Spurs vs Mavericks: Who knows?

Depends on those role players – Spurs in 6

CMoney has convinced me the glass is full….no halves involved.

Your first paragraph is good stuff. I like the two sided view you provided here. I agree with you that losing to the Mavs in 5 or winning it all nothing would be overly surprising. I want to say that your glass half full is more right than your glass half empty, but I know that’s just the fan in me. It’ll be interesting to see which of your scenarios play out more.

The one thing the Spurs have going in their favor, that you didn’t mention, is motivation. I’m sure the Mavs have it too, it’s the playoffs after all, but I’m talking about the Spurs motivation. I’ve seen several interviews of Spurs lately talking about how everyone had written them off mid-season. They want to prove to the pundits and themselves that they are that good of a team. Also, they owe the Mavs for last year and that’s gotta be worth something.

I’m looking for Spurs defense and Manu inspiring guys with his plays making them believe the same way I believe. If Spurs bring the defensive intensity early on, like the way they did when they first beat the nuggets (early contest,physical) anything is possible.

when he was told that he wouldn’t be playing in the last game. That’s the kind of competetor he is. If he & Tony stay healthy…..Spurs beat Mavs in 6.

Recc’ed by the way, and I’d love to argue your 3 point statement that we aren’t as good as we think:

1. Cedric Jackson, Duncan, Dice, Blair, and Hairston are a combined 4 of 28 (14%). Tony is 10 of 34 (29.4%). Ratliff and Ian are the only Spurs not to attempt one.

2. Finley and Haislip were 16 of 46 (34.8%), but are gone.

3. Manu, Hill, Bonner, Bogans and Temple take 2/3rds of our 3 point attempts and shoot a combined 38.2% (377 of 988). Without looking it up, I would say Manu, Hill, and Bonner all went through or started in slumps to even hurt that number and are all shooting better now.

4. Mason and RJ kill us on 3 point shooting. They are the other third of attempts. They are combined 147 of 451 for 32.6%. RJ has been shooting about 22% from 3 over the last month and a half but finally has his attempts under 2 a game. This is probably preferred to him jacking up shots at around 32% at 2.5-2.8 shots per game. RJ has one less attempt than Hill and shoots over 8% worse.

Mason is second on the team behind Manu in 3 point attempts. He has 30 more than Bonner and 76 more than Hill. I don’t know what is going on with him. He was 60 of 148 (40.5%) to start the season (up to the January 29th Memphis home game where he shot 4-5). Since the Denver game where he went 0-5, he has gone 28 of 116 (24.1 %). Mason’s 3 point shot is a serious issue if he is on the court.

Hi guys, Allas Mavericks fan here. I would like to say that I really enjoy reading your posts here. I believe Allas will beat San Antonio in the first round. There is also a possibility of a sweep. Irk Nowitzki is gonna kill SA. I believe Allas will be able to contain Manu. He is among the easiest players to guard in the league anyway. I don’t think Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess are capable of leaping and banging inside. Erick Ampier and Brenan Haywoo are going to own them big time. Even DeJuan Blair won’t be able to keep up with our elite centers. We’re going to fly high with Jason Tewwy. Sorry, I don’t want you guys to be stopped from writing those great posts and comments, but this is going to be our time and you’ll be off to an early vacation. Peace out.

I think the spurs take this series.

There is a MASSIVE coaching mismatch going on in this series. I’m willing to bet that Pop knows what Dallas is going to do at this point even if Rick Carlisle doesn’t know yet. Part of Pop’s coaching mastery is his mid-series adjustments, but last year there were no adjustments to be made. Pop has a much healthier and more versatile team this year and can actually make changes – which will be necessary, remember that Sunday will be the first time this year these two teams as they’re currently composed play against each other, so adjustments will be made from game to game as the coaches fine tune their strategies. Pop got a look at full-strength wednesday, Carlisle has no idea what Spurs team he’s gonna see, and to be honest I don’t even really know what lineups we’ll see. Advantage: Spurs

Not having home court almost feels like an advantage now, could you imagine the Spurs not winning one of these first two in Dallas? I couldn’t.

Dirk and Matchups
We still don’t have anybody who can make Dirk work for a shot. When it comes to money time, he will continue to eat our lunch with his mid-range game. We have a matchup problem when the play Dirk at the 4. It gets worse when they play him at the 5. When the Mavs go small, who will Tim cover? A lineup of Dirk, Butler, Marion, Terry, and Kidd will create a LOT of problems for the Spurs.

I kept waiting for you to destroy this in the positive section. That lineup might be “nightmarish” for us but it sure will be nightmarish for them too. Who would guard Timmy? Hell, who would keep Blair from going for his first 30-30? (btw I believe Blair can be very effective even with their bigs playing).

The first paragraph sums it up, probably for us all. Before Manu went all Ma-Nu I had serious doubts. Anyway, in regard to the half empy/half full preview. The fan in me leans toward the half full one, with the Vulcan in me adding a 30-35% mix of the half empty. I guess that makes a 1/3 full. Hopefully this results a good drink.

hope sprang out of the poo

PtRockers, I believe that we have our playoff shirt.

Our glass is full of grit. Spurs in five.

Who knows? I know! Well, I like to think I do. So many keys to this series. How about winning the first game, as they did at our place last season? How about winning the 3pt differential in most every game? FT shooting has been a problem for us as of late and in the playoffs we know Dirk gets babied, unless anyone has forgotten the Joey Crawford Abomination on May 13, 2006: 24 FTA and Timmy fouling out.

I do think it’s important to note that the Spurs’ big-3 have only played against the Mavs once this season. Twice in the past 13 games going back to last season. Think about that. Imagine if we had only played them with Dirk, Kidd and Terry 2 out of 13 times. Now think about the growth of Hill and presence of Blair. Think of how more athletic the team is without Finley, Thomas, JV and Udoka.

Finally, though the Spurs’ defense has been below what we find normal, they have held the Mavs under 100 points and 42% shooting in three of the four games this season. It would seem where we need improvement is offensive execution and scoring. With all guys now knowing their roles and the big-3 healthy, we got this. Spurs in 6.

Over the last 21 games, hope sprang out of the poo like a field of poppies.

Can we immortalize that?

Wouldn’t the glass be full if it is “Spurs in 4”? That to me screams a playoff series that went easy (even if all games were decided in the last minute).