May 2, 2007

MAVERICKS HAVE FALLEN INTO A WARRIOR-SIZED TRAP

      One of the bigger upsets in recent NBA playoff history is on the verge of taking place, and if the Golden State Warriors had played smart basketball in the last two minutes of game five the series would already be over.  The Dallas Mavericks were supposed to roll the eighth-seeded Warriors in the first round.  Any team that considers itself one of history’s best (67 wins during the regular season should be proof of that fact) should not be having this much difficulty in the opening round.  But the simple fact is that the Mavs entered the series filled with arrogance and a severe lack of respect for their opponents—they believed they could play any style and win, and believed that their star power and their depth would overcome any obstacle.  Then the Mavs went out and got caught playing Warrior basketball and even though they won game five they are still under the impression that they can win the series playing the Warriors up-tempo style.  It is a huge mistake, and if not rectified will see them sitting on the sidelines in very short order.

       Golden State plays a fast-paced, no-holds barred, up and down style of basketball and as the series has progressed they have lured the more orderly Mavs into playing at their breakneck speed.  It’s easy to be seduced by the Warriors—it always appears as if you can get an easy bucket by moving the ball up the court quickly after a Warrior miss, but in essence you re playing into Golden State’s hands by playing at a speed that is more conducive to their style.  They will eventually tire you out.  You will start to miss these shots, and they will beat you down the court and start making open jump shots.

       Game five was a perfect example of this—the Mavericks tried to assert their style of play in the early going and were effective building up a sizeable lead.  But Golden State slowly started to get the Mavs running up and down the court and suddenly, midway through the thirds quarter, a 20-point Dallas lead had vanished and a high scoring battle was underway.  The Mavs were cocky and arrogant—they thought that they would finally exert their will and extinguish the Warrior flame, but down 20 the Warriors did not cave—on the contrary they picked up their speed, started hitting shots and began to chip away at not only the lead but the Dallas psyche.  When the Warriors took a nine-point lead with a little more than two minutes remaining the Mavericks looked stunned, shocked, and dead.  But the Warriors inexperience allowed Dallas to quickly get back into the game, and then win it in the end. 

      With that nine-point lead the Warriors decided that they wanted to kill the clock and slowed their pace down.  This played right into Dallas’ hands.  By waiting until the final few seconds in the shot clock the Warriors actually forced themselves into some tough shots, and by not making them allowed the Mavs to get out on the run and expose Golden State’s weakness—their defense in the half-court.  Dirk Nowitzki was left alone for consecutive threes, and he buried them.  Dallas was back into the game.  Golden State simply had to play their style for another minute—keep pushing Dallas around, and they would have eliminated the Mavs.  But by going against their strength, slowing the pace down to a crawl they let the Mavs up off the mat.  We’ll see if they learned their lesson in game six. 

      The Mavs still have a chance to win this series, but they need to bury that arrogance with which they entered the battle.  They cannot win playing any style—they cannot win playing fast.  They need to keep the game below 100 points and win with defense.  If they can slow the Warriors down they will take away their energy and enthusiasm.  If they don’t, then they can spend the summer answering questions about what it’s like being one of the NBA’s all-time choker teams.

       Of course, a choker would look nice around Mark Cuban’s neck.

 Other Series—The officiating throughout the first round series has been horribly inconsistent (I’m being kind here).  In game one of the New Jersey-Toronto series the officials decided to allow interior contact but then call exterior hand checks.  This put Raptor Chris Bosh in early foul trouble and kept the players guessing at what would be called and what wouldn’t throughout the entire game.  In game five the officials decided they would call everything, including fouls that actually didn’t take place, which once again put Bosh in early foul trouble.   Game five saw at least four blocks (instead of Net charges) called against the Raptors and, afraid of more fouls, the middle of the Raptor defense opened up for the Nets to exploit.  They say that this particular call is one of the toughest to make, but when a player is outside the circle, is stationary, and is run over, the call seems to be fairly simple.  And how many times did Vince Carter get charged with his second foul?  On three separate occasions he was whistled only to have the officials charge the foul to another Net.  One wonders why Toronto’s all-star doesn’t get the same respect.  But then there were a few calls against the Nets that had me shaking my head, so I guess bad officiating affects everyone.

       It is an absolute pleasure to watch the Utah Jazz play basketball.  Coach Jerry Sloan has his players constantly moving, both on offense and on defense, and whenever they feed the post they always have a teammate cutting toward the basket.  This is quite different than watching Toronto feed the post, clear out, and then stand around and watch.

       The Nuggets just don’t have the depth to match up with the Spurs.  While Iverson and Anthony are playing at a high level it is the secondary players that are making the difference.  Robert Horry and Michael Finley have hit big shots for the Spurs while Denver is looking for anybody to produce points off their bench.  It is too late now.

       The Lakers look dead.  Is Steve Nash now everyone’s MVP?  Somebody find the Miami Heat—they forgot that the playoffs, the time of the year they supposedly play all year for, had begun.

       I’m looking forward to the Bulls and the Pistons.  We’ll see just how much Ben Wallace can affect a game as he battles his former team. 

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