I know a lot of people will probably predict the Mavs to roll over the Kings, but you really have to consider that the Kings played probably put in the worst opening round performance by a number one seed outside of the 1994 Sonics, and still managed to win 3-1. They only shot 40% from the field, were outrebounded, severly outassisted (23 apg to 15 apg), and only outscored Utah by one point per game. That was mostly due to Utah's grinding, halfcourt game, and the Kings never could adjust. I think this Mavs/Kings series, however, will be excellent, and probably the best series of the postseason. The Mavs play a much more wide open style, which the Kings will feed off of and start running themselves. The key to this series, though, will be the Webber/Nowitski matchup. Dirk is one of the most versatile big men in the league, and Webber has to keep him from penetrating. Force Dirk to make the outside shots, then extend the defense. This is a tough series to call, but Kings in 7. BTW, Nowitski Nash Najera Wang Stojakovic Divac Turkoglu Seven international players in one playoff series...Isn't that some kind of record?
Mavs in 7 lafrentz vs. divac-lafrentz by a hair. raef got blocks, rebs, 3s. divac got whining, flopping and making stupid remarks to fire the other team up dirk vs. webber-man even w/ a big name like webber, diggler will rape webber najera/eschenmeyer vs. stojakovic-pedraj got this one. finley vs. christie-finley's a better,more offensive version of christie nash vs. bibby-bibby looks like mini me. though bibby was excellent against the jazz i will give the nod to nash. dal bench vs. sac bench-when you got van exel, najera (if he don't start) comin off the bench, you will win. turkoglu and jackson haven't stepped up at all. this is where jon barry was good
Regardless of who wins and in how many games, this is going to be a very good series from a specator point of view. I could see a team scoring 120 points and losing!.
I'm going to go ahead and say Kings in 6. Which is unfortunate, because I think the Mavs would have a much better shot at dethroning the Lakers for some reason.
but this is the playoffs...which is unknown territory to webber. i see dirk gettin the same numbers vs. minny in this one.
Mavs in 5. It would be most appropriate for Christina Webber and the Kings to perform their final choke at home, where they were so dominant in the regular season. It's certainly possible that it's just the style of the Jazz that caused the Kings problems, but this is a repeating pattern in the postseason, and I just can't believe in the Kings until they do something positive in a big game situation.
The two most entertaining teams in the league going at it. I can't wait! It's a toss up for me so I'll go with the home court. Kings in 7.
Hey A-Train, technically there are 8...you forgot Tariq Abdul Wahad aka Olivier St. Jean, who is French.
i think sac is gonna win this in six. christina and the kings don't get scared until the lakers show up so until then i'll give them the homecourt edge.
Once again, two of the teams with the best chance of beating LA, will instead get to beat each other into jelly before they play LA.
Sorry, but the only team that has a chance of beating LA is Dallas. Dallas has Dirk "Call me the modern Larry Bird" Nowitzki, while the Kings have Chris "I wanna shoot 18 feet jumpers all day and miss them, while not playing any defense" Webber.
