01-18-2004, 01:15 AM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 253
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"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Well kids, is this it? Are we seeing a "GELLED", and successful, Mavs team, that has won three consecutive on the road, are doing it while allowing their ailing all-star point guard to rest up, against pretty good-to-mediocre teams that they had been losing all their games to, and are still 6-3 against the top teams in the West?
Discuss.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
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01-18-2004, 01:25 AM
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#2
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Guru
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 40,410
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
I guess. It just seems like they read that dallasbasketball.com article about how they are coasting. The effort has certainly been there. But yeah, I do think I'm seeing some gelling. Oh man am I gelling.
__________________
"Yankees fans who say “flags fly forever’’ are right, you never lose that. It reinforces all the good things about being a fan. ... It’s black and white. You (the Mavs) won a title. That’s it and no one can say s--- about it.’’
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01-18-2004, 01:27 AM
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#3
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Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 16,054
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
They're gellin' like a felon. Want some melon?
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01-18-2004, 01:29 AM
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#4
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,640
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
I think so - a little. But Howard's comeback from injury will take a couple of games to settle.
If the Mavs could only get 10 games without any injury (except Delk - his injury actually BENEFITTED the Mavs because Nellie quit trying to play him).
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01-18-2004, 01:31 AM
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#5
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: The Citadel
Posts: 4,227
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
We still need a center or someone else that can play center. Too me, it just doesn't matter how much this team "gels" because it's meaningless in the playoffs without someone at the 5. It was a perfect situation for Mamadou to play, but he didn't.
__________________
The wind rises electric. She's soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume is sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes. I tell her that everything will be all right; that I'll save her from whatever she's scared and take her far far away. I tell her that I love her. The silencer makes a whisper of the gunshot. I hold her close until she's gone. I'll never know what she was running from. I'll cash her check in the morning.
~The Salesman
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01-18-2004, 01:35 AM
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#6
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Platinum Member
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,265
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
I don't think it's official until we crack the top 4 in the conference and surpass one of the other elites, but that may not be too far off. We are two behind SA, 3 behind minny. Definitely encouraging that we are getting it together without having to make another trade.
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The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. -Frank Zappa
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01-18-2004, 01:40 AM
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#7
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Platinum Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Between Sun and Moon
Posts: 2,441
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
I have been very impressed with the hard nosed play very late in close games to pull them out lately. But I will only consider that we have jelled when we start blowing out some teams on a consistent basis like we did last year.
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Mavericks team pic. Guess which one is Stack.
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01-18-2004, 01:43 AM
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#8
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 7,788
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
We've looked pretty darned strong and fired up over the last couple of games, but let's just wait to hand out plaudits until we have seen all of our five big guns playing well alongside a strong bench unit centered around Big Shawn, Travis, Josh, and (hopefully) a healthy Ed Najera. I have a funny feeling that just such a rotation would be as dangerous a team as any NBA title contender would ever want to deal with, regardless of our seeding, come '03-'04 playoff time. That said, goodness help our disparate foes in '05, once the "Demon from Duncanville", Big Tag comes on board...
__________________
What has the sheep to bargain with the wolf?
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01-18-2004, 01:47 AM
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#9
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Platinum Member
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,265
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: Nash13
We still need a center or someone else that can play center. Too me, it just doesn't matter how much this team "gels" because it's meaningless in the playoffs without someone at the 5. It was a perfect situation for Mamadou to play, but he didn't.
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and who did we have in the playoffs last year? Raef?! The thing that cost us a title last year was perimeter defense, not lack of a dominant big man.
I'd buy that argument if we weren't getting good minutes out of Bradley and Fortson.
__________________
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. -Frank Zappa
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01-18-2004, 02:00 AM
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#10
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Guru
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 17,057
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
We're definitely playing much better. However we still need to continue to improve. We've got a long ways to go to get to the level we need to be at for the playoffs.
