Wolves vs. Mavs Gameday Thread 11/22

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: Azn_Baller101
cubes please please please please please!! fire nellie tommorow... i don't care how much it takes... hire PHIL JACKSON!! who's with me??

Sometime AFTER April 20th. Not before. Count me out.

[GP]

I don't want to see Nellie fired though I am disappointed with how he has used Dampier this year. This team has the personnel to be great and I really like how the young players are progressing. We need to remember that this team will be a work in progress for the next month or two even with a healthy Dirk and Fin. I just want to see this team run an offense like the 80's Lakers or Celts. They could pound the ball inside and get good open jumpers as a result. They could key their fastbreaks off of good defense and still be effective in the halfcourt sets. For the last 2 years the halfcourt sets have been ineffective due to always pressing and taking quick shots. Tonight, they tried to run clock (which is good) but were unable to get decent shots. Certainly, if Dirk were healthy they would have won this game. For them to be a championship club it is my opinion that they need to junk the first open jumper philosophy and play a traditional halfcourt game when the fastbreak isn't available. They can still run other teams off of the court, but they need to be able to milk the clock and seal the win as well.

[dude1394]

Dampier was nowhere near 100% tonight. He was gritting it out

[dude1394]

Pretty interesting, nellie coaches us to within one point of a game we had no business winning let along being in and all he does is get ragged on by fans that want to fire him.

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: GP
I don't want to see Nellie fired though I am disappointed with how he has used Dampier this year.

Yea he's been terribly mismanaged in the ~6 games he's been able to play in and 2-3 of those is at half strength. Yup, that nellie.

[sike]

when you have a 12 point lead with 4minutes remaining and throw it away...the coaching can be justly called into question.

[Kat]

Ogh, my oh, my you guys and gals, so much hate'in goin on. Murph why are you being so negative on these guys so soon? They just started. It takes normally two seasons to jell, you know that. Damn, these guys did well tonight, give then props. No Dirk, no Fin? come on. Imagine the thrill when they are all healthy at the same time, oh, damn. This is going to be a fun season, if they all get healthy at the same time, it'll be some great basketball. We have some great ballers, but right now they all look beat up. The only one healthy is Stack.

[sike]

if they all get healthy at the same time

so far, that has been a huge "if"

[FishForLunch]

Someone should post a clip of Kevin Garnett being taken to school by Josh. That move made my day, atleast he did not see him clapping in the face like he used to do to nash.

[MavsFanFinley]

Surely I'm not the only one tired of hearing how Daniels gets a free pass because he's not 100% yet.

[MavsFanFinley]

DALLAS (AP) -- Trailing by 12 points with 4:27 left, having gone longer than that since they last scored, the Minnesota Timberwolves could've been thinking about finally getting home after a week on the road.

The Dallas Mavericks wish they had been.

Kevin Garnett made two free throws with 5.9 seconds left and Trenton Hassell blocked Jerry Stackhouse's long jumper at the buzzer, giving the Timberwolves an 83-82 victory Monday night in the Mavericks' first of several games without Dirk Nowitzki.

Minnesota led for a total of 26.5 seconds. The first 20.6 came in the final minute of the third quarter; the only other time was the one that mattered most.

``They are in their locker room trying to figure out how they lost,'' Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. ``We are in here trying to figure out how we won.''

Garnett had 21 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists -- far below the 29.5 points and 17.8 rebounds he averaged against Dallas last season, yet he seemed as dominant as ever. He scored the go-ahead points the first time Minnesota led and his final assist came on the Timberwolves' final basket.

``It's a big win because the Mavericks are going to be a team to be reckoned with in the West, with Dirk or without him,'' Garnett said. ``It's an emotional win. It felt like a playoff atmosphere in the second half.''

Garnett struggled early, partly because he hurt his right shoulder two days before but also because he had to deal with Dallas' Erick Dampier in the paint. Garnett's frustration boiled over with a cheap shot on Josh Howard, leading to the technical foul that put the Mavericks up 79-67 late in the fourth quarter.

But with Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Dallas' top two scorers, out with ankle injuries, the Mavs couldn't hold it.

Dallas made only one of nine shots the rest of the way. The Mavericks' final point was a free throw by Stackhouse with 1:33 left that put them up by five.

