Round 1: Dallas Mavericks vs Golden State Warriors

That's what I tell my Mavericks-fans friends all day long. Is Avery that obsessed with putting Howard on Richardson that he'll let Baron thoroughly rape Jason Terry, Devean George, Devin Harris, and Jerry Stackhouse? Common sense would tell you that if you can't beat Baron with a fast defender or a bigger defender, it's time to use a defender that has speed and length.

 

I would rather play the Mavs. The "8 seed" looks like they would cream us too.

 

I googled it. I found the 2 teams, Nuggets and Knicks. It's ironic that we have 2 major stars from both upsets. Mutumbo when he was playing for the Nuggets and Van Gundy.

Van Gundy holds the record for being the only coach to the 8th seed to the NBA Finals.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ba...news/1999/05/24/hawks_knicks_game4/index.html

N.Y. becomes first eighth seed to advance to third round

 

Has it ever happened that the two previous NBA finals team get elimanated in the first round the following year ? WOW!

 

goldenstate is scarry

 

IF GSW can hang on and beat allas in this series, they'll be the only 8 seed to beat a 1 in a seven game series.

as mentioned, 8 has beaten 1 twice before.

this is a stat i'd like to know... somebody call elias.

 

Hell yeah they would. If you think Dirk looks bad out there getting stripped and not being able to cover anyone on D, imagine Yao.

 

yeah exactly, we have our backup center that has beat a #1 seed. and our coach with NY beat a #1 seed. but as far as i know those are the only two times its happened.

and it looks like there might be another #1 going down this year.

go warriors.

 

Wait a minute ... you think that Josh Howard can stay in front of Baron Davis when even Devin Harris can't? ROFL

Not to mention the horrible mismatches you'd create -- then you'd have S-Jax and J-Rich posting up Dallas' point guards at will, or Monta Ellis breaking Dirk's ankles left and right.

This is the problem: Golden State is putting four shooting guards and Baron on the floor. Everyone on the floor is a perimeter threat, every one on the floor can handle the rock, everyone can penetrate, everyone is quick, everyone is athletic, everyone can block shots, and except for Monta, they're all pretty big. Heck, even Monta Ellis blocked a shot tonight. Dallas has no low post threat ... Dirk is being exposed AGAIN as a soft jumpshooter, and their centers are useless on offense ... The only person on that team who has any semblance of a real post up game is Stackhouse, and the GS guards are too big for him to post up. I nearly died laughing when Diop launched a 20 foot jumpshot after scrambling for like 20 seconds.

Dallas is in REAL trouble, better believe it. Avery Johnson is gonna have to pull a major rabbit out of his hat to get his squad out of this hole -- the Warriors are for real, people. It's not just hustle -- Dallas can hustle all they want, the best they can do with effort is to make the game competitive. There is absolutely no sign of hope that they can actually prove to be better than these Warriors.

 

I think you made the best points in that Dirk is a soft jumpshooter (althoug he is a good one) and that they have no inside scoring presence. Their lack of inside presence is killing them in this series as the Warriors are finding every which way to expose it.

You can't beat a small team unless you go inside, and if you have no one who can score inside, you can be defended by a bunch of little midgets...

This is what Golden State is doing to the Mavs and it's working fabolously.

I don't think they could beat us in 7 games though, they just can't play the D. I think T-Mac (maybe, if he decides to be aggressive all game long ) would tear that excuse for an interior defense to shreds.

 

Roffle all you want. You know why Harris can't stay in front of Davis? It's because Davis' ass is always backing up Harris. Davis is smart. He'll post Harris and Terry down all day. If Avery puts Stack or George on Davis (like Game 1) Davis blows by him too. Howard has the luxury or luck of actually having enough length and speed to actually BE IN FRONT of Davis.

A distant analogy is like how Rafer is faster than McGrady but who was guarding Nash for most of the 2nd half in that crucial win against Phoenix?

I didn't say it would pan out for all the other matchups did I? Nope. But who would you rather try to stop: Baron or Richardson? If you had to try and contain one person, it has to be Davis.

I'm with you here. The Mavericks need to have a miracle shooting barrage in the next THREE games to get out of this alive. They have been roughed up, demoralized, outcoached and outplayed. They don't have the personnel to overcome a lineup of 5 players that can score at will.

The telltale sign is this: If the Mavericks were playing better when Dirk was on the bench, they are in serious shi.t

 

the buffalo bills of the nba anyone?

 

Actually, tonight after Baron Davis had broken Jason Terry's ankles for the umpteenth time for yet another layup, Avery put Harris in to try and stay in front of him. Davis brought the ball up and looked like he was about to do the same thing again, and then he just handed the ball off to someone else (can't remember if it was Jackson or Richardson) and let them exploit a different mismatch.

I got into this game late ... and I know Davis has punished Harris on the post up many times this series, but I'm pretty sure that trying to switch Howard onto Davis at the expense of giving up size/quickness to the other guys on the floor would only compound the defensive problems that Dallas has. They're probably better served trying to actually manufacture some form of real help defense and rotation that doesn't involve Devin Harris snapping his head back like an epileptic and flopping. Hell -- pack the paint and make them hit jumpshots, it's not like GS has exactly been lighting it up from distance. Their interior defense is just sorry right now.

 

they shot 48% tonight. not sure how many layups/point in the paint counted for that percentage, but 48% isn't poor.

especially compared to allas' 38% shooting, and houston's 32% last night.

 

What everyone fail to realize is that the Mavs have a sleeping giant in Ericka. The #3 center in the world now that Yao is #1.

Well unfortunately although winter has long ended, hibernation for this giant looks like it's not slowing down. Ever.

 

Golden State scored about 53-56 points in the paint fyi

 

Golden State was 6-23 from beyond the arc. And they've been terrible from distance the entire series.

I don't know what the final tally, but at the end of the 3rd quarter or thereabouts they already had a 20+ edge in points in the paint. They got into the lane at will, and it wasn't just Baron. Monta, Jackson, Richardson, Barnes, Pietrus, Biedrins ... all of them were getting to the basket whenever they wanted, and Dallas could do nothing to stop them.

 

found this shot chart

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=270427009


look at all those X and O in the paint

i counted 20 attempts (not counting 3s) and 7 makes. that's 35% shooting, not great and 6-23 from 3 point range is pretty bad....

 

Does tonight not remind you guys of the Pistons - Lakers game 3 at the palace? It was like an exact replica minus the infighting.