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San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks - Game 3 Thread

By Tim C.

That was a pretty nice victory we had the other night. However

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[crickets]

.

OK enough inside-joking. As good as that game the other night was, the Spurs could have played better. Timmy wasn't doing much on offense, and as good as our defense was, there was still something missing. What could it have been? Oh wait, that's right - it was someone who was missing.

Somebody needs to find this guy:

Rp_primary_82099349_10_medium

via www.iupuijags.com

Yes, this is from the official website of IUPUI. Drink!

His free throw defense the other night was impeccable. But we can probably expect the Mavs to try some crazy lineup experiments to get something going on offense. Bruce can't gaurd Terry and Barea at the same time. Nope, he's going to need some help. This is where being Bruce's protegé could come in handy. What's that you say? Pop still coaches the Spurs? Oh, mother*^*%er. I guess it's up to Roger then.

Preview after the jump.

Ptr_ambigram_white_on_black_medium
Game Time: 7:30 Spurs Time,
9:30 pm Argentina
2:30 am Palestine, 3:30 am CET, Egypt
8:30 am Perth, Japan, 7:30 am Philippines
9:30 am Guam
8:30 EDT, 6:30 MDT,
5:30 PDT/AZ "#@*! you, other states" Time		 Officials:
Joey Crawford
and his
army of evil


TV: NBA TV


1
 Tony Parker
Tony
Soprano 		Roger Mason
Mace
Windu 		Tim Duncan
Timmay! 		Matt Bonner
Red
Rocket 		Michael Finley
Billy
Ocean


1
 Jason Kidd
ATS
alter-ego? 		Antoine Wright
Antoinette
Wright 		Erick Dampier
Ericka
Dampier 		Dirk Nowitzki
Dirkarella
No-Wits 		Josh Howard
Mid-game
Munchies
images via yahoo.com
54-28 Regular Season 50-32
2 Season Series 2
28-13 Home 32-9
26-15 Road 18-23
97.0 Offense 101.7
93.3 Defense 99.8
46.6 FG% 46.2
38.6 3-pt% 35.0
76.1 FT% 81.9
41.0 Rebounds 42.7
11.7 TOs 12.7
PG
SG
C
PF
SF
Bench
Coach
Intangibles
Mojo
Winner

Starting Matchups

Point Guard

  • Tony Parker vs. Jason Kidd

    • Tony is the man. Still, we can't afford to let Kidd get anything easy - once he gets going, the Mavs are tough to stop. Tony needs to get at least 30, since the Mavs have nobody to guard him.

Shooting Guard

  • Roger Mason vs. Antoine Wright

    • Mace is superior to Wright. He is also superior to Barea, even at PG. Roger has been bringing it in this series - let's hope that continues.

Center

  • Tim Duncan vs. Erick Dampier

    • Don't ask why, but I have a feeling we might just see the Timmeh we saw in OT against the NOOCH last week make another appearance tonight. Possibly motivated by Damp's comments. Even against the second-best Center in the league!

Power Forward

  • Matt Bonner vs. Dirk Nowitzki

    • Dirk is going to break out of his funk sometime. It might be tonight. Matt has been doing as much as he can, but eventually Dirk is going to figure it out.

Small Forward

  • Michael Finley vs. Josh Howard

    • I stand by this, purely because Finley is gracious and doesn't hate America.


Everything else

  • Bench - Gooden is OK, so this is still pretty much a tie. We might need some of Ime's jujitsu tonight, if they try to start something. Ass-kicking advantage: Spurs.
  • Coach - Pop hasn't been as crazy in this series as he was through the last couple months of the season. He should still let Hill get some playoff experience, though.
  • Intangibles - Judging by the remarks made this week by Dirk and Ericka, the Spurs are already in their heads after one loss.
  • Mojo - At least 3 of our own PtR'ers will be at the game.
  • Winners - Spurs in a grinding defensive struggle. Or a blowout - either way works.

Keys To The Game

  • Tony and Tim - Tony needs to take it right at Dampier from the tip, because the officials are going to give him quick whistles. Also, isn't Damp usually guarding Timmy? TD should take it to him early and often. I couldn't imagine a better setup to get them frustrated early.
  • Defense - This can't be stressed enough. If the Spurs play the kind of D they did on Monday, they have an excellent chance to take this one.
  • Pop - Needs to keep making smart substitutions/defensive assignments. If he does, the Spurs will be in their heads, forcing them into mistakes.

Some other reading:

Mavs

Mavs Moneyball - SB Nation blog - but play nice if you wander over there.

The Two Man Game - TrueHoop Network blog.

Dallas Morning News Mavs Blog - kind of like MySA, but for them.

Blog Maverick - Cuban's blog.

dallas-mavs.com - seems to be a pretty active forum.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell - Always recommended reading, even if they are loosly affiliated with BSPN.

MySA Spurs Page - Spurs news and articles from "professionals".

SpursTalk - really active Spurs forum

Spurs Report - Another nice Spurs forum.

C-money's thread before the game thread. Worth the read, lots of linkitude.

Other things of possible interest

Game feeds

Check this game thead at gametime for specific links to good quality feeds. If you arrive late in the game, there game feed links are usually among the first 50 posts of the thread. Please rec any posts with working feed links to make them easier to find(recced posts turn green).

ATDHE.net
PPNBA
MyP2P
BitTorrent Davka (A torrent site where you will find most of the latest games in the league. Bookmark.)

Spurs audio feed - if all else fails.

Recap: Somebody will do a quick cap. And Stampler might drop by with an in-depth recap. Maybe.

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