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lol, I went to bed thinking I'd wake up to a 20 point blowout.
barely beat the Warriors with Pietrus and Jackson out. If I'm gonna make fun of Mike D'Antoni, I'll be fair and make fun of my team when they deserve it.
I don't necessarily think they're scared of Golden State, but it's become a thing. Dirk just didn't look right last night, he got good looks and he was missing shots he normally makes. He definitely presses against the Warriors, the defense on him wasn't that good last night.
lol, I went to bed thinking I'd wake up to a 20 point blowout.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns
By Johnny Ludden, Yahoo! Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. – Dirk Nowitzki can't tell you where the trash can landed. Or if it even was a trash can. All Nowitzki remembers from that maddening night last May was that he threw something.
The Golden State Warriors had checked Nowitzki for 5˝ games in last season's playoffs, leaving him and the rest of the Dallas Mavericks on the brink of one of the greatest first-round collapses in NBA history. The Mavericks' 67 regular-season victories, their championship aspirations, even the instant credibility that comes with the MVP award he was likely to win – all of it was two quarters away from being snuffed out.
Nowitzki's frustration finally boiled over as he trudged to the visitors locker room at Oracle Arena during halftime. Having missed his first eight shots and sensing his evening wasn't going to get much better, he grabbed the first thing he saw and chucked it.
According to witnesses, the trashcan sailed over a par ion and crashed hard into a hallway wall, leaving a hole. The Warriors never bothered sending Nowitzki a bill.
"I guess they left me off the hook," Nowitzki said Thursday morning upon his return to Oracle Arena, "or they may have not seen who it was."
The wall has since been repaired, offering little evidence of Nowitzki's handiwork. As for the psychological scars the Warriors carved into the Mavericks last May?
Plaster and paint aren't going to cover those.
Even the Mavericks will tell you their 120-115 victory over Golden State on Thursday night didn't count for much. Not with Stephen Jackson's suspension sentencing the Warriors' second-best player and top Nowitzki agitator to another night at home in front of the TV. Not after Baron Davis hung another 37 points on them then sprung free in the closing seconds only to mercifully miss a 24-footer that could have sent the game into overtime.
And even if the Mavericks had beaten Golden State at full strength, they're wise enough to know redemption comes in April, May and June. Not November.
"Nothing we do in the regular season will matter, even if we go 81-1," Nowitzki said. "Anything we do now doesn't matter."
That's not entirely true. The Mavericks do hope to use the regular season to correct some of the flaws exposed by Golden State. If Thursday night was any indicator, they've already made progress.
After watching Jason Terry wilt in the playoffs, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson moved the scoring guard to the bench to help preserve his energy and afford him more freedom offensively. So far flourishing in his sixth-man role, Terry scored 24 points Thursday.
To counter the Warriors' athleticism, Dallas signed Brandon Bass, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound beast of a forward. Bass gives the Mavericks a big man who can score inside and defend on the perimeter – a necessity in today's small-ball NBA. In his first test against Golden State, he had 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks and helped put away the game with a key offensive board in the closing seconds.
And while Nowitzki, at times, continued to twitch at the sight of Davis, he did score 13 of his 22 points in the second half – evidence, according to Johnson, that the Mavericks' enhanced strength program is working.
"That's why we've been lifting weights," Johnson said. "So if you have bad first parts of the season or bad first parts of the game, you can come back strong."
Johnson also has altered his own approach, and that might be the most important change the Mavericks have made, even if he chooses not to admit it. In his first two full seasons as a head coach, the Little General kept his troops marching at a brisk pace throughout the regular season. By the end of the playoffs the Mavericks looked exhausted, as much mentally as physically.
"The General is just learning," said Mario Elie, one of Johnson's assistants. "When you come into the league as a young coach, you have to establish yourself. That's what he did. But now I think he's a lot more relaxed with the group he has around him."
Some of that has to do with the changes Johnson made to his staff. Paul Westphal replaced Del Harris, a holdover from Don Nelson's staff whose relationship with Johnson was strained at times. Elie was hired after Sam Vincent left to take Charlotte's head coaching job. A close friend and former teammate, Elie shares Johnson's fire-and-brimstone intensity, allowing Johnson to take a more measured tone in practices.
