Quote:
Originally Posted by mac222b
Definitely one of the best, most hotly contested ive ever seen in the regular season. "Playoff intensity" has become a cliche, but that game had it and then some. I remember that game especially well because i was in Florida visiting family and, rather controversially, insisted upon watching it- family be damned  |
Two things I remember very well from that game.
Dirk had probably the nastiest dunk of his career. He came of a pick and roll after the Suns switched, Jet passes it to him, and then he throws it down about as hard as I have ever seen him do it, and the ball just bounces on Amare's head below the rim as he never really attempted to do anything about it.
Bill Walton says "That's an MVP dunk" as the game was pretty much billed as a decider for the MVP race between Nash and Dirk. Both teams had started 1-4, and both had turned around for spectacular seasons. The Suns would slow down after the All-Star break, the Mavs slowed down a bit but not much, and that's what gave Dirk the MVP.
Because what happened later in the game surely was not the deciding factor. Dirk missed two possible game winners, and the media/fans roasted him for not being clutch again. Of course everyone forgot that Dirk had hit a winner over Marion in the previous game they had played, a December or January game in Dallas that the Mavs won by either one or two points.
So yes, no one remembered that, and all the "soft" labels were out again. The fact that the Mavs had a mini collapse at the end of the 4th, right after the 06 Finals, did not help the cause either.