mavs needs for game #2

[LAM0015]

#1, Dirk to hit a higher percentage of his shots
#2, Less first half turnovers
#3, Juwan Howard to learn what defense is
#4, Dirk & Finley to get going early...to get shot attempts early
#5, Shawn Bradley, please.
#6, Less stupid technicals. You can get your point across without making an ass out of yourself and costing your team points.
#7, Much of the same that we saw in game 1

[djb]

One word: REBOUNDS!

[TheKid]

Rebounds would be nice, we SURE do need them too!!! Saturday was the first time I understand Cuban's logic to bring Rodman to the Mavericks!!!

[dallaslaker]

Re: #3

What was that all about? Juwan basically said "Here, Mr. Mailman, Sir. Have a layup directly underneath the basket. Can you I offer you something to drink also?"

How can a guy play so awesome against Webber and then completely tank against Malone. I really hope he just had the 1st playoff game jitters and he comes out like his old self the next game.

[dallaslaker]

I also hate to admit it, but Bradley play pretty good when he was in. I would like to see Bradley defend Malone a little more. Malone has a history of tearing guys up his own size but having A LOT of difficulty against the taller players (>= 7'). With Bradley's 7'6" frame, he can still play a little off of the guy and make him shoot rainbows from the outside to get over Da Mantis.

[giostar]

Gotta admit that Bradley did a decent job against Malone. And bradley is showing some grit in there too.

I agree with DJ, we can't continue to give Utah 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th chances. I'll even go one step further and say we need Defensiev Rebounds!

GO MAVS!

[LAM0015]

good point, especially early in the game, the mavs gave up too many offensive rebounds.
I hate to say this, but i don't think juwan has the slightest idea how to play defense or rebound on a consistant basis.
sometimes he rebounds ok..but he rarely plays solid defense..and it's a must in this series.

[Mavinator]

Who is the best pure defensive rebounder on the Mavs? I'll give you a hint, he only played 17 minutes, and the Jazz managed to pull down 19 offensive boards...

[LAM0015]

who, besides juwan, has tremendous defense lapses and fails to contribute at times?
it goes both ways....sometimes he doesn't play because he's not productive.. and sometimes he does play and is very productive. but when he's not on his game, bradley is very destructive to the mavs when he's on the court.
bradley's swings are huge...either he's a huge asset, or a huge liability in a game. hopefully, he'll be more of an asset later in the series

[LAM0015]

bradley is our center..and he's averaging an offensive rebound every 4.5185 minutes
dirk is averaging one every 4.94805 minutes....i would like to see bradley do a bit more to deserve such praise on the defensive end. yes, he can be great, but there's more to the defensive side of the ball than defensive rebounds.

[giostar]

I dont think the mavs did a terrible job on Defense. They had their moments early and in the 3rd when they kept on giving up easy layups. But for the most part, if Utah wasn't in the paint, they really werent doing much. I liked what Bradley did when he was in there. They should play him a little more than 17 mins... at least 18. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[scooterj5]

Mo Mark Bryant less Howard Eisley

[djb]

At this point, I'd much rather have Max come off the bench instead of Eisley.

[LAM0015]

i like what bradley did at times...but, at others, he flat out sucked

no, our defense wasn't that bad....actually, it was our offensive struggles and technicals..and lack of defensive rebounding that helped to account for the two point loss

[Evilmav2]

What do we need next game? A bloody Bradley elbow colliding with Malones' head... (A decent showing from Eisley would be a nice bonus as well)...

[MavsFanFinley]

I didn't think Bradley played all that bad either. He didn't hurt us anyway, which he is known to do at times...But, Im not sure I agree to put him on Malone. Maybe some minutes, all Malone would have to do is run towards him, make a little contact and he'll get the call against Bradley. Bradley is no use to us in foul trouble. And what about trying Bradley and Booth in there again, so long as there not in foul trouble. It would help rebounding, I remember it frustrated Marshall.

I also think Nelson shouldn't put Finley on Stockton again. Nash is much better staying with him than Fin is. Not a knock on Fin at all though cause Stockton is going to get his assists one way or another. It's not like it is with Sacramento when Nash frustrates Peja.

And why wouldn't Nelson use Najera? He doesn't try to score, so you don't have to think about him taking the main guys shots away. He hustles after loose balls, goes for the rebounds and will bang in there, something we didn't see in game one.

And yes, I would rather see Maxwell out there defending whoever and taking shots than Eisley.

