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I agree with Phil...WTF?
SPECIAL WEEKEND EDITION
Why the West must be won
Stein
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Editor's note: ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein supplies each item for this around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.
What a difference bad starts make!
Imagine, if you will, the Mavericks and Suns didn't combine to go 0-4 and 1-5, respectively, in the first couple weeks of November. I imagine we'd be dealing daily with 70 Wins Talk, which pretty much never comes up now like it did throughout last season's first half with the Detroit Pistons.
The 38-9 Mavs and 37-9 Suns, after all, became just the third pair of teams in NBA history to enter February with an .800 winning percentage.
The only times that happened previously for two teams in the same season: 1984-85 and 1980-81. The fallen giants from Boston and Philadelphia, in both cases, were the dueling rivals playing .800 ball as they entered the final three months of the regular season.
This season?
Because they both stumbled early, Dallas and Phoenix haven't generated any 70-win projections, even though neither club is far off in spite of their bumpy launches. The Mavs awoke Friday on a 66-16 pace, as did the Suns.
Not that either team gives one whit about trying to win 70.
They're really not even grappling for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, because they know -- valuable as Game 7s at home can be -- that they can win on each other's floor.
So what are the top two teams in the league jockeying so hard for?
Right.
The right to avoid San Antonio in the second round.
Write off the Spurs if you wish. Lampoon their collective age ... or their declining bench ... or their inconsistent shooting. For all the concerns about San Antonio's limited athleticism and dwindling margin of error around the Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, perhaps you noticed that the three-time champs -- on the second night of a back-to-back -- made the rested Suns play at a much slower tempo than they prefer until Phoenix finally sped away in the last two-plus minutes.
"They're kind of like the Lakers were in 2001 or 2002," Phil Jackson says of the Spurs, comparing them to his turn-it-on, switch-flipping teams of the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant era.
"Older players know their limitations. They know what the regular season means. They're running the marathon, not trying to lead the pack. They know they can win on the road. They're comfortable with how they can play in playoff situations. Popovich knows how to do this.
"It's too early to say anything [dismissive] about them. They're still a team that has to be considered very, very dangerous."
This comes from a guy, remember, who has never been a member of any Gregg Popovich fan clubs.
Of course, Jackson also contends that avoiding San Antonio in Round 2 is only a slight bonus. In spite of the Lakers' recent struggles, Jackson regularly volunteers his belief that the Kobe-Lamar Odom Lakers match up well with the Mavs or Suns. Very well.
"You have to remember that those records Dallas and Phoenix are running up right now, when you get in a seven-game series with those teams, [records] don't have anything to do with it," Jackson insists. "When you get to see them two, three, four times in a row, suddenly everything starts to get tight."
Which explains why the Mavs and Suns are looking for any edge they can find, early as it seems to be talking about playoff matchups.
Dealing with the Lakers or physical Utah or the two potent tag teams on the West playoff ladder (Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony/Allen Iverson) is bound to be a chore in all cases. But you can safely assume that Dallas and Phoenix would still prefer seeing any of those teams compared to playing the Spurs just for the right to be in the conference finals.
Both teams are well aware that the Spurs are likely to hang on to the No. 3 seed in spite of their wobbles, after the Jazz just lost Carlos Boozer to injury and with Yao likely unavailable to the Rockets before March. The Lakers, don't forget, still have six games left on their own eight-game trip before we'll know if they're a legit threat to climb any higher.
The edge for finishing No. 1, furthermore, has to belong to Dallas. The Mavs have better depth than the Suns -- which helps them greatly in the regular season but also with keeping players fresher for the playoffs -- as well as seven fewer games remaining against West opposition.
As a bonus, Dallas already sports a 2-0 lead in head-to-head matchups if seeding comes down to a tiebreaker.
Yet you suspect that the Mavs would be just as pleased as the other half of the .800 Club if the Spurs wind up making Pop sound like a prophet.
The same coach who believes that the Spurs "have more room to improve than those teams" because it's tough to imagine how Dallas and Phoenix "can play a whole heck of a lot better" likewise contends that San Antonio faces "a 50-50 shot we'll go out in the first round" without significantly better D and more urgency.
And soon.
I agree with Phil...WTF?
haha
my thoughts exactly
if anything I'd expect him to dismiss the Spurs faster than half the posters here
Nicest thing Phil ever said about us.
Phil knows better than that....
maybe on the inside, but I didn't think he'd ever admit to it
No matter what happens this regular season. When playoffs come and we still have our big 3 healthy(knock on wood) it's ing ON!!!!!
Phil's just playing psychological games hoping the Spurs get wind of this. I find it weird he all of the sudden turns over a new leaf.
He only does that when he doesn't fear an opponent.
I'm suprised Phil was so complimentative.
That said, of course the Spurs are going to give the Suns and Mavs a run in the second round, but no way will the Spurs be able to beat them 4 times in a series, they'll definitely tire the team out for the Conference finals however.
Phil is saying this just in case he plays the SPURS in the first round!
Finally a smart guy ; definitely smarter and more patient than some of our quitting fans
I agree with this. I don't get other Suns fans or Mavs fans that are quick to dismiss the Spurs. In all honesty even with the Mavs playing as well as they are I still fear the Spurs more. If one team has the proverbial switch is them. Plus that playoff loss to the Mavs I am sure still stings them.
Still a three-horse race in my mind. The Mavs and Suns have pulled ahead, but it could be only temporary.
Notice how the Mavs and Suns are both supposed to "get tight" as soon as the playoffs hit.
Who are they supposed to get tight against? The Wolves?Notice how the Mavs and Suns are both supposed to "get tight" as soon as the playoffs hit.
eh, i don't care much about that...they said that last season when the spurs and mavs were down to the wire with the HCA and best division record. people were saying the mavs were f*cked because we didn't win the division and get HCA, didn't matter. i'm not in any way dismissing the spurs...i'm dismissing HCA against the spurs, at least as far as the mavs are concerned
Philip saying something cool about the Spurs? Okay, now I'm a believer again. Go Spurs Go!
I like the part of running the marathon, its suits the spurs older ones well
Phil is just throwing the Spurs a bone because they supported the Lakers on the Kobe suspension.
What he said is true, though.
i dont agree with this article, spurs suck just like last season, we are not the team everyone is afraid to play no more.
when were the spurs a team to be feared? you always had a chance to win by getting physical, utah and lake show proved that long ago. you'd prefer to play someone else, but plenty of teams have taken it to the spurs in the playoffs.
I'm not so sure how much of a compliment it is to say the Spurs think they can flip the switch. That has NEVER been the Spurs mentality.
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