dirk

[ariosto]

I do want to take back a lot of what I said. It's more than a little stupid to blame a loss on a guy who got more than half our rebounds and more than a quarter of our points, and when all our players outside of Dirk, Nash and Nick score a combined 19. So let me take that back, emphatically.

But I still take issue with his 4th quarter performance. It's because I like Dirk so much that I was dissapointed. I was expecting big things tonight.

[mavs_afroman]

Zueri, welcome to the board. Great post.




<< I think the Mavs got the Laker's &quot;A&quot; game in this one and the Laker's got the Mavs &quot;C&quot; game, at least offensively. I don't think the Mavs could give more effort on defense than in this one. >>



This is one problem we seem to have against the Lakers. We play too tentitavely offensively. Instead of coming out and playing our normal take the first shot available appraoch we usually start waiting and trying to run some &quot;special&quot; offense. Cut the gimmicks, cut the pick n roll with Shaq's man, forget about the drawing Shaq outside mess and play Maverick ball the way you normally play it. Also, maybe, try posting Dirk a little more especially when he's killing Madsen and Horry on post ups.

[Murphy3]

MFF, considering the fact that dirk is getting to the line at an incredible clip over the past 8 games, 44-45% shooting is by no means bad.

if he's shooting 44-45% and not getting to the line, then MAYBE you have a point.
but, you really don't.

what has dirk done since fin haas been out?..continued to play as one of the top 3-6 players in the league.

[MavsFanFinley]

<< MFF, considering the fact that dirk is getting to the line at an incredible clip over the past 8 games, 44-45% shooting is by no means bad.

if he's shooting 44-45% and not getting to the line, then MAYBE you have a point.
but, you really don't.

what has dirk done since fin haas been out?..continued to play as one of the top 3-6 players in the league. >>



First of all. Dirk is shooting exactly 44%. I find it amusing you're trying to bump it up to a '44-45%' range.

I'm not happy with Dirk's performance in these last 8 games. I'm not talking about his steady climb through the season as another poster pointed out either. I'm talking about a certain stretch and I'm going to call on it.

I don't think he's stepped up any part of his game, except nail his ft's. And that's a good thing since his outside shot isn't falling.

And when some of us post about it, all we're hearing is that it's his knee, it's his finger, he still has the tender ankle, it's bad timing cause his shooting slump happened at just the time Fin went out, etc...

If's he that beat up, then we should be resting him for the playoffs. We shouldn't be riding him into the ground trying to fight for a #1 seed we no longer own.

And I do have a point. Just because it's one you don't agree with, don't fall back on your usual bullshit tactics of telling people they don't have a point or an opinion.

Either agree with it or disagree with it. Back it up with whatever, but don't ever tell me again that I don't have a point, ok?

[Murphy3]

i think it's safe to say that you're tired of hearing people knock on fin, so you're reaching for the slightest thing to knock dirk on.

at least, i hope that's your explanation..if not, the alternative doesn't exactly make you look too good.

anyways, i apologize, when i crunched my numbers..i had a miss-key and had one less FG attempt than what you did.. which would put him between 44-45%. but i do apologize..

i guess dirk should have stepped and played like the best player in the league, not one of the top 3-6
shame on you dirk..shame on you

[Usually Lurkin]

Murphy,

why do you assume that someone has to be the best player in the league in order to step up his game when it's needed?


<< I think it's safe to say that you're tired of hearing people knock on fin, so you're reaching for the slightest thing to knock dirk on >>


and why in the world would you think it safe to assume some assinine motivation lies behind other people's posts?

[Stitch Jones]

Look, Dirk played his ass off last night. We all know he's going thru a small slump as everyone does, even the great ones (see Kobe, since his 40pt/gm stretch), but he fought thru an injury to a 20-20 night against the mighty Lakers. Good enough for me.

Shaq got his 30. Kobe did his thing, but by no means lit it up - even with his 4th quarter. Truth is, their bit-players made plays and ours didn't. Everyone is bitching about Nick and Steve pounding the ball, but they've done that all year against everyone. The offense looked okay (not great), but what really stood out to me was that Fox,then Fisher, and then Horry took turns picking up the slack and banging down shots. Meanwhile, Bradley, Raef, Griff, Eddie continually missed wide-open shots. They were good shots, in range and rythm, and ones they normally make a good percentage of but they just didn't go down. How crazy does the crowd go and how different does Shaq play if Big Brad knocks a couple of those puppies down? If we make 40% of those shots, we win. Or at least it's a lot tighter game. We sure could have used Fin's leadership last night.

Don't jump the gun people. The Spurs haven't moved into the number 1 seed and the Mavs haven't lost it. Yet. They still have to play the games.

I agree with David in that the &quot;mighty&quot; Lakers won with their &quot;A&quot; game against our &quot;C&quot; game. The one thing I hate to see though, is this perception amongst fans/media/ and Nellie that all is lost if we don't win the division. Hell, most have written the Mavs off if they draw the Lakers in round 1 and honestly, I think the team is starting to believe it. I blame Nellie most. He's psyched his own team out. With as much money as he makes, and experience he has, he should be able to find a way to motivate the team to shoot for the division title without pinning ALL of their post-season hopes on it. These are SEVEN game series and anyone can be beaten. Unless you've already lost in your head, before you play the game.