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Dallas just has no answer for Amare, he makes a big difference. It's all about matchups. We get consistently lit up by Nash, who plays with a chip on his shoulder against Dallas. You talk about how "superior" teams should never adjust on the fly and should just continue to play their game and that doesn't always make sense. Take Erick Dampier for example. It's not like he shuts anybody down, at the end of the day, Amare and Duncan are going to get their numbers against him, but we can afford to put him out there without doubleteaming all the time. It became very obvious halfway through the first quarter of G1 against Phoenix in the 06 Conference Finals that Dampier was useless, because he couldn't follow Tim Thomas out to the perimeter, where he camped out to shoot threes. So Avery sat him. Pop did what he had to do against Dallas.That just makes no sense. Not even taking into consideration the game where Dallas decided not to show up, they had a relatively easy series against Phoenix. Considering that lead they choked away in game 1, they should have won the series in five games.
Again, I think you exaggerate how "banged up" and "undermanned" the Spurs were, and I don't question why Pop went small, there was nobody for Rasho and Nazr to guard. We're talking in circles here and both refusing to concede certain points, so I think we'll largely have to agree to disagree. I'll take my chances in a series against the Spurs, nothing guaranteed, but the lack of a playmaking PG who can create for others (maybe Devin can grow into the role), the lack of a defensive perimeter stopper against the likes of Nash, Davis, TMAC and Wade (again, maybe Devin can mature into that role), along with a lack of reliable postscoring, means I don't think this team has what it takes to win four straight rounds.I don't see how you can feel good about the chances against a team when you barely beat them under such turmoil. I think the only way the Spurs can lose to the Mavericks in a playoff series is if they do something stupider than they did in 2006, and frankly it looks to me like you're whistling through the graveyard
It's small consolation that the Mavs have the unique matchups to hang with the Spurs, but don't have the roster flexibility to be able to matchup against gimmick teams like Golden State. And we don't need a beast like Amare or Duncan, , just somebody like Juwan Howard to keep defenses honest. You need guys like Dampier and Diop to deal with Duncan, Yao, Boozer and Amare in order to get out of the West, but we get no offense from those guys, and that's an achilles heel against smallball teams like Golden State and Phoenix.