``This is a game we should have won, but we let it go down the drain,'' said Dampier, criticizing teammates for settling for too many jumpers. ``Even without Dirk and Finley, we still have enough talent to compete and win every night.''

Sam Cassell, who had 16 points, scored with 4:14 left to start Minnesota's rally, although at the time it was more of a drought-ender. The Timberwolves hadn't scored since the 9:27 mark, when Eddie Griffin tied the game at 67 with a 3-pointer.

A missed 3 by Dallas rookie Devin Harris gave Minnesota its final possession. The Timberwolves called timeout with 11 seconds left, then went to Garnett on the inbounds pass.

Alan Henderson didn't foul him despite Dallas having one to give. He waited until Garnett made a move to the basket, which sent the reigning MVP to the line with Minnesota down by one.

He made the first, then the Mavericks called timeout. His second free throw was a perfect swish.

``I've got a bum shoulder, bad knees -- I'm giving it what I've got,'' Garnett said. ``I wasn't happy about missing those (three) earlier free throws, but this time I took my time and made them.''

The Mavericks went to Stackhouse for the last try, but his 17-footer from the right wing was cleanly stuffed by Hassell. The arena went silent and Garnett walked across midcourt pumping his fist, while Saunders practically skipped onto the court with a huge smile.

Dallas was playing the night after a lopsided loss in Denver. It also was the team's first game without Finley, Nowitzki or Steve Nash, their vaunted ``Big Three,'' since Dec. 26, 1996.

Nowitzki twisted his left ankle just before halftime Sunday against Denver. An MRI taken Monday showed a mild sprain that will keep him out seven to 10 days, likely keeping him out of four or five games. Finley is on the injured list and Nash now plays for Phoenix.

The Mavs did fine early, leading 27-12 late in the first quarter and maintaining a 14-point edge in the third quarter.

``The guys deserved to win this one,'' Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. ``But you don't always get what you deserve in life.''

Josh Howard led Dallas with 22 points, tying the career high he set two games before. Harris had 14 points and Marquis Daniels had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Notes

Minnesota scored and allowed its fewest points this season. ... Dallas matched its season-low point total set the previous game. ... Calvin Booth started for Nowitzki and made his first four shots, then missed his next three.

[GP]

Dude, I think you are trying to imply that I am a Nellie basher and that just isn't the case. He's always been my favorite coach since the early 80's. I used to love to watching the Bucks play and then the Warriors. However, I just think that if you coach a great game and then blow it in the end and lose then you didn't coach a great game at all. This team is loaded with or without Nowitzki and Finley, but their half court offense is seriously deficient and relys almost exclusively on isolation plays. I lay the blame on the coach for that. This roster has 5 seven footers on it, but when it came to needing a game winning stop they had none of them in the game to cover one of the most effective low post 7 footers in the league. In fact, they intentionally fouled Garnett with just a couple of seconds on the clock even after he'd been erratic most of the night. You just can't give the victory to the other team, especially after your team fought so hard all game.

[dirno2000]

Originally posted by: MavsFanFinley
Surely I'm not the only one tired of hearing how Daniels gets a free pass because he's not 100% yet.

His ankle looks fine to me. If anything I'm giving him a pass because he's still a very inexperienced player...the contract doesn't change that fact. He does some great things like the pass the Henderson in the 4th (may have been our last fg) then he does some bad things like the fast break t.o. and losing Wally on the dive cut. At this point you just have to deal with it and hope is ratio of good to bad plays increases.

Stack is the one I'm dissappointed with. He was the only experienced scorer we had out there and he just dissappeard in the 4th...when he did show up, he was making a bad play. Stack's play in the 4th is why people (myself included) were worried about the effect of trading for players from losing teams. You put him on the floor with Dirk who can create looks and get everyone in the right place then he's ok. You put him in a tight game against an experienced team where he's the man and he looks like a Washington Wizzard.

[sike]

You put him in a tight game against an experienced team where he's the man and he looks like a Washington Wizzard.

perhaps a bit of a kneejerk there, dirno, tonight was simply not his night. That last shot was certainly not his fault, and after the great few games he gave them, I'm willing to give him a less than stellar game. I don't think he is the game dominator that he once was, and that is fine. He is not a number one option anymore and does not have to be on this team...except when the two leading scorers are gone and Terry decides not to show up (still could be the ankle I suppose)...
would I have liked him to go off for 30 tonight? Sure, but to say that he is a loser...or a "Washington Wizard" because of a couple poor games is a bit harsh, rash, and unfair.

