Reply With Quote
Atleast he got that part right. Get ready to party Spurs fans. It's coming back home for a 7th and final game
Mavs' resolve won't let Spurs win this seriesBy JIM REEVES
Star-Telegram Dallas Bureau
SAN ANTONIO - This is going to sound strange, considering that the Mavs walked off the court without having finished off the Spurs when they had the chance Wednesday night, but you need to relax.
Don't panic. Don't worry. Don't sweat it.
This series ends Friday in Dallas.
It won't be easy. It'll almost certainly be an instant replay of each of the last three games.
Tight. Tough. Terrific.
But if you had been sitting where I was at the AT&T Center on Wednesday night, five seats down from the Mavs bench, straining left and right to see around Avery Johnson as he paced up and down the sideline, then you would have seen what I saw.
A Mavs' resolve beyond anything we've ever known before.
So don't let the Spurs' 98-97 victory in Game 5 get you down. If you were watching, you know that on almost any other night, Dirk puts Jason Terry's desperation miss right back in the hole as the buzzer sounds and the Mavs are already advancing to the conference finals.
It will still happen because in the first five games of this series, they have been the better team.
They will be the better team again in Game 6.
Need evidence? Go to your TiVo and watch Game 5 all over again.
It's difficult to imagine the Spurs playing any better than this. They shot over 60 percent for most of the game and finished at 53.6 percent.
Tim Duncan poured in 36 points and Tony Parker 27. The Spurs were able to play the game at their pace.
This was the Spurs at their best. And once again, they couldn't shake the Mavs.
"Two teams that refused to lose," Avery said. "Take your hats off to them. They got one more break than we did and executed a little bit better than what we did down the stretch tonight."
It's called taking care of the basketball and the Mavs forgot to do that in the final seconds or they might be enjoying a celebration hangover this morning.
First Nowitzki, then Terry got careless and allowed the Spurs to force jump balls in the final 6.3 seconds of the game.
Josh Howard grabbed the last one with just 2.4 seconds left and the Mavs ran a bread-and-butter play to Terry at the right baseline. His jumper was just off and Dirk missed a game-winning tip-in he didn't have to rush.
"I was right there for the rebound but I didn't know how much time was left so I tried to bat it up," said Nowitzki, who finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds. "Looking at it now, I probably had time to rebound it and put it in, but you're always a lot smarter afterwards.
"We lost the game. That's basketball."
He said it matter-of-factly and without remorse, like a man who knows that he has the best team and the win will come eventually.
"At the end, Jet got a pretty decent look at the basket and Dirk almost tipped it in, which would have been sweet," Avery said. "We're up 3-2 and go home to protect our home court. We're looking at the next game as Game 7."
That's the way they have to look at it. Obviously, the Mavs want no part of a Game 7 back here at the AT&T Center.
If it comes to that, though, I'm convinced they'll win it back here if they have to do it that way.
It's that mental toughness that Avery has preached all year, that resolve that's been lacking in past Mavs' teams.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich saw it in both the Mavs and the Spurs.
"Neither team could have played much harder," Pop said. "Either team could have won the game, just like Games 3 or 4.
"It was a big win. It's good to give them a little adversity and we get another night and another game. But you don't deserve anything. You just go play.
"At this level, with the teams that are in the playoffs, everyone's got resolve. Both teams are full of character and toughness."
No argument here. But the sense in this series is that a torch is being passed.
There's a reason that Avery simply wrote "run, run, run" on his sideline chalkboard at the end of regulation in Game 4. He knew that his team had the younger, fresher legs.
"I've been in situations like that before in the playoffs and you recollect certain things," Avery said. "You make mental notes over the years and sometimes it works and sometime it doesn't.
"But I didn't think that was a time where we needed a set play, I thought that was a time where we needed to try to get a few baskets in transition."
It's that freshness, those young legs, which will make the ultimate difference in this series.
It was expected that the Spurs would fight back in Game 5. They were home, they'd whined unmercifully about the officiating, their fans were indignant and the refs sent the Spurs to the line 31 times to just 19 for the Mavs. No surprises there.
But every game this series lasts, the Spurs get older, slower and wearier.
The Mavs' support cast does need to do better than it did in Game 5. While Dirk was carrying his team, Terry, Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris faded into the background. They can't do that again.
But back home in Dallas on Friday night, the Mavs will be at their best.
Their court, their fans, their game.
Get ready to party.
Atleast he got that part right. Get ready to party Spurs fans. It's coming back home for a 7th and final game
this is complete bull ...
You would think it was the Mavs not the Spurs who were the 3 time champs battling against odds and adversity to win back to back championships.
This pretty much summarizes the at ude Dallas has towards the Spurs. Pompous Jerks. Someone's going to look like a fool Friday night. And it won't be the Spurs.
That article was obviously written by a worried columnist trying to send good news back home to terrified fans of this going 7 games in SA. He is just trying to reassure that the boat isnt sinking when in actuality it is. The guy is trying to stay positive for his team and he made an awful attempt with bad facts doing it.
