Game 4: Spurs at Mavs

Starting Matchups

Point Guard

• Tony Parker vs. Jason Kidd

Tony is the man, even if it wasn't evident the other night. Which is why he needs a great bounce-back performance. Without Tony having an awesome game, the Spurs are through.

Shooting Guard

• Bruce Bowen vs. Jose Juan Barea

I'm assuming Carlisle is going to start Barea again. Apparently, Pop thinks so too, since he's starting Bruce Bowen. Bowen's defense vs. Barea's offense - I'm still calling this a tie.

Center

• Tim Duncan vs. Erick Dampier

A Haiku for comic relief. Seriously though, it's Timmy's bithday and he can dominate if he wants to.

Power Forward

• Matt Bonner vs. Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk was making Dirk shots [impossible, well defended] in game 3. He's going to do that, it's who he is. WE can't let him get easy buckets, though.

Small Forward

• Michael Finley vs. Josh Howard

Prove us wrong, Findog, prove us wrong.

Everything else

• Bench - Nothing new here. It's about time Gooden made his presence felt in this series.
• Coach - Against my impulses, I'm still going with Pop.
• Intangibles - Did anyone else see game 3?
• Mojo - see above
• Winners - Spurs, because the season's over if they don't.

Keys To The Game

• Give a Shit - I'm not sure this team gives us a shit. If they miss Manu for anything, it is this. He always gives a shit.
• Pride - If things don't go our way early and we get down 10, will we have the pride to keep fighting and executing. I'm not too sure.
• Rebounds - Keep an eye on this during the game. I know bones will. We must own the glass.

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.

Other things of possible interest

• Watch out for the summertime flu. That's right. The swine flu is on the loose.
  An excerpt:

  "We’re dealing with a new flu virus that constitutes a respiratory epidemic that so far is controllable," Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told reporters late Thursday, after huddling with President Felipe Calderón and other top officials. He said the virus had mutated from pigs and had at some point been transmitted to humans.

• Tim at 48MoH had an encouraging piece on Tiago. Which reminds me, James Gist is our man too. These are his stats. His team is 8th (out of 16) in the Italian league at 13-14. His teammate Jonas Jerebko is estimated as a mid-second round pick by draftexpress.com.

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: I'm not sure who is on the quick cap, I'd like to but I'm not positive I will be able to watch the game. Yeah, I know, heresy.