I was thinking the same thing earlier, just didn't want to admit the Mavs are actually getting better. They do Play D, and have significant role players. Its crazy......I still hate Dirk, hate AJ (even though he does deserve respect), and you will never hear me say this again...
I hate the Mavs but Barkley is a moron. They do play good defense now and they have the deepest team in the league. They have Harris, Stackhouse, Dampier, Van Horn, and Daniels as reserves. That 5 can probably a lot of teams starters. I think they can take out the Spurs if Duncan isn't 100%. If Phoenix gets a healthy Amare back, that's the team that they may have problems against. They really don't have anyone that can match up with him and Nash always plays well against them.
yeah any time that allows 86.5 points during a 13 game winning streak and 92.8 points during the regular season doesn't play any defense and is only built for offense.
Depth is irrelevent in the playoffs - rotations shorten. Dallas has no post offense, and the Spurs will stop what they do like to do; that high-octane attack WILL be slowed by Pop; he does it to every team in the playoffs. Spurs have too much defense, talent & experience for the Mavs to take out this season. Phoenix can't beat either of those teams this year, with or without Amare.
Dallas is still a 3 point shooting team with little or no post up game. In playoffs teams against them will use a tall athletic player to shut down Dirk on post ups like Tmac/Marion last year. That will render Dirk into a 7 footer 3 point shooter, which is hardly a high percentage shot. Their weakness which will be exposed by good teams in playoffs: 1) No post up game/high percentage shot. 2) Very little post defense/shot blocking against good big men. We all saw how Dampier can be taken out of game last year. 3) Their other shot blocker Diop is a liability at the foul line. I dont see them surviving against Spurs, Suns, and Pistons because I dont see them stopping Duncan, Amare ,and Rasheed Wallace on a consistent basis at all.
from earlier poster "No team with Stackhouse and Van Horn playing serious minutes will ever win a championship. If Van Horn hadn't gotten injured in Game 3 of the Rockets series last year, the Rockets would have won that series." I agree
3 pt shooting team? lol. its pretty apparent you don't watch many games if thats still your belief. the mavs rank 20th in the league in 3 pt shots attempted behind your beloved houston rockets who rank 11th by the way. just because they have very good 3pt shooters, it doesnt mean that the mavs are a 3pt shooting team. the mavs are 2-0 against phoenix, 2-0 against miami, 1-1 against the spurs, and 1-0 against the pistons. duncan has averaged 15.5 pts against the mavs this season. thats a combined 6-1 against teams you think are going to have their way against the mavs in the playoffs. the pathetic mavs center rotation you point out as a weakness with no shot blocking capabilities or post defense combines for 8 pts, 12.5 rebounds, 3.1 blocks in 40 minutes of play. and your third point about diop being a liability at the foul line being a reason why the mavs lose just completely blows my mind. how on earth is any player who plays 18 minutes a game, hardly ever touches the ball on offense, and attempts ONE free throw per game going to have any kind of fathomable impact? your analysis is tired, trivial, lazy, and completely ridiculous.
i might add that the mavs are also shooting 46.7% from the field on the year which is good for 5th in the league.
I watched the game last night as well. It's quite clear to me that Dallas is legit this year, at least much more legit than the Heats hype. Look at the Heats' record against 500+ teams and against top teams, Dallas is simply much much better. I am really jealous of their depth. Look at their bench, and look at our start lineup after TMac and Yao.
You have to start taking the Mavs very seriously. They do play good team defense. Howard, Daniels, Terry, Griffin give them defensive toughness they have lacked in the past. They are however very perimeter-oriented and those who live by the jump shot usually die by it, especially in the playoffs.
