Spurs v Mavs in round 1

[the southern dandy]

Should be an interesting series. I'm looking foward to see who steps up in the absense of Manu.
I'll put some more thoughts up later.

[Donald Kaufman]

Huh? Weren't the Mavs the 8th seed like 24 hours ago? I wasn't prepared to face them at all. I was expecting NO or Portland in the 1st round.

This could be a hell of a series. Can we avenge the '06 loss? I'd feel much better at our chances with a healthy Manu, but someone else is going to have to step in and fill the void.

Obviously Dirk and Howard are crucial, but we need to stop or at least slow Terry. Limiting him could be the key to the series.

Parker should run rings around Kidd, providing Kidd is assigned Parker (Haven't watched many Mavs games this yr, I think he generally guards opposing SG's??). Am looking for Timmy to have a monster series.

[DBMethos]

Expect Terry to hit all of his shots against us, as usual. Also expect Kidd's 3 pt. FG% to be ridiculously high for no particular reason, other than to make things difficult for us. The absence of Manu makes this matchup really hard to judge.

[Nolan]

1st game is Saturday night.

[LyMinh]

Duncan needs to average 30+ ppg for us to win

[Magz50]

Good match up for us, i'm pretty confident we can beat them in 5.

[the southern dandy]

I'm iffy on this matchup, would have preferred Houston to be honest. Without Manu we simply don't have any real chance of competing for a championship. So this playoffs I'm just looking for a strong effort from the team.

The best part of this matchup is that Timothy won't be challenged too strongly on either side of the floor. If Tim really is healthy I expect him to hold up his end of the bargain and dominate, as Dirk will for the Mavs.

After watching Dallas v Houston in the season finale I am afraid of Dirk once again. The things he was doing to Scola were unholy. As sad as it sounds, I think Drew Gooden may be our only real hope here. Drew's defense has been surprisingly sound here in SA, and he has enough athleticism to at least pose a threat to staying in front of Dirk. He also has the ability to challenge Dirk on the offensive end, which is an element we've lacked in the past.

Parker is obviously the key to the series IMO. His responsibility all over the floor is going to be monumental. He's going to have to abuse whoever guards him. JJ Barea, Kidd and Terry have no real ability to guard him. On defense he's going to have to play with incredible focus as he's the only guard who can hang with Terry. I'd like to have seen Hill have a go at guarding Terry, but we all know it isn't going to happen.

I think Mase has has a decent matchup in this series with Jason Kidd. If Mase focuses I think he can do a more than respectable job on him. I'd like for Mase to make contributions offensively, but with a defender like Kidd likely guarding him and his inability to get to the rim, I have my doubts.

I'd like to see Udoka get a shot at Dirk. He's been playing with confidence lately and he brings a lot too potentially both Dirk. He has the speed and strength to give Dirk problems. Obviously he doesn't have ideal height, but beggars cannot be choosers. Also Ime's rebounding may also negate the rebounding problems we faced when Bowen guarded Dirk.

[Blame Rasho]

I got tickets for tommorrow

I say Spurs in 6.

Parker has been beastly vs the Mavs.

[Blame Rasho]

Parker needs to average 30+ ppg for us to win

[Blame Rasho]

Howard has been gimpy... he has always played good vs us it seems.

[JES12]

Parker >>>>>> Kidd
Dirk >< Duncan
Spur's role players > Dallas


I'm not expecting Dallas to win, but I am looking forward to an excting series.

[blueberrysticky]

Parker >>>>>> Kidd
Dirk >< Duncan
Spur's role players > Dallas


I'm not expecting Dallas to win, but I am looking forward to an excting series.

it's up to josh howard.

he can't tank and shoot 29% like he did in last years series with the hornets.

a

[the southern dandy]

Tony Parker just got his ass kicked by JJ Barea. I'm speechless right now.

[co_laper]

Well, we lost game 1. There's a lot of things I don't like from this game.

Without Manu, I think we rely too much on Parker to generate offense. You see how Parker tries to get his shot and it seems like he deserves a gallon of water for it. I feel we have too many role players and not enough "Players". As good as Mason was in this game knocking down 3s, this is one of the reason I really wanted Corey Maggette. Mason IMO is simply a 3 point shooter and nothing else. He's basically a black version of Steve Kerr.

Size. I never bought into Duncan being our full time center. No matter what they list Kurt Thomas, Matt Bonner, or Fab at, Duncan is tallest and biggest of them all. He's basically playing with PFs. What Dampier did to us in this game basically expose our lack of size. I'm not saying Duncan should play 40 minutes at PF, but we need atleast 1 true Center who can take up space on the rotation. Just like we did when we had Rasho or Nazr.

Shotblocking. I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't think anyone is afraid of taking it to the rim anymore againts the Spurs. Before, even if the help is late, guys like Horry can still cover up that mistake with a block. With guys like Kurt, or Bonner, or Gooden, there's no fear anymore.

Bruce Bowen. I know Finley has been shooting well, but I think this team is still about defense. Finley may give us better shooting, but a step slower Bruce Bowen is still our best defensive player. We had a lot of breakdowns defensively in this game.

That basically sums up what I've been hating this season from our team.

As for why we lost this game, I think the absence of Manu and our defensive breakdowns kills us. The Spurs don't seem to have an answer for JJ and it's not just because of game 1. JJ's been killing us in the regular season too.