Are the Warriors the team under pressure? The obvious answer is yes, but at second look, is it really the Warriors? Here's what happened: It's a pivotal game 5, Dallas is playing for their season, they go up 21 and choke the lead away AT HOME to the 8th seeded Warriors. The Warriors were up 9 with about 3 minutes left on the clock, the light at the end of the tunnel must have been blinding. The Mavericks proceed to score the next 15 points of the game while the Warriors do not score again and lose by 6. Now the series is 3-2, the Warriors fail to DOMINATE the Mavericks by defeating them in 5 and in front of their home crowd. Warriors standpoint: No one expected the Warriors to win game 5, at least not very many people did, however, no one expected them to be up 9 with 3 minutes left on the clock either. Dallas, while much more confident (Nowitzki preformed like an MVP for the first time in a good while), are still playing for their lives on the road in an arena they just can't win at. The Warriors, technically, can lose this game. Dallas can't lose whatsoever. Let it be noted that Dallas has seemingly figured out a way to shut down the Warriors- double Baron Davis and take the ball out of his hands. The Warriors have no other 1 on 1 players to break down the defense and make a play. Also, the Warriors shot themselves in the foot by trying to slow down the game and run the shot clock out. That stagnates their offense and they become terrible if they can't put the ball in Baron's hand. The refs, as biased as they were at the end of the game, can NOT be blamed for this. Also let it be noted, Don Nelson is a good coach at keeping his players' eyes on the prize, hungry, humble, focused. I'm sure that more than game plans, he's preaching relaxation. Mavericks standpoint: They are a 67 win team with the number 1 seed in the league down 1-3 to the 8th seed. Your star player and leader and MVP candidate is making comments about being taken out of his offense and if they lose game 4 they will lose the series, etc. There is serious confidence issues. You come out, play well, then give the lead to the Warriors. Your coach doesn't panic with defeat staring him in the eye and the team rallies to win. Your MVP candidate plays like one for the first time in oh-so-long. So not only have you beat the Warriors and kept yourself in the series, you've exposed a vital flaw and got into their heads-- again. Now you have the confidence and new life in this series, but you're playing in an arena you just can't win in and your back is against the wall. You know you CAN beat the Warriors, but you almost failed to do it at home, and barring a miraculous breakdown by the Warriors, you wouldn't have. So game 6 in Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA. Warriors up 3-2, just choked away a lead in game 5 and the Mavs are still playing for their life. Who has more pressure? Who can handle it?
If the Mavs lose in the first round it will change their franchise greatly. If the Warriors lose we all go "Oh well at least they had a good run." YOU GOTTA BE CRRRAZZZY if you think the warriors have more pressure.
Dallas has a lot more to lose, if the Warriors blow the series it won't be as historically significant as the Number 1 seed going down to an 8 seed for the 1st time in a 7 game series.
plain and simple...if the warriors win, its the upset of the century. if dallas wins, they are the number 1 seed. gs has never been under pressure and never will be. the only nellie mistake so far in this series was when he tried to play the clock at the end of game 5.
is anyone outside of dallas NOT rooting for the warriors? what a great story: troubled guys trying to find their place (sjax), injured players trying to regain the spotlight (jrich, baron), off the court drama (cuban being an ass and nelly coming out looking like a saint), possible nba history in the making... truthfully, if the nba IS fixed, if i were stern, i would fix it in favor of the warriors, because they are going to be getting a whole lot more viewers than the mavs. on the other hand, somebody's going to look like a flat out fool when the mvp has to get his trophy at home...
Now guys just a second, I didn't mean media/fan-base induced pressure only. Think about what the players put upon themselves. What are the Warriors players thinking in their minds? I'm pretty sure they consider themselves the favorite to win considering their past record vs. the Mavs regardless of what they say to the media. You know they don't feel intimidated at all. Now you know you had the chance to put the series away, put the Mavs away, but you failed. What toll will that take on the players themselves? Can they put that aside, clear their mind, and play game 6 like it's their last? I'm not sure. That's why I asked who can handle it.
i understand your reasoning. however, the last gs blowup resulted in a gs blowout in game 3 at home. they are going back home and gonna count on their fans to get them through this. the hardest thing to do is close out a series. getting that 4th win is as tough as they get. We, as rockets fans should know all about that. nevertheless, i expect dallas to come out strong but the warriors should be able to pull out the victory on thurs. it will be a dogfight.
Warriors have more pressure. They could taste the victory at the end of game 5, but couldn't close it out. That will defintely be on their minds the rest of the series. Meanwhile Dallas will play desperate all out basketball since they know it's "win or go home".
did u write that yourself? That is really good. If you didn't write it don't forget to post the link. And where you wrote double Baron "because they dont have anyone else that can cause anything off the dribble." I have to disagree their whole team is full of them. Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, JASON RICHARDSON.
