Who would have thought at the start of this series the Mav's would be up 2-0 at this point? I know I didn't, as much as I hate to say it I thought they were going to lose last night. Up until the beginning of the second half they hadn't led once in the whole game. Let me repeat that just in case you didn't quite get the message. They hadn't had a single lead THE WHOLE GAME.
They were down 52-50 at halftime which was quite an achievement considering how horrible Dirk was playing, and was anyone else begging for Jason Terry to be taken out of the game. He took a lot of shots and had a lot of misses in that first half. Well the Trailblazers let the Mavs hang around a little too long and they paid for it. I mean Jason Kidd scored the opening nine points of the second half and the Mavs never looked back.
While we're on the topic, Jason Kidd has just been a beast these first two games. Who would have thought resting him the last week of the season would produce production like this from him? He scored 18 last night and scored 24 the first game, in both games he shot at least 50% from 3 point range. Where did this come from? Is this the same Kidd who was a nonexisting scoring factor during our other matchups with the Blazers? It sure doesn't seem like it. This Kidd looks like one from 10 years ago back in his prime and Peja was on fire last night but let's be honest with ourselves. They're not going to be able to keep this up forever.
Other players on the Mavs are going to have to step up also. One important thing to note about this series is this, the "soft" label the Mavs have had, you need to roll that up and toss it in the trash. This Mavs team is tough and knows how to put a team away in the 4th quarter. though Dirk hasn't scored much in the opening 3 quarters of either game he has been an absolute monster in the fourth in both games. He scored 18 in the 4th the first game and then 14 last night. He has gotten much better at driving to the hoop during his career which was not a strong point of his 5 years ago in the Finals. That is one thing the Blazers just can't defend against. How do you defend against a 7'0" guy who can drive the hoop and make 3's, while also having the best fadaway turnaround shot in the league? How do you defend that? If the Blazers want to win, they're going to have to figure out how to do it in the 4th.
They were down 52-50 at halftime which was quite an achievement considering how horrible Dirk was playing, and was anyone else begging for Jason Terry to be taken out of the game. He took a lot of shots and had a lot of misses in that first half. Well the Trailblazers let the Mavs hang around a little too long and they paid for it. I mean Jason Kidd scored the opening nine points of the second half and the Mavs never looked back.
While we're on the topic, Jason Kidd has just been a beast these first two games. Who would have thought resting him the last week of the season would produce production like this from him? He scored 18 last night and scored 24 the first game, in both games he shot at least 50% from 3 point range. Where did this come from? Is this the same Kidd who was a nonexisting scoring factor during our other matchups with the Blazers? It sure doesn't seem like it. This Kidd looks like one from 10 years ago back in his prime and Peja was on fire last night but let's be honest with ourselves. They're not going to be able to keep this up forever.
Other players on the Mavs are going to have to step up also. One important thing to note about this series is this, the "soft" label the Mavs have had, you need to roll that up and toss it in the trash. This Mavs team is tough and knows how to put a team away in the 4th quarter. though Dirk hasn't scored much in the opening 3 quarters of either game he has been an absolute monster in the fourth in both games. He scored 18 in the 4th the first game and then 14 last night. He has gotten much better at driving to the hoop during his career which was not a strong point of his 5 years ago in the Finals. That is one thing the Blazers just can't defend against. How do you defend against a 7'0" guy who can drive the hoop and make 3's, while also having the best fadaway turnaround shot in the league? How do you defend that? If the Blazers want to win, they're going to have to figure out how to do it in the 4th.
For now though the Mavs are sitting pretty with a 2-0 series lead while the Lakers and Spurs the two seeds above them are sitting at 0-1 and seriously wondering how long their series' are going to last. The Spurs could get knocked out, and I know that the Grizzlies have only won one playoff game in their franchise history but they looked REALLY good in that win and the Spurs just looked terrible. I don't think the Lakers will lose their series but I do think it could go to 6 or even 7 games before they wrap it up. A 5 game series isn't going to happen. The Hornets will win at least one more game at home and this could get really interesting if the Hornets win game 2. Then the Lakers will have to really fear for their playoff lives.
This is all a great oppurtunity for the Mavs. Can you imagine what could line up for us. We get a depleted Lakers team in the second round facing a Mavs team that won in 4-5 games for their series and had a lot of rest. Then we face the Grizzlies, Nuggets, or Thunder. If the Spurs get knocked off and the Lakers series goes to 7 the Mavs could be looking at their easiest road to the Finals they've ever seen. And that's a very good thing for us Mav fans.
Basketball is crazy but im not a huge fan but i root for the Mavericks for a friend!
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