Wayne Winston on Spurs vs. Mavs

[tav1]

It's not the article's main point, but it's still worth reading.

[HarlemHeat37]

Yes, I'm sure the reason Dallas won game 7 was because of the stat that pointed out that Marquis Daniels wasn't playing well vs. Manu..it had nothing to do with officiating and Manu's foul..

that series still angers me to this day, especially when the media and other fans look back at it in the way that they do, ignoring what actually happened..

[tav1]

Oh, I don't read the article as saying the Mavs won solely because of Winston's suggestions. He's just saying his numbers contributed to meaningful coaching decisions. "But I have an infinite number of stories about lineups and how it can help you."

[HarlemHeat37]

Ya ya I know, I was just pointing it out..I hate the revisionist history of that series..

it is interesting though, and it continues to show the obvious help of advanced stats and metrics..I still don't really understand how so many fans can try to ignore those numbers(except Kobe fans, since he doesn't look nearly as good in advanced stats)..

[Blackjack]

So Devin Harris had a great rating against the Spurs, and Tony Parker had a lousy rating in those games. The coaches sort of knew that Devin Harris could handle Tony Parker, but this gave them a metric to prove that.

So they started Devin Harris in Game 2 and they won by 20.

Devin Harris no doubt was a big key in the Mavericks success against the Spurs, but to say that's why they won by 20?

Just goes to show how statistics are anything but full-proof.

The Spurs were a dead-legged team in game 2, much like the Lakers series of '08, and were a step or two slow in every facet of the game. Unless they can incorporate a stat for jet-lag, or better yet, days between games, the human element will always be neglected.

Dampier is on the team so you can beat the Spurs and you can beat Shaq. And they beat the Spurs really easily. They had no trouble. But against the Warriors, small was better.

Yeah, that 7-game series win, with six of the seven games coming down to essentially the final possessions, sure came easily..

[HarlemHeat37]

again, more revisionist history about the Mavs-Spurs series by using "easily"..

[tav1]

fair point: it seems like an out of place adverb

[thispego]

Worst officiating i have ever seeen. It was comically blatant

[nkdlunch]

Nick van Exel was another big reason we lost that important game 2

[MaNu4Tres]

Games 3 and 4 were extremely bad officiating wise. Mavs hit the lotto both of those games.