See, they had it all planned out for the Lakers...contracts were signed, contact broken until after the job was done...the guy assigned to Webber gets his job done, but the man tasked with taking out Duncan caught one look at the girl in the fron row ( name/pick, anyone?) next to Jack, and forgot why he was there....But you see the 3d guy never got the "abort" message, so here you go, Dirk is out.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2003/story?id=1558464 Nelson unsure if Nowitzki will return for series -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press DALLAS -- Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki sprained his left knee with 7:45 left in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Friday night and might not be able to play again in the series. Coach-general manager Don Nelson said Nowitzki will undergo an MRI on Saturday, but he's not optimistic about what it will show. Game 4 is Sunday night in Dallas. "The news is not good,'' Nelson said. "His knee is very sore. I don't expect he'll play and I'm not sure if he'll play in this series. We should not take a gamble or a chance on Dirk Nowitzki. I told Dirk he must feel he's totally 100 percent for me to play him again this series.'' The Mavericks were down 80-66 when he was injured and went on to lose 96-83, putting them down 2-1 in the series and giving back the homecourt advantage to the Spurs. Losing Nowitzki, Dallas' leading scorer and rebounder, would be a much bigger blow. The Mavs know firsthand how much such an injury can hurt. Dallas beat Sacramento after it lost Chris Webber last round. First-round foe Portland also lost a starter, with Derek Anderson sustaining a knee injury that required immediate surgery. Nowitzki was coming down with a loose ball when he and San Antonio's Manu Ginobili collided. Ginobili's body hit Nowitzki's stiff left leg. "I didn't see anything,'' Ginobili said. "I was surprised when we came back that he was still there. I didn't mean to hurt him.'' Nowitzki stayed down on the court for several minutes, then left for the locker room with his arms around the shoulders of teammates Walt Williams and Popeye Jones. They took him to a tunnel under the stands, where he rode a cart the rest of the way. He was hurt under the same basket where Webber went down. Nowitzki had 15 points and nine rebounds in 40 minutes, but shot just 7-of-20. "The main thing we have to think about now is the health of Dirk Nowitzki and making sure we don't do something silly for a game or two,'' Nelson said. "Nothing is more important than Dirk Nowitzki's health and I will not jeopardize that.'' Nowitzki missed two games this season with a sprained right ankle, both in December. The first was a loss to San Antonio, then Dallas beat Memphis. "I think those guys have done a pretty good job the couple of times he's been out to take the offense upon themselves,'' San Antonio's Tim Duncan said. "He will take a lot away from their game because he's also a very good rebounder. "They'll fill his spot, but we can't worry about what they'll do.'' Nelson said Dallas' entire frontcourt rotation is banged up. Shawn Bradley twisted his right knee in the third quarter and didn't return. Eduardo Najera missed Game 2 with an injury and Nelson revealed after the game that end-of-the-bench center Evan Eschmeyer has been hurt and not practicing. Nelson said Bradley is "a big part'' of the non-Nowitzki strategy, "and I don't know if he's going to be available the next game.''
if dirk don't return, it's over for the mavs....unless Van Exel comes back into his previous playoff form....
Van Exel isn't in his previous series form, 'cause *cough*gets BOWENIZED and SPURIZED ( defensively )*cough* so far.
It looked like it was over even when Dirk was playing. They just can't keep up with the Spurs. Falling behind in every damn gme won't help them. Oh the humanity! A Spurs and Nets final
Sucks to be a German basketball fan right about now. Although, I'm pretty sure Dallas fans aren't very happy either. Get well soon Dirk because the Mavs won't win another game without you. donka,
I agree. Spurs will win again. David Robinson must be freakin elated and happy.....and lucky......and well nice way to leave.
Nowitzky out, Spurs will win it all....done deal. Don Nelson will be available to coach the Rockets next year.
