Dallas Mavericks vs Toronto Raptors GameDay Thread

[Drbio]

Howard is awesome. What a steal.

[MavsFanFinley]

I laugh when I think about the comments some made when we drafted Howard.

Is he that good or is he fortunate with who he is surrounded by? Would he have the success he's had if he were in GS or NY or Miami?

[TwoDeep3]

That put back on the Nash miss late in the game wasn't dictated by who was arouynd him.

That was an athlete making a play.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: TwoDeep3
That put back on the Nash miss late in the game wasn't dictated by who was arouynd him.

That was an athlete making a play.

He showed off some hops on that play. wow.

[ames7]

You know, I thought Howard would be good. I didn't think he'd be starting already & playing more than 30 mins a game. In December! This guy is a total stud.

NBA 2Night just speculated about the Clippers looking into Best. I think it's just a rumor, but would we want anyone from the Clips? We should be able to get someone significant for a veteran PG like Best. A lot of teams were looking hard at him during the summer. I don't really get why he's struggling so much. Can Delk back up Steve, or do we have to get a PG in return if we trade him?

[grndmstr_c]

Delk can back up Steve, though he's not ideal. We'll have to get production out of AW at point forward for it to be succesfull, IMO. At least we know we'll get solid defense and range on the jump shot from the point when Delk's in there. Hopefully, if backup point becomes his primary responsibility he'll be able to find a comfort zone doing that.

[MavsFanFinley]

I'm not saying Howard isn't good or that he doesn't have a confidence and feel for the game that's frightening. All you'd have to do is look at my comments when we drafted him.

I'm just asking if he's been fortunate to be in the position he is? Would he be looking this good in Cleveland (without Lebron) or GS or on a team where the defense could focus on him? Or would he be doing better cause he'd be asked to do a lot more than he is here?

[MightyToine]

Walker *thinking* : Danny Ainge is so stupid.....trading EWill and Tony for a Real Cancer in Davis? Turning the C's into the the Portland Jailblazers EAST, I tell ya...

Bosh : Where the hell is the rest of you? Weren't you supposed to be Overweight and Out-of-Shape?

Walker : Shut up, Toothpick! Can't you see I'm gloating??



[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[StupidDannyAInge]

Originally posted by: MightyToine


Walker *thinking* : Danny Ainge is so stupid.....trading EWill and Tony for a Real Cancer in Davis? Turning the C's into the the Portland Jailblazers EAST, I tell ya...

Bosh : Where the hell is the rest of you? Weren't you supposed to be Overweight and Out-of-Shape?

Walker : Shut up, Toothpick! Can't you see I'm gloating??



[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Actually I think Walker is thinking
A- Should I pass it back out to Dirk?
b-Should I go left and drive to the basket?
c- Should I go right and shoot a three"
or my favorite
D-
Maybe I should save the ball and whip it at Danny Ainge's big fat lieing two faced head"

[MavsFanFinley]

Finley, Bradley sit out with injuries

Michael Finley missed his second consecutive game with a sprained big toe. Finley continues to get treatment on the toe and is scheduled to be on the trip to Boston and Minnesota that begins Wednesday night. Coach Don Nelson said it is unknown if Finley will be able to play.
Shawn Bradley missed the game with back spasms.

[grndmstr_c]

With Josh's game he's one of those guys that will, I think, be hard to scheme for. He just makes so many good plays, I think the only real way to deal with a player like that is to have someone who can do what he does as well as he does. As we're begining to see, his talent is not easily duplicated. It's sort of the reason we've traditionally had trouble matching up with Malik Rose. We haven't had anybody who can do what he does as well as he does. I don't think there are many teams who have players who can match Howard, so I think he'd be showing his stuff regardless of where he was.

[mary]

Originally posted by: LRB

Nice point Mary. Wonder if Nellie had given hime more minutes when playing crappy if he would have magically jumped up to great numbers in those few extra minutes? Possibly, possibly not. Actually Nellie benching Dirk when Dirk gives a crappy effort is something that I like to see out of the coach. Can you imagine Bill Parcells putting up with lacadasical play by his superstar. Parcells would bench his ass if not cut it. Dirk doesn't need to be babied, he needs a swift kick in the ass. He's underachieving this year and his team needs more from him. If getting his ass benched is what is needed to give him a wake up call so be it. Dirk has to be more agressive and stop looking like a little boy who's lost his mommy while he's on the floor.

I agree with this. And for the record, when I go to the games I cheer for Dirk probably more than I cheer for anyone else. I love the big guy. But there's just been too many games this year where you can tell his head is just not in the game. At times his defensive "effort" has just been down right laughable. At times, he's come alive and showed us he CAN defend when he wants to. I've heard a couple of reasons or EXCUSES why Dirk doesn't seem involved - one is that he can't get into the game if he doesn't get enough touches. The other is he can't get into the game if he's not left out there the entire time. I think both of those excuses are pretty much bullshit reasons for being so damned passive.

Not that I don't think we shouldn't being running our offense through him a bit more - we pretty much did the whole time at the Lakers game and the results were pretty good. But that's an entirely different issue IMO. Even if he doesn't get his touches, I don't think that's a good excuse. And believe me, Dirk got a HUGE pass from me early on and I was making plenty of excuses myself - like the fact that Walker was taking too many shots. But I'm done with that. Thank god for Walker, he's really been carrying alot of the load for this team.

I know professional athletes are human and make mistakes, but its just two hours every other night, I expect them to give 100% - or at the very least 90%. I'm not expecting Dirk to be a big energy guy, but it'd be nice if he would start to look like he's interested in winning games.

Like I said, I'm a HUGE Dirk fan, so I'm not trying to bash him. But this has pretty much been going on all season and I'm getting pretty frustrated with it.

I could barely enjoy tonight's game simply because I spent most of it feeling sorry for Dirk - that is not something I should be feeling about a team's franchise player.

[mary]

[quote]
Originally posted by: LRB

Can you imagine Bill Parcells putting up with lacadasical play by his superstar

Parcells has a superstar??[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[LRB]

[quote]
Originally posted by: mary

Originally posted by: LRB

Parcells has a superstar??[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Roy Williams would be the closest thing to it IMO, but probably still not there yet. So another great point. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[sike]

[quote]
Originally posted by: LRB

Originally posted by: mary

Roy Williams would be the closest thing to it IMO, but probably still not there yet. So another great point. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Newman may be in another year.....

[sike]

Originally posted by: sike


Mavs 111
Raptors 97

out of a possible 208 points I only missed by three.........
not bad sike..........why thank you sike.......you are quite welcome you handsome devil you![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]