Dallas Mavericks 2010 Top Ten: Games

[tcat075]

Top 10 Games

Last year, I made a top 10 plays list. I was planning on elaborating on that a little this year, and make three or four different top 10 lists. I planned on doing this about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Suffice to say, I've been busy, and for some reason or another, after a couple weekends of telling myself I'd finish up and post this, I haven't.

So here it is, after a bit of a wait. It's not finished: only 2 of the 10 have pictures, though all were supposed to, a couple of the videos need to be changed because they were removed off youtube (fixing that first), and I cheated on a couple recaps. But the list is here, and the most the content is real good. I think it'll be just fine.

Hopefully, the next two or three will be posted within the next three or four weeks. Its almost summer; schools almost out. Good times are approaching, you could say. For me, and hopefully for the Mavericks. But here were the good times of the 2010 year.

10. Mavericks 102 Cavaliers 95

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

I'd say this team has done a lot this past decade. No, we never have gotten that title like we've always wanted, but we've sure done a lot.

How much did we do without Dirk?

Yeah. That's what I thought. But that's exactly what we did in this game. Dirk out because of Tooth-Gate, the Mavericks are facing the number one team in the NBA...this is an automatic loss, right?

Not. Tim Thomas steps up big, starting in Dirk's spot and scoring 22 points on 50% shooting. The bench steps up, consisting of Josh, JET and Gooden, and gives us 45 points on 52%. This is another example of Marion limiting superstars, as James can only get 25/3/6 on sub-40% shooting. Out of every game this year, this is probably the one we weren't suppose to win. But we did.

9. Mavericks 115 Bucks 113

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

Of course, Dirk's game winner is the highlight. But what about the game tying shot by JET in the 4th? Roddy's block in the 4th on the final shot by Jennings? Roddy's entire quarter, too, that was pretty amazing. Great game, a lot of story lines.

8. Mavericks 83 TrailBlazers 77


Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

Nobody shooting 33.8% should ever, ever win a game. Pretty incredible. We had some pretty disappointing games against the Blazers last year...this one should have been another. But nope. Great win. Classic Dirk game, too.

They really had to gut this one out. But down the stretch, Dirk came through. As always. We always say, "If we could only get Dirk some help!" Well...Dirk did this without any help from pretty much anyone.

7. Mavericks 108 Rockets 116

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

Yes, this is a loss. But if you recall this game, it was one of the most hard fought, gutsy, persevering losses I’ve ever seen. If our team played like this every night, they’d still be on TV.

This was Dirk elbow-gate. As you can imagine, any team losing their superstar might struggle. And guess what? The Mavs struggled. A handful of unnecessary technicals were committed, while the entire team looked lost without their commander. But slowly, as the game went on, you started to see the team right itself, as players came in off the bench. No player had a gaudy stat line, but Josh Howard, Jason Terry, JJ Barea and Shaun Marion all pitched in to help out, keeping the game close. The gap, finally, was close to three with just seconds left.

Obviously, the ball goes to Dirk. But that is rather hard to do when he off the court somewhere with teeth residing in his elbow. So does it go to JET? God forbid, does JJ jack up a shot? No. Tim Thomas, of all people, drains a game tying three pointer.

Overtime comes, as do several questionable calls – the most blatant being Dampier is given a flagrant 2 after a video review, which is against the NBA rule book. The Rockets win, but despite that, I remain impressed with the fight and scrap put up by the Mavs in this game. People stepped up and made this a game, though it never should have been one.

6. Mavericks 128 Knicks 78


Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

Winning by 50 is pretty epic in my book. Do I even need to explain?

5. Mavericks 100 Spurs 94

Video Recap | Game Story | | Post Game Thread

Oh, this was the time. We thought we were it. All the expectations, all the "finals-bound" signatures and threads popping up, all the magic seemed to be on our side. Some of the faithful, who understood the true nature of this team, were hesitant to wholeheartedly trust them. But with this game, we had almost everyone on board.

Why? Because it was a dominant performance. The entire team was absolutely "on", and looking back, maybe that didn't bode well.

4. Mavericks 109 Nuggets 93

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists against a Conference rival? Thanks, Dirk, come again.

But honestly, this game had all the makings of a poor game for Dirk. 3-12 from 2 pointers is not typically a good sign for Dirk. But he realized his struggles, and Dirk adapted: 16-17 on free throws, and then stepped behind the line and drained 4-5 three pointers. Just like all true superstars know how to do, Dirk found a way to get his points. Three pointers aren’t his typical modus operandi, nor does Dirk regularly collect 17 free throws in a game, such as Maggette or Wade might. But this game, since he wasn’t scoring well with his mid range game, he did.

I mention his scoring, finding other ways to do so, but in this game, he had an even more unusual way of “scoring” with 10 assists. And did this all while collection his usual in rebounds.

Strong performance as the season wound to a close. I’ve talked about Dirk, but Marion scored 21 and only missed 4 shots, and more importantly shut down Carmelo to merely 10 points. JET also came up with one of his more efficient shooting nights with a 6-10 FG and 3-5 3PT, totaling 15. It’s amazing what results from Dirk playing Dirkulean (you know, like Herculean) and then getting some support from the players around him.

