^Just admit that Nobody will stop Kobe, Tmac, Wade, Lebron, Dirk, AI, or any other dominant superstar if they're on...that's the whole point right there.Nobody will...Nobody in the league, plays defense at an elite level, well not the superstars anyways.Just look...who are considered the best defensive players in the game?Guys like Bruce Bowen, Big Ben, Artest, Camby...any of those guys legit Super Stars? Nope...not a one.Your arguement makes no sense. You're basically saying the Mavs won't go anywhere because they can't shut down superstars, when Nobody can shut down superstars...that's why they ARE superstars in the first place.The Mavs made the Finals last year...and very well could've, and probably should've won it. This whole arguement is baseless, and makes no sense, seeing as how no team can stop any of the big time scorers in this league...but it seems like you think the Mavs are the only top team that can't.I don't see any legit stoppers on the Suns...and with Bowen declining, I don't really see any on the Spurs either, even Duncan, who if you think Harris and Howard are average at best, than so is Duncan.
[quote name='Marvinmartian' post='269711' date='Jan 23 2007, 07:16 AM']^Just admit that Nobody will stop Kobe, Tmac, Wade, Lebron, Dirk, AI, or any other dominant superstar if they're on...that's the whole point right there.[/quote]If Wade just went off once or twice vs the Mavs, that would have made the difference. He went off 4x in a row, breaking his playoff best in points twice in the series. Duncan was over 12PPG his season average in that series. T-Mac, Amare and Nash all laid it to the Mavs the year before. Great defensive players can't stop a superstar for a whole series, there usually will be a breakout game or 2 for that superstar. But you can't get consistently pounded like they did last year against the Heat and Spurs. It almost cost them against the Spurs, and did against the Heat. WTF, I never said that most superstars can play great defense. Some of them can play fantastic defense....Kidd, Kobe, Billups, Duncan, etc... When the HELL did I say the Mavs are going nowhere? I never said they wouldn't win a ring, nor did I say they would. What I did say is that in playoffs it could give them huge trouble. No, no one can stop a superstar, and I never said they could. But there is a huge difference in holding a superstar to their average or just above their averages, and possibly letting them have a huge game or 2.... and letting them go for 12PPG over their seaosn average or going for 40PPG through 4 straight games in the NBA Finals. Again, I have stated COUNTLESS times in THIS THREAD that no one can stop a superstar throughout a whole series, and I said many times Mavs are definately not the only team with this flaw. But some of the other elite teams DO have a defender that can clamp down and not let a player go off on them the whole series. Some teams have more than 1 type of this defender. And Mavs also don't have a true low post presence defensively. Both Dampier and Diop are decent defenders, but neither of them are big shot blocking threats or bruisers down low. As I said before, Suns are an exception. They play decent D, and do have a really good defender in marion (bell is overrated but good, and Amare is a presence down low). But their style of play will ultimately cost them points and easy looks by others teams. Suns are a totally different team and game style than anything else in the league.Duncan has been on all defnesive first team 6x and all defensive 2nd team 3x...Harris and Howard combined have 0. Don't tell me that Duncan is average at best as a defender or that Harris or Howard are on the same level.
If the mavs don't win a ring it is probably due to relying on outside shots too much and going cold. They are one of the top defensive teams in the league and have the most stoppers they've ever had. Even from last year. Buckner and George>Daniels, Griffin, and Van Horn on defense.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Jan 23 2007, 03:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Buckner and George>Daniels, Griffin, and Van Horn on defense.</div>I'd contend that also applies to offense.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Jan 23 2007, 04:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If the mavs don't win a ring it is probably due to relying on outside shots too much and going cold. They are one of the top defensive teams in the league and have the most stoppers they've ever had. Even from last year. Buckner and George>Daniels, Griffin, and Van Horn on defense.</div>They have, IMO, the 2nd or 3rd best offense in the league (Phoenix and Denver I'd say are more dangerous). Mavs have good enough slashers, of course Dirk, and a great fastbreak offense that feeds off the feistiness of the defense to help aid any cold streaks. Any possible weakness in this team is defense, and a true good low post player (Dirk, despite being more well balanced, is still a perimeter player).
