Can't get behind the mavs...

[Lorenzo]

Every year is different. What happened last year, or the year before, or the year before, etc. means little. Everybody starts with the same record.

As for the Suns and key injuries... It is sad but true. Not simply the last two years, but in early 90's as well. It's a fact of life and with the differences between the top teams being so small, even small injuries can be enough to change the balance.

Two years ago the Spurs were better than the Suns, but losing JJ made it much harder for the Suns to have even a chance. The final outcome would not likely have been changed, but it was disappointing that the Suns couldn't really compete (although Amare did have a great series).

Last year the Suns were without Amare and KT plus Bell was banged up to the point of not being a factor. Would the Suns have won if healthy? Who knows, but certainly their chances would have been a lot better.

This year we get a lot of Mavs fans that insist that the Mavs are vastly superior to the Suns based on a couple of squeeker victories and the Suns losing streak when Nash was out.

Maybe the Mavs are the better team. If both teams are healthy in the playoffs, then we'll know for sure. But if the Mavs get all beat up and lose in the first round, it won't mean they are a bad team. Just unhealthy.

Unless the mavs lose dirk......i just don't think they would lose in the first round, but you are mostly correct.
Injuries are a part of sports. and the best teams find a way to get it done. Phoenix got it done last year without amare. Dallas has found ways to win in recent years when guys have been injured. Fortunately dirk has never been one of those guys. Overall dallas was pretty healthy in the playoffs last season, but they did have a couple of key guys serve suspensions against s.a. and miami respectively. It's unfortunate that amare got hurt last season and mavs fans would be foolish to think that the suns aren't a better team today with him. I know there are a lot of mavs fans who know the truth. Quite frankly i didn't expect the suns to be as good as they were last year. They had 7 game series against both L.A. teams. after that, I didn't expect them to beat the mavs more than once, but they did. I'm not trying to sound arrogant either. I think the suns were mostly a perimeter team last season. They wern't as effective in the half-court without amare. If you watched a replay of game 6 last year....it would clarify what i'm talking about. The suns had a huge lead after some hot shooting and poor offensive play by the mavs...but they couldn't get stops when the outside shots stopped falling. If amare was in that game......the mavs may not comeback. If amare was there it would have been a drag out game 7 IMO. but he wasn't and the mavs won. Who cares. it was a WC title.....not an nba title.

 

[Lorenzo]

Unless the mavs lose dirk......i just don't think they would lose in the first round, but you are mostly correct.
Injuries are a part of sports. and the best teams find a way to get it done. Phoenix got it done last year without amare. Dallas has found ways to win in recent years when guys have been injured. Fortunately dirk has never been one of those guys. Overall dallas was pretty healthy in the playoffs last season, but they did have a couple of key guys serve suspensions against s.a. and miami respectively. It's unfortunate that amare got hurt last season and mavs fans would be foolish to think that the suns aren't a better team today with him. I know there are a lot of mavs fans who know the truth. Quite frankly i didn't expect the suns to be as good as they were last year. They had 7 game series against both L.A. teams. after that, I didn't expect them to beat the mavs more than once, but they did. I'm not trying to sound arrogant either. I think the suns were mostly a perimeter team last season. They wern't as effective in the half-court without amare. If you watched a replay of game 6 last year....it would clarify what i'm talking about. The suns had a huge lead after some hot shooting and poor offensive play by the mavs...but they couldn't get stops when the outside shots stopped falling. If amare was in that game......the mavs may not comeback. If amare was there it would have been a drag out game 7 IMO. but he wasn't and the mavs won. Who cares. it was a WC title.....not an nba title.

I stand corrected. In the 2003 WC finals i beleive it was game 2 or 3 that dirk went down with a season ending knee injury. That killed any true shot that the mavs had at beating the spurs. He was always the one guy that gave the spurs fits. I still don't think the mavs would have won it with him. The mavs lost that series in 6. and that game 6 was almost a mirror image of the dallas/phoenix one. I still think with a healthy dirk the mavs would have lost in 6. They were lucky to win game 1 in that series.

 

[Lorenzo]

I hope you won't mind a compliment: You're a great Mavs fan -- and obviously a great basketball fan as well. Discussions with you have covered topics ranging from the Mavs to the Suns to the merits of the State of Texas, and you've always stayed rational and reasonable and your comments make sense. Your posts are a pleasure to read.

thank you. I'm glad i'm not on your ignore list.

 

[cly2tw]

Unless the mavs lose dirk......i just don't think they would lose in the first round, but you are mostly correct.
Injuries are a part of sports. and the best teams find a way to get it done. Phoenix got it done last year without amare. Dallas has found ways to win in recent years when guys have been injured. Fortunately dirk has never been one of those guys. Overall dallas was pretty healthy in the playoffs last season, but they did have a couple of key guys serve suspensions against s.a. and miami respectively. It's unfortunate that amare got hurt last season and mavs fans would be foolish to think that the suns aren't a better team today with him. I know there are a lot of mavs fans who know the truth. Quite frankly i didn't expect the suns to be as good as they were last year. They had 7 game series against both L.A. teams. after that, I didn't expect them to beat the mavs more than once, but they did. I'm not trying to sound arrogant either. I think the suns were mostly a perimeter team last season. They wern't as effective in the half-court without amare. If you watched a replay of game 6 last year....it would clarify what i'm talking about. The suns had a huge lead after some hot shooting and poor offensive play by the mavs...but they couldn't get stops when the outside shots stopped falling. If amare was in that game......the mavs may not comeback. If amare was there it would have been a drag out game 7 IMO. but he wasn't and the mavs won. Who cares. it was a WC title.....not an nba title.