Not that Johnson will admit to softening.
"Instead of saying I pulled back, let's say we have more of my players stepping forward," Johnson said. "Maybe I'm the same. But they have improved in their leadership and maturity and responsibility of holding one another and themselves accountable."
Johnson has come to realize Nowitzki is more content to lead by example, much the same way former San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson did. It was Johnson who presided over those Spurs teams, both in the locker room and on the court. He hopes Dallas' young point guard, Devin Harris, will eventually do the same.
Regardless, Nowitzki will continue to shoulder most of the criticism should the Mavericks again fall short of their goals.
"When we took over, we asked Dirk and the rest of the team, do you want to be a Cinderella story and fly under the radar and not talk about winning championships? Or do you want to talk about winning championships where the scrutiny is really high and the rewards are great?" Johnson said. "That's what they wanted.
"When we don't win, a lot of the fingers are pointed at Dirk. That's what he wanted. That's what I wanted, even though we know it's a team sport."
Nowitzki didn't have to go looking for a trash can Thursday night. He and the rest of the Mavericks walked out of Oracle Arena with a rare victory, and while that beat the alternative, it also didn't prove much.
Making a statement? That won't happen until May.
I saw mono's comments in the game thread and as usual, he's being pretty hard on the team, and there's a lot of merit to what he says. The matchup problems from last spring are still there, this team looked tentative at times out there, they barely pulled out a win when the Warriors were missing Jax, Pietrus and a departed J-Rich. Golden State isn't nearly as good right now as they were last spring. Personnel problems are one thing, but there is definitely a mental hold/block thing going on versus Golden State. They don't play with the same confidence that they have against 29 other teams. It's not even an intimidation thing IMO but more like an itch that they just can't scratch.
However, in the Mavs defense, I saw a bit of progress last night. I thought they played hard and were able to implement some of the things they've been working on in response to that series loss. They won't be excellent at those things overnight, but they have 77 games of repe ion to perfect it.
I'm glad we got the win, a bit disappointed we struggled when they were so undermanned, but we played better overall against that GS up-tempo style. When you compare what happened last season with last night, they got a win on the road against their toughest opponent that has the personnel to give us matchup fits, a coach who knows us inside and out, and we battled through and got the win, while coming up big in the second half. I still don't want to run into this team in the playoffs though.
I still can't believe some of the shots GS makes. That's what bugs me the most.
How many off-balance 3-pointers go in before you start thinking about Angels in the Outfield? It's like God is a Warriors fan when they play the Mavs.
That's because Cuban is the ing devil.
No !! When they play the Mavs weird happens…
Multiple circus shots
Odd bounces (ie, the loose ball in the 1st half that somehow went to Barnes right under the basket for an easy dunk)
Baron Davis hitting just about everything he throws up (was shooting 12% on 3’s thru the first 4 games)
Stephen Jackson wasn't playing last night of course, but I've always said that about him. He used to frustrate me when he was with the Pacers becuase he was so streaky. After a while, you started to wonder if he always gave consistent effort. Jax would be all-world one night and AWOL the next.
Golden State is going to be lucky just to make the playoffs this season....I don't think Mavs will have to worry about meeting up with them in the playoffs this year at all.
How about Monta Elllis missing on the driving runner, only for it come off the glass at the right spot for Davis to do a SportsCenter highlight dunk?
I heard on The Ticket this morning that after the Baron Davis foul, excuse me, steal on Harris and then the Dirk foul after that in the 4th, you could read Baron's lips as he said "They're soft, they don't want it". I can't say I completely disagree.
It doesn't apply to everyone on the team though, so maybe Baron could have just said "He's soft, he doesn't want it" and pointed right at #41. Dirk really disappointed me last night. Not even his bad shooting night, those happen, and at least he got to the foul line. It was just his entire demeanor and really really ty defense that pissed me off most.
