Dallas, Golden State, Denver

[95pro]

another win for the suns. but utah is still a little too comfy in that 4th spot even though suns lakers are tied w/ a better record.

denver loses. and i'm counting on another loss tomorrow night.

just by judging the trending-pattern. denver looks like they will not be in the playoffs, they've been in the 9th for a while. everyone else(except for the Mavs) is holding their posistion in the top 6.

but you never know. injury(ie mavs), couple of bad calls/plays could cause any of the top 6 to faulter.

 

[Lorenzo]

well i dont think the mavs have much of a chance without dirk. howard is playing well....showing he can be a go to guy in the fourth. and that's a good thing because no one other than dirk has fufilled that role this season. the problem is other players aren't scoring....terry to name one. and they go through major droughts at the offensive end without dirk on the floor. no way this team makes the playoffs without him. and if they somehow do what's the point in getting bounced in the first round. the mavs get a first round pick if they miss the playoffs. so i guess the biggest question is when does dirk return? that's the only outside chance they have. High sprains usually take about a month or so on average. stackhouse has a groin injury as well. oh good win for phoenix tonight. they helped dallas.

 

[sLapzsHaQ]

I think Dallas would be out, Denver is definitely will be in, even if they would lose to us again tomorrow. They have a favorable schedule ahead, unlike GS & Dallas, and Denver holds the tiebreakers. So, 7th seed is Denver, then 8th for GS.

 

[95pro]

well i dont think the mavs have much of a chance without dirk. howard is playing well....showing he can be a go to guy in the fourth. and that's a good thing because no one other than dirk has fufilled that role this season. the problem is other players aren't scoring....terry to name one. and they go through major droughts at the offensive end without dirk on the floor. no way this team makes the playoffs without him. and if they somehow do what's the point in getting bounced in the first round. the mavs get a first round pick if they miss the playoffs. so i guess the biggest question is when does dirk return? that's the only outside chance they have. High sprains usually take about a month or so on average. stackhouse has a groin injury as well. oh good win for phoenix tonight. they helped dallas.

i agree with most of that. Mavs have no one to score points. Terry & Howard need to step up big time. both are major dissapointment, terry more so than howard. howard can step up from time to time...
and we know kid and dampier cant score the points.

you will see this when they play GS.

 

[TheHopToad]

Nobody in the west has even clinched a playoff spot yet.

Utah will be the first to clinch a spot. They could have the Northwest Division wraped up by this weekend.

 

[95pro]

Utah will be the first to clinch a spot. They could have the Northwest Division wraped up by this weekend.

thats sad. like i've said, they have been in that "6th" spot for a while & they get to clinch a playoff spot.

its not fair, as usually things are not.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

I'd rather Utah clinch the #1 spot unfairly than the Atlanta freaking Hawks even get a taste of playoff action.

 

[95pro]

I'd rather Utah clinch the #1 spot unfairly than the Atlanta freaking Hawks even get a taste of playoff action.

even if they dont make the playoffs, the pick is still going to suck.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

even if they dont make the playoffs, the pick is still going to suck.

Well its not going to go top 3, I think everyone has accepted that, but it has a damn good chance of landing around #9. We have a decent history of picks with the 9th pick.

 

[capologist]

it has a damn good chance of landing around #9.

No it doesn’t. The Hawks have a 3-game lead on the Pacers and a fairly easy schedule from here on out. Plus, they’re hot (on a 4-game winning streak). There’s no way the Pacers are going to make up 3 games with only 8 left. The Hawks are in the playoffs.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

No it doesn’t. The Hawks have a 3-game lead on the Pacers and a fairly easy schedule from here on out. Plus, they’re hot (on a 4-game winning streak). There’s no way the Pacers are going to make up 3 games with only 8 left. The Hawks are in the playoffs.

The context of my quote was discussing hypotheitcals in the chance that it is lottery bound. Not their chances of securing a playoff spot.

I am fully aware the odds are NOT in our favor, and it sucks.

 

[Lorenzo]

i agree with most of that. Mavs have no one to score points. Terry & Howard need to step up big time. both are major dissapointment, terry more so than howard. howard can step up from time to time...
and we know kid and dampier cant score the points.

you will see this when they play GS.

I've already seen them play denver and GS without dirk....it will lead to a loss unless those teams play poorly. those two score too many points on average for an opponent to have their best offensive player missing from their team. I can't blame josh howard.....he has averaged about 30 pts ppg in dirk's absence. I'd say he's maximizing his potential in that regard. In one game he shot like 17 free throws I believe. If you are going to question anyone of course it would be terry. why is this guy not scoring more with dirk out........he says it's because he doesn't have the clean looks that dirk gives him....which is true to an extent but not totally. the other question I have is why don't the mavericks run more plays for josh howard in close games when dirk IS on the floor. In the fourth qtr of tight games everything is always through dirk or terry. josh howard is clearly their 2nd best scorer because of his ability to create his own shot from anywhere on the court. he also attracts contact a lot more effectively than terry does. hopefully avery has made this observation and will lean more on howard and less on terry down the stretch of tight games.

