Friday, May 4, 2007

Mav-wrecks


Is the more intriguing story that Mavs lost or that the Warriors won? MVP to be Dirk Nowitzki, obviously still reeling from the drunk David Hasselhoff footage that has hit the 'net, had a John Stark-sian performance- notching 8 points on putrid 2-13 shooting. Dirk didn't even need to step up his game in this series in order for the Mavs to win. He simply needed to perform at the level he played at over the 82 game season. I don't believe in clutch, but I certainly believe in choking...and Dirk certainly appeared to have some weinershnitzel lodged in his throat.
With that being said, too much blame is probably going to be laid at the feet of Dirk, and not enough criticism will be leveled at Avery Johnson, who was thoroughly outcoached in this series. Nelson set the pace early, dumbfounding the Mavs in Game 1 by installing a smaller and quicker line up than was anticipated. Johnson tried to make adjustments, but to no avail, as the Mavs seemed to sleep walk through much of the series, thinking they could turn their A-game on and off at will.
So we end up with the greatest upset in NBA history. Two previous 8 seeds have toppled a 1 seed, but those upsets occurred in a 5 game series, so the Warriors victory is much more impressive. Much like when a mid major beats an ACC school early in the NCAA tourney, the Warriors are now the darlings of this tournament. We shall see if they can keep up the momentum.

1 comment:

Charlie Hustle said...

Its hard not to like the Warriors thug energy. I root for them like I'd root for a traveling prison league all-star team.