The fact that Dirk won without a true #2 is amazing

Did you even watch the Rockets back then??!

 

Exactumundo.

That statline is insane. It does not even take into account the amount of shots he altered.

 

Also, if people would go back and look at the box scores: Vernon had a 34 point game. Thorpe had a 20/ 10 game. He had many 16 point 10 board games. He had 6 assists one game.

Sam Cassell was getting 6 assists off the bench. Horry had multiple steal games. Kenny had 2 20 point games, he had a 27 point game and a 25 point game.

Sam Cassell, in 18 minutes of play had a game were he tallied 9 points, 7 assists and 1 steal. This was in 18 minutes of play. That is ridiculous.

Horry had a 11 point, 10 board, 5 assist, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Really? No talent???? He also had a 22 point, 9 board, 3 assits, 1 block and 1 steal.

This is just a few of the games. Go back and look and then tell me again that the rockets had nothing but role players on the team.

 

The fact that Dallas won without a true #1 is amazing. I think the Heat weren't prepared for the Dallas zone. If you watch Dirk in the series his defensive rebounding and weakside defense were poor, which is why we saw Brian Cardinal playing for stretches in the 2nd half.

Jason Kidd coudn't keep the playmaking load on his shoulders in the 1st half so Dallas started Barrea, which gave the bench some extra help defense with Stevenson.

In all it was great coaching by Rick Carlisle.

 

Duncan-2003

 

strong fail

dirk is a true #1

 

... the worst Spurs championship team

 

Are you kidding me?


I think the whole Mavs' team is full of pieces of #2.

 

ummm how come none of them are considered all stars??? and how come none of them even made All NBA third team???

Also you take out Dirk the Mavs might not even make the playoffs in the west. It showed when he got injured and the mavs lost like 6 in a row this season.

 

Clyde Drexler didn't make the all-star team for his championship.

The entire Pistons team minus Ben Wallace did not get an all-star nod in their championship year. And Big Ben only got in because the East had no center.

Ginobilli was not an all-star for at least one, if not two of the Spurs championship runs.

All-star selection doesn't mean a whole lot, because it's a popularity contest + some coach's own freaking opinion.

The Lakers before Gasol had records that rivaled last year's Rockets.

Does this mean Gasol = Dirk?

 

dude wtf are you arguing here?
No one is talking about the Pistons and yes that team was an unusual team to win the championship just like how this Mavs team is. That Pistons team won it without even a clear #1. This Mavs team won it without a clear #2. Championships are usually won with a very clear #1 and #2 which is what people are discussing here and hence the title of the thread.

You can start a thread called "Pistons won it without a true#1 is amazing" thread if you like.

 

There are no championship teams in modern NBA history with the Mavs depth. Many of them really go 6-7 players deep where their top players play 40+mpg. Many of them do not have the luxury to choose which players to play based on matchups.

So should we discredit Dirk for being a p***y and not go to war with just six or seven other guys? Instead he brings along a freaking army?

 

lol.. you obviously dont watch basketball too much. There is a reason why people cant name a #2 option on the Mavs its because they dont have one! Butler might be that guy but he was injured.

And yes you can use an army analogy becuase the Mavs are a bunch of infantry led by Dirk. Take him out and they wont make the playoffs in the west.

Also were the Mavs really that deep in the finals? Injuries played huge role with Haywood and Butler out.

1) Dirk - Clear Number One, which is the point of this thread

Other Starters
2) Kidd - Old about to retire
3) Barea - Before this playoffs only Rocket fans new Barea since he always killed us. The casuaul fan's response would be Barea? who?
4) Marion - Only other solid and consistent player
5) Chandler - A very solid center and very good ROLE player

Bench
6) Terry - played amazing, clearly one of the best 6th man
7) Stevenson - streaky, nothing special

Other Crap Players that got spot minutes not really in rotation
-Cardinal
-Mahini

Hey count the number of players in the true rotation.. Why it looks like they only went 6-7 man deep.

before these playoffs started no one picked the Mavs to win. NO one .. even in the finals if you had to bet your house on it I doubt anyone would choose the Mavs on paper. They were the less talented team that won. If you look at the past 10 championships this Mavs team is one of the least talented. They have talented players but Kidd and Marion are well past their prime. If they had a prime Kidd and Prime marion along with the current Dirk and Terry then no arguements there.

 

They were still role players. Good role players.

 

oh so where is that army???

I pointed out the rotation in the finals. They only went 6-7 deep like any other team. Go check the box scores and minutes played before you make any wild statements. They had to play cardinal? and mahini? because of injuries. Those guys sure make the team deep.. oh and one more LOL at Peja..

Outside of that they had 7 players in the rotation.
Dirk, Kidd, Marion, Chandler, Barea, Terry, Stevenson

hah some army...

 

meh....

I thought I'd point out that in games 5 and 6 the Miami Bench actually played more minutes than the Dallas bench haha

game 6

Miller - 8 mins
Haslem - 34mins
Howard - 7mins
House - 21 mins

Total - 70 mins

Heat also played 9 players just like the mavs
Cardinal - 12 mins
Terry - 34 mins
Mahinmi - 11 mins
Stevenson 12 mins

Total 69 mins

Also a game of 4 on 4 of the above 4 players the Mavs bench wouldnt necssarily win.
So thats the bench.. we all know who's starters look way more stacked.


game 5, same story

Haslem, Miller, Howard, House, Chalmers
Heats total bench minutes - 88

Same Bench
Terry, Cardinal, Stevenson, Mahimi
Mavs total bench minutes - 61

 

But you have to look at the talent that comprises the payroll.

If it was 90M, and you had a starting lineup of all-stars, with all-stars coming off the bench for you, then yeah, not impressive.

While this Dallas team has a large payroll, they are a bunch of gritty vets. Wasn't Shawn Marion a backup for Butler before he went out?

Crazy.

 

Do you even understand the concept of versatility?

Versatility is the ability to match up against your opponent. Lack of versatility is the inability to play differently from your normal game. Minutes have nothing to do with it.

Dallas can change its lineup and distribution of minutes without sacrificing overall talent. For example, they can insert a JJ Berea into their starting lineup specifically against the Heat. Miami cannot counter because they have absolute crap in their depth.

 

Sorry, I meant to imply that they were pieces of *****s, replacing the word ***** with #2.

 

Hakeem could have won it without him. He was just doing his old buddy a favor.