Dallas Mavericks v. Golden State Warriors 2007 NBA Playoff Predictions


June 6, 2008 | Posted By Larry Cook

Don Nelson has proven he can still win games in Dallas, even though he’s coaching for a different team. Nelson’s Warriors have stunned the Mavericks and Dallas hasn’t delivered an answer just yet. Golden State came into Sunday’s Game 1 as 10.5-point underdogs and left as 12-point winners. That makes 6 straight wins for the Warriors over Dallas dating back to March of last season. Don Nelson has coached his team to 4 wins this season against the Mavs. Dallas has to figure out what they are doing wrong and capitalize on the Warriors’ weaknesses.

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Dirk Nowitzki was supposed to be the centerpiece, but he only went 4-for-16 with 13 points in Game 1 with a much shorter Al Harrington guarding him. The Warriors did a great job of timely double-teaming on Dirk to slow him down. Dallas had only 4 points off the bench from one player, Desagana Diop. Jerry Stackhouse went 0-for-6 with 5 turnovers. Any game the Mavericks only get 4 points from their bench, there is a very good chance they are going to lose considering they have one of the deepest benches in the league.

The Mavericks’ downfall was not being able to stop Baron Davis. He had 33 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists to lead the Warriors. Davis scored 19 of his 33 points in the 3rd quarter. If he wanted to get to the hole he did. If he wanted to shoot the 3-ball over the top he could. Davis made a trio of 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter. The Mavericks have to pick their poison. I believe they are better off letting him shoot that 3-pointer than letting him get into the lane. Davis will not beat the Mavs in a 7-game series shooting from downtown.

The worst thing about the whole ordeal for the Mavericks is the fact that they went and signed Devean George and Greg Buckner strictly for defensive reasons. They are both supposedly shutdown defenders and neither could stop Davis in Game 1. You could see the frustration of owner Mark Cuban on the sidelines, wondering why neither George nor Buckner could contain Davis. Both defenders have to dig down a little deeper and take it upon themselves to shut down Baron Davis.

The Mavericks need to put their biggest line-up on the floor and pound the ball inside. They have a severe height advantage over the Warriors and would be very wise to use it. The height advantage will help their field goal percentage and also give the Mavericks an edge on the boards. All of their big men can run the floor so it shouldn’t be a problem getting back in transition, which would be the only aspect that Avery Johnson would have to worry about. Dallas should be shooting 50% or better from the field against this porous Warriors defense, yet they only made 30 out of 85 field goal attempts, hitting just 35%. If they pound the rock inside, they will fare much better against the Warriors and come out on top in this series. If not, the #8 seed Warriors could actually upset the “best team in the league” in the Dallas Mavericks.

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