im sorry guy and gals, but we look average at best.

[mav4ever]

The mavs have looked flat of late. they say that last years finals nightmare made them more hungry to be the best, but they sure dont appear that way lately. the other percieved contenders in the league have had somewhat of a surge lately, but not us.

is it possible that we are intentionally coasting down the stretch? it has been said that this is the case, but i dont buy it. this is the worst ball weve played since the ages ago, 4 game skid to start the season. have i become spoiled by the beasts that we ran through the season with, and now im making mountains out of molehills?

[Henry_VIII]

I'm a little concerned. Spurs are coming on strong and building momentum. We're coasting. Is it something that they can turn back on in the post-season? I think so (at least I hope so)

[Thespiralgoeson]

The Mavs are just banged up. It's fairly obvious that at the very least, Dirk is coasting. Get everyone healthy. That's my only concern. Whatever first and second round matchups we have will get us ready for Phoenix or San Antonio.

[Janett_Reno]

The Spurs play their best ball at the end and this is why Pop is great. Duncan is in the running for defensive player of the year and is probably in the top 7 mvp. This is the team i am scarred of in the nba now. We are deeper but Duncan is a great player. I also feel the Pistons and Bulls are very solid.

I wonder if Avery has told Dirk to take it easy and not be as aggressive and not rebound because we have 1st place. Dirk is not rebounding now but i feel we are coasting some now. Again this year the Spurs/Mavs series will be a great series. Duncan has been great the second half and now we will probably throw in Willis some against him to push him around some and foul him. We can beat them but we must play good and i feel Avery will have us up for the playoffs.

We are not finishing good and sometimes we quit playing at half time, here lately. We DO NOT want Golden State slipping in that 8th spot. We play the Clippers better. Golden State is a Phx style team and we alot of times play run and gun and decide to not play defense and Golden State beats us. I think we are ok and i feel the west will be a knock down drag out between the Mavs/Spurs.

[Janett_Reno]

Last night Terry and Harris had big games and guys like Croshere and George are rebounding. This is a good thing for Croshere and George for the playoffs to play big. We did not have this last year.

[Janett_Reno]

I want to make another comment on Duncan. He is one of the smartest players to ever play. What makes me upset at times, is he, Shaq and even Wade will throw the ball at the basket and go crashing in for the tip in or rebound. Do not get me wrong, all 3 of these players are great but they know they can get away with some charging and in the past we have Dampier and no one else. Everybody was scarred because Shaq and Duncan would run you over. Last year Diop stood up to him, Dampier did and even Dirk blocked out and made Duncan charge into him.

This was a big reason we beat them and Duncan had a great series but Diop had a huge block and a huge rebound to beat them and Dirk the great offensive play. Before overtime, Duncan had a chance to win it and he should have charged over us and tried for a lay up and got two free throws to win it but Damp, Dirk and Diop had played physical and challenged him, so he settled for a jump shot.

Last year this team changed on defense. Now, not just Howard plays defense. No one on our team plays scarred like Van Horn anymore. If you play scarred and with fear you just can't get past Duncan or Shaq and the Piston team but Avery has changed that and even Dirk is tough now.

Duncan can't just throw the ball up off the rim and charge in and get it anymore because we have guys like Damp, Diop, Dirk, Croshere, George and Howard standing under the goal blocking out. Ginobili is great at doing that also but he got charges on him last year and Parker kept getting charges on him by Harris. Harris played him great. This was all Avery and defense. This is what can and will beat the Spurs, not Phx offense.

We have a player that is great shooting or throwing off the rim and flying past people and getting the rebound and putting it back in. That is Howard. He out works people.

We are not at our best now but i feel we are coasting some and Avery is letting them where we won't get hurt.

[dude1394]

Croshere is turnig out to be horrible, absolutely providing nothing to the team. The whole indiana trade was pretty horrible. Thank goodness, devean/buck came in.

[Janett_Reno]

I say Croshere will be ok. I also like George and i'll take George and Croshere over a scarred Van Horn anyday. Van Horn was good at times when you stood him like LaFrentz or Finley at the three line and just let him shoot away. Van Horn will probably play again for Don Nelson because Nelson does not like defense, loves offense and big tall players that can shoot.

In the playoffs you need physical players that will fight. Mark my words and watch the Phx Suns who alot think will go all the way, they will get beat in the first round or by the Spurs. They have no chance against the Spurs. I am so thankful for Avery Johnson because we are no longer a Phx Suns type team and we are more like a Spurs type team but deeper.

In the playoffs, it is good to have players that will bang you, if a punch is thrown, it is good to have players that will punch back or push back. I am talking physical play like Spurs, Heat, Pistons and Bulls and now the Mavs. One of those physical teams will win the title this year. Great run and gun without defense has never won a nba title. The great Celts and Lakers back in the day of Magic and Bird could play great defense also. So could Jordan's teams. Without defense we was never going to do anything. Now we play it.

