<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">if 14 points (combined) at the stripe and downlow is the deal, then count me in....I gotta leave work now............</div> you were the one who said 13... 13 it is.... If he scores exactly 13 points and not 14, then maybe we'll have an arbitration. but the chances are slim
<div class="quote_poster">Run BJM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He airballed a 3 a few possessions before that when his team still had a chance to win the game. The two 3's Dirk hit happened when the game was basically over barring a huge GS mistake and another few Dallas 3's. I agree with Dream here though. Dirk is not an MVP type of player, a lot of people have been saying it before this series, myself included, Dirk is only proving us right in this series. Hes a horrible leader, doesn't make his teammates better and I'd say he makes it harder for them because he makes little or no attempts to play defense which is why Diop is ALWAYS in foul trouble during this series. Hes an amazing scorer and shooter and a very unique player but hes mentally weak and if the scoring isn't there hes a huge negative force for his team because of his TERRIBLE defense (please don't give me some BS about how hes better now than he was before) and he has no playmaking skills. An MVP wouldn't just lay back and take it when an 8 seed is showing him up, Dirk has had no answers for GS. An MVP has to contribute positively some way, Dirk's stats are good but from watching all these games hes had little impact for his team. IMO the MVP comparisons are magnified much more when Baron Davis is performing like an MVP after journalists all over the country have been shitting on him for years about his injury prone-ness, lack of work ethic, bad attitude, being a "coach killer", horrible shot selection, etc. Now hes playing like an MVP should; raising his game in the playoffs, carrying his team, finding ways to dominate despite all 5 defenders making an effort to stop him, making teammates better, scrapping, playing great defense, coming up with big plays when his team needs it, etc. Meanwhile, Dirk is doing nothing spectacular and allowing his team to get punked, Howard, Terry, and Stack are leading the team, Terry and Stackhouse assembled a team meeting while Dirk attended it like any other player on the team, and Dirk even made some dumb comment about how if they lost game 4 the season was over. In closing I'd just like to say: The Don giveth and the Don taketh away. Nash better watch his ass and hope he doesn't have to meet us in WCF, Nellie already crapped on him last time the teams met.</div> Dirk missed two, and made two, which is a 50% clip. I'd say hitting 50% of your shots is respectable in crunchtime. The Warriors have had their way with Dallas the last two seasons. Taking a 3-1 lead shouldn't be all that shocking for anyone who's watched the Warriors play. They closed out the season 16-5, and I believe they posted the 3rd best record since the All Star Break. Take a look at Dallas record, they haven't really beat anyone elite during the last month or so of the season. They locked up the #1 seed early, and coasted into the playoffs. Somewhere along the lines they lost their edge, and are having a hard time turning on the switch against the Warriors. This Warrior team's run is very similar to what the Miami Heat accomplished last year. They got healthy and hot at the right time, and ended up winning it all. I just don't think it makes much sense to pin everything on Dirk, and label him soft, and unclutch. Everyone on the Mavericks team has played below their capabilities in this series. More credit should be directed at the Warriors energy and intensity, rather than pointing the blame at Dirk.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Dirk missed two, and made two, which is a 50% clip. I'd say hitting 50% of your shots is respectable in crunchtime. The Warriors have had their way with Dallas the last two seasons. Taking a 3-1 lead shouldn't be all that shocking for anyone who's watched the Warriors play. They closed out the season 16-5, and I believe they posted the 3rd best record since the All Star Break. Take a look at Dallas record, they haven't really beat anyone elite during the last month or so of the season. They locked up the #1 seed early, and coasted into the playoffs. Somewhere along the lines they lost their edge, and are having a hard time turning on the switch against the Warriors. This Warrior team's run is very similar to what the Miami Heat accomplished last year. They got healthy and hot at the right time, and ended up winning it all. I just don't think it makes much sense to pin everything on Dirk, and label him soft, and unclutch. Everyone on the Mavericks team has played below their capabilities in this series. More credit should be directed at the Warriors energy and intensity, rather than pointing the blame at Dirk.</div> Yeah but he missed the first 2 shots when his team could have actually won the game, one was even an air ball. The last two came with like less than 40 seconds left when the game was over unless GS missed a bunch of FTs and the Mavs made a few 3's (which obviously didn't happen). Most guys who are MVPs hit those shots and if they miss they hit the next one, Dirk missed 2 and only hit after the game was realistically out of reach. Agree with you about all those who followed W's-Mavs before this series know its not very shocking. Dirk not stepping up and doing anything about it is whats shocking (to most anyway). Also completely agree that the W's are flat out beating the Mavs, the Mavs aren't just choking or not playing with intensity like much of the media says, but as a GS fan I don't expect us to get any respect at all from anyone until we win a series and then have 48+ wins next season. Disagree that everyone else on the Mavs is also playing below par. Josh Howard has been insanely good, the Warriors have no answer for him but luckily he isn't a guy who can cost the opposing team a game. Desagana Diop has been excellent when hes not in foul trouble, which relates directly to Dirk's "matador defense" as Jim Barnett (color commentator for Warriors local broadcast) has referenced about 19 times in the 2 games that have been televised on FSN Bay Area. Jason Terry has been pretty solid and was huge in Game 2. Devin Harris is performing like he has all year. Stackhouse has been decent save Game 1 and was great in Game 4. All of their key players except Dampier and Dirk have been as good or better than they did during the regular season. The Warriors on the other hand have gotten NOTHING from Al Harrington and significantly less than average from Monta Ellis, Mickael Pietrus, and Andris Biedirns.
