tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post3020947850792066212..comments2023-06-15T10:49:50.190-05:00Comments on On the Dallas Mavericks: The Big Gamescootshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14648062432937107093noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-55627460558513237192007-04-22T22:01:00.000-05:002007-04-22T22:01:00.000-05:00Well, the first half has been terrible! Just awef...Well, the first half has been terrible! Just aweful basketball. At least the warriors are playing up to the same level of stink.micahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08747261572899892609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-5473671189658573432007-04-21T22:20:00.000-05:002007-04-21T22:20:00.000-05:00Yeah, well how about this? Nowitzki burns Marion ...Yeah, well how about <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vy0kI4SMvo" REL="nofollow">this</A>? Nowitzki burns Marion for points 11 and 12 at the 1:05 mark of the clip. Marion’s a great defender, but there’s nothing you can do when a great offensive player is doing what he does best.<BR/><BR/>Beginning with point 21 (at about the 2:25 mark) is where Dirk starts going nuts.scootshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14648062432937107093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-15714231914782395382007-04-21T21:59:00.000-05:002007-04-21T21:59:00.000-05:00Counterpoint.<A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1n7RYU4GhU" REL="nofollow">Counterpoint</A>.Texpathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18420383036173601355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-76163452930921701612007-04-21T21:30:00.000-05:002007-04-21T21:30:00.000-05:00Oops, my bad. But I hardly think Dirk is the reas...Oops, my bad. But I hardly think Dirk is the reason Wade scored so many points in the finals. Josh Howard and Devin Harris are excellent defenders, but I <I>swear</I> the refs didn’t let them guard Wade. Either he got an open shot (which he kept making––give him credit for that), or else if the defender was anywhere near him, they gave him the foul call. Either way, I don’t think Wade’s scoring was Dirk’s fault.<BR/><BR/>That’s the problem with Dirk being 7 feet tall. Because he’s a power forward, the refs sometimes let defenders rough him up. If they called the kind of contact on Dirk that they did on Wade, it would have been a different series.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I heard that Bruce Bowen later claimed that the second round series would have been a different series if they had let him guard Dirk the way they let Udonis Haslem guard him in the finals. There was one game where Dirk was backing down Bowen for a turnaround jumper with a few seconds left, and the refs called Bowen for what looked like no foul at all. But in the finals, Dirk didn’t get many calls like that, and Wade got them every time down the court.<BR/><BR/>Here’s something: the Heat lose their first playoff game tonight, and Shaq <A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270421004" REL="nofollow">blames it on the officiating</A>. Go figure. Wade, wisely, appears to have kept his mouth shut.scootshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14648062432937107093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-55209605089512861862007-04-21T18:37:00.000-05:002007-04-21T18:37:00.000-05:00I had come around on Dirk, and now you remind me t...I had come around on Dirk, and now you remind me that he can't get to the rim and he can't you a stop when you need it. Arghh!!Texpathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18420383036173601355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-35695539130815457932007-04-21T15:59:00.000-05:002007-04-21T15:59:00.000-05:00It’s also interesting that the biggest criticism o...It’s also interesting that the biggest criticism of Dirk’s playoff performances has been his offensive troubles, which are what I’m mainly defending him for at this point.<BR/><BR/>And it is true that we could wish Dirk could get to the rim and/or get better shots more often at the ends of games.<BR/><BR/>But in the end, most of the playoff series the Mavericks have lost in Dirk’s career have come down to the team’s poor defense rather than an inability to score. Remember when Dallas used to play Sacramento in the playoffs every year and get lit up every game?<BR/><BR/>And more recently, there have been three seasons when Dallas really should have performed better in the playoffs. <BR/><BR/>The first was when they lost to the Spurs in the wcf: Dallas had a big lead in the fourth quarter, but Steve Kerr and Stephen Jackson started hitting 3’s and Dallas couldn’t stop them––although the Mavericks stopped scoring, too, that quarter. But Dirk wasn’t even playing that game, so who knows what we would have seen if he had been on the court.<BR/><BR/>The second ugly loss was against the Suns during Nash’s break-out year. Dallas should have pushed that to seven games, but I’m sure we all remember Jason Terry back-pedaling too fast and Nash pulling up for a wide-open 3 to send the game into overtime. I’m sure we also all remember Stoudemire scoring 40 points whenever he wanted it that series. And that year’s playoffs also featured Dirk calling out Erick Dampier publicly, not to mention his yelling at Jason Terry on the court after the Nash 3-pointer; not Dirk’s finest hour. But still, the problem was more defense than offense.<BR/><BR/>And then last year against Miami: sure, Dallas had a couple of plays near the end of game 6 where they turned the ball over or missed the big shot, but I think everyone would agree that the Heat won the series primarily because Dallas couldn’t stop Wade from scoring. We could wish that Dirk had gone off for 40 points a game as well, but then we’d be talking about one of the greatest head-to-head performances for two stars in the history of the game. Surely we can’t call Dirk a loser just because he didn’t live up to that.<BR/><BR/>All this to say: all the commentators are right to say that defense is what you need in order to win a championship. Other than a rare miracle like Wade’s performance last year (and I think it would have been far less miraculous with fairer reffing, but that’s neither here nor there), you can’t count on your offense––even if Dirk keeps up his 29/13 on 50% FG pace––to win you a championship.scootshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14648062432937107093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3841361437254309340.post-48369604214276859562007-04-21T09:09:00.000-05:002007-04-21T09:09:00.000-05:00Great analysis. I think Dirk’s finals meltdown ha...Great analysis. I think Dirk’s finals meltdown had distorted my memory. When you look at the numbers alone, Dirk has to be considered an all-time great. Unfortunately for those of us who work hard behind the scenes (or, in Dirk’s case, who play well when people aren’t paying attention), perception often counts more than reality.Texpathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18420383036173601355noreply@blogger.com