Details: When: Tuesday, April 19th Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas Time (Seattle): 5:30 P.M. TV: Fox Sports, League Pass Projected Starters: <font color="green">Seattle (52-28) </font> Luke Ridnour Ray Allen Rashard Lewis Reggie Evans Jerome James <font color="darkgreen">Dallas (56-24)</font> Jason Terry Michael Finley Josh Howard Dirk Nowitzki Erick Dampier Injury Troubles: <font color="green">Seattle</font> Mateen Cleaves: Sprained thumb, ruled out. Vladimir Radmanovic: Stress fracture in leg, ruled out. <font color="darkgreen">Dallas</font> Tariq Abdul-Wahad: Knee tendinitis, ruled out. DJ Mbenga: Strained hamstring, ruled out. Pavel Podkolzin: Torn knee cartilage, ruled out. Brief Notes: <ul> [*]With both teams locked into the playoff seeds and match-ups, look for both coaches to experiment. While Nate McMillan has said he wants to use the last two games to tighten the roation, don't be surprised to see Ray Allen sitting for long periods, as he rests up in time for the playoffs. Rashard Lewis should be the other way around however, as he attempts to ply off the rust and get himself back to full strength for the post-season. [/list] <ul> [*]Semmi will be writing the last game preview of the season, against the Rockets [/list] * Useful/less stat of the day: The Mavericks are 14-2 under Avery Johnson. Dirk's minutes are down, and Keith Van Horn's scoring is up. Quotable: "The expectations are incredible. What people think you should be or how you should play. Ever since Day 1, I've tried to tell people that I'm not Dominique and I'm not Gerald. I'm Damien." - Damien Wilkins. Random Family Guy Quote Lois: For me? Please? Peter: All right, all right, but you owe me. Later, under the mistletoe, open mouth, no matter how drunk I am. All predictions, analysis and discussion relating directly to the game, both before, during and after, to be posted in this thread.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pwn3d!:</div><div class="quote_post"> [*]Danny Fortson and Antonio Daniels are both questionable for this game, which translate to very unlikely. The Rockets are basically full-strength, except for Juwan Howard who is out for the season. </div> Copy-paste?? No-good! Sloppy review!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Semmi:</div><div class="quote_post">Copy-paste?? No-good! Sloppy review! </div> Oh give the guy a break. Either that, or start writing your own reviews since you have enough free time to complain about his. Even though both teams are locked into their spots, when western teams meet at this point they both want the W. This is one of those games where I think we should start AD instead of Luke, he could better handle Terry who has been lighting it up as of late (anyone see the Laker game on Sunday?). Assuming that Nate plays Jerome throughout the whole game (as opposed to just the first 6-8 mins of the first quarter) we have a good chance of winning this one. He'll stop the easy stuff inside. Dallas has three guys that can light it up from outside, but living by the three only works in spurts, so if JJ can stop their easy buckets we have a good chance to win this one.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">Time for Flip to start earning his paycheck for next year.</div> I really doubt Flip sees any real meaningful playoff minutes.....if he does it must mean something bad is happening.
I know this is a meaningless game but after watching the first qtr I have the following observations: 1. Avery really has them playing tough defense. They can put pressure on the ball and have some tough on the ball defenders like Howard, Daniels and Harris. They also fight you for post position. I saw Rashard start out about 5 ft farther than his original post. 2. Jerome James and Flip have their head up their ass. They need to pull it out if not for this game but at least in preparation for the playoffs. 3. We're getting outworked and outhustled so far. EDIT: 4. Shawn Bradley - Shawn Bradley - is killing us.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">I really doubt Flip sees any real meaningful playoff minutes.....if he does it must mean something bad is happening.</div> You're absolutely right. If Flip gets meaningful playoff minutes something bad will happen -- our free agent guards leverage with the organization will diminish this offseason.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coolguy777:</div><div class="quote_post">I really doubt Flip sees any real meaningful playoff minutes.....if he does it must mean something bad is happening.</div> Wasn't talking about the playoffs.
Oh there was a big misunderstanding. When Nate said he was going to limit Ray and Rashard's minutes, Jerome thought it meant it was OK to lose. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I wouldn't say we came out coasting, but we didn't think Dallas would come out so aggressively," James said. "We had overheard that they were going to save guys and limit guys' minutes. Give (coach) Avery Johnson credit. He did exactly the opposite of what everyone anticipated him doing."</div> I get it now.
