Game Previews

Game 5 Preview: Spurs @ Mavs

By CapHill Apr 27, 2010, 3:00am CDT

Not much to add to the plethora of praise being given to Georgeous. Wayne can take pride in being the first Spurs fan on Hill's bandwagon.

This is the fifth preview that I've done for this series. I've been able to come up with some new insights for each game, but it's getting progressively harder. So if I repeat myself, just nod your head and click the links.

San Antonio Spurs @ Dallas Mavericks [Game 5]
Where: American Airlines Center - Dallas, TX
When: April 27, 2010; 8:30 PM Spurs time
Watch: NBATV

How They Stack Up


29-12	Home	28-13
21-20	Road	27-14
101.4	Offense	102.0
96.3	Defense	99.3
47.3	FG%	46.5
35.8	3-pt%	37.2
74.0	FT%	81.6
42.8	Rebounds	41.7
13.6	TOs	12.9
6-4	Last 10	8-2
Lost 1	Streak	Won 5
2nd, Southwest	Position	1st, Southwest


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	10:30 PM
West Coast	6:30 PM
Philippines	9:30 AM
Central Europe	3:30 AM
Palestine/Egypt	4:30 AM
East Coast	9:30 PM
Mountains	7:30 PM
Perth, AUS	9:30 AM
Tokyo, JP	9:30 AM
Sydney, AUS	11:30 AM

Spurs (3-1)	Matchups	Mavericks (1-3)
George Hill	Point Guard Kidd looked really old in the last game, and Carlisle is playing him way too many minutes. Is anyone going to question my white box selection this game? I think not. Advantage: Spurs	Jason Kidd

Manu Ginobili	Shooting Guard Sorry Caron, but chucking 18 shots to get 17 points is not an efficient scoring night. Even with his broken schnozz, Manu still throws himself around like a pinball. He's a wizard. Advantage: Spurs	Caron Butler

Richard Jefferson	Small Forward Marion had a great first half, but his skills did not suit the game, once it slowed down. RAGE played great defense, showed great hustle, and even dunked the ball a couple times. Advantage: Tied	Shawn Marion

Tim Duncan	Power Forward Dirk was battered and bruised in Game 4, and the cracks in his facade are showing. Well, Timmeh, that was not good. You still provided some defense and rebounding, but I just hope the rest of your birthday went a little better. Advantage: Tied	Dirk Nowitzki

Antonio McDyess	Center Dice, you sure are rolling. Robert would be so proud, especially of your takedowns. Haywood played pretty well. "Damp" was absolutely worthless, and got fined $35,000 for complaining about the refs. Advantage: Spurs	Brendan Haywood

Tony Parker	Bench & Role Players Blair was beastly, providing a huge spark off the bench and redonkulous per minute stats. Terry and Barea provided some offense. And Haywood finally played more minutes than Ericka, resulting in some actual production from the center position for Dallas. Advantage: Mavs	Jason Terry

Gregg Popovich	Coach Way to go, Pop. You put some faith in your Young Guns, and they rewarded you with a huge win. Give 'em a nice bottle of wine. Carlisle was pissed. His player rotations have been screwy, but he has no control over their heart. Advantage: Spurs	Rick Carlisle
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
The Spurs are the road grader. The Mavs are the dirt. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
I'm not about to piss the mojo off now. Advantage: Spurs
Winner:
You think I'm going to change my mind now? Nope, but like Games 3 and 4, it should be close.

Keys To The Game

Perseverance - The Mavs will not go gentle into the offseason. When they make their offensive push (and make no mistake, they will), we need to persevere and continue playing our game.
Defense - Wow. That defense (especially in the 3rd quarter) made me think I had been transported back several years. Keep up the defensive intensity, so we may experience much happiness and joy.
~~Role Players~~Big Three - Who knew that we can win, even when the Big 3 lay a big, old, stinkin' egg? Well I, for one, don't want to see us try that little trick again. Birthday party is over, guys. ;-)

Strength of Schedule

Fifth game of the series, with once again, one day of rest. Again, schedule doesn't really matter in the playoffs, as there are no back-to-backs.

Last Time They Met

Relive the physical battle that was Game 4, where we pulled out a 92-89 win due to the brillian play of one Furious George.

Some Other Reading

Mavericks

Mavs Moneyball - The SBNation home of the Mavericks. They played nice with us last year during the playoffs, so go say hi, but please don't be trollish.
The Two Man Game - The TrueHoop blog for Dallas. 48MoH quotes and links them pretty often, so it can't be all that bad. Some good analysis can be found here.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: The best TrueHoop team blog is still going strong, "pounding" out some of the best analysis there is on our beloved Spurs.
Project Spurs: Check out their regular podcasts. I think they love Manu as much as we do, if that's possible.

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be aired nationwide on NBATV. If you have cable or satellite, you'll have to look up your individual channel. And of course, there's always League Pass for the haves. For the have nots, read on.

Online

As always, NBA League Pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Most Spurs games will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area.

Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email to poundingtherockmail@yahoo.com for more assistance.

NBA League Pass audio is still free this year, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).