Game 3 Well San Antonio, has gone with a small lineup. Mike finley Brent Barry Tony Parker Tim Duncan Bruce Bowen The reason their going to this "small" lineup, is to match up with the quickness of Dallas. wow....whens the last time you heard that Dallas fans. haha. Anyways...If Greg Popovich was smart, he'd apply pressure on Devin Harris like crazy. This quick 2nd year player from Wisconsin, has been slicing and dicing the SA defense. So if SA applies pressure on the sophmore, I would usually say Dirk should be utilized (especially with him playing agaisnt a "small lineup"), but he has a SPRAINED ANKLE. So if Dirk can't play at his fullest, I'm thinking Josh Howard will have to step up his game and attack the basket. Other notes Tony Parker apparently has bruised thighs, but will still play tonight. Dirk Nowitzki will be playing with a SPRAINED ANKLE (true warrior, guys) <font color=""Red"">Also, in case you missed it. Dirk Nowitzki told the media to begin booing Michael Finley. Within the first 4 minutes...Finley has booed everytime he touches the ball. </font> Also..can somone change the title of this thread to Game 4. lol my bad
SUB! Jason Terry is getting his butt handed to him early on by Tony Parker. The Spurs have the lead and Parker is 6/7 from the field already. Devin Harris needs to be inserted into the lineup.
WOW WHAT A WIN. i know its not over yet but it seems the mavs will finally pass that hump in the road
Gotta give uo to the mavs, it looks like you got this series, not over yet but unless we can find a way to play better Defense i guess we are gone. I still wouldve liked to see this in the western finals though.
No doubt, this should have been a WC finals matchup. Great series so far, and if I weren't a Mavs fan, then I would want this to go to 7 games. The Spurs are a class organization and I respect the fact that Popovich has not used the poor officiating as an excuse for their losses, because a true champion would never do so. To all Mavs fans, don't get too cocky, this is such a close series, that it could be the Spurs up 3-1 rather than the Mavs, because both teams could have won 3 out of the 4 games with a lucky bounce here and a fortuitous call there. I look forward to Game 5, and feel fortunate the Mavs are up 3-1. Let's close out this series and wait for the winner of the LA-Phoenix series which looks like it might go the distance. Go Mavs!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Remedy:</div><div class="quote_post">i already posted this, I accidently titled it Game 3 though. lol</div> LOL, I'll merge the two threads. I agree with Kingrex, it's a shame this is not the WCF. Last night I didn't want the game to end, because I loved the high level of basketball both teams were playing. I thought the key adjustment was Avery Johnson going with the two-PG backcourt with Harris and Terry. The Spurs simply didn't have the quickness to keep up with either player, and the Mavs punished the Spurs in the pick and roll. With Harris and Terry on the court the Mavs had four different variations of running the PnR and the Spurs weren't able to make the proper adjustments. The 4 variations were: Terry and Dirk Terry and Stack Harris and Dirk Harris and Stack The difference we saw with Dallas this year was not losing composure when the Spurs closed the gap and put themselves in a position to win the game. Last year the Mavs collapsed in crunch time and when they lost momentum they had a hard time finding it again. When Manu hit back to back three pointers, the Mavs didn't panic and stayed within their offense. All season long Avery Johnson has said Jason Terry's confidence is the key for them. He's encouraged Terry to take big shots for this team, and last night he came through. The Mavs have to put their foot on the Spurs throat and end the series in Game 5. They cannot have the mindset that they have a game to burn because they play one more time in Dallas. The Spurs still have 2 of the next 3 games on their homecourt and are capable of beating the Mavs three straight times and taking it in Game 7. Mavs have to take an early lead in Game 5 and be ready to match the urgency the Spurs will be playing with.
I agree that a full season with Avery at the reins has instilled a much higher level of confidence in the Mavs compared to last year. It almost borders on arrogance, and I think that is where you need to be to win in the playoffs. You can't hope you are going to win, you have to believe you are better and that you will win.
The key is offensive execution and defensive stops in the fourth quarter. I agree, the Mavs need to do to the Spurs in Game 5 what they did to Memphis in Game 4, and that is to jump on them early and hope to break their spirit by half time. However, I have feeling this will go down the wire yet again. The Mavs have no doubts that they can win at San Antonio, and the Spurs are usually great at home, so ya'll best buckle up because Game 5 will be a dandy.