Mavs more optimistic Nowitzki may return this series -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki's knee injury is not as bad as the Mavericks feared, although Dallas listed him as doubtful for Sunday's Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs. An MRI showed a sprain to the ligaments that hold the left kneecap in place, but there was no other structural damage, the Mavericks said. "With an injury like this the typical recovery time is 10-14 days,'' Mavericks team physician Dr. T.O. Souryal said Saturday. "However, Dirk is an amazing athlete and with 24-hour treatment that we have already implemented, we hope he may be able to return to the court during this series.'' Nowitzki's knee buckled inward when he collided with San Antonio's Manu Ginobili during the fourth quarter of Game 3 on Friday night. The Spurs won 96-83 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals. "Well, it's great news. I think I was lucky,'' Nowitzki said. "I think it could have been a lot worse after seeing the replay last night. "Basically what happened last night is that I've never had a knee injury before and I was just in shock. I had pain and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move it. Already last night it started feeling better, and this morning I could walk around, so it's a lot better than I thought at first.'' There was other injury news for the Mavs, and it was not good. A MRI performed on Shawn Bradley's right knee showed a sprained medial collateral ligament, and the Mavs said he would be out indefinitely. Also, third-string center Evan Eschmeyer said a loose piece of cartilage in his left knee will likely prevent him from playing in the postseason. That means Dallas might have to go into Game 4 with only nine players in uniform. Raef LaFrentz, Eduardo Najera and Adrian Griffin would be the only big men available to defend San Antonio's Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Malik Rose. "We're going to put Steve Nash on him one-on-one in the low post -- see how good Duncan really is, Mr. MVP,'' Nelson joked at Dallas' practice before the results of Nowitzki's MRI were known. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was peppered with questions about how he'll attack the Mavericks if Nowitzki wasn't available -- and about how Dallas might use a small lineup. But Popovich was having none of it. "I'm very sure he'll play,'' Popovich said. Nowitzki's status will remain the No. 1 question right up until the 8:30 p.m. start of Game 4. "I will not play Dirk Nowitzki if his knee is not perfect,'' Nelson said. If Nowitzki sits out, the Mavericks will probably try to win it with something out of the nether reaches of Nelson's brain. Maybe they'll try to score 140 points. Maybe they'll shoot 50 3-pointers. Maybe they'll force to Eschmeyer get his gimpy $20 million knee out there to foul Tim Duncan six times. But to the Spurs, none of what Dallas does matters. And they mean it when they say that. San Antonio's preferred mode of preparation is almost entirely self-centered. "We spend less time getting ready for other teams than any team I've been on. I was totally the opposite when I was a head coach,'' said P.J. Carlesimo, Popovich's assistant. What worked for the Spurs on offense in Game 3 was the usual -- Duncan's 34 points and 24 rebounds -- mixed in with something relatively new -- Tony Parker scoring 29 points in a dazzling mixture of quick drives to the basket and feathery jumpers that Nash could not contend with. Someone pointed out that Duncan's 34-24 effort seemed, well, effortless. "In some ways it's like David (Robinson) used to be. When guys do it night after night after night, it gets taken for granted sometimes,'' Popovich said. Popovich spoke at length Saturday about how Duncan has grown through the years in terms of his leadership. And how the Spurs discovered over the course of the season they had chosen the correct players to perform supporting roles in a transitional season. With Parker, it was a question of what he'd do after a strong rookie season. "We needed to know if he was the real deal,'' Popovich said. With shooting guard Stephen Jackson, the Spurs weren't sure if his game could be throttled down to fit into a Duncan-dominated offense. With Ginobili, a rookie, they wondered whether the skills he displayed in Spain for four years would carry over into the NBA with its different style of play. All those questions worked out in the Spurs' favor, part of the reason they are only two victories from going back to the NBA Finals for the first time since they won the championship in 1999. First, though, they need to win those two games. According to the San Antonio players, the key to getting them -- whether Nowitzki plays or whether Nelson sends out five guards at the same time -- will be giving the same defensive effort as in the fourth quarter of Game 3, when they turned it into a runaway. "We hadn't played that kind of defense in the first two games of the series, almost three,'' Rose said.
That seems a bit premature. The only reason the Mavs are playing the Spurs is because Webber is out. The Spurs did dispatch the defending champions with relative ease...oh wait, they were missing Rick Fox
Exactly, I'm no Spurs fan, but they did beat the Lakers and they were going up 2-1 when Dirk was injured. If they win, which is almost a given, its well deserved.
It's funny that the two teams most celebrated for their depth, Dallas and Sacramento, are both knocked out of the playoffs because of one strategic injury each. And, asterisks are stupid. This championship will be well deserved, the Spurs' '99 championship was well deserved just like all championships are. Everybody plays the same competition; if the Spurs come out on top, they come out on top.
But Mike Bibby is such a great player according to people on this board, he and Nash are much better than the Rockets point guard, you mean to tell us that they can't make up for the losses of their teams' franchise big men.
Depth doesn't mean squat in the playoffs. Teams are so tired by now that they're running on fumes anyways. Bench scrubs don't win championships, the starters do. Even when Paxon and Kerr made those game winning shots, they came off passes from Jordan. I don't think Popovich will test San Antonio's depth and give the ball to Robinson late in a close game of the Finals...
Nowitski should have played, he tweaked his knee, guys do that all the time and play. I think he should have suited up.....what would Willis Reed do? What about Larry Legend..... Nowitski should have played...as it is now, he should sit, Dallas is done. DD
I don't get the point here. Even teams with the most depth are not going to win championships without their best player. The deep Celts teams of the 60s don't win without Russell, the Lakers early 80s squads don't win w/o Magic, the Bad Boys teams don't win with either Thomas or Dumars out. The fact Sac could push the Mavs to 7 without their best player shows a lot about there depth. I'd say you are pretty deep if you lose you best player and can still be one of the top quarter teams--as Sac has proved. I think think this is true for the Mavs nor was it true for the Lakers nor would it be true for the Spurs.
