<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span id="iba2_siteCss"><span id="iba2_siteCss">OAKLAND — In "The Untouchables," Sean Connery schools Kevin Costner in "the Chicago way," a method of doing battle with mobster Al Capone by way of escalation: "He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue." Capone's hometown may be almost 1,000 miles from the heart of Texas, but when the Dallas Mavericks arrive tonight at Oracle Arena, Warriors forward Al Harrington expects them to seek nothing less than some Untouchables-style retribution for last season's shocking playoff brutalization.</p> "Obviously, I think they're going to come in here with revenge on their minds," Harrington said. "I think this is going to be a playoff mind-set game for them. I think that in their minds they have a lot to prove."</p> They're not alone in that regard.</p> While Dallas seeks to purge its collective memories of lastfrom Sports 1</p> </p> year — when the Warriors needed just six games to become the first No.8 seed to topple a No.1 in a best-of-7 NBA playoff series — Golden State (0-4) needs to show that last season's success was not simply a fluke.</p> "We can't worry about this game, that game," Warriors guard Baron Davis said. "We've got to worry about getting better at this point."</p> There are several obstacles in the way of that objective, not the least of which is Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. The reigning Most Valuable Player had to hear all summer about how he shouldn't have won the award after letting his team undergo <span id="iba2_siteCss"><span id="iba2_siteCss">such an ignominious exit from the postseason. "When a team eliminates you from the playoffs, I sure would hope you're not trying to necessarily send anybody any Christmas gifts," Nowitzki told Dallas reporters this week. "When you play a team in the playoffs, you learn to hate people and hate teams. So definitely, Golden State is one of them."</p> Of course, the biggest reason the Warriors were able to bottle up Nowitzki last spring (38.3 percent from the floor, 21.1 percent on 3-pointers) will be at home. Tonight's game will be the fifth in swingman Stephen Jackson's seven-game suspension, so he won't be around to push Nowitzki out of all his comfort zones.</p> "We can't go back and live off of that series," Jackson said. "That series is over."</p> That's not to say it didn't leave some residual self-assurance behind. After all, the Warriors have won 10 of their past 13 games against the otherwise all-conquering Mavericks.</p> "I think we still are very confident against that team," Warriors center Andris Biedrins said. "Everybody feels good about themselves playing against Dallas, because of what we did last year."</p> Harrington said: "We won a lot of games vs. them. I wouldn't say we own anybody, but that's a great matchup for us."</p> An expected sellout crowd would like nothing better than to get back in touch with the howling mob that celebrated the playoff victories. So far in two home games, fans have filed out early as the Warriors went down to defeat.</p> "It's gonna be a lot of fireworks," Davis said. "I expect it to be the same atmosphere as it was in the playoffs. It's a rivalry now, and I think the people in the Bay Area kind of live for that." Just call it "the Oakland way."</div></p> Source: Inside the Bay Area</p> </span></span></p> </span></span></p>
I'm not sure what Nellie has up his sleeves, but think it will take someone stepping up tonight. It would be a great time for Marco Belinelli to break out. Azubuike could have a classic JRich performance. Maybe one of the rooks/sophs will contribute such as Brandan Wright or POB. Who's going to guard Dirk if SJax is out?</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jason voorhees)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Who's going to guard Dirk if SJax is out?</p> </div></p> </p> Thats my biggest concern, I'm guessing some combination of Pietrus, Harrington, Barnes, maybe even Azu and/or Wright. Doesn't look like a particularly good group but Pietrus did pretty well on LeBron the other night and Harrington isn't too bad when he puts his mind to it.</p>
I recall Harrington doing an excellent job guarding Dirk in the playoffs last year, harrassing him out of his rhythm. Still, without JRich and SJax I think it's likely to be a very long night for the Warriors.</p>
You're right HIREZ, Harrington did a great job on Dirk in the playoffs. Al is not intimidated by the superstar players in the league and can make Dirk work on the other end.</p> It's actually been Jason Terry doing most of the damage for the Mavs in the last couple of games. The Warriors need to pay attention to him he's shooting over 60% from the field right now.</p>
