Recap Part Duece: Warriors 99, Mavs 121 - Pass the Crow Please.

Funny thing is that even though when I turned it on with the W's down 11 in the 3rd, I had this sense that it would not be a blowout but that the W's only had to make a charge and could actually win.  That's a huge change from the last 10 years.

Baron going 2 for 14 is hard to explain.  Even so they played hard and almost won.  The W's were lazy though on the high post pick letting Harris, Stack and Terry just waltz into the middle of the lane.

JRich would not have made a difference.

Nothing better than "The City".

but honestly, the mavs couldnt have played any better last night, and the warriors couldnt have played any worse. i mean, baron, 2-14 is NOT gonna cut it, especially against the mavs. at least the warriors somewhat showed up, with big al going for 20pts in the first half. when they started the 4th i thought the game was in the warriors pockets, but they just keep pumping round after round into their feet. it was very tough for me to watch.

1. Paul Westphal's influence on their offensive sets will make the Mavs less stagnant offensively.

The Warriors couldn't do jack to stop the Mavs all night. They got any shot they wanted on offense- anything. And they made most of them.

2. Josh Howard getting more touches (and by extension, Dirk fewer) will have an impact.

Howard lit us up. No lie.

3. Brandan Bass solves many of their problems on both ends of the court because he's a mobile, athletic big man...the kind that crush us.

Bass dropped 10/12/2 on us last time, 12/11/1 this time....in 21 minutes.

4. Terry off the bench

Without both Terry and Harris on the floor, there was one less defensive liability. Terry was 4/7 for 9 pts with 6 dimes as the Dallas bench (of which Bass was a part as well) continued the onslaught.

Culprits for tonight's embarassment?

Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis; the captains that didn't bother to show up. Seriously, they are the limit on this team. Their inefficiency (Jack was 8/21 with 4 turnovers; Baron was 2/14 with 3) doomed us and will continue to doom us against quality opponents.

They get the most touches. They commit a buncha turnovers and brick alot of shots. We can win despite this when someone else (Al, Ellis) has a terrific night and the opponent is mediocre or worse...but such was not the case.

As I've been harping on OVER AND OVER, the fouling problem is just that, a problem. No one mentions it (Barnett does), but it absolutely hurts us. The pace slows, the other team gets extra easy buckets.

We HAVE to win the turnover battle by a significan t margin to win against good teams, but it's starting to look like th e early season differential was a fluke. We've been coughing up the ball and our o pponents  have been living in the bonus for many, many games now.

There's a buncha causes:

Coaching, because someone needs to train these guys NOT TO FOUL SO MUCH, manage minutes, get people focused.

Baron and Jack, for poor shot selection and atrocious decision making.

The bench, for being absolute dolts. Pietrus and Barnes come off the bench and the other refs should just trigger the bonus on the spot. Shoot.

These are serious issues that need to be addressed.

END REPOST

What Pree wrote is also applicable: we don't always bring the energy. Hello, we're playing the Mavs? Not showing up for the Mavs, playing down to the Twolves and Grizz...all signs of immaturity or sheer stupidity. If you can't shoot it's one thing, if your head isn't in the game and u don't bring any effort, th at's another.

Ellis fouling Harris on a 3P and another long J? Mental.

Pietrus fouling Stack at the LOGO?
Mental

Jack's shot selection?
Mental

and so it goes

A Golden state of mind Indeed.

AIM: Jetforze

What we really needed to do was to get some more fast break opportunities and pick up the pace.  We are so much better than them in the open court, but they slowed it down and were just bigger and stronger than us.  "The one man fast break" monta ellis wasn't doing his thing leaking out and getting break away dunks, and we weren't really getting the stops to throw it up the court and fast break.

Who noticed how they stopped our running game early with fouls and stuff.  They would just grab a warrior if we were about to get a break.  The mavs must have had that game plan to slow down the warriors and they really stopped us early and we never really got going.  

If we could have picked up the pace and Jackson and Baron could have had better games, we would have been in it.  But, like many, i believe that Jason Richardson was just so key in our victories over the mavs.

That said, we were down four going into the fourth, and the loss in Oakland was close, too. And, of course, we won't end up paying 10M+ per year on a guy with a limited bag of tricks like Richardson for the next however long.

I'm not one of those that name calls and though a tough-talker and a bit witty, I will not resort to being classless on your blog. That's disrespectful...with that said, I must say that you guys are right about a lot (the Mavs can play good defense...even Dirk had 2 blocks and a rebound on the same possession; Dampier can be an impact on defense and offense, Bass is a monster...that's his nickname; and "Steakhouse" as you call him is a 3-point killer), but the Mavs aren't really trying to prove anything in the regular season. (Like many of your fans have said...on our blog...2 wins in the regular season mean NOTHING!!!)

I know what everyone says about how this is GREAT, but you must remember (I'm sure you didn't forget) that 67 wins didn't mean anything and neither did 2-0 against the Heat. The Mavs just want to get to the playoffs so they can get the ring...by now, it's the only thing they care about. We have the West trophy, we've been to the Finals, we've made history, we have an MVP, now we want a ring...

Again, congrats on history...let's now look to the future to see what these 2 teams can do!

In the ultra competitive Western Conference, the Warriors can't simply afford to give games away.  But give the Mavs credit, they were focused and essentially outplayed the Warriors for most of the game.

While the Warriors didn't exactly mail the game in, it seemed to me the Warriors felt like they didn't have anything to prove.  They gave it an effort but couldn't get it done.

No one should be surprised the Mavs came out playing hard with a chip on their shoulders.   They want to gain back some of the respect lost from the playoff series last year.  

I think the true test for both teams will be if the Mavs/Warriors play again this season in the playoffs.  That would be a series worth watching.