- What an ugly, unpleasant first half to watch. Golden State at 33% FG, the Mavericks at 29%. Dirk was only 3 of 11, but no one on the team hit half their shots. And it’s not as if the Mavericks were just missing jump shots. Layup after layup rimmed out.
- A lot of it seemed to be because the Warriors played rough on them, but there were several shots Dallas had no reason not to hit.
- Dirk especially suffered from the rough defense, as he has occasionally. He’s not bulky enough to outmuscle people, and he’s not quick enough to just run around someone who guards him too tight.
- Barkley criticized the Mavericks for changing their lineup to match Golden State. According to sportscaster orthodoxy, you should always impose your will on the other team, and Barkley thought a team that won 67 games shouldn’t change their lineup because of the 8th seed. There’s some truth to that, of course, but if I remember correctly, Avery Johnson adjusted the starting lineups during the season in order to win 67 games. Still, I’d rather see Dampier on the court.
- I think the Warriors blocked 3 Mavericks jump shots in the first half. Ugly.
- What an awful, awful announcing pair. Fratello isn’t great, and I think there was something wrong with Dick Stockton tonight. Coming into the second half there was a video glitch, and then it sounded like his mind just started to wander.
- As annoying as it is to see Dirk play badly, I really don’t mind if the Mavericks have to sit him to win. The Warriors are a gimmicky team, so I say do whatever beats them and move on with the post-season.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
I’m really not enjoying this
Some thoughts on the first half of Mavericks-Warriors game 1:
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End of third: if Baron Davis is going to jack threes every time down the court and make them all, I think we’re just going to have to live with that.
Stackhouse is terrible!
Arghhh. At the beginning of the year, I wanted to skip the regular season to get to the playoffs. Now that the regular season was so great, I’m not sure I even want to watch the playoffs anymore.
Anyway, Dallas has started out a playoff series this way many times before and still won. But I’m still queasy tonight. Did Steven Jackson’s late 3-pointer give anyone else an ugly flashback to 2003?
This game was so frustrating. The Mavs couldn't shoot and I don't think Avery coached good either. I think it was a mistake to play small ball, especially when you can't shoot. We needed all the second chance opportunities we could get. I thought we played our best when we have a big on the court. I think Damp should have played way more. The two minutes he played he had 3 boards, 2 of which were offensive.
Stackhouse was a piece of garbage - 0-6 and 5 turnovers. Even when he made a steal, he took the ball down and turned it right over.
The only bench points came from Diop!
The good news is, I don't think the Mavericks can play much worse offensively––Stackhouse is bound to start hitting eventually, and hopefully Dirk will figure out how to get off a decent shot too. Diop’s 1-for-2 this game made him the only Maverick to hit half his shots.
The bad news is, the Warriors can play a lot better offensively.
For me, my worst nightmare is coming true. I remember looking at the standings after our third loss to the Warriors this season and hoping that they would not jump up to the 8th seed. I knew that they would give us trouble as was evidenced by last night. As Scott pointed out, they beat us without even playing that well! We had low scoring game but still couldn't win. I know it's still early and the Mavs should still pull this out, but I can't help but jumping to the worst-cast scenario of losing in the first round to the 8th seed and a Don Nelson team. I don't think I could recover as a fan or the Mavs could recover as a team.
Another stereotypical Dirk quote, this one after the game last night:
"Obviously the pressure is on us all the way," said Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki, who was 4-of-16 for 14 points with 12 rebounds. "Nobody expects them to win. Shooting 35 percent on our home court won't get it done. We've got to get better shots and go from there."
Maybe if/when the Mavericks get through this, it will be good prep for figuring out how to guard the Suns, with all their athletic slashers and fast tempo.
All in all, I'd rather have to win 4 of 6 against the Warriors than have to win 4 of 6 against the Nuggets (cf. San Antionio).
Yeah, maybe. But comparing our situation to the Spurs' right now isn't much consolation considering the expectations I have for the Mavericks.
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