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Originally Posted by ChampsX4
Is this the same Shawn Marion who always seemed to "disappear" every time the Spurs played the Suns a few years ago?? If you think he's gonna slow down Parker, suit yourself.
I don't deny the Mavs had their advantages over the Spurs the last few years. I do think they did a decent job on Dirk the first few games of this year's playoffs, but Finley couldn't do a thing against Howard. Howard and Bass were the reason they won Game 1. No answer whatsoever for those 2, and that was because our we had useless bigs like Bonner, Oberto, and Thomas, and slow wing players like Finley and Bowen. There was no way they were gonna win a play-off series against ANYBODY with those guys.
I don't know the exact numbers (and I will definitely put some research into it) but I'd be curious to know what the head-to-head record is between these 2 teams. Always seems that the regular season series is tied 2-2 almost every year. As many times as the Mavs have won in SA, The Spurs have also won alot of games at the AAC. Look back at the 06 playoffs, what I believe to be one of the greatest playoff series ever. That series went 7 games, several games went to OT, and either team could have won. If Manu doesn't commit that dumb foul, who knows what happens? These 2 teams have a great rivalry and the games are always close. Look at the scores from the last 5 years or so. It's usually single digits between these 2.
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Disappear? Yeah, he "disappeared" in 2007 right around the same time David Stern suspended the Suns' best player for the pivotal 5th game. Up until that point, including the crucial Game 4 in SA, Marion had enjoyed tremendous success guarding Parker in stints. If you mean to say he disappeared by not scoring a lot of points, I don't believe that was what we were talking about.
Then of course, the next year rolls around and Marion is gone. What happens? Parker drops 40 some odd points in Phoenix in game 3 and essentially ends the series.
Also, let me just dispel a common misperception for about the 100th time: that 2006 series, to the extent it "almost" went to the Spurs in 7 games, also "almost" went to the Mavs in 5, when Dirk rushed an easy putback that would have ended the series, and "almost" went to the Mavs in 6, when the Mavs' (then) second-best player was suspended for a game. If you want to talk about near-misses, that series was far, far closer to being Mavs in 5 than it was to Spurs in 7 (especially given that the Mavs ultimately whooped the Spurs' asses for the entirety of that overtime period).
As for your comments about this year's playoffs, you do understand that guys like Bass and Howard were ultimately put into a position to beat the Spurs because the Spurs were forced to abandoned their decade-long defensive philosophy of man-up defense on the perimeter with Duncan anchoring the middle, right? We've all watched the Spurs long enough to know that whacky triple teams and odd defensive positioning are not their MO. The Spurs were forced to do something completely different than what they normally do because Dirk eats them for breakfast otherwise. That's why you have guys like Howard beating up on guys like Finley. And that hasn't changed.