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Originally Posted by ChampsX4
1) I agree the Spurs don't have an answer for Dirk. But for that matter, what team does? At the same time, you could say that the Mavs don't have an answer for a healthy Duncan. Teams usually don't have an answer for guys like Dirk, TD, Kobe, ect.
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The Mavs' capacity to deal with Duncan without completely altering their normal gameplan far exceeds the Spurs' capacity to do the same with Dirk. As interesting as it was to see Pop throwing elbow triple-teams at Dirk and having guys like Bonner guard him toward the top of the key, rather than positioning between him and the basket, it very clearly revealed how much of a problem he causes. Also, I feel I don't need to point out the problem with referring to a "healthy Duncan."
The Spurs haven't done anything to address that major deficiency. The Mavs, meanwhile, brought in a guy who has had some very good success guarding Parker in stints, who since 2007 has been the most problematic Spurs player for the Mavs. As much as the Spurs have improved this offseason, I'm not convinced at all that they've done much to rectify their deficiencies against the Mavs' roster. If things stand pat, I think we will continue to see that the Mavs play the Spurs better than anyone else in the league.