Once again this team is not weak on defense. They don't give up many offensive rebounds and tend to cause turnovers on their opponents. Dampier and Diop do a good job in clogging the middle. Dallas held Phoenix to only 98 points last time they met which is way below their season average. They did that to Phoenix in last years playoffs as well. Harris is the answer to Nash and Dampier and Diop can alternate guarding Amare and hold him to a low amount of points. Wade is probably the toughest guard in the league for most teams along with Dallas. Chicago being the exception to this point but I've seen Wade light up Jason Kidd.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Jan 23 2007, 08:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They have, IMO, the 2nd or 3rd best offense in the league (Phoenix and Denver I'd say are more dangerous). Mavs have good enough slashers, of course Dirk, and a great fastbreak offense that feeds off the feistiness of the defense to help aid any cold streaks.</div> I have no problems with this. The Mavs aren't the offensive team they used to be, and the fact that they don't get too comfortable with the jumpshot is important for them making another long run.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Any possible weakness in this team is defense, and a true good low post player (Dirk, despite being more well balanced, is still a perimeter player).</div>The Dirk comment has it's merits. Yes he's become a better lowe post player, but he's still more comfortable on the outside. With that said, I think, when forced, he could play on the block if he needed too.I can see how you may think that the only weakness Dallas CAN have is defense...but it's NOT a weakness at all for the Mavs. It's less of a weakness that just about every other team in the league.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Jan 24 2007, 02:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Once again this team is not weak on defense. They don't give up many offensive rebounds and tend to cause turnovers on their opponents. Dampier and Diop do a good job in clogging the middle. Dallas held Phoenix to only 98 points last time they met which is way below their season average. They did that to Phoenix in last years playoffs as well. Harris is the answer to Nash and Dampier and Diop can alternate guarding Amare and hold him to a low amount of points. Wade is probably the toughest guard in the league for most teams along with Dallas. Chicago being the exception to this point but I've seen Wade light up Jason Kidd.</div>I never, ever said the team is weak on defense. They play great team defense and are feisty (including on offensive boards where they murdered the Rockets and Lakers last week). But Harris cannot guard Nash very well, and both Diop and Dampier are far too slow to hang with Amare on the break and off the pick and roll. This was very apparent in their last game. Yes, Dallas held Phoenix to around 100PPG last year in the playoffs, but that was because Phoenix had no offensive presence down low, thus they were able to stick on the shooters and make Phoenix somewhat ineffective. Lakers also did this a few times in the first round. In the past 2 years, including playoffs, the most Wade has had in a single game against the Nets is 34pts. Wade consistently gets around 26-20PPG on the Nets on pretty decent shooting, but Kidd has never let him go off. Keep in mind in the past 2 years, including playoffs, they have played over 10 games against each other.
Alright Dallas has no answer for Wade and probably never will. He's got our number with some help from the refs who really boosted his point average. Avery though won't start Buckner who I feel has the best chance against Wade and Harris gets overpowered by Wade but that's an improvement since last year Dallas had no one to slow Wade down. Harris though does guard Nash well and he does guard Parker well. Dampier and Diop did just fine on Amare so far this year. Dallas also held Pau Gasol below his average in last years playoffs. Duncan got outplayed by Dirk so far this year in their meetings as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Jan 24 2007, 06:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Alright Dallas has no answer for Wade and probably never will. He's got our number with some help from the refs who really boosted his point average. Avery though won't start Buckner who I feel has the best chance against Wade and Harris gets overpowered by Wade but that's an improvement since last year Dallas had no one to slow Wade down. Harris though does guard Nash well and he does guard Parker well. Dampier and Diop did just fine on Amare so far this year. Dallas also held Pau Gasol below his average in last years playoffs. Duncan got outplayed by Dirk so far this year in their meetings as well.</div>Well, we shall see how it all plays out.
