I'm enjoying reading your board, because you guys sound so much like us Mavs fans. And why not. You guys are us, 3 years ago. You got Stevie being Stevie, and Raja as a combo of himself on D and Finley on offense. We love those guys and hated losing them. You have centers who can shoot from outside, and no decent shockblocking. You have guys who can play defense, but often settle for just taking the ball out of the net and running it back down the opponents throats. You got a team playing the style Don Nelson coached for 15 years, but your coach gives Nash more freedom, so he's better than when he was here, and in better shape. And since you've only knocked us out of the playoffs once, we don't hate your team as much as we were sick of the Spurs, being state champs and all.
This ought to be a great series. Here's some stuff you may not know about our team, and why I think the Mavs win.
Dirk. Has spent all year learning how to beat small forwards who defend him. He scored 29 on Artest, swept Memphis with Battier in round 1. Marion was never as good agaisnt him this year as he was in the playoffs last year. Last year, he'd gone 7 games against McGrady in Houston before he got to Marion. This year, he's been warming up on Bowen. Marion will seem like a vacation. And did you see the play that sent our game 7 to OT? Where Dirk just blows by Bowen? You may be better off putting Marion on Howard, where he might be more effective.
Depth. Avery played 10 players against San Antonio. If Nash gets hot, he can try 3 point guards who are as quick, or either Howard or Marquis Daniels for their length. If Marion is going, both Howard and Adrian Griffin are above average defenders. On offense, its never a problem having 5 scorers on the floor at a time. And Avery isn't afraid to go to his 11th man, DJ Mbenga, a young African center. He's got Amare's body, but he didn't start playing basketball until summer. He's got good enough feet to go outside with TT, and he's a fouling, shotblocking machine. Raw, but scary fun to watch. The only reason he doesn't play more is because he's a free agent and the Mavs want to resign him, so they are hiding him in the playoffs. His only start last year was in April, against PHX. Gee, I wonder why?
Speed kills. Everybody says no one can run with Phoenix, and until last month, that may have been true. But in San Antonio, game 2, Devin Harris had his coming out party. The kid played well in the 1st half of the season, and was supposed to tranistion into starting when he got hurt and missed the last 30 games. He's still raw, but he's faster than Nash, and runs a good fast break. The rest of the team, except the centers, were chosen because they could play Nellieball. We can go with Dirk, Van Horn, Howard, Daniels, Terry, Harris and match Phoenix speed for speed. Our break isn't as smooth as yours, but it sure forced San Antonio to bench all its bigs. We don't want to go there, but we ain't afraid of that style one little bit.
Defense. The main difference between these Mavs and Nash's Mavs is defense. Nobody on this team takes a play off. Johnson has an assistant coach that watches tape of every game and notes every defensive mistake. The next day, every player gets a detailed report of each mistake, and a grade. The team gets a grade as well. They know if the team scores over 70, they win, and if under 50 they lose, and they can see how their score effects the team. Its made them super accountable to each other, and much more methodical about correecting mistakes. At varing times of the year, we've had trouble guarding point guards or small forwards, or Pau Gasol. Not anymore. Avery is very good at correcting problems. The only ones he can't solve are the impossible ones. Like Duncan, and maybe Nash. To beat us in March, the Suns needed Raja to go 5-5, TT 5-7 and Marion 2-2 from the 3 point Line. If your guys can shoot 67% on 3's every game, were in trouble. I doubt they can shoot 67% in practice day after day.
Avery Johnson; This year's coach of the year vs last years. To Me D'Antoni is a smarter, cooler Don Nelson. He took the best of Nellie and Nash and improved on it. AJ also took the best of Nellie. But he won his championship under Popovich, and brings all that defensive mindedness. And the Mavs believe in him. They do what he says and they get better and they know it works. He says "I've led a team to a championship, this is how it's done," and every player has bought into his vision, lock stock and barrell. In the'03 season, when we got to the WC Finals, Avery was left off the playoff roster, but stayed on as an assistant coach. In round one, the Mavs started out beating Portland 3 straight. Then they lost 3. Nelson decided to let Avery make the pre-game speech. That speech is a big reason he's coach today. But his work this year shows he deserved it. This year alone, he's jettisoned Christie, his starting shooting guard, benched Dampier, his 70 Million dollar center, and gotten better. AJ got outcoached by both Van Gundy and D'Antoni last year. This year, he ran rings around Fratello and Popovich. He swept Memphis starting Griffin. In SA, he benched Griff and went a speed line up, starting Harris, who had played 17 minutes in the previous 30 games. Finally, in game 7, saving Diop until 1 minute left in the game, when he had five fouls to give and could go super aggressive on Duncan, who shot 1-7 in overtime. The guy is unreal, and full of surprizes. He just beat one mentor. Let's see how he does against his other mentor's evil twin.
