<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DALLAS - DALLAS--Memo to Mark Cuban: Charles Barkley needs another good blogging. Hit him again, Mark. Harder, harder. Nothing seems to be working yet. Sir Charles was mouthy as always Thursday night, speaking from his TNT pulpit in the network's pregame leadup to Mavericks and Spurs at the downtown arena. "Of course not," barked Barkley, when asked if the Mavs would be a serious title contender to the Spurs come April. "They don't rebound well. They don't play defense," he said, recycling the norm. Cuban and the TNT guys feuded openly on this same issue a couple of weeks ago. The Mavs' owner attacked with his blog, while Barkley and Kenny Smith countered on national TV. It's been a nice little hissing match. But, of course, Barkley is right, at least at the moment. The Mavs aren't exactly a defensive force, and also don't yet scare anyone in the muscle department. Avery Johnson has pledged that changes will be made in those areas, so help him DeSagana Diop, who is new muscle worth watching. Certainly the Spurs also allow Avery to measure any defensive progress, be it slow or slower. In Thursday evening's 92-90 loss to San Antonio, there were mixed reviews in the aftermath. First, even for early December, the Spurs delivered their best shot, based on a blowout whipping the Mavs laid on them a month ago to open the new season. That the Mavs responded to that over four full quarters is a plus, particularly in the absence of Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse. Do note, however, San Antonio was without Manu Ginobili, because of injury. And when Tim Duncan is held to 13 points, on 4-of-12 shooting, then something went right on the defensive end. Not enough, however. There was way too much Tony Parker for one thing. He had 12 fourth-quarter points, and 30 overall. "We held our own defensively in the second and third quarters, and were not as good as I wanted in the fourth," Johnson said. "We didn't get the stops down the stretch." Blame Parker for that. He schooled Jason Terry early, partly because Terry was slowed by a leg injury. Devin Harris contained Parker for a while, but Tony responded again in the fourth quarter. "Physically, I thought we battled," said Johnson, who was surprisingly upbeat afterward. "I thought it was a war out there. My team is a hard-working team. We are showing potential in what we are trying to accomplish." But there was nothing upbeat about the Mavs' late-game offensive execution. It was bricks galore. No big shots were made, there was clanging at the foul line, and Keith Van Horn had a mix-up with Marquis Daniels, causing a horrible turnover. Then again, the Mavericks aren't going to get right again offensively until Dirk does. Man, what a miserable slump for the big German. Credit Bruce Bowen with his usual stellar defensive work, certainly a factor in Nowitzki's 3-for-13 egg. Included in the avalanche of missed shots was the game's final jumper (for the tie) that was partially blocked by Bowen. But Dirk was going badly before Bowen came to town. Nowitzki exited the road trip having missed 34 of his last 51 shots, and that was against the likes of Toronto and Milwaukee, not exactly San Antonio types. For the last three games, he's 20-for-64.</div> Source
I don't understand why Dirk can't shoot over the smaller defenders like Bowen or T-Mac as was the case during last playoffs. He needs to find a way to drive to the basket, even if he gets an offensive foul if his shots aren't falling rather than just keep throwing bricks. Howard would've grabbed a few offensive boards off Dirk's misses and tipped in for a few points if he was available, but Dirk's just showing he hasn't improved his passing game or his post game.
Cuban seems to know what he's doing. The exception to that statement may be the Christie contract, but there may be a financial information element I am unaware of there. Of course we all know that right now both The Spurs and The Mavs are two very good teams at full strength and at partial strength, but both will be battling all season long and will have to contend with the Lakers, Suns and TWolves. I don't think the Kings are in the final mix this year. I do think the TWolves will surge later this month. The Clips will always be the Paper Clips and will slump in January for several weeks. The Nuggets will just make the playoffs but will not be able to have a winning record against the Spurs or Mavs. Right now, if Howard's ankle is a one-month injury with a month to return to peak conditioning, Dallas should take at least 3rd and no lower than 4th place in the West. I am really concerned about Jerry Stackhouse not having played by December 2nd. He must have a seriously damaged knee that must really hurt him. Otherwise, I think he would be playing at least some minutes the way Duncan played his second year at the end of the season when he had a serious knee sprain that prevented the Spurs from repeating. Dallas should just make a decision about Stackhouse's knee and quit playing cat and mouse with the fans. Bad knees always occur in basketball, tell us the truth about his knee, or rather Dallas should let him tell us the truth since it's his knee. If he wants to play 3 to 5 more years then may be he should not play for a while or have surgery. And what's up with Ginobli? A "jammed foot?" That could mean anything from a fracture to an infection. In any event, it's very early, but before you know it these lost games will have more meaning. Dallas can live without Stack, but without Howard they will be in for a dogfight with the Hornets tomorrow night.