[Mavinator]

Just giving Bradley 8 more minutes than he got last night will help #'s 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8 (rebounding)...

#2- Bradley's hustle and long arms can keep bad passes from filtering out of bounds.

#3- Juwan can take more risks on defense because he knows the God of Help-Side Defense is right behind him.

#5- Shawn Bradley, please!

#7- We saw 17 minutes worth of Big #44... we need much more of what we saw!

#8- Big Shawn ranks #7 in defensive boards per minute in the NBA, #10 in total rebounds per minute, and #43 (maybe he should lower his number?) in offensive boards per minute. This puts him in approximately the top 10% in the NBA in offensive rebounding, the top 3% in rebounding, and the top 2% in defensive rebounding, our major weakness last night...

[Evilmav2]

Giving big Shawn eight more minutes would also have dramatically raised the odds of that elbow smashing Malones' head- or at the very least, we might have been treated to an altercation and a technical or three being thrown around- Bradley is our most volatile player, and y'all know how often he has become in similar melee's throughout his career... I would really like to see Nelson reach back into his playoff experienced pass and utilize some gamesmanship. It looked like Nelson was having Bryant try to incite Malone with the physical play and verbal jawing in game 1. Hopefully we will see more of that. Vernon Maxwell also might serve his purpose as an instigator. The loss of one of their key players for the game (or dare to hope for a game or two) would be the obvious rewards of a Maxwell/Bradley/Bryant incited altercation...

[LAM0015]

it would be huge to have bradley do two simple things this game..
#1)play well
#2)get karl malone pissed off and get a Tech or two out of him

obviously, point #1 can encompass several aspects....so i'll leave them to your imagination to what playing well means for him.

[TheKid]

I too will retract a little and jump on the Bradley bandwagon. He did play well, what I liked the most and I hope Juwan howard takes heed to this. When Bradley fouled Malone, he FOULED HIM, Malone had no chance of making the shot. That's how you have to foul that bitch if you foul him, because he'll throw some garbage up and it will go in.

I just hope he gives the same type of effort in game 2 that he gave in game 1.

[LAM0015]

i do think there were times during game 1 where bradley was impressive, but at other times, i didn't think so.. sometimes i don't think he was the defensive presence that the mavs needed him to be.
but, maybe with more minutes, this can be accomplished. If juwan howard plays defense like he did in the first game, his ass needs to be on the bench

[TheKid]

To be perfectly honest, the only person I thought that played good defense the entire game was Mark Bryant. Dirk gave great effort the entire game, but he also was bad on defense. NONE of our starters played good defense and that was disappointing. I do know one thing, we need to hit the boards harder, truly we do.

Despite playing what I thought was poor for the majority of the game, we still were in a position to get the win. Better decision making by Nash would help too. He made TWO crucial turnovers at the end of the game where he was dribbling WAAAYYY too much. In order for us to succeed that can't happen down the stretch because you KNOW Stockton won't have a mental error down the stretch, so we can't have that from our PG.

[LAM0015]

actually, defense wasn't the problem..besides defensive rebounding that is.

your hatred for dirk is rediculous, please grow up and enjoy the playoffs

[TheKid]

You're truly retarded LAM!!! I have no idea what you're talking about. My hatred towards Dirk, you're crazy. Read the post I made during the game and I GUARANTEE you'll shut yourself up!

[LAM0015]

you're not very good with catching sarcasm..but chill out a bit

[TheKid]

You never can tell with you. Some of the stuff you say should be taken as sarcasm, but you actually mean some of the stuff you say.

[scooterj5]

I agree we have to get Malone T'd up but I don't think we need to do anything to piss him off.

[Mavs_Whiner]

I agree with EvilMav.

We need to HURT other teams players or get them suspended to win!!!!
Thats what pro basketball is all about.

MAVS in 2001!
MALONE SUSPENDED SO WE CAN WIN!!!!!!

[scooterj5]

If we do that, it's because we are playing your game.

[djb]

Although I'm sure most if not all of us don't agree that's what bball is about, I sure as hell can't say the same about the Jazz. Let's just go back to the last four regular season games between the two teams and count how many times Malone attacked Dirk (first he almost broke his arm earlier in the season, then he proceeds to blatantly elbow him in the face at least two times later in the series). Oh and who can forget Donyell Marshall picking up a flagrant for slamming Dirk into the post? How pathetic.

[scooterj5]

Good points dj! Perhaps we should show the Mavs this moron's attacks on them, and they will be inspired.