Don Nelson vs. Avery Johnson. The teacher still owns the student. Btw, when Don Nelson left the Mavs, he claimed Cuban owed him money. There is some bad blood here.
I really can't believe this is happening. I'm rooting for the underdog but I feel bad for Dallas after last year. But this helps the Eastern teams because the winner has a better chance of getting home court against the West if teams with good records like Dallas go down.
Only way we get home court in the Finals is if Dallas AND Phoenix AND San Antonio ALL go down before the finals...not too likely.
dang I almost picked the Warriors in 7....but went with the percentages and chose the Mavs in 7...still may happen, but these Warriors are...well Warriors. I didn't see Cuban, but you can tell by the look on Avery's face that he was seeing hs life pass in front of him. Meanwhile Nelly may be the happiest coach in the world come Tuesday This was a bad matchup for the Mavs and just as the bulls were for the Heat. The warriors swept them during th regular season and they may kick them out of the post season too. Oh yeah that was Mitch Richmond up in the box with Mullins. The fans in northern California had more fun than the ones in SoCal today.
That was the single best basketball game I've ever seen in person. I (heart) Jerry Chokehouse for the disappearing act after his third-quarter D-Whistle act, and Dirk Nowitzki for failing to show up until the outcome was all but determined. Don Nelson coached one hell of a game - his switch to matchup zone in the middle of the fourth was brilliant. Baron Davis... incredible. J-Rich... Barnes... Pietrus... and Stephen Jackson's got that lighting back in the bottle.
Don Nelson actually said he believes they could win this game (the game tonight) but he said he wasn`t sure if they could win the series. HUH??? Perhaps he was being very humble and didn`t want to show up his student Avery Johnson. I have never heard a coach question his teams chances being up 3-1 in a series.
He doesn't want to say anything to give Dallas any reason to wake up and find something to rally around. Smart. Gotta give Nellie a ton of credit.
Man I love these Golden State Warriors. Look at how much heart they play with. That was one of the best games I have seen in awhile! I can't believe how Dallas choked at the end. It seemed like no one wanted to shoot it. Then finally Dirk hit a couple treys, but all to late!
Dallas is in the big time trouble. They are still looking lost out there. This is too weird for a team that was in the finals last year, then won over 60 games this year. Maybe their last year's finals appearance was a fluke, just like Miami's? Maybe they are just a great regular season team, but not a playoff-caliber team? But at this juncture they don't seem to be able to score when needed and in addition can't stop Warriors on the D. Looks all but over at this point.
I've seen too many times where teams enter a series and look lost. This happens because of good coaching and game strategy. I remember the Lakers lost look back in 2004. The Heat had it this year against the Bulls. When the Bulls called out the Heat before the series, I thought for sure the Heat would make them PAY...........What's happened to Dirk. He's entered the Twilight Zone..........................
I saw a snippet from Nellie's post-game press conference where he said "The Force was with us tonight"...is he actually DARTH NELLIE? Or maybe it's Obi Don Kenobi. The Nellie vs. Avery matchup in this series definitely has the feeling of...
The closest series from previous years that I can think of to compare this one to is Phoenix-Lakers from 1990, when the Suns upset them 4-1 in the second round. The Lakers had led the league with 63 wins, but the Suns stole a close Game 1 in LA, dominated Games 3 and 4 in Phoenix, and then stole another close Game 5 to wrap it up. Of course the main difference was that the Suns were a 54 win team that year, and they had been to the conference finals just the year before, whereas the Warriors are an 8th seed that hasn't been in the playoffs for 13 years.
The buzz seems to have dulled your ability to do arithmetic. The game actually ended about 9 hours ago. ;)
Honestly, wouldn't Flip have been crucified if the Pistons were in the hole like the Mavs? Avery has been heralded as the superior coach but the Mavs look lost out there. Granted GS is a good team and are creating matchup problems but the Mavs are deep, fairly young and loaded with talent. Did anyone expect them to see them have their arses handed to them? They still may pull this out, but it seems remote. Hopefully the Pistons are watching closely and not underestimate the Bulls.
Avery has accomplished more than Flip by getting to the finals, but given how tentative they've looked in this series, he's going to be under a heck of a lot of pressure if they don't somehow pull it out. And even if they do, it's clear that they've taken a step back from where they were in the playoffs last year. I e-mailed my Warriors fan older brother about Biedrins' FT shooting motion, observing that it looks like his stroke is "the deformed offspring of the FT motions of Anthony Mason and Shaq." My bro responded by insisting that his stroke is actually "much improved" over last year, although it's "still awful."
