Could it really be? Is Dallas actually good?

[magnifier661]

The Mavs have been up 2-0 before and lost.

I think the Lakers have been down 0-2 and won a series, right?

Mavs never had a 2-0 lead without HCA. This is much much different.

 

[KingSpeed]

Great. Lionel Hollins disagrees, as he proved by benching his best players against the Blazers in the last week of the season. Now go post another few threads about Zach's redemption by beating an overrated Spurs team, and juxtapose it with how tanking is bad.

Name me an NBA champion that tanked into the playoffs.

Furthermore, do you have proof that Hollins tried to lose those games? You're making an assumption. Maybe he just wanted his players to be rested for the playoffs, regardless of who they played.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I believe that the referees are still retaliating against Kobe for his insult of one their brethren. When watching you don't really see anything where you say "the Lakers really got screwed there," but you also don't see what we have come to expect in Lakers games (especially at home) "That was not a foul!". What I see is that in any ambivalent situations, where they might call a foul or might not, they are not blowing the whistle. I've seen a lot of those iffy situations in which in the past the Lakers would have got a whistle, and now there is just a hard silence.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Or maybe our team doesn't suck like so many think. We actually were very close to winning that series (Losing game 1 when we could have won it). BUT... I think we conditioned them perfectly for the Lakers. We were physical enough for them to get that much tougher. Good for them.

LOL! We weren't physical at all! The Mavs pick and rolled us to death and got pretty much whatever they wanted on offense in about 75% of the floor time. The reality is that they are a good team (maybe even a really good team?) but that doesn't mean that the Blazers are on their level -- minus Roy having an outer-body experience in game 4, they were on a fast track to winning a 5 game series.

 

[KingSpeed]

This is a different Mavs team with three different/better starters in Kidd, Marion, and Chandler. Furthermore, in 2006, games 3-5 were in Miami. In THIS series, Dallas is going HOME for Games 3 & 4. We might've just seen Phil coach his last game at Staples.

Phil has never been back from 0-2. I'm not sure the Lakers as a franchise have ever been back from 0-2. Definitely not in the last 20 years. It's only been done like 14 times. And it almost NEVER happens after losing the first two at home. One of the teams that HAS done it? Dallas against Houston in 2005.

This is the Mavs' year.

My bad. Phil was down 0-2 to the Knicks in 93 but games 3 & 4 were at home in Chicago of course.

 

[KingSpeed]

And with Lakers in 04 against the Spurs. Forgot about those two.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I believe that the referees are still retaliating against Kobe for his insult of one their brethren. When watching you don't really see anything where you say "the Lakers really got screwed there," but you also don't see what we have come to expect in Lakers games (especially at home) "That was not a foul!". What I see is that in any ambivalent situations, where they might call a foul or might not, they are not blowing the whistle. I've seen a lot of those iffy situations in which in the past the Lakers would have got a whistle, and now there is just a hard silence.

In other words, the Lakers are no longer getting the favoritism from the officials they have in the past. Good, let them earn it like everyone else.

I've been watching most of the second round games, and over all, I think the officiating has been very good. About the best thing you can say about officiating is it's been transparent. When you don't really notice the officiating, that's a good thing. They seem to be letting the players play and calling fewer fouls than the first round, but aren't letting things get out of hand (notice how quickly Dirk got a T for the elbow to the back of Artest's head in game one and how quickly Artest got ejected for smacking Barea in the face). And, I haven't noticed any glaring biases, like the 4th quarter of game 1 of the Blazers vs. Mavs series.

BNM

 

[BigVolcano]

LA was kinda unlucky last night. FTA and FGM are pretty much even but LAL was 2-20 on 3PM-A (Steve Blake 0-5) and basically got no contribution from their bench. 3 point shooting and bench play will likely be key throughout the series and Dallas seems to have the advantage in both areas.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Fuck Assclown McMuffin

Terrible coach

So Nate has made the playoffs with his teams 5 out of 11 seasons, advanced out of the first round once in his entire coaching career, and you mock those of us who think he is a poor playoff coach? He has a .412 winning % in the playoffs, compared to a .516 winning % in the regular season. In those playoff series, he has won only 2 games in every year but 1.


Nate's teams have also declined during his coaching tenure in both Seattle and Portland. Everyone blew smoke up his ass when the team increased it's win total every year, but you same people don't say a word now that we have lost more gams than the year before in 2 straight seasons. Injuries happen, and that is not his fault, but the same thing happened in Seattle except for a 1 year aboration that saved his job.....(If you remember back, Nate was on the hot seat and was on his way to getting fired before that season in Seattle)

 

[BBert]

Man, Oh, Man. Has anyone dared to venture onto a Flakers message board? How is the meltdown? Epic, I hope? Or perhaps they are all in stunned denial?

This is good. This is real good.

I can't stand the sight of Dirk NaBitchsky, but it's worth it to witness a bewildered and demoralized Flakers team and fan base.

Booyah!

 

[PapaG]

So Nate has made the playoffs with his teams 5 out of 11 seasons, advanced out of the first round once in his entire coaching career, and you mock those of us who think he is a poor playoff coach? He has a .412 winning % in the playoffs, compared to a .516 winning % in the regular season. In those playoff series, he has won only 2 games in every year but 1.