__________________
Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
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01-18-2004, 02:07 AM
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#11
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: The Citadel
Posts: 4,227
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
It helps to have height. There were a couple of times in the WCF where Raef didn't do too bad of a job against Duncan. We didn't have a problem with not having a dominant big man since we had a decent rotation at the PF/C positions. Now we don't have that. Sure we could do that against Denver and New York, but against LA SAN and maybe SAC, we will need a couple more inches of height.
__________________
The wind rises electric. She's soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume is sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes. I tell her that everything will be all right; that I'll save her from whatever she's scared and take her far far away. I tell her that I love her. The silencer makes a whisper of the gunshot. I hold her close until she's gone. I'll never know what she was running from. I'll cash her check in the morning.
~The Salesman
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01-18-2004, 02:15 AM
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#12
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Guru
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 40,410
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: Psychedelic Fuzz
Quote:
Originally posted by: Nash13
We still need a center or someone else that can play center. Too me, it just doesn't matter how much this team "gels" because it's meaningless in the playoffs without someone at the 5. It was a perfect situation for Mamadou to play, but he didn't.
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and who did we have in the playoffs last year? Raef?! The thing that cost us a title last year was perimeter defense, not lack of a dominant big man.
I'd buy that argument if we weren't getting good minutes out of Bradley and Fortson.
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Yes we had raef. Who is a much better shot blocker than dirk/walker/jamison. Yea we had perimeter defensive issues as well, probalby because we had two pgs. That was resolved with the jamison deal. Now we have no shotblocker in there and it shows.
But we also were killed on the glass. That was also "helped" by the jamison deal.
My problem is not getting minutes out of bradley early, but who is the shotblocker late?
__________________
"Yankees fans who say “flags fly forever’’ are right, you never lose that. It reinforces all the good things about being a fan. ... It’s black and white. You (the Mavs) won a title. That’s it and no one can say s--- about it.’’
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01-18-2004, 02:19 AM
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#13
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: The Citadel
Posts: 4,227
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
They only ended up with +7 in rebounding, so getting killed is kinda harsh. But Portland did show that this team needs more height. If we had more height, players like Patterson wouldn't get 10 boards(12 the game before tonight) against us.
__________________
The wind rises electric. She's soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume is sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes. I tell her that everything will be all right; that I'll save her from whatever she's scared and take her far far away. I tell her that I love her. The silencer makes a whisper of the gunshot. I hold her close until she's gone. I'll never know what she was running from. I'll cash her check in the morning.
~The Salesman
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01-18-2004, 02:25 AM
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#14
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Guru
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 40,410
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Killed on the glass was referring to last year, not tonight. This year is much better. But even then without fortson's 6 rebounds in 16 minutes we would have been easily outrebounded by 10.
It would be interesting to see what the rebounding numbers are when the big 5 are on the floor. I would imagine it's become negative. I'll have to track it. Last night they did ok against denver 10-8. Badley outrebounded in the third when they didn't have jamison. Hmmmm...... I'll have to track it.
__________________
"Yankees fans who say “flags fly forever’’ are right, you never lose that. It reinforces all the good things about being a fan. ... It’s black and white. You (the Mavs) won a title. That’s it and no one can say s--- about it.’’
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01-18-2004, 10:09 AM
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#15
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Golden Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,827
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
On one hand I'm glad to see the Mavs finally string some wins together. But on the other, winning a few skin of the teethers, some in OT against minimal competition isn't really confidence boosting. The Mavs Point differential is still that of a 46-49 win team.
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01-18-2004, 10:38 AM
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#16
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 491
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: LRB
We're definitely playing much better. However we still need to continue to improve. We've got a long ways to go to get to the level we need to be at for the playoffs.
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Totally agree.
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01-18-2004, 11:05 AM
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#17
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Golden Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,431
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: Bayliss
They're gellin' like a felon. Want some melon?
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I'm Gell-ing.
