Simmons: Sorry, Dirk, you're no MVP

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Or with 4 minutes to go was he writing a "told you so" article?

I loved Dirk's performance at the end of the game, but let's not act like Dirk put this team on his back for 4 quarters and brought a win.

A lot of that is Avery's fault and the defensive schemes, but still.

Yea he only lead all players in scoring, led all players in rebounding, led all players in offensive rebounding, led all players in ft makes/attempts.

All that while not getting the ball worth a crap from his coach and team-mates. Yea he didn't do much for his team last night.

Style points must really count because actual points don't seem to so much.

[The Crippler]

sorry Simmons, you're a c sucker.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Yea he only lead all players in scoring, led all players in rebounding, led all players in offensive rebounding, led all players in ft makes/attempts.

All that while not getting the ball worth a crap from his coach and team-mates. Yea he didn't do much for his team last night.

Style points must really count because actual points don't seem to so much.

Notice I said "with 4 minutes to go"

With 4 minutes to go, he had 18 points in the biggest game of the season.

He did do other things for the team, and played his most aggressive game of the season, but he was STILL passing up shots in the 4th quarter.

Now, thankfully the final 4 minutes DID happen, and he put this team on his back and carried them to a win. I was simply pointing out that before clutch time Simmons was spot on.

And make no mistake, I'm not dogging Dirk. I was going insane those final 4 minutes like everyone else. But before that stretch, what was I, and most other Mavs' fans thinking?

[endtroducing MASKED]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Ok.....but Dirk plays an actual sport.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

[FINtastic]

When Nash scores a 10 point flurry at the end of the game, he's touted as MVP. Now Dirk has a similar scoring flurry, and we are complaining that it is too late? Dirk obviously hasn't played at an MVP level this entire series, but gee whiz let's cut him just a little slack now. Like dude says, he was fighting all game long and making plays elsewhere on the court. I was impressed with the way Dirk kept taking it to the basket and getting to the free throw line. He wasn't really settling for jumpers. His scoring wasn't great until the very end, but Dirk was fighting all game long.

[Amorphis]

Up until 2 minutes left, Nowitzki was just awful. You could tell he just didn't want to shoot. Even when he was wide open, he'd still pump fake. And there were at least a half a dozen times where he'd go up for the shot and then force the pass at the last second instead of taking the shot. Then all of a sudden, the guy just turns into the player that everybody sees during the regular season. He gets the ball and he just shoots it. He's 7 feet tall, so he can shoot over whoever is on him before the double gets there. If he can actually be aggressive and shoot the ball for the full 4 quarters, then the Mavs would win this series.

And I was shocked to see Fedor appear in this thread. In Fedor we trust.

[mkat]

Simmons is a retard. we all know this.

didn't he call this year's Suns one of the greatest teams of all time?

[mkat]

Originally Posted by jthig32

But before that stretch, what was I, and most other Mavs' fans thinking?

someone better wake up is what i was thinking...then i was thinking about what they're gonna do next year.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by FINtastic

When Nash scores a 10 point flurry at the end of the game, he's touted as MVP. Now Dirk has a similar scoring flurry, and we are complaining that it is too late? Dirk obviously hasn't played at an MVP level this entire series, but gee whiz let's cut him just a little slack now. Like dude says, he was fighting all game long and making plays elsewhere on the court. I was impressed with the way Dirk kept taking it to the basket and getting to the free throw line. He wasn't really settling for jumpers. His scoring wasn't great until the very end, but Dirk was fighting all game long.

No, that's now what I was saying at all.

I'm proud of the way he brought this team from the grave.

But we need more, and earlier next game.

[mav_love]

The power of the roar of the crowd

BILL SIMMONS | May. 2, 2007 | feedback

.... I don't believe the 2007 Dallas Mavericks have the collective heart to prevail in Oakland, not with the Warriors' fans smelling blood and providing one of the all-time electric/rabid/emotional/crazed atmospheres in recent sports history. As good as they were in Game 3 and Game 4, the fans will be better tonight. They will rise to the occasion. They will. I am convinced. They have been waiting for a night like this for 30 long years. Literally.

Maybe a veteran team like the Spurs wouldn't be fazed, but the Cuban-era Mavs have proven time and time again -- in Miami last June, against Phoenix two years ago, even last weekend in Oakland -- that they have no qualms about folding at the worst possible times. The right crowd can get to them. The right mix of shaky calls can get to them. They fall apart when you least expect it. In fact, they squandered a 21-point lead in Game 5 and would have ended up on one of TNT's "Gone Fishin'" cards if (A) the Warriors hadn't stupidly slowed things down with a six-point lead, and (B) the Mavs hadn't gotten FOUR major calls in the final 50 seconds: Barnes getting whistled for a clean strip of Nowitzki, Nowitzki not getting whistled for clobbering Richardson on a go-ahead 3, Davis getting a sixth foul for not touching anyone and Nowitzki going over-the-back on the biggest rebound of the game. Whatever. The league wanted this series to go back to Oakland and it did.

To beat this particular Warriors team -- an undersized group that thrives on dunks, killer 3s, alley-oops, energy plays and everything else that ignites a great crowd -- when they're playing at home you need five guys who won't be afraid (as far as I can tell, Dallas has Nowitzki, Stackhouse and Howard and that's it), and one special player who can pull a Clint Eastwood and jam a stake in the crowd's collective heart. On paper, Nowitzki should be that player -- we even caught a glimpse in Game 5, when he did a superb impression of the 2007 MVP during the final three minutes -- but as I wrote in Tuesday's piece, he's looked like a mess for most of this series. Even in Game 5, Nowitzki disappeared for nearly the entire second half. This was an elimination game! How could a team's best player attempt only two shots in the first 21 minutes of the second half against a surging Warriors team that clearly smelled an upset?