Nate's teams have also declined during his coaching tenure in both Seattle and Portland. Everyone blew smoke up his ass when the team increased it's win total every year, but you same people don't say a word now that we have lost more gams than the year before in 2 straight seasons. Injuries happen, and that is not his fault, but the same thing happened in Seattle except for a 1 year aboration that saved his job.....(If you remember back, Nate was on the hot seat and was on his way to getting fired before that season in Seattle)

I read it as him mocking the juvenile "AssClown" nickname, which basically destroys the credibility of the person who uses such a dumb term for McMillan.

 

[BBert]

After decades of NBA and referee favoritism, will the Flakers be able to adjust to an evenly called game? Will Phil? The Flakers look overrated and confused. In all honesty though, did the Mavs win that game or did the Flakers lose it? Looked like some of both.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I read it as him mocking the juvenile "AssClown" nickname, which basically destroys the credibility of the person who uses such a dumb term for McMillan.

First, Ass Clown is two words. Secondly, Calling somoene a name is absolutely juvenile, but it's just so much darn fun. You should know that though because you call us fellow posters names.

A lot of people use nicknames to describe their feelings.
Such people aren't always juvenile as you say though.
Should we all try to be more mature like you? Probably, but what fun is that?
Can't you just sit back and see the fun involved here?
Look past your grown up nose and join in on the fun.
Or I guess continue to point out how none of us have credebility.
What I don't get is why it matters to some people?
Now, let's move on to the next thread where attempt to belittle people

 

[Ghost Pepper]

If you asked me if Dallas could beat the Lakers two games in a row at home in the playoffs, I'd have taken that bet and run with it! That said, Dallas is shooting lights out, has Dirk missed since the regular season ended? Terry on one side Peja the other, Kidd in the middle and Chandler hitting the glass! This is a tough team and they are very disciplined.

The Lakers look bored the first game, and stunned in the second! If Dallas gets past the show, I expect them in the finals and the way they are playing with the weapons they have, they could give Miami nightmares!

 

[Stevenson]

Dallas is completely underrated. They have two future HOFers playing, and two more allstars in Marion and Terry. (We barely had two allstars.)

 

[e_blazer]

Could it really be? Is Dallas actually good?

Yes.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

No Artest for game 3.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Go Dallas: the better they do, the better we look!

 

[PapaG]

No Artest for game 3.

It took Artest less than a week to shame the "Good Citizen" award.

That must be some sort of record.

 

[Minstrel]

Artest isn't actually a good player anymore. It does hurt LA's depth, though.

 

[Webster's Dictionary]

No banners are hung for winning a round.

I don't know. The marketing department might.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

Dallas went 2-9 when Dirk got injured. If healthy, it might've been 9-2. Realistically, they might've only won 5-6 of those losses but that would still make them the best team in the NBA, record-wise.

Also, record-wise, the Mavericks dominated the second half of the regular season.

http://www.dougstats.com/10-11LF.html

 

[KingSpeed]

Dallas is completely underrated. They have two future HOFers playing, and two more allstars in Marion and Terry. (We barely had two allstars.)

Not to mention Chandler, who was a top 3 defensive player of the year candidate. Did Peja ever make the All Star team?

 

[DaRizzle]

OP.....no

 

[Spud147]

They're about to go up 2-0 on the Fl@kers.

Maybe they're good after all and the refs didn't hand them the series in the first round??? Did we just lose to a better team?

Does anybody really think the refs handed Dallas the series? Dallas was just better than the Blazers this year in every single game (even the ones the Blazers won).

I was listening to John Canzano after Brandon's heroics in game 4 and he was convinced that the Blazers had crushed Dallas emotionally and they were going to win the next two. I thought the exact opposite. I did not like the way they played at all and didn't think we'd have a chance given the way the first 4 games looked. After they lost game 5 I was listening to John Strong, Canzano, and the beat reporter from Dallas talking like they were convince Portland was going to win game 6 and push the series to game 7. I didn't even watch it, I had the radio broadcast in the background so I could hear if anything positive started happening but I just couldn't watch them play like that again.

I had to laugh when I heard John Canzano, completely jumping on the Blazers band wagon for game 5 and 6. I thought, Ah yes, he's caught Blazermania now too. They've got him and he's infected. He's just like the rest of us who annually believe it's our year this time, watch this team show a ton of heart but get devastated by injuries, and ultimately have our hearts broken but can't stop loving the team. We all need a support group for fans who love too much.

 

[mook]

I seriously, seriously underestimated the Mavs.

Even though the change in hand checking has been around for a while now, I underestimated its impact on the Mavs' ability to perform. Having bigger guards like Portland and LA has hasn't resulted in actual productivity on the court. You look at Terry and Barea and even Kidd (who is often stuck guarding bigger SG's), and the size disparity seems like a massive disadvantage. And it is--for their opponents. It's a quick back court that can launch accurate daggers in a split second, and guys like Miller and Fisher and Blake and Roy just can't seem to keep up. At least not enough to compensate for the massive scoring advantage they have in Dirk. And I missed the memo that said Peja was suddenly relevant.

On the defensive end you've got two seven foot centers delivering 6 hard fouls a piece over 48 minutes. That's a lot of deterrence going on there once you blow by guys like Terry.

And I gotta say--Dirk is playing (by far) the best defense of his career. Make all the jokes about how that's not saying much, but for him to even be an average defender like he is now is such a massive elevation of where he used to be.

I didn't really respect or fear Dallas until game 5, but I'm sold now. That's a legit contender there.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

If the lakers don't win one of the next two in Dallas their done.

Well...yeah. Obviously.