Suns fan here (some insights)

[JES12]

lol the mavs would've wrecked the lakers if dirk and jho were their usual selves to start the game

LOL the Lakers would've wrecked the Mavs if Kobe and Dampier were there usual selves at the start of the game.

[FGump]

Lakers won. In LA. In overtime. ~yawn~

Who cares about the details? In Dallas the Lakers haven't won since 2005 and they barely won in LA. I'm not worried, Chicken Little.

[Pootie41]

It seems like the Mavs are always losing to the Lakers.. what do the Lakers have that the Mavs have never had?

Star power.

That was the difference in that game. And every other game the Mavs play against the lakers. Remember the "comeback" when shaq and Kobe came back from the biggest defecit ever?

It's all about star power. The Mavs are just patsy's in the grand scheme of things.. the Washignton Generals in refs eyes. The refs keep the games close for entertainment purposes.. then the refs give the stars the benefit of the doubt for entertainment purposes.

Even the Spurs were victims of the LA star power back in the Duncan Robinson era.

[JES12]

Really? 2005? Interesting. Only time can tell.

[myconsumerclub]

Wright needs PT to be evaluated for future usage. Obviously Avery is an idiot for not playing him when he was described as NJ's kobe stopper and he couldn't possibly have done worse than 2 of 12 like crackhouse and his no D playin ass.

Magliore would have not allowed an easy rebound by Kobe off of the missed FT that Bass gave up but again Avery is an idiot and doesn't develop confidence in a former all star center against Sacramento which IMHO is inexcusable since we won that game by quite a bit. If Avery continues his brain dead BS I will not spend anymore money on Cuban's enterprises and I will start to organize a campaign to boycott the Mavericks I believe someone else has built a website called Fireavery.com or some such name not quite sure.

The owner needs to talk some sense into his coach because to ignore the potential improvement to this team those aformentioned players could offer the mavs is to waste his investment in acquiring them and it makes Avery open to criticism which is eroding the teams confidence in his ability to coach. I know he has a man crush on Stack but man is he insane to use him on Kobe or what.

Howard doesn't worry me because I understand the nature of back injuries first hand and think he will improve but if it drags on a month and he still shows little improvement hindsight will show that he was hurt more than he let on and the coach was ignorant of the fact when it is obvious to everyone else including opposing coaches looking to feast on the weaknesses of the mavs. Wright could increase this teams depth and serve as a defensive specialist if given PT.

With Kidd passing the rock he would surely get his share of easy baskets and as someone more intent on going to the basket he would provide some risk management strategy now that Howard has stopped going to the hole (look at how many FT attempts Howard has in the last 6 or 7 games you know I'm right)

Avery is worrying too much about the political situation regarding his vets emotional status and he needs to play the best team possible. Wright is likely a better player than Stack now as evidenced by Stacks lack of production. Stack is turning into another EJ. Perhaps we needed to trade Stack to NJ after all.

[daoneandonly]

i thought we gave up alot in the trade, but, the trade would have been fine if we traded terry for a bigger (not even better) sg or sf, if we did that say q-rich simmons, magette, anyone, then we'd be a much much betetr team. Kidd wouldnt have to guard the best guard regardless of position and we'd have someoen more willign to atatck the basket where kidd can find u. The real problem honestly is jason terry as a starting 2.

[ppp000]

Damn some of you must lead depressing lives.

Fact: Mavs fought tooth and nail on the homecourts of the two top Western teams.

Fact: None of the Mavs had their best games, same could be said about the opponent

Obviously a loss is a loss, but what I got from these games is that the Mavs can hang with the best and if we improve from here on out, things will only get better. But don't let me get in the way of knee-jerking.

[mckane]

Dallas is in good shape. Look a month down the road and forget these losses. They are nothing in the season long scheme of things.

Dirk + Kidd will be sick in the Playoffs.
I'd take Dallas over LA, btw. I think LA is great this year and Kobe is probably the MVP (though I hate to say that because I hate KoME and his sorry pompous smirk), but I'd rather take the battle tested veterans of Dallas under the bright lights. Next year, LA will be the favorite, but this year, I'd still put my money on Dallas. Especially after how I've seen you guys play after the trade. This team is still trying to "gel".

Want reason for concern? Look at my stubming PHX SUNS!!

[mckane]

BTW, has Gasol even every played in a playoff game? I don't think he has. He doesn't seem to have the mental make up to step into playoff atmosphere and shine. Kobe can win games on his own, but I'd still take Mavs in a 7 game series.

[sosafan70]

BTW, has Gasol even every played in a playoff game? I don't think he has. He doesn't seem to have the mental make up to step into playoff atmosphere and shine. Kobe can win games on his own, but I'd still take Mavs in a 7 game series.

Yeah, he's been swept by the Mavericks at least once

[studcrackers]

gasols been in 3 PO series, he's been swept every time, once by the suns, spurs and mavs (maybe the suns twice and not the spurs)

[davidse]

gasols been in 3 PO series, he's been swept every time, once by the suns, spurs and mavs (maybe the suns twice and not the spurs)

he was also his team's best player in all of those playoff series'es - by a mile, was expected to carry them, and was the focal point of opposing team's defenses.

no longer the case.

in this year's playoffs he'll only be expected to be the 2nd option to the game's best pressure performer, accompanied by a proven clutch experienced d. fisher and two fanatstic complimentary players in bynum and odom.

the talent gasol now has around him is no where similar to what he had in memphis - in fact, you can no longer call it that - HE is now become part of the talent that surrounds a BETTER player... (not to mention he himself is a better and more experienced player now...)

i have no problem admitting my own team's faults, and have done so endlessly in the past, but this laker team at full strength can only get competition from the spurs and celtics - in my very honest opinion.
anyone telling themselves differently and trying to downplay gasol's abilities is simply not being honest with himself.

just my 2 c's...

[arkuo]

there's a reason why memphis sucks with gasol and there's a reason why LA got him cheap... its either his value in the league is just not as high fans view him, or jerry west was working some backdoor magic to send him to LA as mchale sent KG to boston....

IMHO, gasol's value has just got higher coz of his international play... coz obviously, his image in memphis doesnt really help at all.. but in the international leagues, he plays with the likes of calderon, navarro and garbajosa.. heck the spanish team even won the FIBA without him... which means that there is simply a lot of talent in their team that they dont need him to play to win... im not bashing him, im just comparing him to dirk, who doesnt really have anyone to take notice of in the german team... just count how many germans play in the NBA compared to the number of Spaniards... those guys actually boosted gasol's value..