Just before any Suns fans bring it up, that shot by Dirk hit the rim. I don't want to hear any complaints about it. I was leery at first, but since they kept showing it, you can see the ball hit the rim and spun left, not much but enough to avoid a 24 second violation. Other then that, great game, especially the 2nd half where we made them play our way.
Second half was great, connected when we need the players to connect. Great offensive rebounds, really was a big factor twords the end of the game. When you're playing the Suns every second counts in cruch time, thats how the offensive rebounds came in handy. Run the clock down.Suns are still clutch, they almsot had me worried. Marv mentioned this a few times, even you are up, Suns can still rebound right back into the game.Rok's right. I was iffy about the call about the ball not hitting the rim at first. But the replay showed it did clip it
Great victory by the Mavs...Honestly though (and I know some Mavs fans will take this like I'm making excuses, which I'm not), I think that ball didn't hit the rim. Yeah, it barely spun left, but to me it looked like it hit the padding that protects the underside of the backboard. If you watch the padding, the padding moves a little when the ball hit the backboard.Either way, it didn't matter because PHX had their chances and couldn't capitalize.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BCB @ May 28 2006, 10:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>And the Mavs win 95-88 Nash & Boris = Zero FT attempts Glad to see the Mavs win.</div>I hope you were saying that as they weren't aggressive enough to get those foul calls, because there's no reason, if they were attacking the rim, that they wouldn't get calls at home.I thought it was a great game...and I hope all turn out this way, it'll mean good times ahead for us Mav fans.
Rok, that shot did not hit the rim, it hit the bottom of the backboard and that's were it went off like that. I didn't see it going left at all. It was going straight because it hit the backboard and it went a little to the right even. They saw the replay and the ref even apologized for his mistake, but I am not here to talk about the calls and I'd rather not argue about it because I won't change your mind and you won't change mine. And I'm not even going to use it as an excuse. That was a bad call, but like Martian said the Suns did get the ref advantage today and the Mavs did deserve this yet again. They did a great job on D, really limiting our fastbreak points and that really hurt us. Also, not having Raja to guard Terry killed us because Jet did a great job in the end. The worst part was not what the refs or the Mavs did, the Suns were just pathetic today letting easy rebounds get away from them and making costly turnovers, it was really sickening. There were 2 bad calls at the end, but the reason I'm not complaining is that the Suns should have gotten the ball anyway but the Mavs just wanted it more and they deserved it. The one play that really ticked me off was the on were 3 Suns players could have gotten the ball but no one went after it and Diop just came and took it away, that made me laugh....I hope the Suns watch video of this last game and are really embarrased. They were pathetic today.I think the Suns can win another game and if Raja comes back who knows. If he doesen't though, right now I got to agree with Martian's prediction of Mavs in 6. Raja seemed to be walking fine. I hope we win Tuesday and have him back in Game 5 or 6. We need some more magic here.
Those last few minutes were a total joke.The Suns couldn't throw down a single rebound and kept up the good work by allowing turnovers left and right.Then they couldn't hit a single shot having to rely on Steve Nash to hit a tough 3 over Dirk.Josh Howard shut down Marion this game pretty bad, some days he plays great others he can't even put up 20 or gets abused on defense.Shooting 4-12 is not very convincing at all.The Suns need to win at least 1 at home or this series is over, there is no way they will win 3 straight especially since there home-court advantage is now a thing of the past.
Marion wasn't horrible today. He made it tough for Howard to get his 22 points(9-22) and he had 18 rebounds. I liked how Marion covered the ball up and didn't just hold it out for the Mavs to take... lol...it was so pathetic today.
Tough for Howard to get his 22 points?C'mon man...Howard isn't known for scoring more than 20 points a game, as it's only happened 23 times this whole year...and I think Howar made it tougher for Marion, than Marion made it tough for Howard.Marion/Howard, if it stays that way, will be a very entertaining individual matchup, and I hope they stay on each other the rest of the series.They are probably the two most athletic players in the series.
Howard did a good job but shot a lower percentage and needed to take more shots to get there. Marion didn't do bad even though Howard did do better. Marion on Howard and Tim Thomas on Nowitzki was a good move for us for the series.
Great win for the mavs. Avery is using a great combination of small ball and inserting Diop (athletic big) into the lineup. With small ball it makes it hard for Phoenix to run and they have to score more in the half court though they get more layups. With Diop they are a jump shooting team and will burn you occassionally with this style as well. Van Horn did better in this game than the last 2 but still needs to hit 3's. Stackhouse with 2 huge rebounds in the 4th quarter though he struggled most of the game. I think Dallas has finally adjusted to playing the style of ball they want and that is slowing down the game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Howard did a good job but shot a lower percentage and needed to take more shots to get there. Marion didn't do bad even though Howard did do better. Marion on Howard and Tim Thomas on Nowitzki was a good move for us for the series.</div> I guess it is, but Dirk should still be able to score, possibly better with Thomas covering him. And despite Marion bothering Howard, it seems to effect Marion on the offensive end. He wasn't great offensively in game 3. What I like seeing is the Mavs have played effectively for the past 3 games, despite losing game 1, we still had a 9 point lead with 2 minutes to go. Bad execution led to the loss, the game 2 and 3 wins are showing more improvement by the Mavs and it's noticeable in the score and stats. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Oh no, Rok is in this topic now!</div> I don't get what that means.
Yes, that's exactly what it means, Marvin is right. I also wasn't saying Thomas would shut Dirk down. There are a few reasons those two match-ups are better. First, since Dirk is playing more of a post up game it helps to get our biggest and strongest player out their to guard him. If Dirk is just going to post up, TT can do just as good of a job as Marion with his size. Then it also helps because Marion won't get as beat us trying to guard someone that's much bigger than him. When he does that it's harder for him on defense and it wears him out so he struggles more on offense. He did have trouble scoring in Game 3, but he should do better in Game 4. He has more trouble on offense when guarding big guys like when he was defending Odom, his offense was bad. Also, no matter who guards Dirk, they are not going to stop him, but Marion is tall and quick enough to give Howard a lot of trouble so Howard doesen't dominate like he did in game 2.Injuries suck though. It makes me sad to think what could have been if we had all our players. But you guys lost Dirk in 2003 when you might have won a championship there. I don't get all the hate for this run and gun style. Take away some injuries and I bet the Mavs and Suns would both have a championship. I hope Amare comes back and we prove people wrong next year, that is, if we actually do lose this series....not going to give up on this team. They have surprised me before. I'm really excited about Game 4.
Marion can't guard Howard. Marion is a good perimeter defender but if Josh Howard is slashing towards rim he should be able to over power Marion there. Marion probably matches up best with Terry but than Howard and Dirk go off.
Marion has 18 pounds on Howard. That's a pretty big amount. If Marion can do a nice job on much bigger players, Howard won't over power him...
Well Howard can lean into Marion enough so Marion won't be able to block his shots on layups. Howard has a very quick step around the basket and it is very hard to guard when his timing is on and he is patient with his offensive moves. He plays better at home than on the road anyways. San Antonio did as good of a job as anyone against Howard. Bruce Bowen guarding him.
If the suns lose the next game, i can predict Mike's press conference"um....we need to run. I'm not concerned about what Avery's doing"
That's why the run and gun game usually struggles in the playoffs. The other team are the ones making the adjustments and finding ways to slow down the game. The run and gun is dependant.1. The other team isn't athletic enough2. The other team is not prepared mentally to get back on defense.3. The run and gun team is juiced up for that game.If Phoenix was unstoppable in the half court like last year than they could have success with run and gun but without Amare they can be contained.