I also liked Daniels but Avery was sick of him and his turn overs. As long as we kept Daniels, Harris was going to get less time. He cut into Stackhouse's time. Croshere's contract is fixing to run out and teams will want him. Just because of his expiring contract. We payed Daniels a huge price for a good rookie season and people wanted him and then as he was hurt and had faltered, we was stuck with his contract. Keep in mind, i liked him.

I liked how Daniels would go to the basket against anyone. With George you have alot of height and he can even play defense. If he is terrible shooting, he will still grab you 5 to 10 rebounds if he plays alot. This is what Aver want's, if you suck in one department, do something else, ast, steal, rebound or just do something. Croshere has had some bad shooting nights but he will play defense and he will get you some rebounds and he will not run away from a fist fight. He has height and he plays physical and i have seen nights where he scores.

In the days of the old Lakers, they seem to bring in waves of players that were so tall and now the Mavs are like this. Harris does not need more players ahead of him pushing him for less minutes. He is really good. Yes, Avery does get frustrated with some mistakes but he handles the ball alot and he is very fast.

Avery has the luxory do go with bruising big ball and physical when he gets a good lead, he has the luxory to go fast and alot of offense, he has many rebounders on this team now. He has so many combinations and even Willis is physical and yes he is old and does he have anything left? Not sure but he looks like he is chiseled out of stone, so if he can just block out some and hold his position, he will be a big body to contend with.

Maimi had Shaq, Mourning and Haslem. All very physical. We had Dampier, Diop and Van Horn to counter as towards the end, Dirk stayed outside. Van Horn was hurt, in his defense but he never went in for physical play.

If we meet them again, Shaq, Haslem and Mourning has to deal with Dampier, Diop, a more physical Dirk, George, Croshere and Willis. We still have the task of slowing Wade some but we got Buckner just for Kobe, Wade and Lebron.

I agree that trade looks horrible with Ind and i wished Croshere would have been better and we traded Anthony Johnson for a draft pick and who knows how that will work, we was able to get out of the big contract we just gave Daniels. Johnson also took time away from Harris.

I like our first 7 or 8 guys that get all the time but for the playoffs, i also like the guys deep off the bench for defense and their physical play. Van Horn could have been a super star in this league, with his size and offense but he never had the heart and he sucked on defense. The biggest lead ever in the nba and was over come with a loss was Van Horn and his Nets. It seemed like it was a 40 point lead or so and they lost. That sums up his career but looking at his offensive numbers they were good but it takes a heart of a champion to win a title.

Nash has that heart of a champion and that is why alot are picking them but what they do not tend to see or look at, he has no center. Kurt Thomas. In the playoffs, these good teams will always come back with their lack luster defense and the elite teams can make stops. Maimi showed me last year, as old as they were, they could make stops and i did not think they could against us. I was wrong. Phx can't make stops.

We are sitting good because we can easily deal Croshere and get another after this season. Teams will want George but i feel we will keep him. Teams are begging for Harris and Howard but we will keep them. We have a high second round draft pick for Johnson and this is where we stole Josh Howard.

We do not need much but we can get a physical and better power forward(Croshere position off bench) for next year, a third center for where we have Willis. Where it gets tuff is Barea, Pops, Ager and the center we have hurt. Ager is "suppose" to be good on offense and defense and has height. His prob in college he was timid and wouldn't take control at times unless you made him. I see this but he is a rookie and prob in aw of being out there with Dirk and Howard. I see potential in Pops. I like Barea but he is very small.

Our core is set and sitting good for the next few years. With the pick ups we get next year, you are going to have to be pretty darn good to make our team and even at 11th ands 12th position. This way you have like two very good teams on one with your second string. In the long run we probably did good getting rid of Daniels contract and letting Harris play and getting rid of Johnson and getting a fairly good draft pick and again giving the time to Harris and Buckner. We are going to be very good and tuff and even favored up there for the next two or three years for a title running.

I am not defending Croshere because i expected alot more also and he has not been consistent at all. I just know he can be physical and rebound in the playoffs and i feel we might need this down deep in our bench.

[sike]

this thread is suckville

[left texas]

Here is a good assesment by Avery. All I would say is come on coach make them stop settling for jumpers. Your the coach they should be able to respond during game time and not have to wait and watch film to see what they are doing wrong.

"You go over it 50 million times, but it's the same situations every time and we've been dealing with it all year," said Mavs coach Avery Johnson, railing about the shot selection that led to his team's 36-percent shooting. "It's kind of disappointing. ... We just don't understand momentum. As long as we have been together, it's baffling to me that we don't understand momentum - what we should be doing and what we shouldn't do. For a veteran team, it's just unbelievable. If you're not making 3's, at some point, you got to try something else. And we just weren't attacking. ...''