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01-18-2004, 11:29 AM
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#18
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Guru
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 40,410
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RE: "Just wait until we 'gel'..."
I'm Gell-ing, it's you I'm Tell-ing.
__________________
"Yankees fans who say “flags fly forever’’ are right, you never lose that. It reinforces all the good things about being a fan. ... It’s black and white. You (the Mavs) won a title. That’s it and no one can say s--- about it.’’
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01-18-2004, 11:44 AM
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#19
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,499
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
n
Last edited by ShaggyDirk; 02-15-2007 at 12:41 AM.
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01-18-2004, 11:51 AM
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#20
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Diamond Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 3,447
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Anyone see a lightbulb turn on in the players and the fans?
__________________
If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting
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01-18-2004, 03:46 PM
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#21
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 253
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
ShaggyDirk, not intended to be a "knee jerk". Just an honest question. The guys, even when they were losing, appeared to have started to know each others tendencies, etc. It was a process, I was just asking if we were just about there. Obviously there will be room for improvement, a LOT of improvement, and we should be happy about that.
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01-18-2004, 05:04 PM
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#22
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Old School Balla
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 13,097
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
The key positives I'm seeing (judge for yourself whether it's "gel-ling" or not):
1. Center play. It's amazing how much it helps just to play "dirty work" guys at the center spot on this team. Shawn brings shotblocking and makes life really difficult on opponents in the paint; Fort controls the glass and has shown a really nice ability to get open right underneath the hoop and contribute some easy points. He also gets to the line and converts, which is a nice plus. The benchmark for me is 30 minutes. If we're getting 30 minutes a night out of Fort and Shawn combined, we've got a really good chance of winning, IMO.
2. Walker is really starting to find his role on this team. Much of the negative talk early on about Walker was not centered around whether people liked him but rather around whether people believed he could accept a passing, rebounding, defending and occasional scoring role on this team. It appears that he has. He still has the ability to score, but his shot selection has been much better of late, and he's limiting his attempts to get teammates involved. I've said it several times here, but the benchmark for Walk is 13 FGA/game. If Walk shoots 13 FGA or less, we've got a really good chance of winning, because it means that he's likely to have a lot of boards and assists as well.
3. Dirk Nowitzki is starting to find a nice rhythm offensively. For much of the season we wondered if Dirk had "regressed" or if his ankles were going to prevent him from performing at his expected level offensively. That's no longer a concern in my mind. His shot is back, he doesn't look to have any physical limitations, and he's put together a nice stretch of play, with the promise of more as the season wears on.
4. A legitimate 8-9 man rotation. We all heard (or heard about) Nellie proclaiming on the radio last week that he didn't have any "dirty work" guys. A closed door meeting with Cuban later, it appears that he rediscovered the ones he had. Of course, getting Howard back helped, but the Mavs now have a solid 9 man rotation with the Big 5, Howard, Bradley, Fortson, and Best, and Daniels has proven that he can step in and contribute minutes when needed as well. A month, even two weeks ago, the Mavs wouldn't have had a chance in Portland without Steve Nash.
I'm not sure whether they've "gel-led" or not, but I'm excited about the signs I'm seeing.
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01-18-2004, 05:10 PM
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#23
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Golden Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,161
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: kg_veteran
The key positives I'm seeing (judge for yourself whether it's "gel-ling" or not):
1. Center play. It's amazing how much it helps just to play "dirty work" guys at the center spot on this team. Shawn brings shotblocking and makes life really difficult on opponents in the paint; Fort controls the glass and has shown a really nice ability to get open right underneath the hoop and contribute some easy points. He also gets to the line and converts, which is a nice plus. The benchmark for me is 30 minutes. If we're getting 30 minutes a night out of Fort and Shawn combined, we've got a really good chance of winning, IMO.