<div class="quote_poster">Run BJM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah but he missed the first 2 shots when his team could have actually won the game, one was even an air ball. The last two came with like less than 40 seconds left when the game was over unless GS missed a bunch of FTs and the Mavs made a few 3's (which obviously didn't happen). Most guys who are MVPs hit those shots and if they miss they hit the next one, Dirk missed 2 and only hit after the game was realistically out of reach. Agree with you about all those who followed W's-Mavs before this series know its not very shocking. Dirk not stepping up and doing anything about it is whats shocking (to most anyway). Also completely agree that the W's are flat out beating the Mavs, the Mavs aren't just choking or not playing with intensity like much of the media says, but as a GS fan I don't expect us to get any respect at all from anyone until we win a series and then have 48+ wins next season. Disagree that everyone else on the Mavs is also playing below par. Josh Howard has been insanely good, the Warriors have no answer for him but luckily he isn't a guy who can cost the opposing team a game. Desagana Diop has been excellent when hes not in foul trouble, which relates directly to Dirk's "matador defense" as Jim Barnett (color commentator for Warriors local broadcast) has referenced about 19 times in the 2 games that have been televised on FSN Bay Area. Jason Terry has been pretty solid and was huge in Game 2. Devin Harris is performing like he has all year. Stackhouse has been decent save Game 1 and was great in Game 4. All of their key players except Dampier and Dirk have been as good or better than they did djuring the regular season. The Warriors on the other hand have gotten NOTHING from Al Harrington and significantly less than average from Monta Ellis, Mickael Pietrus, and Andris Biedirns.</div> I agree with pretty much everything you said. Dirk and Avery are the main reasons for this debacle. Dirk's playing like a free spirit with no responsibilty while Avery is pretty much tensed through out the series. The rest of them are playing the hearts out. Both Dirk and Avery need to get their act together. On a side note..5 years from now, I expect a similar thread for Andrea Bargnani.
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">To me, Kobe doesn't trust his teammates to get them involved and a lot of times, his teammates are just standing around down the stretch not really expecting to get the ball. Kobe would definitely be my #1 on taking the GW shot, because he's just so clutch but I would personally rather have Pierce or Dirk who will continue to keep their teammates involved while still taking over during big games. A GW pass is just as good as a GW shot, IMO. </div> In the regular season he had a 58 TS% and 5.4 apg; you're going to bother him about not having .6 or 1 more APG? Well if you had been watching the PHX series, then you would have observed that Kobe has been getting his teammates plenty of touches (in Game two he was the perfect facilitator but Kwame kept fumbling the ball and Luke kept missing wide open Jumpers). Kobe gets 31-7-9 and his team still loses at home, that's no fault of his. As for you RunBJM, aside from the GS series you have no reason to suggest why Dirk is not the MVP. And if we are going to judge MVPS by their playoff success (going by other people's criteria at least, not mine) then Steve Nash should be getting some blame pretty soon. He got owned during his first MVP Run by the Spurs (which had Duncan a real MVP winner) and up to now hasn't won like a three time MVP caliber player in the post season.
