Full-Court Press

Back to the 7

With the Nuggets losing to the Suns tonight, the Mavs winning and the Warriors inactive, the Mavs move back into the 7 slot while the Nuggets move back out of the playoff picture into the 9 slot. The Warriors play the Spurs and the Nuggets play the Suns Tuesday night.

                   Rec.     GB
7. Mavs        46-28      -
8. Warriors    45-28    1/2
9. Nuggets    45-27      1

-Scooter Hendon

Hello, 8 seed

With the Mavs loss to the Warriors tonight, they fall into a three-way tie with the Nuggets and Warriors at 45-28. But, since the Mavs have lost the season series to the Nuggets 2-1 and Denver currently holds the season series lead over Golden State 2-1, Denver gets to be the 7 seed...for now.

The Mavs get to be the 8 seed out of all this because they still hold the season series lead over the Warriors 2-1. Don't get too excited, though, the Mavs will face Golden State in two games in Dallas next Wednesday. That game will be humongous since this playoff stretch could come down to tied records on the last day, and a tiebreaker over the Warriors is as important to them as potentially gaining a game on them.

The Warriors play at San Antonio on Tuesday for their next game, and Denver plays their next game at Phoenix tomorrow.

-Scooter Hendon

Nix that whole "Warriors looking slow" business

Guess they just remembered what it was like when they play the Mavs. After a little warmup, Golden State is obviously feeding off the energy of their fans and the Mavs plodding lineups that include Juwan Howard and Malik Allen. Oh well, we'll see how this shakes out, but it's looking like the Warriors want this pretty badly, and they have tended to get what they want against the Mavs in recent history.

-Scooter Hendon

Warriors looking a step slow

As Jan referenced in the last post, it is a good possibility that the Warriors are a big tired after getting home late from that slugfest with Denver. It's definitely showing. They aren't running the floor as well as usual, and the Mavs have used a size advantage so far.

One question though. Why start Malik Allen instead of Brandon Bass here? Bass, he of the freak athleticism and perfect fit to play the running, athletic Warriors. Oh well, I guess an old minutes-eater like Allen who doesn't fit against this Golden State team is a better choice. Yep, that's it.

-Scooter Hendon

Catching up with...the Golden State Warriors

For the second straight game, the Mavericks face a crucial game for their playoff hopes. They failed in the test in the first game against Denver, and now they will see if they can conquer through very hostile territory in Oakland. The Mavs won both gamew against the Warriors earlier in the season, but some things are obviously different now.

More on the Warriors-Nuggets game last night, Monta Ellis breaking out, and 6-5 Kelenna Azubuike starting at center.

Warriors now in the nine slot

If you care about the Mavs playoff hopes, you were probably paying attention to the Nuggets-Warriors game tonight.

Well, it's over, and the Nuggets were victorious 119-112. With the win, Denver leapfrogs into the eight spot and are now 1/2 game ahead of the Golden State for the final playoff spot. The Nuggets are 1/2 game behind the Mavs now, and play their next game at Phoenix on Monday. Kenyon Martin evidently visited the way-back machine and brought 2004 K-Mart to tear the Warriors up with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

-Scooter Hendon

Playoff hopes taking a hit

Obviously, this was a big game for the Mavs, and they failed. With the loss, they fall back to only being one game up on the Warriors in the seven spot and the Nuggets are tied with the Warriors for the eighth spot (at least for another hour). The Warriors are currently playing the Blazers, and it's a close one. Check it out on TNT if you like, because the success or failure of the Warriors may have just as much to the Mavs playoff hopes as the Mavs trying to scrap together some wins.

Plus, it wouldn't kill you to scout the Mavs next opponent either. How badly will Baron Davis or Monta Ellis run circles around Jason Kidd? How much will the Warriors stable of guards confound the weakened Mavericks defense? Check it out and make your own observations. Then, be worried about the Mavs next few games. It's currently tied at 59 with just under 9 minutes left, which is enough time to make a makeshift Blazers towel and wave it from your living room.

UPDATE: The Warriors have come on to thoroughly whoop the Blazers. They outscored Portland 40-20 in the third quarter and are up by 20 with six minutes to play. This will put the Warriors half a game up on the Nuggets for the eighth spot, and 1/2 a game back from the Mavs for the seventh spot.

-Scooter Hendon

Attack, attack, attack

Earlier this week Jerry Stackhouse was adamant that Warriors swingman Stephen Jackson's defense on Dirk Nowitzki wasn't the killer element it's perceived to be in the playoff. He believes the Mavs simply were too passive.

So it was a positive sign Wednesday night to see the Mavs taking the ball strong to the hoop, especially in the fourth quarter when they scored 16 of their 46 points in the paint. That tied the second-highest points in the paint total. The Mavs have hit 46 three times and 50 once.

They got away from penetrating in the third quarter with just four points in the paint. Not coincidentally, the Warriors rallied to within three points three times and headed into the fourth quarter trailing by four, 89-85.

"We attacked the basket," point guard Devin Harris said of the fourth quarter. "In those stretches where they got it to three, we kind of got jump-shot happy a little bit, guys kind of took some quick shots. And then the light went on. Guys started attacking the basket and then the lead went back up. It's something we have to constantly remind ourselves. Sometimes the early jump shots are good, but when they're not going we definitely need to attack the basket the way we did."

-- Jeff Caplan

this one's over

nellie has pulled baron davis and stephen jackson with 3:56 left and the mavs up by 20. baron shot 2-of-14 from the floor for 10 points and jackson needed 21 shots to score 25.
what can you say about the mavs? six players scored in double figures, and other than some shaky d in the third, dallas played pretty well.

on a down note, it doesn't look like damp will get his double-double. he has 13 points and 7 rebounds with 2:51, but he  played really well.

-- garza, mavs lite

after three quarters

well, the lead is down to 4.
devin's foul trouble, stephen jackson's relentlessness (he leads all scorers with 23) and plenty of defensive breakdowns have conspired against the mavs.
the warriors found a lot of room to work in the paint in the third, and the mavs' jumpers -- with the exception of jet terry -- stopped falling.
dirk has perhaps the quietest 20 points i've ever seen (but no more postup fadeaways!), and erick dampier is on his way to another double-double.
the fact that the mavs have stayed big and punished golden state inside is impressive.

-- garza, mavs lite