Some thoughts from a Spurs fan and a brand new poster... - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

SpursRuleTexas · 03-05-2006, 11:34 AM

To Dallas-Mavs.com fans,

Hi, I was born and raised in San Antonio and now stationed (in the Navy) in Corpus Christi, TX. I've been a Spurs fan since 1987 and I always supported my team through the thick and thin of every season. I was in the Hemisfair Arena when Barkley shot the Spurs out of the playoffs. I was in the Alamodome when David Robinson was awarded the MVP award in 1995....only to have Hakeem torch D-Rob and Houston went on to kick the Spurs asses in the WCF. And I was there when, no matter how the Spurs played, they just couldn't beat the Jazz in the playoffs and I wondered if this team could ever get over the hump.

But, I was also there when Sean Elliot hit that off-balanced 3 pointer in the 1999 WCF against Portland. And when the Spurs reached the Finals, I knew it was our time on top. And the greatest feeling was when they won 2 more titles in 2003 and last year. (I was deployed when they won those titles but if I wasn't, I'm sure I would have been there).

You are probably wondering why I'm babbling about the Spurs on a Mavs forum but here's my point. This Mavericks team reminds me of the mid to late 90's Spurs teams. Mostly the late 90's team. You guys just went through a coaching change (for the better I believe) just like the Spurs did in 1997. And now you have a coach "WHO KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES" to win a title with the team that he has. The Mavs are playing great defense with AJ taking over and you are getting great help from the bench. And you guys are having a hell of a year.

But I also believe that AJ needs another year or two to be championship caliber. You guys are right on the edge of the hump but championship teams need to go through the playoffs a couple of times and experience the atmosphere of "this is our year" and have some other team destroy your hopes and dreams. I know it sounds bad now but those years playing the Jazz and losing to them in the playoffs were the best thing to happen to them.

Now you know what it takes to be the best, and one of my favorite quotes of all time and I think I'll use it right now. "To BE the man, you gotta BEAT the man, no matter how large the obstacles may be". One more "tune-up" game on April 7th and hope to see your Mavericks in the playoffs.

P.S. I really HATE Mark Cuban.

dude1394 · 03-05-2006, 11:37 AM

Welcome aboard seaman. I'll be down in San Antonio for the big shoedown with the spurs. The fourth game of the match will be even bigger than the last one I imagine. If we learn our lessons like the spurs did the second game here in dallas, I'll be drinking mucho martinis that night!

Take care..

SpursRuleTexas · 03-05-2006, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

Welcome aboard seaman. I'll be down in San Antonio for the big shoedown with the spurs. The fourth game of the match will be even bigger than the last one I imagine. If we learn our lessons like the spurs did the second game here in dallas, I'll be drinking mucho martinis that night!

Take care..

Man that game in on a Friday and on ESPN?!?!?! It's gotta be real barn burner that night. Man, don't get too drunk, I would hate for you to get arrested for unleashing your hate on the Spurs after they beat the Mavs that night.

dude1394 · 03-05-2006, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpursRuleTexas

Man that game in on a Friday and on ESPN?!?!?! It's gotta be real barn burner that night. Man, don't get too drunk, I would hate for you to get arrested for unleashing your hate on the Spurs after they beat the Mavs that night.

You wish!

Murphy3 · 03-05-2006, 12:31 PM

SpursRuleTexas, it could very well be the game that decides home court advantage. Honestly, it could also be the game that decides whether or not Dirk is the MVP. It'll be huge.

SpursRuleTexas · 03-05-2006, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murphy3

SpursRuleTexas, it could very well be the game that decides home court advantage. Honestly, it could also be the game that decides whether or not Dirk is the MVP. It'll be huge.

Very true, If you think the last game was huge. If these team are tied for best record, It'll be the game of the year. WOW! One game to decide the fate of the 1st seed or the 4th seed. Yep, a pretty important game...

Murphy3 · 03-05-2006, 12:39 PM

The Mavs need to pick up their play rather quickly. They really haven't played that well over the past few weeks. Honestly, their last really good performance was probably back on 2-13 against NY.

dude1394 · 03-05-2006, 12:43 PM

I agree murph..they've been in a lull from my perspective. It has probably correlated with stackhouse's crappy shooting in some respects. He has too many looks to be scoring so poorly. His 3pt shooting in particular has become atrocious.

And keith has NOT been that aggressive imo and that's been a shame. When he and stack are out there he's the only guy who can hit an outside shot but he has seemed tentative. Can't have it, nellie would have busted his butt publicly if he had done that with him.

I also think that diop has fallen off physically a little bit and that teams are game-planning griff.

I think I'm ready to see marquis in the sg spot so we can have some more offense there.

Murphy3 · 03-05-2006, 12:51 PM

Well dude...that's just part of Stack's game. He is a bad three point shooter during his career for a reason.

dude1394 · 03-05-2006, 12:58 PM

Yup...glad that aj got in his grill during the spurs game. He kind of got on a roll there but has come crashing down to his level. It would be interesting to track the mavs offensive efficiency over the last 10 or so games with stacks/kvh's shooting as other trends.

V2M · 03-05-2006, 01:32 PM

Not to nitpick Murph, but I think they had a pretty good game against the Sixers last week.

Injuries to Devin, Josh and KVH have been really hampering the consistency, the last couple weeks. To add to that, Stack's game is quite a ways off. Last few games, he's been Toinesque (turn-over prone volume shooter!).

The reason why we're winning is just consistent solid play from Dirk, Jet and the Centers. Griff, Quis & DA were good at times too. But that wasn't clearly enough against the Popovich coached Spurs (yes, I give sole credit to Pop for that win against us!).

More than anything else, to win against the Spurs in the playoffs, we need Devin & Josh to come back totally healthy soon. They can break down their defense, slash to the basket everytime Dirk's doubled!

In a weird way, I'm actually glad we played 'em underhanded while they threw their kitchen sink at us. I don't think they can play any better than that while we certainly can!
It's like what Pop did to the Suns last year. He sat TD & Manu and lost the HCA in a late season game. Even when the Suns won, they gained nothing out of it!

April 7 is important but let's not build it up the way like that'll make or break the season for us. It's more important than any of the remaining 24 games and that's it. Once the playoffs start, it's 0-0 and I believe, we'll have as good a chance of unseating them as any other contender... and they know that!!

Murphy3 · 03-05-2006, 02:47 PM

I think they had a good performance against the 76ers, but not to the level that they were playing at a few weeks ago. But, I'm probably splitting hairs.

Captain Disaster · 03-05-2006, 08:07 PM

It's truly amazing that KVH and Stackhouse (two VETERANS) are guilty of so many boneheaded plays. I think that they need to go through A) hypnosis to get them to calm down, and B) rigorous mental drills concerning what to do in pressure situations.