Lessons Learned from 06?

[birdsanctuary]

Okay, I wanted to discuss Finals 06, but Endrity more or less beat me to it. Don't worry for this post I'm not going to throw Avery under bus, even though he probably deserves to be. So here it goes...

FIRST OF ALL GASOL IS DIRK'S BITCH!

That felt really good to say, because it's clearly the truth and if there's anyone in the world who believes otherwise, they're living in La La land (pun clearly intended). Seeing Gasol high five Sasha and Kobe, brought out an emotion in me that I've never felt toward an opposing player, a mixture of laughter and pity.

This game was essentially a win for the Mavericks, even though it goes down in the loss column.

REMEMBER THIS: Today was a huge turning point toward winning a championship. One, this game should have shown the Mavericks that they have the best team in the NBA, and two, this game showed that there are only two weaknesses on this Maverick team: no back up point guard to manage the second squad and no backup center for Damp.

Honestly, I have no idea why Magloire is not suiting up, it's probably noted on this forum somewhere, and I'm just too lazy to find it. Still, neverthess the Mavs must get him suited up and involved for Damp's sake. With Kidd running this team Damp is developing into someone to reckon with. Damp had stretches in today's game where he looked unstoppable, the pick and rolls he and Kidd are starting to work are just plain sick.

Blame Avery all you want for not having someone bigger than Bass on Odom's missed FT, but the Mavs lost this game because Damp fouled out; Damp is bringing a toughness and strength/physicality level that I've never seen in a Maverick team, and that is what the Mavs should be focusing on from this game forward.

That brings us back to Finals 2006, where a Mavericks team blazed into the finals after knocking out San Antonio. In the Finals, the Mavs clearly the superior team in terms of finesse and execution, even though the court of public opinion overwhelmingly favored the Heat. The Mavs advanced winning the first two games, and looked like they'd easily win the series, and then out of nowhere they get bent over and abused Pulp Fiction style, in games 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Oh, but woe to the unbeliever! What I saw in today's game were glimpses of what this Mavs team needs to become in order to win it all, and like Frodo Baggins we are shown it from the most unlikely of all Mavericks to do so, Erick Dampier. To win a championship, right now, this year, it's quite simple; forget trying to be San Antonio. Forget it, the Mavs need to look back in time to the team that gave Jordan fits, the one team he struggled for years to overcome. The Mavs need to dust off the playbook right off the mean streets, written by teachers in the School of Hard Knocks, the same playbook that Pat Riley cracked open after game 2... the playbook of Chuck Daly's Detroit Pistons.

The Mavericks team I saw today at times, beat down the Lakers, like the stepchildren they are... The Mavericks team I saw today was bigger and stronger, more physical compared to the NBA's best record. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Mavs no longer are a soft team! Holy shit, do you it too Avery? [Michael Jackson Beat Starts Up] Avery are you okay, Are you okay Avery? Cuban, can you see it? Everybody else, do you testify to the light? The light that is saying that "the Mavericks are no longer a soft team?" The Lakers sure as hell are soft. Odom, soft, Gasol, he's softer than a week old pile of crap, Walton, soft, Fisher, soft, Vukavitch, soft, Turiaf, soft, hell when Bynam comes back you're going to see that he too is soft. But, Kobe, he's a damn assassin. And the way you get rid of an assassin is the same way teams have been taking OUR ASSASSIN, the Dagger of Big D. They beat him up, they pound, pound him unceasingly.

For the record, there is no way to beat Kobe... you can only award him pain for his baskets. This is the identity the Mavericks must drape themselves in, if they are to win a championship this year or next. Simply because they now have a team capable of physically beating down their opponent with little or now wear on themselves. This is the Mavs new identity, and I can only assume that Kidd is the factor who has changed the equation.

I CAN'T SAY IT ENOUGH, THE MAVS MUST BE AGGRESSORS AND MAKE THEIR OPPONENTS SUFFER AND PLAY THROUGH EXCRUCIATING PAIN. I just don't see a team with the capability to do this at every single position, like the Mavs can. The amazing thing is that the Mavs did this today in stretches, led by Damp, he was beating the crap out of Kobe, he was hurting him at the freethrow line, he was abusing Kobe. I also saw Stack doing it, I saw Kidd doing it, I even saw Dirk doing it to both Gasol and Odom. It was exciting as hell!

So now it's up to somebody watching the game in the tape review to see what I and probably you too see. A group of Mavericks to take up the mantle, as did Swan and his crew in "The Warriors," WATCH IT and continue down this path of transforming the Mavericks into the physical juggernaut capable of owning the NBA. J. Van Gundy, said it best when he noted the Mavs slowly heading back to the days of rebounding dominance. With Kidd at the helm, Avery's endgame blunders are going to be negated for the most part, but when every man on this Maverick team begins to start beating down physically on opposing teams, punishing them, the Mavs are going to win it all.

Oh for what it's worth: DAMP for MVP!
It appears he learned something from 06!
-I'm out...

[fluid.forty.one]

Fantastic Post. Rep for you.

[LSMF]

Dude this is wonderful!! You deserve serious rep for this..

[nashtymavsfan13]

Very nice post, good read.

[SkullLeader]

To read more about the thread that he started, visit:

http://www.birdsanctuary.com

[DirkFTW]

Hmm. I think I would have preferred to have been Rick Rolled instead of an advertising link...

[Movie Phone]

bird, great post. i think everyone really needed that today after the loss. this is encouraging i didn't think about it this way. im pumped. as long as we have momentum heading into playoff time, i'm a happy man...

[birdsanctuary]

Originally Posted by SkullLeader

To read more about the thread that he started, visit:

http://www.birdsanctuary.com

I am birdsanctuary and I do not endorse this message...

bump

[Bathouse Bear]

Good Post.

I appreciated al the hard fouls we were giving out. Today illustrates why I was so sad about losing Diop.

We don't lose that game if Damp is still playing in overtime. Bass and Dirk cannot play the 5, but if Magloire can give us 15-20 minutes a game we will be okay.

Things we need to do to get back to being an elite team. Our 2006 team did these 4 things greatly.

1. ATTACK THE RIM
2. PASS THE BALL AND LOOK FOR EASY BASKETS
3. PLAY TOUGH PHYSICAL DEFENSE
4. DOMINATE THE DEFENSIVE BOARDS

[horse900703]

GOOD Post!!!!