I was bored and was checking some of the BBS sites. Here are some funny posts from Mavs fans. Guess Cuban must be crying like a girl for not pushing as hard as he can for the Yao - Finley trade in 2002... http://www.dallas-mavs.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=12907
Great threat to the Mavs at the center, but then again they made a one hell of a rosters this year. Except i'm not much of a Walker fan!
Danny Fortson and Shawn Bradley can't contain Yao Ming. But the Mavs can offset that, because any combination of Jamison, Walker and Nowitzki will HAMMER our F's. If we can make up THAT difference in the backcourt (Nash/Finley), then we're fine. But that's very very doubtful. We don't have a better bench, and the only place we have a clear advantage is C. Coach, F, SG, bench... The Mavs are too freaking good, regardless of the fact that I dislike Jamison and Walker's games. As I have said before, our team is severly lacking athleticism in at SF and PF. That's what haunted JVG's NY teams, and that may be what will haunt us. Our most athletic F is Eddie Griffin. Think about that for a second.
Sane you over selling the athletic thing. Dallas will have problems stopping us. They used to have problems if you recall. It will happen again. Our defensive energy will match Dall offense but their defense will not match our offense with both inside and outside potency.
Speaking of the Mavs, something I was just thinking about... Nash Finley Walker Nowitzki Fortson If Yao guards Fortson, does that mean Cato guards Nowitziki or Walker? We can't exploit our mismatch at the offensive end of the floor with Cato so this seems like a lose-lose situation to me with our starting lineup. This is where having someone quick like Griffin would really help. Someone that is big and can rebound but yet still quick enough to chase Dirk and Walker around the perimiter. Now conversly Yao should have a HUGE advantage over Fortson but I am sure double teams will come fast and furious all night. P.S. I was worried a bit tonight with Cato guarding Duncan. I thought Duncan would just be too quick for Cato. Cato held his own. I was very impressed to see that and with Cato's play I don't think there is a any question that he can play big minutes at PF this year if he can guard someone as versital as Duncan all night. Now let's see what Cato does with Garnett or Nowtizki.
Another thought is that the rocket's team defense is absolutely spectacular. Francis was very impressive and could have had a couple of blocks and steals. EG and MoT will do wonders if Cato and Braggs looked so good last night. That Dallas offense is going to have serious foul pressure on them just based on the rockets commitment to the low post game and the aggressive use of that space offensively. I mean when Cato takes Duncan across the lane pump-fake his arse and made the shot and got fouled, you have to think that Dallas will have some trouble with our frontcourt. You have to think that MoT is licking his chops to operate in this offense. In addition, do not forget that before EG left, he was getting quite a few open shots and just was not hitting them. So far we have seen no player struggle with this offense so I can only expect the same to continue with EG and MoT.
Mo Taylor is going to be such a great compliment to Cato off the bench. At times last year, Taylor was without question the best offensive player on the team. I remember when I saw Taylor as a rookie with the Clippers, I ran to the card store and bought his most valuable rookie card available(Topps Finest). I may have jumped the gun a little bit, but offensively(if he's lost the weight they say he has), he could make some believers in his candidacy for the 6th man of the year...
Wow, the Mavs fans are talking up our center like best thing since sliced bread. It's refreashing though.
I have to agree with Sane... Although I don't know how the Mavericks will play like with 4 small forwards...they are all big stars individually. I just don't know how they will play as a team. At best...I can see them just draining shots all day on people and owning easily...because all of them are athletic...they can all drive, dribble, and shoot, and post up. There's just too many of them. On defense...they have a bunch of big bodies who are quite agile...and can run...they don't really have a shotblocker though. I will be very happy if we can win just one game against the Mavs. Yao is dominating I agree.
The Yao thread in their forum already has the highest view number on the page thanks to Clutch City members -G'day-
Ben Collins Public Enemy No.1 Thnx Olliez for refreshing my memory. http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/Collins_Column_Jan_7.html
BOY this kid must write for Dime magazine which stated Rockets were horrible team after slapping the Spurs.
did he have any follow-up to that crap he posted? anyway, he's just a kid. I'm not going be mad at him.
Hey! Thanks from here as well, lancet. It's great to read this stuff on some of the other, inferior boards.
SLA, I agree with what you and Sane are saying. This team will score a lot of points, but you forgot something that REALLY scares me about the Mavs... PASSING. Every one of those superstars is a good passer. Walker, Nash, Finley, and Nowitzki in particular are pretty deft passers. They will ALMOST definately have a very, very cold squad. I say ALMOST because Walker & Jamison aren't nearly the "professionals" that Malone (despite his dirty play) and Payton are. I think the Lakers' superstar show will mesh MUCH better than the Mavs. Hey... I say ALMOST because this team, with these egos, could implode.
Let's keep in mind the Mavs' philosophy: outscore your opponents. They can't play D worth a lick. So what it comes down to is whether their O or our D dominates that particular day. I can't answer that because at this point I really don't know. I have to see how well (chuckle) Walker plays first.