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">In the regular season he had a 58 TS% and 5.4 apg; you're going to bother him about not having .6 or 1 more APG? Well if you had been watching the PHX series, then you would have observed that Kobe has been getting his teammates plenty of touches (in Game two he was the perfect facilitator but Kwame kept fumbling the ball and Luke kept missing wide open Jumpers). Kobe gets 31-7-9 and his team still loses at home, that's no fault of his.</div> The only game that I have seen in that series is Game 1, when he missed 11 out of his last 12 shots and all 12 seemed to come in the last 4-5 minutes of the game. He had to of taken his teams last 6-7 shots without really passing at all. He didn't seem like he was even looking to pass. Once he got the ball you could tell he was shooting, which makes his teammates stand around on offense and that hurts at the defensive end of the floor too. He seems to get his teammates involved early(where he gets his assists), then at the end of games try to take over. I don't fault him for that, but at times(such as Game 1), he tried too hard to take over rather than continuing getting everyone involved which helped them run out to a 10 point lead(I think it was more than 10 actually) late in the first half. Again, 1 shot, I would take Kobe over anyone in the league, but in the final 2-3 minutes of a game, I don't know if I would want to take him. Again, let's not make this into a Kobe thread again, there's too many of them.
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The only game that I have seen in that series is Game 1, when he missed 11 out of his last 12 shots and all 12 seemed to come in the last 4-5 minutes of the game. He had to of taken his teams last 6-7 shots without really passing at all. He didn't seem like he was even looking to pass. Once he got the ball you could tell he was shooting, which makes his teammates stand around on offense and that hurts at the defensive end of the floor too. He seems to get his teammates involved early(where he gets his assists), then at the end of games try to take over. I don't fault him for that, but at times(such as Game 1), he tried too hard to take over rather than continuing getting everyone involved which helped them run out to a 10 point lead(I think it was more than 10 actually) late in the first half. </div> Well there is no way in hell I'm going to defend Kobe's fourth quarter in Game 1, but overall he's been getting his teammates very involved (Game 2/3/4). <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Again, 1 shot, I would take Kobe over anyone in the league, but in the final 2-3 minutes of a game, I don't know if I would want to take him. Again, let's not make this into a Kobe thread again, there's too many of them.</div> Agreed. Plus you're too cool for me to stay mad at (sorry for the patronizing Lol).
crap, you saw that? I swear as soon as I posted that damnit! Dirk hits two 3s and he takes it in for the and 1....WOW! He hadn't scored but 2 buckets (in the 2nd half) before that...DAMNIT! looks like Dream will be sportin' a new sig.
LoL. I don't blame you, I thought it was over too. But man, that's just too funny. This was definitely Dirk's "shut the f**k up" game. Got to love how he's totally discredited this thread.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">LoL. I don't blame you, I thought it was over too. But man, that's just too funny. This was definitely Dirk's "shut the f**k up" game. Got to love how he's totally discredited this thread.</div> Yeah I have to strongly agree with you Chutney. Dirk was beyond clutch today and was the reason the Mavs came back from a 9 point deficit with about 3 minutes remaining in the the 4th. Great Job Dirk.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> I don't know how many points he got in the 4th quarter, but I'm pretty sure he got more than 8.</div> He got 12 I believe.
Dirk? Soft? Why start dissing on the man's playing style? everyone has their own playing style. Dirk is not the most aggressive and that's for sure. However true, that does not make him "soft."
One game isn't gonna show anything. Let's see if this guy can replicate this performance for the next 2 games and help make up for the poor start.
Nice, Just got in, Dream needs to contact the graphics dept. Dirk exceeded all the goals and got the win....I'm proud of him. HOWEVER, Game 6 is going to be ANOTHER dogfight. Dallasdude, you are the biggest hater I have ever SEEN.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">One game isn't gonna show anything. Let's see if this guy can replicate this performance for the next 2 games and help make up for the poor start. </div> lol I agree....Golden State beat themselves more than anything...I still think Dirk is soft, how do you go the whole second half with only attempting 2 FGs?......and a lot of those points in the 4th quarter came in the last few seconds when the game was already over (think he had 6 FTs down the stretch to "inflate" his numbers)...oh well game 6 he'll choke again, because a couple of lucky 3 pointers still don't convince me that this guy is "tough" (Devin Harris = the real star of the 4th quarter).....what was our bet originally???
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">lol I agree....Golden State beat themselves more than anything...I still think Dirk is soft, how do you go the whole second half with only attempting 2 FGs?......and a lot of those points in the 4th quarter came in the last few seconds when the game was already over (think he had 6 FTs down the stretch to "inflate" his numbers)...oh well game 6 he'll choke again, because a couple of lucky 3 pointers still don't convince me that this guy is "tough" (Devin Harris = the real star of the 4th quarter).....what was our bet originally???</div> No you are absolutely wrong. Only 4 FTs were added at the end of the game and even then they weren't completely pointless. Dirk hit two three pointers when the Warriors were up by nine, and then he drove to the basket (which everyone has been bitching about) and got another pair of FTs. He was clutch lay off his game 5 performance.
