It doesn't matter who can or can't stop Dirk. Although, it's incorrect to say that Marion hasn't historically gotten the best of Dirk. Dirk made a breakthrough (finally) in last year's playoff series against the Suns, and it has carried into this season. But that's only the last year, folks.
What matters is that Dirk stops himself by shooting too many off-balance fade-aways. He might shoot thousands of shots from the elbow during warm-ups or practice. But he doesn't fade away on all of those shots like he does in the games.
Maybe you couldn't say that Brian Bowen is a Dirk-stopper, but then why is Dirk shooting contested shots over him one or two steps inside the three-point arc? Why is Dirk such a good shooter, but he doesn't shoot as well (fg%) as Parker (a guard), Brand, Kaman, KG, and most other decent big men? It comes down to shot selection and how he shoots. Which leads me to my next point...
It doesn't matter how many doom-and-gloom posts TwoDeep has made. For this thread, he's right. Dirk needs to take the ball inside more. For a seven-footer, he get's way too few layups and dunks. I don't agree that he can't find the open man if he's double-teamed in the post any less than at the elbow or three-point line. What good does it do for him to set up at the three-point line to receive the pass? That doesn't even bring a double-team ususally and it also doesn't usually bring good results either. He can work the post well enough, he just needs to get his butt in there before he gets the ball.
Avery is right. Dirk needs to do it more in order to bring a title here. Anyone who disagrees, also disagrees with the coach. Dirk is getting better, as Avery attests, saying that Dirk is a 6.5 now, versus a 2 or 3 last year. He says that Dirk needs to get to an 8 or 9.
We'll see what happens in the playoffs. However, Dirk didn't do what he needed to do against Bruce Bowen in the previous game against the Spurs. So, to me, it didn't look like he'd learned a damn thing since last year's playoffs about how to beat smaller defenders. Even in this last win against S.A., he didn't really do it either. Eleven for 24 is nothing to write home about. He did shoot from the elbow, which is better than before, but he still didn't take it to the rim enough.
If you want to disagree because of who started the thread, or how often that person has been wrong, then that's your prerogative. But that doesn't make you right (or him wrong this time).
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