Official [2]Lakers vs [3]Mavericks 2nd Round Discussion #3

[Wilford Brimley]

Mavs will sweep, IMO.

[Alex Trevelyan]

I just don't see the Mavs being able to beat the Heat.

They did it twice this season, and not just when Miami was "struggling." From November 27 to December 20, the Miami Heat went 12-2. Both losses were to the Dallas Mavericks.

Nice try. The first loss to the Mavericks, in Dallas, provoked the infamous players only meeting at which point the Heat went on an epic streak. They had lost only 5-days earlier to the dreadful Pacers by 16-points. They had lost 5 of 9 coming into that game against the Mavericks. The Heat were struggling, they were damn near flat-lining at that point. And as bad as the Heat were playing at that point, without Caron Butler's big night, the Mavs get worked rather badly in that game. The second game was a 2-point victory with Caron Butler again contributing decisive points. This is not that Mavericks team and this isn't that Heat team.

[MickaelPietrus]

If the Mavericks want to win this, Dirk needs at the very least 25 shots and go to him every single possesion in the fourth quarter.

No more Terry/Kidd/Barea bullcrap, Dirk needs to drop 40.

[bathwater]

I hope that we can at least take one game, so that we can go out with some dignity.

[Pharmcat]

Sundays game is going to be a blast when Dallas sends LA on a fishing trip and we get to see all them pouty faces and watch Kobe cry.

Dirk has settled the issue of who is the best European in the game. Heck he's made kobe look like a wannabe. Pau has never been in Dirks league and all the faker fans need to wake up and stop spouting that nonsense that Pau is the second coming. The only thing that guy has done is lose 7 plyoff games in a row to a Dirk led mavericks team. So far 3 with LA and 4 in a row when he was with Memphis. Dirk has owned Pau most games they have matched up against each other it's never been close so the talk by Faker fans is arrogance and shows a lack of BBIQ.

Dirk has been the most impressive player in the playoffs so far and deserved to get higher in the MVP voting. Finals MVP will make up for it. I can see Dallas dominating the EC champs.

LOL thats a good one....DAL just ran into a team that cant play screen defense

other teams can, and will shut down DAL...plus I hope its not MIA/DAL...stevenson vs wade? that would be just unfair and a sweep

[ikidunot]

I really don't get this whole "we're beating ourselves" attitude by the Lakers. So you have a game plan and you're failing to execute it and hit your shots? That's called not being as good. You could put me out there with Phil's game plan...I'd probably lose 'cause I'm not as good.

[Sky_Knicks]

I just don't see the Mavs being able to beat the Heat.

They did it twice this season, and not just when Miami was "struggling." From November 27 to December 20, the Miami Heat went 12-2. Both losses were to the Dallas Mavericks.

2 regular season wins are different than a playoff series. And I also realized Caron might be back by that time so I said :

Actually....if Caron comes back, Mavs - Heat could be interesting.

[DEEP3CL]

I don't even have to read all 6 pages to know that this is the "let's clown on the Lakers" thread. It's cool though, we can't win them all or win the title all the time. It's just not humanly possible, this team is mentally and physically fatigued. The last 3 playoff runs alone equal close to a full season.

Laker fans are pissed, mad and dumbfounded by what's happening because it's not like we're getting smoked off the court we're just being beaten at the critical points. The Lakers use to excel at getting it done in the closing moments of the game, right now everything is failing us.

A lot of guys on our board have said for the longest that maybe being beat can reignite this team, but first we'll have to make some roster adjustments. And Dr.Buss will DO just that.....you can bank on that.

[Gmen]

Sundays game is going to be a blast when Dallas sends LA on a fishing trip and we get to see all them pouty faces and watch Kobe cry.

Dirk has settled the issue of who is the best European in the game. Heck he's made kobe look like a wannabe. Pau has never been in Dirks league and all the faker fans need to wake up and stop spouting that nonsense that Pau is the second coming. The only thing that guy has done is lose 7 plyoff games in a row to a Dirk led mavericks team. So far 3 with LA and 4 in a row when he was with Memphis. Dirk has owned Pau most games they have matched up against each other it's never been close so the talk by Faker fans is arrogance and shows a lack of BBIQ.

Dirk has been the most impressive player in the playoffs so far and deserved to get higher in the MVP voting. Finals MVP will make up for it. I can see Dallas dominating the EC champs.

LOL thats a good one....DAL just ran into a team that cant play screen defense

other teams can, and will shut down DAL...plus I hope its not MIA/DAL...stevenson vs wade? that would be just unfair and a sweep

LOL get real. A sweep? Miami is not unbeatable, Dallas has way more depth and the superior bench. Not to mention they can exploit Miami's weaknesses, namely PG and front court defense. Miami has Bosh and...? Dallas has the superior defense and the much better defensive front court. Miami is relying on their perimeter D and they're getting away with it against a Boston team that is not as good as most people thought. Remember Boston finished the season horribly after the Perkins trade which a lot of people seem to conveniently forget. What Dallas is doing right now is much more impressive as LA was thought of by many to make it out of the West no question. It'll be a good series but no way in hell either team sweep.