[dirno2000]

I wouldn't call it knee jerk because this is something that I talked about coming into the season.

I'm not knocking him for his play in the 1st 3 quarters...just saying that when he's on the floor with Allen Henderson and three 1st/2nd year, he needs to step up and he pretty much disappeared in the 4th. This is on the heels of two missed ft's that almost costs us the Knicks game (from an 80+% ft shooter) and a sub-par Denver game after Dirk went out. His biggest asset is his ability to get to the ft line and I didn’t see him attempt to do that in the 4th.

He doesn't necessarily have to score 30, but he needs to provide some veteran presence out there with Dirk and Fin out and he's not doing it.

There’s still time though and hopefully these last few games have been an aberration.

[aexchange]

stackhouse is this years version of antoine walker.

and that isnt a good thing.

when he touches the ball, he has the ability to make things happen off the dribble, but more often then not, he becomes a human black hole on offense. whatever little ball movement there was, completely dies. i've seen him fumble perfectly good passes off his hands more times than i can count, and miss critical free throws at important stretches of the game. yes, he'll make a nice pass every now and then, but when the game is on the line, his go to move is a turn around jumper.

the fact that he has a terrible jump shot should tell you all you need to know about his lack of success converting.

[Murphy3]

Originally posted by: Kat
Ogh, my oh, my you guys and gals, so much hate'in goin on. Murph why are you being so negative on these guys so soon? They just started. It takes normally two seasons to jell, you know that. Damn, these guys did well tonight, give then props. No Dirk, no Fin? come on. Imagine the thrill when they are all healthy at the same time, oh, damn. This is going to be a fun season, if they all get healthy at the same time, it'll be some great basketball. We have some great ballers, but right now they all look beat up. The only one healthy is Stack.

I'm extremely happy with the effort that they put out there. I love their defensive intensity. However, Harris and Daniels make too many mental mistakes on offense even for young players. That's why I'm hard on them. I'm hard on these two because the talent IS there. Yes, they will get there, but there's still no excuse for many of the mental mistakes. The youth excuse only goes so far. I don't worry about Harris as much as Daniels.....that guy is clueless offensively at times.

[kingrex]

Originally posted by: aexchange
stackhouse is this years version of antoine walker.

and that isnt a good thing.

when he touches the ball, he has the ability to make things happen off the dribble, but more often then not, he becomes a human black hole on offense. whatever little ball movement there was, completely dies. i've seen him fumble perfectly good passes off his hands more times than i can count, and miss critical free throws at important stretches of the game. yes, he'll make a nice pass every now and then, but when the game is on the line, his go to move is a turn around jumper.

the fact that he has a terrible jump shot should tell you all you need to know about his lack of success converting.

I think stackhouse (this game not-withstanding) is a more efficient player than Antoine Walker.

I wouldn't trust him to be our number one guy, but here in Dallas he doesn't have to be (when everyone's healthy). And that is a good thing.

I think Hassel just made a great defensive play and that's all this means.

[SeriousSummer]

Here's the real problem:

You can squarely put this loss on Daniels, Stack, and Terry.......In the 4th quarter, Daniels was garbage. He should have been out of the game.

Those guys went 7-33 (2 for 15 from veterans Stackhouse and Terry). Without Dirk and Fin, they have to score. Nelson did a great coaching job and the team played great defense and Harris and Howard were very good, but in the end nobody was willing to take it to the hole and nobody could hit a jump shot.

Of course the issue is: You can't pull Daniels and Stack and Terry very easily, especially when Minnesota is going small. Not with Fin and Dirk out hurt.

This team is thin offensively--at least half the offense, more in the half court set is coming from Dirk and about 25% of the rest in the half court from Fin. Those three guys have to play better offense.

Nobody was left to spread the defense.

[vinnieponte]

good effort but not enough, we had this game and we handed it over, no dirk no wins, thats my prediction till he comes back!

[dalmations202]

This team is thin offensively--at least half the offense, more in the half court set is coming from Dirk and about 25% of the rest in the half court from Fin. Those three guys have to play better offense.

The first person that has admitted that this Nellie team might actually be thin offensively. I agree.

They are one offensive guy / two-way player away, IMO. Or Dirk, Fin, Stack, and Terry all have to remain healthy.