I was listening to that game last night the interviewed Dirk at half time The talked about the previous game where Dirk half*ssed on Defense and AJ TOOK HIM THE OUT AND CURSE HIM OUT!! on the side THAT NEVER HAPPENED WITH NELLIE Dirk was talking about how he likes AJ how he is tough on the court but kewl afterwards people say Nellie left him with a full cubbard but this team is MUCH better than the Nellie Year I know folx don't wanna give AJ his props but he is DOING THE D*MN THING The difference in GAME 7 last year AJ had his troops ready to POUNCE ON THE ROCKETS AND USE THEM A CHEW TOY Our coach . . did not have our Troop excited in the least Rocket River
What kind of rockets fans watches alot of m*vs games.. . ARound here we dont like depth and analysis of teams. Just bashing them is plenty enough to get us through the day. Yes they are peaking and are hot right now, but defending them on a ROCKETS board is not going to get you anywhere. Fact is alot of folks dont care, and myself, they dont exist to me only when we play them. I seriously didnt know they were on a winning streak until this thread popped up. I hate to say this, and it pains me in every way possible, but the m*avs are a very good team this year. Will they keep this up in the playoffs, that is yet to be seen.
terry is a terrible defender and the mavs aren't as perimeter oriented as people tend to think. howard, daniels, and griffin all get the majority of their points by driving to the hoop or taking 10 ft chip shots.
The mavs are obviously legit this year. Folks who say otherwise really just aren't paying attention. If you are second in the league in point differential, top 10 in oppfg% , #2 in rebdifferential, #4 in blocks, second best record.. you ARE legit. Who is the low-post dominant scorer for detroit again? This league is changing to accomodate perimeter players. Duncan is great, but he won't beat you by himself and the mavs will NOT have to triple team him like a kobe (or TMAC for that matter) who can score it all over the place and the defender cannot touch them out there. The poster who said that AJ would yank Dirk out for a poor defensive effort is absolutely correct. That goes for every single player on the team, every one. A complete world of difference in the past from the way Nelson ran it. The other thing if you watch closely is that everyone who comes in gives it up on the floor, everytime, or their butt is right back on the bench. Johnson wants a few things, but he demands them.. 1. Defensive effort. 2. No quick threes, in fact not a lot of quick shots unless they are in transition. 3. Ball movement and player movement. 4. Overall hustle. 5. He wants physicality. That one is a long-term process with this team. Probably it's only flaw I can find right now. He doesn't care if the score is 0-20 or 20-0, if the team lets someone waltz through the lane without being contested it's timeout and rear-end chewing. They get another shot and then it's sit on the bench, dude.
I'll conceded that the Mavericks are more of a legitimate contender this year than they have been in the past. The current team is indeed far less perimeter oriented than previous incarnations of Mavs "contenders." Nonetheless, the Mavs may have developed a decent defense this year, but you still lack the second half of what every team needs win in the playoffs: a consistent low post threat. As talented as Nowitzki is, he's hardly automatic on the low block, and the Rockets were able to expose that weakness last year. We may have lost the series, but even you have to admit that Dirk was an absolute nonfactor against an inferior (talent-wise), and much older Rockets team last season. Playoffs series will almost always degenerate into a "pound it into the big man and let him work" strategy because teams adjust so well to each other. By the time the 4th game rolls around, most offensive options have been exhausted and you're stuck with the good ol' fashioned "give it to the tall guy" play. Unless you have that kind of consistent big man on the low block, it will be very difficult (note: i didn't say impossible) for the Mavericks to get past the Spurs.
The mavs went through a stretch when they went 13-1 last year but still bowed out to phoenix in the second round after we took them to 7 games. Mavs fans can come in here and spew out all kinds of fact about how great their team is, just like they did last year, but until they actually DO something in the playoffs they'll just be a good regular season team.
We didn't start the thread. But I am confused who the pound it down in the post big man for detroit is?
Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace both have fairly well-developed low post games. Actually, if you watch Rasheed display his ability down low, it's an absolute mystery why the man isn't putting up Duncan/Garnett-esque numbers. He definitely has the ability. I do see your point though. It's not impossible to win a championship without a superstar low-post threat, but those teams are few and far between in the long list of champions. Frankly, the Bulls in the 90s are just about the only team that relied almost exclusively on perimeter offense to win it all. Detroit had more of a multi-pronged attack. They didn't have strengths on a superstar level, but they had no weaknesses at any position either.
Oh cmon, the fact that the Lakers lost Karla Malone for that playoff series had a 'little' to do with the fact that the Pistons won that championship...and the Mavs, although their defense is a little better, isn't Piston-like.
