Mavericks Versus Spurs Isn’t What It Used to Be
By Howard Beck
New York Times
DALLAS — Minutes before his Dallas Mavericks took the court Thursday night, Mark Cuban stood on the sideline, faced the crowd, extended his arms and put two thumbs in the air. It was not a sign of approval but a request.
His gaze was fixed on the game operations manager, the man who holds the arena’s volume knob. Cuban, the Mavericks’ owner, nodded and pushed his thumbs upward. Louder, please.
In the Western Conference playoffs, sometimes you have to shout to get noticed.
A sense of inevitability hangs over the entire bracket in the form of the Los Angeles Lakers, whose sheer talent and dominance make them overwhelming favorites and every other matchup almost inconsequential.
Not long ago Dallas versus San Antonio was a high-stakes affair in a prime-time slot. On Thursday, while Lakers-Jazz and Celtics-Bulls played on TNT, the Mavericks and the Spurs staged a drama-free game on the NBA Network. (Dallas routed the debilitated Spurs, 88-67, to take a 2-1 series lead.)
“There’s no disgrace in chasing the Lakers,” said Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks’ president for basketball operations. “They’re the cream of the conference.”
This is not a concession, just reality. After years of dueling for Western Conference supremacy, the Spurs and the Mavericks are struggling with age, injuries and talent attrition.
Both teams had their lowest regular-season victory total since 2000. The Spurs (54-28) finished third in the West but entered the playoffs without Manu Ginobili, their dynamic swingman, leaving Tim Duncan and Tony Parker without a reliable third wheel. Their established pattern of winning les in odd-numbered years (2003, 2005, 2007) seems certain to end.
The Mavericks won 50 games this season, their first full year with Jason Kidd at point guard. But they have had a revolving door at shooting guard (the speedy J. J. Barea replaced Antoine Wright for Game 3) and may have already squeezed all they can out of their big three of Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard.
By the end of this series, one of the two proud franchises will be dealing with an unfortunate tag: the Mavericks with a third consecutive first-round exit, or the Spurs with their earliest playoff ouster since 2000.
This is the price of playing in the ultracompe ive West, where seven teams were separated by six wins, and the Phoenix Suns missed the playoffs despite a record that would have placed them fifth in the East.
“The West, it’s almost like one of those Nascar races, where you’ve got to stay off the walls, stay injury-free,” Nelson said. “A lot of times weird stuff happens. And if you can stay in there, play well at the right time, which is kind of what we’re doing a little bit now, you never know.”
Although the Spurs-Mavericks rivalry has been reduced to a regional bragging-rights battle, the old fires still burn. After Parker carved up the Dallas defense for 38 points in a Game 2 victory, Erick Dampier responded with a veiled threat.
“My first foul Thursday night is going to put him on his back,” Dampier, the Mavericks center, said earlier in the week.
Faced with a possible fine by the league, Dampier retracted the comment the next day. The only violence he showed in Game 3 were the three vicious blocks he made under the Spurs’ basket.
Dallas set franchise playoff records by holding the Spurs to 30 points in the first half and 67 in the game. The Spurs did not reach the 40-point mark until the final minute of the third quarter and finished with a franchise playoff low for points.
“Man,” the Spurs’ Kurt Thomas said, “that was unbelievable.”
Some of the damage was necessarily self-inflicted. With a short turnaround before Game 4 — scheduled for 3 p.m. local time on Saturday — Coach Gregg Popovich decided to preserve his veteran stars. He benched Duncan and Parker less than five minutes into the third quarter, with the Spurs trailing by 26. Duncan finished with a career-playoff-low 4 points in 15 minutes 30 seconds.
“I didn’t see where we were going to get back in that one,” Popovich said. “So I thought it was wiser to make sure that Tony and Tim have their energy.”
Yet the most jarring vision of the Spurs came well before Popovich conceded the game. Consider his second-quarter lineup: Matt Bonner, Drew Gooden, Ime Udoka, Roger Mason and Bruce Bowen. It is not exactly the sort of bench unit that inspires visions of another black-and-silver banner, or inspires fear in Los Angeles.
The Spurs, who were missing Ginobili when they lost to the Lakers in the 2008 conference finals, obtained some insurance by signing Mason last summer. He has been solid and occasionally clutch. But the Spurs’ offense is missing a certain eccentric creativity, some 3-point shooting and a few volts of electricity.
“We’d rather have Manu,” Popovich said gruffly.
Three years ago these teams staged a memorable and tense seven-game series in the conference semifinals. The Mavericks prevailed, then defeated the Suns and advanced to their first N.B.A. finals, losing to the Miami Heat.
This time, the reward for winning the battle of Texas is a likely second-round matchup with the rising Denver Nuggets, with the Lakers inevitably looming in the conference finals.
“There is no magic pill,” Spurs General Manager R. C. Buford said. “We’ve got to go out and be who we are and do what we do, and hope that we succeed where we should succeed. If it’s not good enough, then we’ll go out and try to get better.”
I think it's just lack of interest from both teams fanbase in general. These 2 teams aren't what they used to be, don't have a legitimate shot at the championship for the first time in a decade, meaning millions of casual fans and bandwagoners aren't around this time
In short, both teams are well past their expiration date and are now merely cannon fodder for real championship contenders.
Had Manu been healthy, The spurs would have a legitimate shot at the championship though. Whereas, our Mavs have been out of the le consideration since we won the champoinship in 06.
Although the economic crisis has badly shriveled our purses, we still love our team.
*scratches head*our Mavs have been out of the le consideration since we won the champoinship in 06.Oh, you mean the Western Conference!
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