I vividly remember a couple games of last year's WCF. As soon as the Mavs stopped covering Raja on the 3pt line, I knew we had lost even the slighest chance to win. I mean Diaw, Nash and Barbosa could work their butts off to create an open shot but if it became 4 on 5, the fate was sealed. As George put it, we might have lost to the Mavs anyway even if Bell had not been injured, but we just didn't have a real fighting chance after that. And the fact that we won another game later in the series was a bad sign for the Mavs.

And I'm with you that I never thought Suns could have won the two LA series to begin with. They definitely overachieved there with the timely maturation of Diaw and Barbs. But they extended their energy too much and the Bell injury was simple a result of fatique. Anyway, our meltdown in the WCF was nothing like the meltdown the Mavs had in the finals.

 

[Lorenzo]

I vividly remember a couple games of last year's WCF. As soon as the Mavs stopped covering Raja on the 3pt line, I knew we had lost even the slighest chance to win. I mean Diaw, Nash and Barbosa could work their butts off to create an open shot but if it became 4 on 5, the fate was sealed. As George put it, we might have lost to the Mavs anyway even if Bell had not been injured, but we just didn't have a real fighting chance after that. And the fact that we won another game later in the series was a bad sign for the Mavs.

And I'm with you that I never thought Suns could have won the two LA series to begin with. They definitely overachieved there with the timely maturation of Diaw and Barbs. But they extended their energy too much and the Bell injury was simple a result of fatique. Anyway, our meltdown in the WCF was nothing like the meltdown the Mavs had in the finals.

I don't think the suns had a meltdown. I thought they should have beat the lakers and the clippers. When i saw that it took 7 to beat those two respectively.....I didn't think that was a sign that they could beat the mavs or spurs. I don't think the suns had a meltdown against the mavs. I think they made it tough for dallas. Dallas did have a meltdown against miami granted the almost 3-0 lead. But overall....miami played much better basketball and deserved it.

 

[cly2tw]

I don't think the suns had a meltdown. I thought they should have beat the lakers and the clippers. When i saw that it took 7 to beat those two respectively.....I didn't think that was a sign that they could beat the mavs or spurs. I don't think the suns had a meltdown against the mavs. I think they made it tough for dallas. Dallas did have a meltdown against miami granted the almost 3-0 lead. But overall....miami played much better basketball and deserved it.

Well, it seems that you were more optimistic about the Suns last year than I was. Diaw and LB were improving fast in the regular season then, plus TT was a surprisingly good fit that late. But we all knew that playoffs were supposed to be a completely different game. I never thought, given this high load of responsibility so unprepared, Diaw and LB could mature on the job so fast. That's reason it took us so long to beat the LA teams, and the reason that we won those series after all.

 

[Lorenzo]

Well, it seems that you were more optimistic about the Suns last year than I was. Diaw and LB were improving fast in the regular season then, plus TT was a surprisingly good fit that late. But we all knew that playoffs were supposed to be a completely different game. I never thought, given this high load of responsibility so unprepared, Diaw and LB could mature on the job so fast. That's reason it took us so long to beat the LA teams, and the reason that we won those series after all.

I agree with that. I just thought that phoenix was a better team that those two. both those teams had talent....but phoenix was clearly a better team. bell was a huge addition to that team. but barbosa, diaw, and thomas were playoff wizards for the suns. they did more than what was expected. I thought diaw did a nice job of playing near the basket in the absence of amare.

 

[msdundee]

thank you. I'm glad i'm not on your ignore list.

I don't have an ignore list. But I have obliterated signature pictures........

 

[Lorenzo]

I don't have an ignore list. But I have obliterated signature pictures........

Well i won't post one unless one of my teams wins a real title. I went crazy when UT beat USC.

 

[Skkorpion]

Well i won't post one unless one of my teams wins a real title. I went crazy when UT beat USC.

I was hoping for a tie! I hate them both.

 

[CardNots]

Well i won't post one unless one of my teams wins a real title. I went crazy when UT beat USC.

I didn't go crazy when UT beat USC, but I must admit when the Cardinals drafted Lienart I came to really appreciate the Texas win.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I don't have an ignore list. But I have obliterated signature pictures........

Do you have something against Carlton?

 

[msdundee]

Do you have something against Carlton?

That huge nauseating picture of Dirk kept popping up. Sometimes I'm eating something while I'm on the computer. I don't have an extra keyboard.

 

[Covert Rain]

That huge nauseating picture of Dirk kept popping up. Sometimes I'm eating something while I'm on the computer. I don't have an extra keyboard.

That's why I did an extreme makeover on the pic. He is much prettier now.