[Mavs2theFinals]

When is Roddy coming back?

He's been back, no room for him in the rotation

[Mavs2theFinals]

I just don't see the Mavs being able to beat the Heat.

They did it twice this season, and not just when Miami was "struggling." From November 27 to December 20, the Miami Heat went 12-2. Both losses were to the Dallas Mavericks.

2 regular season wins are different than a playoff series. And I also realized Caron might be back by that time so I said :

Actually....if Caron comes back, Mavs - Heat could be interesting.

Gonna be almost close to impossible for Caron to be back this year

[DEEP3CL]

You never know, the Mavs may still choke the rest of the games and go down as the first team to ever lose when up 3-0. Then the forums would collapse.

I think it sad when a person has to rely on another team choking rather than their own team actually coming through. The Lakers did this to themselves and only have themselves to blame. They didn't take things seriously all year, and relied on their "we are the Los Angeles Lakers. You will bow down to us." Arrogance. Problem was, when other teams finally STOPPED bowing down to them, they act like they don't know what to do anymore. They aren't intimidating anybody anymore and now they're struggling because they lost their mental advantage over everybody else. Teams were basically psyched out before they even stepped on the court. Looking at the body language of most teams in the past, a lot of them clearly did NOT believe they could win, and that's why everything came so easy for the Lakers.

But this time, a team like the Hornets, undersized and undermanned, took them to 6 games! Why? Because they BELIEVED they could win. And whenever a team believes they can win, when they AREN'T afraid, when they AREN'T intimidated, when they AREN'T awe-struck by Kobe Bryant, guess what happens? They give the Lakers hell! They may not necessarily win the series, but they make the Lakers look very mortal. We saw it with Boston, Phoenix, and OKC. Hell, even Houston pushed them to 7 games a couple years ago.

And now we have Dallas finally putting their foot down and saying, we don't care about Kobe cause we have Dirk, and you can't stop him either. They're saying, we don't care about Gasol and Bynum because we have Chandler and Haywood to body them up. (And I've always thought Gasol was soft, btw. Somebody tell this guy to stop screaming, flailing his arms around, and falling on the floor all the time. His little brother is MUCH tougher than him.) And they're say, our bench is better than yours. (Terry, Berea, Peja) they know they are the better team and they're taking care of business. 3-0 is no fluke, and there will be no choke job. At least, not in this series. The reign is over.

Utter garbage....

[Ayt]

It's not over yet but I wouldn't be surprised if neither the Celtics nor Lakers touch a Championship for many years. Both are aging and it's only going to get harder to win with each passing season. With all of the talk from some Laker fans about winning 5 straight Championships and winning 70 games, hopefully they're seeing how great their team really is.

People forget that Pau Gasol made one all star game prior to being a Laker. He's a borderline Hall of Famer and borderline all star. They win a few Championships against weaker opponents and he's all of a sudden one of the best bigs in the league. Easily one of the most overrated players in the league and hopefully people will start to realize that.

Pau? No he's not.

[hironimus]

its incredible how dallas gets disrespected. they may sweep the reigning champs and you guys still say they dont have any chance versus miami.

you all act like the lakers are losing it while dallas isnt winning

[Gannet]

Miami got swept in the regular season series. Granted, it was early in the season, but Dallas creates significant mismatches for Miami at the 4 and 5 (not to mention at the 1 too if they play Beaubois against Chalmers), which is gonna be their Achilles' heel.

[Sedale Threatt]

its incredible how dallas gets disrespected. they may sweep the reigning champs and you guys still say they dont have any chance versus miami.

you all act like the lakers are losing it while dallas isnt winning

You act like the Lakers haven't blown two extremely winnable games.

[Gannet]

Doesn't matter if the perception is they blew those games. Peja and Dirk hit big shots to close the games and Kobe/Odom didn't. Simple as that.

[Sedale Threatt]

No question. Dallas totally deserves to be where it's at.

At the same time, I don't want to here any mewling about not getting any respect when the circumstances are what they are.

That's every bit as myopic as he's accusing others of being.

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

peja stojakovic. jason kidd. jason terry. Now all that's left is shawn marion hitting 20 in game 4.
not even mavs fans believe this ****.

[Optms]

peja stojakovic. jason kidd. jason terry. Now all that's left is shawn marion hitting 20 in game 4.
not even mavs fans believe this ****.

This still feels like a dream. I feel numb in fact. I don't think reality has fully sunk in for me