Roll the ball out. I promise you JVG will have a defensive surprise for the Mavs; HE' PLAYING! He is going to latch on to Dirk's leg and refuse to let go. Let's see how good Dirk does dragging JVG around all game.
Bill Simmons is a great writer in terms of entertainment, but he knows jack about the Houston Rockets. He also completely slammed the city during the Super Bowl, so I wouldn't expect much support out of him. Remember, he said at the beginning of the season that the Rockets wouldn't even make the playoffs, let alone be the #5 seed. The guy is a Boston homer and doesn't really pay attention to anybody else. That's all it boils down to.
Yao guards himself. So it's really 1 vs. 1 However, which is the more realistic possibility. That Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels can slow down McGrady? Or that Scott Padgett, Spoon, and Bowen can slow down Dirk? There's really no comparison there. Daniels and Howard are actually regarded as good defenders. Bowen is a poor-man's Najera (this isn't a good thing). Padgett might be the best bet just because he can stretch the defense. Spoon? next question.
The Nowitzki mismatch is greater than the T-Mac mismatch. However, when you factor in our M&M centers dominating the inside, I think the two teams are very evenly matched.
Normally, I would just chalk up all this garbage to trolls posting shht they don't even believe themselves, but just trying to get a rise out of us. But I've recently checked out a few of these Mavs boards and these guys really do believe this stuff. They really think Yao will be a complete non-factor who will get dominated by Dampier and Bradley. They are certain that TMac will be helplessly shutdown by defensive whiz Josh Howard. And they believe with every fiber of their being that Avery Johnson will outcoach JVG like it's no contest. Spurs and Jazz and Grizz fans may be annoying homers. But these Mavs guys are truly Laker material. Both annoying and stupid is a tragic combination indeed.
Tracy is not a mismatch. He's simply a great player. Nowitzki is a mismatch because of his unique height and shooting range+we don't have anybody over 6 foot 8 at PF. Tracy will light up anybody. Same can't be said about Nozitzki. Make him put the ball on the floor. He's dead meat
Yea. On one of those boards a Rocket fan posted a reasonable post about why the Rockets will win in 7, and the replies were most "hahahahahaha". Seems like the ratio of reasonable posters to stupid ones were 60:40.
Bill Simmons is retarted. If that woman who sued Wendy's is the norm, Bill Simmons is well below that level, slightly above Chad Ford and Neanderthals. Not only does he think Houston will get KILLED by Dallas, he also has: and Bill, you certainly are a genius.
As one of the Caroline Panthers put it so eloquently: There's a reason that Simmons doesn't write for Page 1.
I'm sure allllll the experts were saying "who is going to guard Barkley" back when the Rockets won the Championship. That somebody was a nobody named Chucky Brown....so Nowitzki meet Mr. "im going to annoy the living hell out of you" Bowen.... I never listen to the experts for a reason...and this one of them
I grew up in Houston and have been a Rockets fan for a long time. I'm not going to claim the highest tenure (by any stretch of the imagination) but I've followed them since '81 and have always considered myself a Rockets fan first. However, I've been living in Dallas for a while now and I've seen these Mavs play a lot. Over the last 7 years or so they have really won me over. Thus, this series is like my worst nightmare. I know I'm biased because I've seen more Mavs games than Rockets games this year, but I just don't see where all the Rockets optimism is coming from. And I don't mean that as a knock on the Rockets players. I love how Sura and crew have pulled this team together and TMac is just ridiculous. But this year's Mavs team is pretty ridiculous too. I read Jeff's preview of the series and I was pertty stunned to see how little he appeared to know about this edition of the Mavs. Finley as the guy they have to shut down? Finley has been a nice court leader this year, but he has hardly been the second scoring threat on the floor. Rating the Rockets bench way ahead of the Mavs bench? I just don't get it. Stackhouse and KVH have shown things this year that I didn't realize they had. Those two alone are more impressive than the Rockets bench to me. And, anybody who thinks that Dirk is soft has not seen him play this season. Especially since Avery took over, Dirk has been down right fiesty in games and not afraid to exchange shoves and elbows with anybody. The whole Mavs team seems eager to fight. And they all finally figured out that the key is taking the ball to the hole. Dirk and crew have shot so many freethrows this year it is just silly. That's not the soft white boyz we've all known and laughed at over the last few years. My loyalties are split and I don't think this series is going to end quickly. But I just don't see how the Rockets win it. --Drof
Nowitzki, meet Mr. Kevin Garnett...Mr. Garnett, meet first round sweep. 2001 - 2002 1st round of the playoffs. Dirk, facing MR EVERYTHING, ALL WORLD defender: 33.3 PPG, 15.6 RPG. But yeah, you guys are soooooo right. I'm sure Ryan BOWEN will totally shut down Dirk. Give me a break. Dirk is the 8th ALL-TIME leading scorer (pts per game) in NBA history.
I hope you know that Minnesota team that Dallas swept several years ago was poor on the defensive end. Thats an apples to oranges comparison. I'm pretty sure whoever is guarding Dirk will be getting some help.
Dirk can't win a series single handedly. Bowen won't shut him down, he doesn't have to. If Nowitzki gets 35 a night and the rest of the Mavs only get 60, the Mavs will lose because history says that the Maverick defense is softer than tissue paper. Eric Dampier in the middle and Avery Johnson coaching don't change that.
That's not the point. The point is that Rockets fans are pinning their hopes on Ryan Bowen. I was just pointing out that Dirk has had MASSIVE playoff success against far superior defenders than Bowen. If the Rockets choose to double on Dirk, then I'm sure his scoring will go down. But, having Finley and Terry (both +40% 3 pt shooters) on the floor at the same time makes me think that JVG won't double. Not to mention, I didn't think JVG liked to double team anyway. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't watched the Rockets close enough to have picked up on that.