This boy sounds confident ... let's see, I am affraid about preasure, I think our boys know how to handle it, this series was hard mainly bc AJ is smart, a strategist, know the POP's Secret book and have Dirk, but we also have POP and TD
SO ... get ready to the party
I am a little surprised at the mavs being the better team talk already in the Dallas media. Most of the articles mention that the Mavs were so close to ending the series last night and little mention of them escaping games 3 & 4 . I believe that whomever wins a 7 game series is the better team but until the Mavs close it out I would hold off on declaring them the better team. Considering we were very close to winning this series 4 - 1.. anyway we survived. Let's hope for a lucky bounce or a big shot from Rob in game 5..he's due
It is a silly article, but some of you guys are just as sure of the win for the Spurs as he his for the Mavs. In fact, some on this board proclaimed the series would be over if the Spurs won game 5. It will be a toss up that comes down to execution in the last 2 minutes. It should be fun.
Wow, so throwing up an airball is considered "just off" in FW.
What do you want us to do as fans, start talking about rebuilding for next year? or course we are gonna talk about winning. your right about the toss up with 2 minutes, lets hope the players decide the game and not the refs. and by the way the mavs fans have been the y ones.
Funny.
Go back and read the mess out of SA leading up to last night's game. Tell me that wasn't all hope and sunshine.
Both fans have been y.
WTF? is this guy smoking?No argument here. But the sense in this series is that a torch is being passed.
both teams played hard.
both teams played hard.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. , win ONE championship ... no, ONE CONFERENCE championship, and then we MIGHT consider them a worthy team for something (but definately NOT getting the torch from us just yet).
It is his team, cut him some slack.
You all have whined incessantly over and over that Buck Harvey has not been a homer and bowed down to the Spurs all these years, and had some negative thoughts, and now you about a Metroplex scribe that backs his team.
Make up you minds.
One minute your pissing up a tree and the next minute your calling us out for doing the same.It is his team, cut him some slack.
You all have whined incessantly over and over that Buck Harvey has not been a homer and bowed down to the Spurs all these years, and had some negative thoughts, and now you about a Metroplex scribe that backs his team.
Make up you minds.
Make up your mind.
The whole article makes a lot od sense. Mavs are playing mostly on younger legs and a good coach with great players.
I just think the Spurs are much smarter and have more of a bench to use in Dallas. The fact is Mavs are using about as much as everything they got from the bench and from the starters. Experience counts as much as young fresh legs.
I still think this game will be decided on coaching and decision-making. Both of those factors aren't measured by running or youth, quite the opposite...on experience and intelligence.
I am sleep deprived, but frisky at the same time.....I am all ed up this morning.....just go with me here.
It is his team, cut him some slack.
You all have whined incessantly over and over that Buck Harvey has not been a homer and bowed down to the Spurs all these years, and had some negative thoughts, and now you about a Metroplex scribe that backs his team.
Make up you minds.
i never about Buck harvey.
it's nice to see someone at SAEN not sucking the Spurs collective s.
True...but we don't need to rub it in with that stuff...This year's Mavs are really great this year and have built itself in a greater position than 2 years ago with Avery and Dirk coming into their own...we're also a great team which is frustrating for the Mavs because there's only room for one to reach the Conference Finals....(it's also been frustrating for the Spurs in this series cuz before we had a little more edge...not anymore now--it's just an endurance test of making the least mistakes and small plays)
So it's a toss up--so no declarations for either side until this series is finished. Maybe that's why the Mavs fans call us y cuz we hold our past over their non-existent one?? So far at least....Hopefully we can prolong it for one another year, this year by getting these next two games with two Spurs' wins..
Last edited by ManuTim_best of Fwiendz; 05-18-2006 at 08:45 AM.
Riiight. As opposed to the 31 for Duncan/33 for Parker in Game 4. Or the 35 for Duncan in Game 3. Or the 48% overall shooting for the team in the series.
What's difficult to imagine is Dallas actually playing defense.
The S-T writer is correct in a lot of ways. The pace of this series favors the Mavs. They are younger, fresher, more athletic, better equipped for this SmallBall crap. They have mental toughness in spades.
But he is missing a couple of things. The reason the Spurs are playing so well on offense is that by playing this way, the Mavs have no answer for Tim Duncan, and that despite this style being out-of-character for the Spurs, Parker and Ginobili thrive offensively within it. It's not a fluke. The Spurs have done it three games in succession. It will continue in Game 6.
And despite the newfound mental toughness by the Mavericks, winning that closeout game over a defending champion is another tough hump to get over. He is right that it is a passing of the torch, though, even if the Spurs win. If the Spurs prevail, they prevail on the strength of their heart and experience. AJ's insights have completely changed the paradigm of what it takes to win the West. This Mavericks team should be favored to win the West next year.
WOW! There are people in SA that aren't myopic homers.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