I'd say both teams are under enormous amounts of pressure for different reasons...but the Warriors have nothing to lose and the Mavericks have everything.
The Mavs have been in pressure situations before, and the Warriors haven't, so in a way, you could say the Mavericks know what to expect, this is a whole other ball game for GS. At the same time though, the Warriors for the whole series played better under pressure than the Mavs, so the Mavs could already have doubts in their minds in their ability, the Warriors are free flowing and with the crowd and Baron their leader does not fold under pressure. BUT, the Warriors players twice imploded when faced with losing this series, which could mean they let their emotions get in the way of the game. AND the Warriors are the team that just came off blowing a commanding lead with 3 minutes left, the Mavs might have more confidence now knowing the GS is not unbeatable. Who knows, Dirk might play much better now. The game is at Oracle Arena, where the fans are crazy, and GS gets a huge lift from them, if the Mavs lose, their year is in done, disappointingly , but if GS loses, they have to face a Game 7 in Dallas. This is what makes this series THE BEST BY FAR our of any other series, I love it.
I did write it myself, thanks. Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson all can penetrate on their own, and they can all handle the rock pretty well, but what I meant is none of those guys is someone you can - or want to - throw the ball to in a 1 on 1 iso situation and have them create a good shot for themselves or for a guy on their team. Baron Davis is the only guy you could really throw it to and have him do something 1 on 1 and create a decent look for himself. The other guys need ball movement before they can penetrate, without it, the offense stagnates and they aren't good ENOUGH to make a play, yes, even Jason Richardson. Only Baron can create something out of nothing for himself and his team when the offense stagnates, and if you take the ball out of his hands (which Avery ingeniusly accomplished by throwing the foul court double at him), their offense becomes next to nothing. If Monta, Jason, or SJax could really break the defense down on their own, how come they failed to score a single point when Baron was taken out of the offense? It was a mixture of slowing down the offense to burn the shot clock, having Baron doubled by Avery, and the terrible refereeing down the stretch that beat the Warriors in the end. Lesson learned: don't slow down the game at any costs. The question is, can they do it in game 6?
After blowing game 5, the Warriors are under more pressure. That choke job is one for the ages. It may be the defining moment of the Mavs season as they move on to the Finals again.
Mavs because they were expected to make it far in the playoffs. Golden State also has pressure because everyone is expecting them towin, after bieng up 3-1 it wouldn't be too challenging for the mavs to come back. Game 6 is the warriors last chance, they need to win in golden state. (My 100th post! )
Agreed. After going down 3-1, everyone thought the series was over. The Mavs can lose and people won't be suprised since they were down so much, but now the Warriors have the pressure of choking up a big lead.
Mavs have more pressure, no doubt. Sure, the Warriors blew a lead in the final 3 minutes of Game 5, but there are some key ingredients here... First of all, the Warriors took a gigantic uppercut in the mouth at the start of the game, falling to 21 points behind in the second quarter. By halftime they had it down to 7, and down to 6 if you include the technical free throw before the 2nd half began. As a result, they know they can weather the worst of any kind of storm the Mavs throw at them...on the road no less. Then after coming all the way back and taking the lead, the Warriors got some unfortunate calls down the stretch. A touch (non existent?) foul on Baron Davis (his 5th) during a Devin Harris drive for an And-1. A ghost foul on Baron Davis (his 6th) while pressuring the ball full court after an inbound. No foul call on Jason Richardson's missed 3. A rebound seemingly tipped out by Dirk but called Mavs ball. A substantial list of tough breaks and missed calls. As illegitimate as you may consider those "excuses", you can rest assured that the Warriors know how much of an effect they had on the outcome and they will use that as fuel. I imagine that in their minds, they were beaten by the refs in the final few minutes on Tuesday, not by the Mavs. The Warriors are probably at shoot around at this very moment, wearing confident yet calm smirks on their faces, and viewing the game on Tuesday as little more than a delaying of the inevitable. Regardless of anything that has happened up to this point in the series, the bottom line is that they're at home with a chance to close out the #1 team in basketball in front of one of the hungriest crowds in professional sports. They'll play with energy, they'll play with confidence, and they'll play loose, and the crowd will carry them, just like they have in both of their home games thus far...and the series wasn't even at stake those nights.
Dallas is the only team in the series with pressure. Said Barnes: "We're not even supposed to be here, so we don't have no pressure." http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview;_ylt=Ai9qN.bPe3tbVhVPMJl_KSW8vLYF?gid=2007050309&prov=ap The warriors are like charles barkley at a craps table in vegas in this series, just having fun no matter what happens.
i think GS is going to win tonight. and i don't think it's really gonna be all that close. we'll see.
I don't get why people think a team that coughed up a 20 point lead by halftime in a must win game 5 at home suddenly has a killer instinct because they made a nice comeback to win the game at the end.
