See? Win 1 game in San Antoino, and you will feel fine returning home, right? Now, let’s not get carried away, but I saw tonight what I expect to see throughout this series. A deeper, more athletic team in Dallas taking on Tim Duncan. He is great. But, the Mavericks are able to bring more. Now, we shall see if they can protect the home court. Crucial to not give it right back on Saturday.
Exclusive Game 2 Notes from the laptop:
• So you want to be a coach? Well, try something radical after 1 game in a series and if it works (Avery Johnson) you are a genius. If it blows up in your face (Dave Tippett) you need your head examined. That was pretty ballsy to go to Devin Harris for 34 minutes. But, it was perfect. Harris had quickness equal to Parker, and played with the aggressiveness that has evidently been well hidden for most of his 2 years here. Now that looked like a #5 pick in the draft.
• We now know for certain that Cheryl Miller in not really Reggie Miller in a wig. They were in the same place at the same time last night, and it is obviously two different human beings. Also, Cheryl seems considerably smarter.
• I am not buying Tony Parker is hurt. I am hearing everyone tell me he is, but I still see him getting to the hoop at will. Come to think of it, I am not buying Duncan is hurt either. Now if you want to tell me Manu is hurt, at least that would explain his disappearing act in these two games. I still laugh when I recall certain geniuses claiming Ginobili was a top 10 player in the league last summer. Trust me, it happened.
• Why, when watching Ginobili play, do I think of cigarettes made in Great Britain?
• Somehow, Dirk really did very little offensively. Any idea that he was going to dominate Bowen after the disappointing Game 1 was obviously not true. He still looks bothered, and he still commits turnovers because he feels pestered all of the time. Mark my words: He needs to break Bowen if the Mavericks are going to win 3 more games. Bowen is getting more and more confidence against Dirk, regardless of the final score of Game 2.
• Duncan is a Top 10 player of my lifetime. That being said, he whines more than anyone this side of Mark Cuban. For him to act like he has never fouled anyone, anywhere is amazing. It is really beginning to change my perception of a guy I have never had anything negative to say about. I saw him play up close all through college at Wake Forest, and then early in his NBA career, I promise Tim Duncan never carried on like this after every whistle (and many non-whistles).
• During the NBA-TV postgame show, they showed that Shaq has scored 2,014 more playoff points than Duncan. That seems amazingly high. I realize Shaq has been around several more years, but 2,000 more points?
• Wow, Nick the Quick really did have an impact on a game in this series. I stand corrected. His ejection actually did seem to factor in somewhat.
• I must admit I did agree with the TNT dynamic duo of Reggie and Dick Stockton on one thought: How is it that it seems that they are “letting them play” and yet everyone was in foul trouble. Were they calling everything or not? I am still not sure.
• Steve Javie seems pretty popular in San Antonio.
• Diop sure played a long time with 5 fouls. I just like his game. He is the Anti-Bradley. I really cannot explain it very well, but if you have watched the Mavericks for the last several years, I think you know what I mean.
• I am not positive about this, but I might be willing to bet that San Antonio plays a heck of a lot more music during the game. My head hurt from all of the sound.
• That pre-interview hug between Stackhouse and Cheryl Miller sure helped Cheryl’s professional integrity score. After a warm embrace, I was expecting some chin music, but her questions for Stack were actually quite nice.
• I am still waiting for Reggie Miller to say something remotely thought provoking or interesting. He was a fine player (although vastly over-rated due to his one shining moment being in front of Knicks media and Spike Lee) but I feel dumber after watching him explain any aspect of a game. Since talking basketball doesn’t mean you can play it, why is it that we all assume that those that play the sport can talk about it?
• Very sad to see the Spurs fans so disappointed. But it was funny to see Eva Longoria mouthing “Ref You Suck” when they showed her. She seems like a true fan.
• Josh Howard is so freaking good it is scary. I stand by my claim of 8 months ago about him being the 2nd best Maverick. Discuss.
For Devin Harris: Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger,
Take it easy on Reggie being vastly overrated there Sturmy. He was a gunner that never got to play with an all around star, and he had bigger balls than anyone in basketball with the game on the line.
ReplyDeleteOh, and it wasn't "one shining moment" with the Knicks. It was a bunch of them.
Having said that, he's a gawd-awful announcer. Just terrible. Makes me sad.
What a win tonight!! Holy cow. Putting Devin in was a no brainer if you ask me. Hindsight is always 20/20 sure, but c'mon. With Griff in there, Duncan was basically playing zone in the key. With Harris or Stack in the game, if Bowen is going to guard Dirk then the Spurs have matchup nightmares at other positions.
I do disagree on Parker. I think it's obvious he's hurt. Ginobli...not so much. OVERRATED CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP
Why don't Ben and skinny skin have a regular show on the Ticket?
ReplyDeleteStack should have stepped on Finley's face.
ReplyDeleteI liked devin harris's elbow to the spanish fag's face.