More than anything I want to see anger from him when they play the Warriors. Getting a Flagrant Two isn't useful or anything, but some hard fouls, knocking guys to the floor, physically using our size against them. You won't win a track meet with those guys, they won't win a rugby match with you.
I told myself I wasn't going to watch this game but did. I should have skipped it. Avery is to blame. Instead of slowing down the game they try to run with them!!! Makes no sense. Why play to their strengths? This game told me all I needed to know. We have no coaching and will fail again.
We ran with them instead of slowing it to a halfcourt game and we won. We had better success against that physical zone, seems like we made more of a concerted effort to drive the lane and get to the line, and a lot of the jumpers were open looks that we normally bag. I think it's a matter of expectations: given our history with this team, and the game being in Oakland, why were we supposed to blow them out, again?
Hey, a win is a win.
What's also nuts is that GS will go on to the bed against every other team in the league. It's only when they play Dallas that they play out of their minds. You know, Baron Davis could break both legs yet manage to make it back for the next Mavs game to score 40 before continuing his rehab.
They seem to be pretty high over last night's "moral" victory, but need to check the W/L and see that 0-5 staring as their asses.
Well, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, Utah and Denver are locks for the playoffs. Seattle, Minnesota and Sacramento are locks for the lottery.
Memphis, Portland and the Clippers I can see surprising and making a run at the lower two seeds, but they're probably lottery-bound as well. That leaves NOLA, the Lakers and Golden State playing musical chairs for two spots. I guess the Lakers and the Hornets are my two mistresses this year.
I never said we should have blown them out. I want us to dictate the game and force them to play different. Good defensive teams force you to play at their pace. We don't do that. We gave up 115 points. That is not acceptable. Avery doesn't know how to do adjust or these players just can't do what he wants. Why is it that Phoenix and GS can't play their pace against the Spurs but can against the Mavs? That is what I have a problem with.
They gave up 120 points and lost. THAT is not acceptable.We gave up 115 points. That is not acceptable.
Tim Duncan. Dirk is what he is, he is a shooting guard in a four's body, he plays from the high post out. We don't get points consistently from our centers to punish that strategy. Until we can get points consistently down low, or we can swing a trade for a low-post back to the basket scorer, I think the best we can do is a makeshift approach with Bass and Juwan Howard, as well as Howard, Dirk and Harris driving to the basket to try and bust that zone and draw fouls. I saw a lot more of that last night than in the playoffs.Why is it that Phoenix and GS can't play their pace against the Spurs but can against the Mavs?
Golden State and Nellie have provided a blueprint for beating us, not every team is going to have the personnel to follow it, but we're going to be seeing this more and more. This isn't something that we're suited for and we've made moves and definitely made progress towards countering it. It's just going to take time. Also, you don't win or lose anything in November, Avery is going to try and mimic Pop's approach and hold minutes down and have this team peaking in April.
Atleast your team managed to reduce the effect of last yr meltdown with this win, no matter how small the effect is. And if Avery is as good coach as advertised, a close win with bad defensive display is worth much more than a blow out win, simply because of having a reason to chew some of his players that sucked in this game.
Exactly. Game after game in last years series I kept telling myself they can't keep making these ridiculous shots for a 7 game series but they did! Same thing again last night. Dallas-GS games are must watch.
I agree with Duncan being the difference but why are we trying to run with them. Why are we getting rebounds and trying to score quickly just like them? Why don't we just walk the ball up the court and slow it down. How many times did we turn it over trying to keep up with them? When the Spurs fall into the trap, Pop will call a timeout and jump their ass. Avery doesn't do that. He lets them continue. Is this really Avery's plan? Run with them?
I am telling you, this rookie coach is blowing our window to win a championship.
dirk needs therapy. he couldn't wait to pass off. he's scared to pull the trigger against GS. they are all in his head. i don't think he can shake it off.
Yep. Don't forget that GS also has to play exceptionally well to beat you. They have an average shooting night, and the Mavericks will beat them the majority of the time.
Penetration is the immediate solution. You can't get the big you need overnight, but driving to the basket more will create some of the same pressure and keep defenders honest.
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