 

[95pro]

agreed. Terry needs to man up.

 

[Lorenzo]

even if they dont make the playoffs, the pick is still going to suck.

possibly. some were talking about your team being better off missing the playoffs if you don't feel they can win a first round series. mavs fans have definitely been talking that way. this is actually a great article on that topic by the Dallas morning news: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/040208dnspocowlishaw.2c4cec4.html

 

[S_Nash]

Hey lorenzo,

I'd love to know your thoughts on the Kidd/Harris trade now.

Surely, you'd have to agree that Cuban has made yet another mistake regarding Dallas' PG position?

Also, are you on the fire Avery bandwagon? Reading over at dallas-mavs.com, it seems that ever since he sat Damp and Diop for the opening game of last years playoffs, everyone wants his iso's and his ass outta Dallas.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Especially with Brand coming back (hopefully) this week. He plans on playing during this week's road trip. Maybe Wednesday's game against the Sonics. That's my team so I am hoping he and the Clips play a part in that role. I don't like Denver so if we can help GS's cause (like them) then I'm all for it. We have owned them the last few years.

Yep. Brand is hoping for a new contract next year. He needs to show that he is healthy.

 

[Lorenzo]

Hey lorenzo,

I'd love to know your thoughts on the Kidd/Harris trade now.

Surely, you'd have to agree that Cuban has made yet another mistake regarding Dallas' PG position?

Also, are you on the fire Avery bandwagon? Reading over at dallas-mavs.com, it seems that ever since he sat Damp and Diop for the opening game of last years playoffs, everyone wants his iso's and his ass outta Dallas.

no way do i want them to fire avery. i think he is a good coach. kidd? well I was against the trade from the start because of the long term. Harris was making major leaps from season to season and I feel the mavs gave up on him. however, it doesn't change the fact that the mavs made the trade for the present not the future. and kidd is a better PG for what the mavs want currently. for whatever reason this team just hasn't got it together and it's not all kidd's fault. dallas may miss harris' scoring. but kidd is doing what they brought him in to do. the other mavs players need to step it up especially down the stretch of games.

 

[95pro]

haha! mavs pull out a big win against GS.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Its over for the Warriors, tonight sealed their fate. What a gutless, uninspired, pathetic performance. No heart, no desire, and complete lack of focus.

Warriors, becasue of tie breakers, are now 3 games behind Mavs and 2 game behind Nuggets with 7 to play. So even if the Warriors go 5-2 in last 7 they need Mavs to go 2-5 and Nuggets to go 3-4. Niether is going to happen.

Amazing how the Warriors seemed not to grasp this from the tipoff. Compelete disgrace and failure of Nelson and every single player on the court. Its as if they think their record is good enough.

 

[95pro]

for now...at least.

the majority of us, broadcasters, analysts were wrong. i was wrong.
i thought denver would be out of it.(most others pick the Mavs to be out)
our lost to denver, and the mavs win over GS helped put GS down another notch below denver.

denver had the refs on their side, then got lucky dirk came back and provided an emotional & physical lift for the mavs.

 

[Lorenzo]

well it goes both ways. the mavericks played with some passion for once as well. finally they got stops and were able to beat golden state at their own game. that's the way dallas needs to play. they have the foot speed and athletic ability to score in transition and they need to do that more often. they were still able to do it with dampier on the floor and dirk playing with a concrete shoe. I heard the golden state announcers after the game last week talking about needing to contain brandon bass, but for once avery stuck with dampier, he was effective and bass didn't even need to play. I think dirk gave them an emotional lift more than anything because he was very limited. but 18 points obviously still helps. then combine that with golden state just never playing defense(especially in transition) so GS have to get solid offense out of all of their players.....which they didn't. but give the mavs some credit for their defense. jason kidd had a wonderful defensive game. avery did a great job of getting eddie jones and devon george on baron davis. it looked different than in the playoffs where davis just relentlessly abused devin harris and jason terry.

 

[95pro]

havent' seen eddie jones play in a while. guy still has the hops.

 

[Lorenzo]

havent' seen eddie jones play in a while. guy still has the hops.

I've been looking for him for a while now. but he's been battling injuries. he had a great game on both ends....he did a great job defensively and hit a couple of big three's. that dunk was probably one of the most emotional plays of the year for the mavs. hopefully he didn't get hurt tonight. they need that offense with stack injured.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

I can give the Mavs props they played with intensity and desire while the Warriors did not. The Mavs wanted it more than W's because they actually realized the importance of this game and the tie breaker and knew that the season was on the line with this game. Nelson should have had his group hyped 2night, he should've played a game tape from last season to show them what they can do when they rise to the occaison and play with heart and passion. Total failure on thier part tonight.

The Mavs were the professionals tonight.

 

[95pro]

Seeing the replay over n over, where Dirk rolls his ankle/knee. ouch.

amazing he came back this soon, and also contributed.
he's gonna feel it tomorrow.lol