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I think that Avery doesn't have a braincell in his head.

30 minutes should be the max prior to the playoffs. Also the games don't mean **** anymore.

Avery is trying to avoid the mistake he made last season by doing the exact opposite. The game didnt matter if we won or lost last night, and combined with the injuries suffered just a few weeks ago, I wouldnt have wanted Dirk to get extended minutes, but then again, im not the coach.

We need one more win to secure 7th seed and the last game against NO could possibly determine who Mavs face 1st round so yes the games do mean something.

I agree, that Dirk's minutes should be limited considering his injury, but the team should go into the playoffs full steam, not rusty like last year.

ppp000 wrote:We need one more win to secure 7th seed and the last game against NO could possibly determine who Mavs face 1st round so yes the games do mean something.

By that logic, this is a good loss as we have the flexibility of throwing the last game for 8th seed if it is a better bracket (1st then 4/5) than the the 7th seed bracket (2nd, then 3/6). If we won today an clinched, we have no control over seeding as we are locked into 7th.

Being 7th is fine as the top seeds are not determined. If the Lakers win out and Houston loses one game, Lakers will have the first seed no matter what so we dont have anything to play for the last game. If the Lakers lose a game, and we don't want to face them, then we need to beat NO the last game. Of course, this is not taking account Houston or the Spurs who both have harder remaining games and most likely will not win out.

Also, I just read: to get 8th, we'd have to lose our next two games (highly doubtful that Mavs would purposefully tank) and Denver would have to win the next two...so basically we're locked at 7th, just not "official"

Assuming we beat the Sonics, which really we should, the last game we could either "rest" (aka tank) or play hard depending on whether the top seeds are mostly set.

Dirk asks the coach to play him to keep his rhythm up. That's a great mentality for the team leading scorer and unique crunch player.

We need him at very high level. He's not quite there in terms of rebounding and defense. But he's getting better.

Darren wrote:Dirk asks the coach to play him to keep his rhythm up. That's a great mentality for the team leading scorer and unique crunch player.

We need him at very high level. He's not quite there in terms of rebounding and defense. But he's getting better.

Playing on a gimpy angle will do that to you.

That's why the defense needs to pick up. Avery's made some better adjustments since that Laker game that we lost b/c Dirk was left to guard Pau and Odom under the basket.

dirkforpres wrote:Avery is trying to avoid the mistake he made last season by doing the exact opposite. The game didnt matter if we won or lost last night, and combined with the injuries suffered just a few weeks ago, I wouldnt have wanted Dirk to get extended minutes, but then again, im not the coach.

+1

Dirk would rather work his ankle through then keep it stationery.

On one hand, Dirk needs to be primed for the playoffs and he looks like he is.

On the other hand, he can't rebound worth a **** right now because of his ankle and he might want to rest it.

I concede to Dirk, who wants to play.

Edit: Double Post

I agree with scramm.