Random thoughts,
Nellie still up to his usual.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 25
Big Game already? You better believe it. Dirk will need to shut up his MVP critics tonight.
Like this one …
Nowitzki could thrash the Warriors tonight by making quick, precise passes to open teammates. But even that has proved impossible for him amid the blur of Warriors pests.
Oh, the Warriors say they expect to get hit by Nowitzki's revenge tonight. They say the best player in the league can't be neutralized for two games in a row.
"I highly think it's impossible," said Stephen Jackson, the primary
Nowitzki defender. "I highly think it's impossible. Because he's such a great shooter and such a player...
"But we're going to try. We're not going to just give him a great game. He's going to have to work for it, just like last game."
By now, we know this rhetoric is all part of the Don Nelson gee-whiz PR plan for this series. Praise the Mavs, praise Nowitzki, keep pretending the Warriors feel lucky just to be alive and in the postseason and maybe it's three games to none Warriors before Dallas snaps awake.
"I will add that it will be a bounce-back game for the Mavericks," Nelson suggested Tuesday. "And we've got a better chance to get hit with lightning than to win the game tomorrow."
Yes, of course, anything you say, Nellie.
Do you hear the subliminal, whispery undercurrent of confidence, swagger and maybe a little Dirk-agitating?
And what does Nowitzki want for Game2? It's hard to tell - he turned his eyes to the floor and quickly walked past reporters without comment Tuesday. On Monday, Nowitzki did talk, and he sounded more passive and less confident than any great player I've ever heard during the playoffs.
This obviously could all change tonight - you knew Michael Jordan would go for 40 in Game2 if he had a Game1 clunker; Steve Nash and Tim Duncan never have two bad games in a row. But those are different personalities, too. Nowitzki said he wouldn't necessarily take the ball hard to the hoop against the small Warriors, wouldn't force up shots and might not be able to take over this series by himself.
Probably all true, but not the sentiment you ever heard from Larry Bird or Hakeem Olajuwon.
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