- Last night was awful, and nearly unbearable as the Mavs took a throttling to the tune of a 105-84 final. Shots were not falling (Dirk: 3-14, J-Ho: 3-8), but a good amount of that can be accredited to San Antonio slapping the floor and playin' some D. The Spurs were in the Mavs' jocks all night and made it hard for the playmakers to get on a roll. With much humility, Popovich stuck his best defender (Bruce Bowen) on JJ Barea, and it was obviously effective. Barea went 2-8 from the field with only 5 points, and managed to produce the lowest +/- of the night at -21 (For those unaware, +/-, as defined by Yahoo! Sports, is team net points while player is in the game). It was plain to see that he was not himself as he struggled to make things happen once he got in the lane. JET was the only Mav who seemed to be anywhere close to his usual self, going 6-15 from the field with 16 points. Not great, but not horrible. I don't even want to get into anything about Josh Howard.
- Yesterday I said Parker would come back for more in Game Two, but when I said that I didn't think it meant he would tie the Mavs in first quarter points. Parker was sensational all night as he drove past anyone who dared to get in front of him. As a side not, is it just me or does anyone else notice that Tony Parker can't shoot a left handed layup...with his left hand? Regardless, he still brought the wood, going 16-22 from the field, with 38 points, 4 boards, and 8 assists. Nice game Tony, I really hope you never play like that again for the rest of your life.
- Looking at the box score,what stood out to me the most, besides field goal %, was rebounding. SA won the battle of the boards 44-28. Bass was the only one who was flying after missed shots on a consistent basis, continuing to fuel the man crush that I and most other Mavs fans have on him. If the Mavs don't start hitting the glass better than that, don't expect much to change in the next few games.
- The Cudder describes perfectly how I feel about Rick Carlisle sometimes, especially with matters involving my boy James Singleton. Last night, I found myself multiple times wondering why Singleton was not getting any burn as the Mavs could not get anything going. I'm not saying he will come in and carry the team to the point where his back hurts, all I'm saying is the guy usually brings energy and positivity to the court when he is in the game. Lord knows we needed it last night too, especially on the glass. The man leaps like the 29th day of February. Come on Rick, throw him in there and let him light a spark for others to feed off of. He may be lacking in playoff experience, but better now than never right? Right.
- On a completely different note form last night's game, it may be a good thing that the Mavs didn't resign Nash way back when. I have a feeling if he was still on the team, Dirk would be doing things like this instead of working on one-footed fadeaways.
Peace two fingers,
Big Wil
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