3. Mavericks 94 Lakers 80
Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

Season opener. We’re playing Washington…in hindsight, we all know they suck now. To be honest, even with Arenas and before the trades, they still sucked. But the Mavs lose, start the season off, and I remember the talk complaining about the inevitable 0-2 team. Because, obviously going up the World Champion Lakers is an automatic loss.
Or not.

This wasn’t a pretty game. It was one of the grind it out affairs which we’d always lose in 2008-2009. Well, we won this one. Marion, I remember, was huge, catching alley oops in the half court (how many times would we see that the rest of the season? But that’s another story), scoring of his funky turnaround hooks. And his defense on Kobe was fantastic.

This was one of the major statement games, coming out and telling the rest of the West that no, we aren’t going to just sit and slowly die our painful death of a once contender become old, like Detroit or San Antonio. We were going to be a force this year in the West. And despite the post season, we were.

(
Here’s an entertaining video. I can't decide which part is funniest...the text on the jump ball, the ball caused JKidd to overthrow a pass, or the refs "ruined the chance at a perfect season". So unintentionally funny (or maybe its just a bit...its almost so ridiculous it has to be).)

2. Mavericks 96 Jazz 85

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

There’s a reason that video is a highlight of Dirk’s fourth quarter ridiculousness. That is the only thing that stands out about this game.

Sure does stand out big, though. 29 points…29 FREAKIN’ POINTS…in a single quarter. Not just a single quarter, but the 4th quarter, bringing the team down double digits back to their own double digit victory. Dirk went from a terrible game to smashing the Mavericks record for most points in a quarter (Mark Aguirre, 24) and nearly reaching the all time mark (33 by Gervin and Carmelo, however, neither were in the 4th quarter).

Absolutely epic performance. The coolest thing about it is that he did need a jumper that couldn’t miss, he accomplished most of it driving the ball. Driving the ball, taking the contact, and drawing a foul, finishing, or both.

The rest of the game? Ugly. But that fourth quarter…makes up for it all. Fantastic game we should not have won, but you know, that’s what Dirk does.

1. Mavericks 111 Hawks 103

Video Recap | Game Story | Game Day Thread | Post Game Thread

I have never seen such a great game in my life. It was up and down, Mavericks up big early by running the ball down Atlanta’s throat, then Atlanta comes back. Jason Kidd was a dreadful 1-7 from deep, but drains three straight, answering Bibby’s two late threes, to bridge the gap and manage a lead before Josh Smith gets a putback to tie the game.This was the Jason Kidd-Mike Woodson showdown, no doubt one of the craziest plays I’ve ever seen. Amazing job by Kidd there. Amazing job by Kidd everywhere…19/16/17 is crazy.

That’s the play that everyone talks about, but I think another one of his plays was even more important. With 5 minutes to go, we’re down 11. Haywood puts in a layup, gets fouled, misses the free throw but Kidd outworks everyone to grab the board and make a crazy, under-handed flip to JET for a three. Suddenly a six point game, and then comes back and on the following Atlanta possession knocks the ball out of Josh Smith’s hand and then delivers a beautiful around the back pass to Barea for the layup.

Dirk was huge, 15-26 with 37 points, and overall, it was just an amazing game. There was no way we should have won, but the frantic comeback, followed by the clutch threes, followed by an absolutely dominating overtime period, we somehow won. Great game to watch.

[nowhereman]

Nice. I'd also nominate the win against Boston after getting crushed by Toronto the night before, and the wins against Orlando and LA right after the trade.

[nowhereman]

AND the win in Denver when Drew Gooden exploded all over the Nuggets.

[tcat075]

Yeah, feel free to nominate your own games.

[ItGetzReal]

What about roddy B 40 point explosion on golden state! Good game we dominated and never loss control.

[Rick41]

Hey, that's my picture from the Knicks game lol.

[Dirkadirkastan]

This is how you take a screenshot:

[CrazyBoy]

great work buddy.... great work

[Dirkadirkastan]

Shut up, shrimp.

[RareMilk]

I enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed last year's list of highlights.

[rabbitproof]

Saucy work, OP. Respekt.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

This is how you take a screenshot:

Wasn't my screenshot, but thanks.

edit: ...and if I had read one more post, I would have known that.

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by ItGetzReal

What about roddy B 40 point explosion on golden state! Good game we dominated and never loss control.

But it was Golden State.

Trust me, I did put a little thought into that. But it wasn't a huge blowout, just a normal, double digit win over a crappy team. It happened to have our second favorite Maverick go off for 40, but that's the only thing that made it special. In my opinion, all these other games had multiple storylines coming in and during the game that really made them special. The GS win was just Roddy. He was a great storyline, but the only way that was going to make it on there was if we beat them by 50 (Knicks is on there) or if it had been close and Roddy had a Goran Dragic-esque 4th quarter to help us win or if he had hit the game winning shot (like that one point guard in Utah did). Otherwise, its just an entertaining game to watch.