This all Texas match-up between the Spurs and Mavericks should provide plenty of excitement and be a fun one to watch. The veteran savvy Spurs clinched another South West division title and it was no easy task, as they had to beat out the Houston Rockets and the Mavericks. There is a problem now for the Spurs, Manu Ginobli is out of the lineup and will probably miss all of the playoffs. That will most definitely bode well for the Mavericks, who are good but not San Antonio good.
For this playoff run, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan will have to do a lot of the work and that will suit them and the Spurs team just fine. Parker with his offensive abilities can take a lot of the pressure off a few players, but only for so long. The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan, is a solid player and cannot be disturbed from his game.
With that, players like Michael Finley, and Fabricio Oberto need to play at a higher level. Under Head Coach Gregg Popovich’s tutelage, the Spurs should do fine for a while, but the impact of not having Ginobli, a third scorer, will really hurt the Spurs’ chances of advancing to the next round.
For the Mavericks they absolutely have to take advantage of Ginobli not in the Spurs’ lineup, and at least steal game 1 in San Antonio.
The Mavericks will be led by Dirk Nowitzki who averaged 25 points a game during the season, and will be a huge factor in this series for Dallas. For Nowitzki to really establish himself in this series, he has to implement a down low game, with his back to the basket, early on in this series. From there, a lot of open looks will get created for other players. Point guard Jason Kidd will really benefit from that, because he will spend all series chasing after the faster Tony Parker, and Kidd can hit the occasional three ball here and there.
Two players that will really need to score and stick to their season averages are Josh Howard and Jason Terry. Together these two players averaged 37 points a game for the Mavericks and that will go a long way for Dallas.
That’s exactly where the Mavericks have the edge, with more legit scorers than the Spurs, who did have a triple threat, but are one short now.
When it all comes down to picking a winner, the team with the better defensive effort should win this series. And time and time again, the Spurs have proved that they can play defense at any time and win on the strength of that. The Spurs also won 28 games at home, while the Mavericks struggled on the road with 18 wins.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS WILL WIN THIS SERIES IN 7 GAMES ON THE STRENGTH OF A COMPLETE TEAM DEFENSIVE EFFORT.
*DALLAS MAVERICKS COULD WIN IF THEY STEAL AT LEAST 2 GAMES ON THE ROAD IN SAN ANTONIO.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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