against the old Mavs.
The Mavs rarely blow the Spurs out. Dirk and Terry shot the ball poorly too. Dirk's not going to shoot 20 FTs again, but he's not going to go 5-15 from the floor either. Give our D some credit, most of those shots were contested.
Same old Mavs - Spurs...down to the last shot...
Dirk got his whistles; he always will. For some reason the league loves this guy. So don't count on that stopping any time soon.
Another bright spot for the Spurs:
Once Kurt Thomas gets up to speed on the defensive system, he can put in good minutes. We still have him and Barry in the wings.
And I totally agree: Kidd is much easier to guard than Harris. Just sag off him like Manu did. Parker is so happy about it he actually broke the unwritten law and gave his honest reaction to the press!
Does this mean we don't have to go after that long 3 anymore? What other team could kill us with this strategy? Certainly the Cavs can't.
All examples of situations with an unknown factor at play. Not so with the Mavs. We know what were getting there. It ain't like China or some other deus-ex machina is going to intervene on behalf of the Mavs, or like Cuban is some great orator able to rally millions to his side. Also, the Spurs, unlike the Whermacht won't get sidetracked into thinking the regular season is where it's at. they will keep their eyes on the proper objective: The box of Larry O's......
I have to agree with the premise of this thread. Before the Kidd trade, the Mavs owned the Spurs. If both teams played well, the Mavs would win. The Spurs needed to substantially outplay the Mavs just for it to be a close game.
The 2006 Mavs were the only team in the Duncan era that eliminated the Spurs with less talent. That Mavs team was decent but the Spurs were more talented. Duncan is better than Dirk. Ginobili and Parker are more talented than Howard, Terry and Harris combined. It's just that the Mavs, as constructed prior to the Kidd trade, were built specifically to beat the Spurs.
When they traded for Harris, they all but said it was to go against Parker. Dampier and Diop were brought on board to push Duncan around. Even Terry was a Spurs killer before he ever got to the Mavs.
What the Spurs do defensively is make you shoot contested two-pointers while not allowing you to rack up as many assists as you'd like. So what the Mavs did was build a team that thrived off of what the Spurs allowed. The Spurs took away assists? The Mavs didn't care because they were an isolation team. The Spurs took away three-point looks? Didn't matter because Dirk no longer relied on three-pointers.
The pre-Kidd Mavs were the Spurs' kryptonite. It was funny that the Mavs lost to the Warriors last year but I'd say they had about a 60% to 70% chance of beating the Spurs. This season, prior to the Kidd trade I'd say the Mavs still had the Spurs' number.
Now? The Mavs are still a very good team and they are still capable of beating the Spurs but they are no longer built to beat the Spurs. If the two teams face off in the playoffs, the Spurs are no longer the underdog. It's more like 50/50 or 60/40 Spurs.
I just don't see it the way others see the matchup. I saw the Spurs lose to the 2006 Mavs with some robberies in Dallas, and a bone head play by Manu. That's in no way having the Spurs number. I do agree the Mavs were built to compete against the Spurs with Harris and Diop. Now the Mavs are easily 5-10 points worse than the Spurs. I see 4-2 max in the playoffs.
Um, no. In the first half I can think of at least 5 wide open corner 3s that were missed, not to mention other wide open jumpers. That's what the poster was talking about.
Exactly.
They are our nemesis no longer, but they're not dead and buried either.
The Mavs missed about 7 open looks from great passes by Kidd. Sometimes guys miss from point-blank. It's part of the game. These two teams are still pretty evenly matched.
You just don't get it...we matched up with you guys like you guys matched up with the Warriors...and now we don't.
Evenly matched indeed.
And btw...you'll probably beat the Warriors this time around so props.
whottt...just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and start this thread... and totally redeem yourself!
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