Let's get it on!
This ought to be a great series. Here's some stuff you may not know about our team, and why I think the Mavs win.
Dirk. Has spent all year learning how to beat small forwards who defend him. He scored 29 on Artest, swept Memphis with Battier in round 1. Marion was never as good agaisnt him this year as he was in the playoffs last year. Last year, he'd gone 7 games against McGrady in Houston before he got to Marion. This year, he's been warming up on Bowen. Marion will seem like a vacation. And did you see the play that sent our game 7 to OT? Where Dirk just blows by Bowen? You may be better off putting Marion on Howard, where he might be more effective.
Depth. Avery played 10 players against San Antonio. If Nash gets hot, he can try 3 point guards who are as quick, or either Howard or Marquis Daniels for their length. If Marion is going, both Howard and Adrian Griffin are above average defenders. On offense, its never a problem having 5 scorers on the floor at a time. And Avery isn't afraid to go to his 11th man, DJ Mbenga, a young African center. He's got Amare's body, but he didn't start playing basketball until summer. He's got good enough feet to go outside with TT, and he's a fouling, shotblocking machine. Raw, but scary fun to watch. The only reason he doesn't play more is because he's a free agent and the Mavs want to resign him, so they are hiding him in the playoffs. His only start last year was in April, against PHX. Gee, I wonder why?
Speed kills. Everybody says no one can run with Phoenix, and until last month, that may have been true. But in San Antonio, game 2, Devin Harris had his coming out party. The kid played well in the 1st half of the season, and was supposed to tranistion into starting when he got hurt and missed the last 30 games. He's still raw, but he's faster than Nash, and runs a good fast break. The rest of the team, except the centers, were chosen because they could play Nellieball. We can go with Dirk, Van Horn, Howard, Daniels, Terry, Harris and match Phoenix speed for speed. Our break isn't as smooth as yours, but it sure forced San Antonio to bench all its bigs. We don't want to go there, but we ain't afraid of that style one little bit.
Defense. The main difference between these Mavs and Nash's Mavs is defense. Nobody on this team takes a play off. Johnson has an assistant coach that watches tape of every game and notes every defensive mistake. The next day, every player gets a detailed report of each mistake, and a grade. The team gets a grade as well. They know if the team scores over 70, they win, and if under 50 they lose, and they can see how their score effects the team. Its made them super accountable to each other, and much more methodical about correecting mistakes. At varing times of the year, we've had trouble guarding point guards or small forwards, or Pau Gasol. Not anymore. Avery is very good at correcting problems. The only ones he can't solve are the impossible ones. Like Duncan, and maybe Nash. To beat us in March, the Suns needed Raja to go 5-5, TT 5-7 and Marion 2-2 from the 3 point Line. If your guys can shoot 67% on 3's every game, were in trouble. I doubt they can shoot 67% in practice day after day.
Avery Johnson; This year's coach of the year vs last years. To Me D'Antoni is a smarter, cooler Don Nelson. He took the best of Nellie and Nash and improved on it. AJ also took the best of Nellie. But he won his championship under Popovich, and brings all that defensive mindedness. And the Mavs believe in him. They do what he says and they get better and they know it works. He says "I've led a team to a championship, this is how it's done," and every player has bought into his vision, lock stock and barrell. In the'03 season, when we got to the WC Finals, Avery was left off the playoff roster, but stayed on as an assistant coach. In round one, the Mavs started out beating Portland 3 straight. Then they lost 3. Nelson decided to let Avery make the pre-game speech. That speech is a big reason he's coach today. But his work this year shows he deserved it. This year alone, he's jettisoned Christie, his starting shooting guard, benched Dampier, his 70 Million dollar center, and gotten better. AJ got outcoached by both Van Gundy and D'Antoni last year. This year, he ran rings around Fratello and Popovich. He swept Memphis starting Griffin. In SA, he benched Griff and went a speed line up, starting Harris, who had played 17 minutes in the previous 30 games. Finally, in game 7, saving Diop until 1 minute left in the game, when he had five fouls to give and could go super aggressive on Duncan, who shot 1-7 in overtime. The guy is unreal, and full of surprizes. He just beat one mentor. Let's see how he does against his other mentor's evil twin.
Let's get it on!