When Dirk finally stepped up with a couple of 3s and a monster block, TNT headed to a commercial as Dick Stockton excitedly yelped, "Dirk Nowitzki, playing like an MVP in the last minute!" Really, a whole minute? That's what it takes to be an MVP these days? Sure, you can't discount Nowitzki because he has shown flashes -- like the end of Game 5, or his incredible 3-point play to save the Spurs series last spring -- but at the same time, not since Kevin Garnett's Game 7 against the 2004 Kings have we seen an NBA superstar face a bigger career gut check than the one Nowitzki faces tonight. KG was playing at home and came up huge (32 points, 21 rebounds). Nowitzki will be playing in one of the toughest environments in sports. If he ever wanted to be challenged as a basketball player, tonight's the night. If he shows any sign of weakness at all, the crowd will smell it. If he falters at all, so will the Mavs.

It's the second best subplot of tonight's game, right behind the crowd itself. For the past week or so, I've been swamped by e-mails by readers who were unequivocally delighted by this series -- not just Golden State's fan-friendly style of play, but those two home games in Oakland and how much they meant to anyone who cares about basketball. It's been a throwback to the days when crowds actually mattered, when players liked playing with one another, when every playoff game didn't end with the same predictable "everyone clear out for the alpha dogs so they can go 1-on-3" sequence. I haven't been this excited for a non-Celtics game in years.

Maybe the winner tonight doesn't matter, just that the game is happening at all does. But I'll be rooting for the Warriors for selfish reasons: If they advance to Round 2, I'm flying to Oakland and attending the next slew of home games. Maybe it won't be as good as hopping into a time machine and heading back to the old Boston Garden, but it's better than nothing.

[FINtastic]

Really, a whole minute? That's what it takes to be an MVP these days?

Ask all the media people who wanted to hand Steve Nash the MVP on March 15.

[left texas]

quote: when players liked playing with one another.

As long as things are going their way. Watch the back stabbing when it gets rough.

[Murphy3]

Simmons is getting more than just a little scared that he'll have to eat a little crow.
The dumb little bitch needs to bend down and suck it.

[purplefrog]

I am tired of hearing all this "crowd will win the game for the Warriors" stuff. I just don't believe the crowd will have any affect on Dirk (or the Mavs) whatsoever.

[alexamenos]

ok, i'm officially giving up my bill simmons fan club card...

Originally Posted by Bill Simmons

....

Maybe a veteran team like the Spurs wouldn't be fazed, but the Cuban-era Mavs have proven time and time again -- in Miami last June, against Phoenix two years ago, even last weekend in Oakland -- that they have no qualms about folding at the worst possible times.

And the best possible time for folding is when? When the Suns folded last year? When the Lakers folded last year? When? I'll grant you that the Mavs aren't one of exactly 3 teams to win an NBA championship since the 2002-2003 season, but they damn sure aren't the only team to make a-bit-earlier-than-preferred exit.

and then there's this nonsense:

Originally Posted by BILL SIMMONS

Sure, you can't discount Nowitzki because he has shown flashes -- like the end of Game 5, or his incredible 3-point play to save the Spurs series last spring

or the 50 he hung against Phoenix in game 5, or the way he just owned the first round against memphis, or the way he played in 6 games against the spurs before the game 7 3-pt play, or the fact that a healthy chunk of his career 40+ point games came in the playoffs, and on and on and on.....

fintastic was right -- if nash plays a mediocre game for 45 minutes and then has some late game heroics Simmons is bustin' a nut all over his keyboard. Bill Simmons is a guy embarrassed about the fact that one day after he wrote an article on how Dirk was no mvp, dirk played like an mvp.

[StackAttack]

Doesn't appear anyone's posted this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...x?name=simmons

Wow. I'm pissed beyond belief. What a faggot.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by StackAttack

Doesn't appear anyone's posted this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...x?name=simmons

Wow. I'm pissed beyond belief. What a faggot.

Uuuhh. It was posted in this thread.

His point about Dirk's flashes is idiotic. When he wrote this, somehow I don't think it was a flash.

[twelli]

Originally Posted by purplefrog

I am tired of hearing all this "crowd will win the game for the Warriors" stuff. I just don't believe the crowd will have any affect on Dirk (or the Mavs) whatsoever.

Crowd support can go either way.

It can instill confidence in the Warriors and push them or it can give them that additional pressure to deliver that could make them fail.

On the other side the Mavs could either be intimidated or it could make them play with a "we against the world" mentality. If the Mavs manage to silence the crowd early, it think the Oakland fans will soon be a non-factor.

We better avoid untimely turnovers leading to dunks, buzzer beaters, or any kind of run by the Warriors once we are ahead.

[FINtastic]

Well, I guess Simmons got the last laugh here.

[kingmalaki]

Man, it will be hard for Dirk to shed the choker label now. This pretty much takes the cake....

So it's pretty much been established that Dirk isn't the man to take y'all to the promised land. He just doesn't have "it". It's also been established that the surrounding talent on this team is VERY GOOD. I can't think of too many other squads that could still be in a game/series when their star player has vainshed.

Maybe it's best to parlay some of that extra talent to get a true Alpha-Dog in Dallas and let Dirk play second fiddle? You guys definately have enough young talent to make something happen, and more importantly, a very aggressive owner.

[MeganLuvsMavs]

I don't even want him to get it after this year. Just not the right time.