I wrote my take on game 2 here
ReplyDeletei liked the fact TNT seemed to hire Spurs cheerleaders as game analyst...at least for the first half. jesus christ!
ReplyDeleteBob: There was a point during the telecast (I wanna say 1st Half) where Dick Stockton made a point and then Reggie Miller echoed his point trying to pass it off as his own much like the ABC College Football crew did once. Could lead for some good laughs on the show.
ReplyDeleteThe grin on my face stretched for miles when I saw those whiny Spurs fans exit the area halfway into the 4th Quarter. I thought no fans could usurp Sacramento and Utah in terms of annoyance, but we have a new champion in town now. Go Spurs Go indeed...now I'm almost partially hoping this stretches for seven games to see the dejection on all their faces should the Mavs pull out a victory.
FYI - I muted the telecast after awhile and turned up Followil and Davis, even with the delay it was much more quality than TNT's crap crew.
Hey, Mav's in 6!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost inevitable that great players whine as they get older. They start to slow down, it doesn't come quite as easy for them, and it's never the fact that they're getting long in the tooth.
ReplyDeleteThink about Stockton & Malone, now Duncan, Shaq. It was another of Jordan's greatnesses that he was fairly dignified 'til the end.
Sturm,
ReplyDeleteAgreed about Reggie, was he even speaking English last night?
How big was Micheal Finley last night? S P A R E...man, I am so glad we do not have watch Finley suck it up in a Mavs uniform during the playoffs.
I loved Stackhouse blocking Finley's dunk and then standing over Finley the man-boy....awesome, worth the technical
Devin made Parker look really slow, hurt or not hurt...
Dirk played a great game. He does not need 35 a game. If San Antonio wants to focus on Dirk while Howard and Harris slash to the hoop, then fine with me.
Mavs have no answer for Duncan. Go ahead and let him get his points and still lose.
Love Diop's ability to block and rebound....awesome.
right on about duncan. he and the spurs are the biggest whiners in the nba. just as bad as the nellie-led mavs.
ReplyDeleteWhy, when watching Ginobli play, do I think of cigarettes made in Great Britain?
ReplyDeleteCuz you're gay?
Was it just me, or did Reggie Miller only talk about how good the mavericks played when they were called for fouls. "That was a great defensive play by Marquis Daniels, sure he fouled him, but he moved his feet." What? I was confident that the Mavs would do well only b/c they lost game 1 by two when dirk, terry and many other played terrible, and the team missed alot of free throws. The mavs have completely outplayed the spurs so far in this series. I would disagree w/bob about dirk last night. He looked really uncomfortble, that is for sure, but he really played well. I think he got the ball stolen maybe once or twice, but the rest of the time he just looked uncomfortable, he didn't play uncomforably, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteWhat can the spurs do to win? Well, the mavericks played a perfect game. That won't happen again. The spurs need to get better performances out of Ginobli, Parker and the rest. That is very likely to happen. At least one other player besides Duncan is going to step up. When that happens, can the Mavs still win? We'll see.
go rangers.
ReplyDeleteMavs fans are the greatest in the world by far. We spit on Finley all the time now even though he was the face of our franchise for several years and a classy guy. We would cry and wine all the time when the Spurs owned us in the playoffs. But hey, we are still the greatest fans in the NBA. Go ahead and schedule the parade.
ReplyDeletehey bob, check out the ad for the Hanso Foundation on page 15A of the DMN today.
ReplyDeleteLast night's TNT Studio crew was awesome. You had HIV, Cancer, and Gambling addict all on one set. We need to find a way for Kenny Smith to fit in.
ReplyDeletehahahaha that ^^^^^ was funny.
ReplyDeleteDude, Mavs fans sucks just as bad as you think Spurs fans do. I think Spurs fans are really starting to hate the Dallas Mavericks by the way. It used to be where I would route for the Mavs when they weren't playing the Spurs. Now Spurs fans are starting to hate the Mavs like ya'll hate the Spurs. We have owned ya'll for so long...I just can't imagine the frustration. I guess that means ya'll are a relevant team now. It's makes it more exciting that ya'll are almost the Spurs equal now. Let's get it on you bitch ass Mavs fans a.k.a. the greatest fans on earth.
ReplyDeleteduncan is a fag, he whines becayse he has no atheletic ability and someone playes d on him and shuts him down he cries to"pop" or the refs, when he cant get anything going pop holds his hand on the bench and have" timmy time", thats what marv albert said pop calls it, what the hell is this pre-school, grow some nutz timmy, ginobili gets mad and thinks hes right when there is non calls on one of his exobenant amount of flops, he runs like a runningback with the ball, flops on ofense and defense. parker has the skills and sometimes the killer instinct to just get things done and not cry about it, but the rest, horry is talked about as a great defender as is bowen thats why t mac and stackhouse average over 20 points and 50 percent field goals against bowen, give me a break
ReplyDelete