2. Walker is really starting to find his role on this team. Much of the negative talk early on about Walker was not centered around whether people liked him but rather around whether people believed he could accept a passing, rebounding, defending and occasional scoring role on this team. It appears that he has. He still has the ability to score, but his shot selection has been much better of late, and he's limiting his attempts to get teammates involved. I've said it several times here, but the benchmark for Walk is 13 FGA/game. If Walk shoots 13 FGA or less, we've got a really good chance of winning, because it means that he's likely to have a lot of boards and assists as well.
3. Dirk Nowitzki is starting to find a nice rhythm offensively. For much of the season we wondered if Dirk had "regressed" or if his ankles were going to prevent him from performing at his expected level offensively. That's no longer a concern in my mind. His shot is back, he doesn't look to have any physical limitations, and he's put together a nice stretch of play, with the promise of more as the season wears on.
4. A legitimate 8-9 man rotation. We all heard (or heard about) Nellie proclaiming on the radio last week that he didn't have any "dirty work" guys. A closed door meeting with Cuban later, it appears that he rediscovered the ones he had. Of course, getting Howard back helped, but the Mavs now have a solid 9 man rotation with the Big 5, Howard, Bradley, Fortson, and Best, and Daniels has proven that he can step in and contribute minutes when needed as well. A month, even two weeks ago, the Mavs wouldn't have had a chance in Portland without Steve Nash.
I'm not sure whether they've "gel-led" or not, but I'm excited about the signs I'm seeing.
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I think the Center play has been helping this team out the most. It would put Dirk in the PF, his natural position, where he can excel. Wonder why didn't Nellie ever tried this in the beginning of the season?. Walker's shot selections although is getting better, but it could be alot better. If he's just concentrating on passing, rebounding, and defense, I think this team will be one of the team no one want to play against in the first round
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01-18-2004, 05:17 PM
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#24
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Guru
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 17,057
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
2. Walker is really starting to find his role on this team. Much of the negative talk early on about Walker was not centered around whether people liked him but rather around whether people believed he could accept a passing, rebounding, defending and occasional scoring role on this team. It appears that he has. He still has the ability to score, but his shot selection has been much better of late, and he's limiting his attempts to get teammates involved. I've said it several times here, but the benchmark for Walk is 13 FGA/game. If Walk shoots 13 FGA or less, we've got a really good chance of winning, because it means that he's likely to have a lot of boards and assists as well.
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IF Walker and Nellie coudl just get it through their thick skulls that the less Walker shoots the better we are as a team. If we could get Walker to take 0 shots per game we might go undefeated the rest of the year. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
__________________
Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
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01-18-2004, 05:25 PM
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#25
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 254
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Great post, KG_Veteran.
PS. I am gellin' too, baby!
__________________
Go, Mavs!!!
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01-18-2004, 06:42 PM
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#26
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Platinum Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,910
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RE:"Just wait until we 'gel'..."
Quote:
Originally posted by: LRB
Quote:
2. Walker is really starting to find his role on this team. Much of the negative talk early on about Walker was not centered around whether people liked him but rather around whether people believed he could accept a passing, rebounding, defending and occasional scoring role on this team. It appears that he has. He still has the ability to score, but his shot selection has been much better of late, and he's limiting his attempts to get teammates involved. I've said it several times here, but the benchmark for Walk is 13 FGA/game. If Walk shoots 13 FGA or less, we've got a really good chance of winning, because it means that he's likely to have a lot of boards and assists as well.
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IF Walker and Nellie coudl just get it through their thick skulls that the less Walker shoots the better we are as a team. If we could get Walker to take 0 shots per game we might go undefeated the rest of the year. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
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How bout this?
If Walker loves the three-ball so much, then have him take his 5-8 threes a game but no more shots(2 pt or 3 ) afterward.... He would've taken a total of 8 shots a game then. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
(Just kidding, by the way)
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This was SUPPOSED to be a picture of Toine....But I guess even the Forum itself got sick of seeing him...
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