I don't understand why Pop didn't go with the lineup of Parker/Manu/Bowen/Horry/Tim to matchup with that lineup. Dirk was torching whomever was on him so it really mattered little whether he was guarded by a big or not. Pop could have used up all the fouls from Horry/Oberto/Nazr/Rasho - whoever but just be physical with Dirk and make him work for his points. Our rebounding wouldn't have suffered and we'd have another shotblocker to prevent the layup drills. We'd also have Manu and Bruce free to lock down Terry and Howard.
Let Dirk get his and guard everyone else. That's exactly what they did to us - they used Dampier and Diop as fodder on Tim, letting him get his but locked down everyone else. Those two piled up tons of fouls, often being in foul trouble in the first quarter - just as Horry/Oberto would have been but at least they'd be there for rebounding/shotblocking/setting screens and making Dirk pay for driving the lane.
Dirk is a natural scorer, he is able to scored 50 points each night. And even if they are guarded, Terry, Howard, Stackhouse and sometimes Harris are able to score big points. You can't let a guy scored 50 points like we did with Amare in 05 because Dallas play some D and suporting cast is better fro Dallas.
They used their better defender for Duncan on him (Diop and Dampier) like we use our better defendere for Dirk on Dirk (Bruce).
The previously stated reason for smallball was fear of Josh Howard abusing Rasho or Nazr. It has nothing to do with letting Dirk get his. If you play normal Spurs defense and keep Bowen on Dirk for the whole game, Dirk doesn't score anything close to 50 points a game. Nobody here can say that Howard was going to score anything close to what Amare did the year before.
Puting Nazr or Rasho is a great idea.
Mavs are something like 25-2 when Howard score more than 20 points this season.
On the same time, Bruce won't shut down Dirk, Dirk average 27 pts with a 53FG% against us.
The only SG/SF that one of our big can defend was Griffin and that's why Avery removed him from the starting lineup after game 1.
Hey, let's abandon our game plan for an arbitrary stat! While we're at it, let's gameplan to defend the second or third best player on the Mavericks at the expense of defending their best player. (by the way, that gameplan didn't work because Howard still scored)Puting Nazr or Rasho is a great idea.
Mavs are something like 25-2 when Howard score more than 20 points this season.
On the same time, Bruce won't shut down Dirk, Dirk average 27 pts with a 53FG% against us.
The only SG/SF that one of our big can defend was Griffin and that's why Avery removed him from the starting lineup after game 1.
Dirk averaged 27 PPG against smallball, not against Bruce, who had to switch to whoever was currently torching the Spurs' complete lack of interior defense (which is a far ing cry from 50 ppg. WTF?). If Josh Howard is going to beat you taking 20 foot jumpers, you are going to lose. Unfortunately he beat the Spurs scoring in the paint and at the line, as did the rest of the Mavericks.
Quick question... isn't Sean Marks a free agent this year?
According to insidehoops.com, yes.
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