San Antonio Spurs(38-19) @ Dallas Mavericks(36-20) Previous Game Rockets 77 @ Spurs 86 Clippers 91 @ Mavs 116 Streaks Spurs: Won 2 Mavs: Won 3 Head Coaches vs. Gregg Popovich/Don Nelson Probable Starters PG: vs. Tony Parker/Steve Nash SG: vs. Hidayet Turkoglu/Michael Finley SF: vs. Bruce Bowen/Josh Howard PF: vs. Tim Duncan/Antonie Walker C: vs. Radoslav Nesterovic/Dirk Nowitzki 6th Men vs. Emanuel Ginobili/Antawn Jamison Injury Report Cavaliers Jason Hart Sean Marks Mavericks Tariq Abdul-Wahad Tony Delk Jon Stefansson <div align="center">Players To Watch Tim Duncan/Dirk Nowitzki Duncan: 23.2 Points, 3.2 Assists, 12.9 Rebounds, 2.74 Blocks Nowitzki: 21.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.37 blocks</div> Keys To The Game <u>Spurs</u> Keep feeding Duncan on the low block Must get back on Transition defense Spread the ball around, drive and kick Guard the shooters on the perimeter Attack the basket, take care of the basketball and make your free-throws <u>Mavericks</u> Run the floor on every possible possession Must rebound the basketball at both ends Double Duncan whenever he gets the ball downlow Try not to let Tony Parker beat you off the dribble Spread the floor on the offensive end, find the shooters Allnet's Prediction Both teams come into this game on good winning streaks and are finding their form at the right time. Spurs recently beat the red hot Timberwolves at the target center. Spurs need every win as possible If they are to come away with the midwest division once again. Making free-throws will again be a key part of this game, Spurs managed to hit them when it mattered on sunday, not letting Dallas get out and run and therefore get easy baskets is also an area Spurs will look at. The last thing you can do against this Dallas team is to give them open looks on the perimeter. Controlling the rebounds is what the Spurs must do, feed the ball to Duncan in the post and let him go to work. No one on that Dallas frontline can stop him, players like Hedo turkoglu who is currently 2nd in 3-point % has to hit open shots. Dallas will leave guys like Hedo, Bowen and Horry open when they go and double Duncan, so the role players need to be hitting. Spurs inside game should be too strong for Dallas tonight Spurs by 5
I'm also going with the Spurs in this game. Tim Duncan is, too of a force inside for the Mavs to contend with and once he gets going, it will create open looks for the shooters on the team. The Spurs have the best defense in the league, and they are more than capable of forcing the Mavs to take low percentage shots, and rush their offense. I take the Spurs by 10 in this one.
I agree with Shape, the fact that the Spurs are the best defensive team in the league is a major factor. Especially since the Mavericks really so heavily on offense. Duncan will be the ultimate key, he can do virtually everything, even his FT's have improved lately. He's a lot stronger than Dirk as well. Maybe Howard's defense will rub off onto everybody again. Great 6th men on both teams, if they're playing at their best, they could turn the tide with difficulty. I like the Spurs better so I see them winning by around 4, for once the Mavericks get hot, even the best of defensive teams can't handle them to a full extent.
I think the Tony Parker/Steve Nash matchup will be key as well. Steve Nash has a tendenacy to give up alot of points from the point guard position. The Spurs need Parker to be aggressive because this is one of the matchups where they can generate alot of points. And Parker's penetration will help to exploit the Mavs weak interior. As we all know the Mavs dont have anything that looks like a shotblocker(except for Shawn Bradley off the bench), so the driving lanes should be open all day for Parker. The Spurs want to dump the ball down low to Duncan & get penetration from Parker to create their offense. They dont want to get into a stand still shooting contest with the Mavs. Bowen,Heidu, Parker cant win a jump shooting contest against Nash, Dirk, Finley etc. And I think Rasho should produce some good offensive # in this game as well. If the Spurs are aggressive off the Dribble I think they will take the game.
The Spurs have to bring their A game because they have too much to lose if they don't. Having already lost the first 2 games against the Mavericks, they don't want to lose the tie-breaking edge to them. Adding in that Minnesota continues to win, they don't want lose ground. I think the Spurs will win by 5. If they win, I believe they will hold the Mavs under 85, but if they lose, the Mavs have 102.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">OUCH Finley on fire and Duncan is hurt Dallas wins</div> Yep, Scott Williams strikes again. First hurts Malone, knee injury. Now hurts Duncan, knee injury. It's a damn shame.
