http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/teams/1/80x60/dal.gif vs http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/teams/1/80x60/pho2.gif

series schedule:

1. May 24 at Dallas (TNT) 8:30
2. May 26 at Dallas (TNT) 8:30
3. May 28 at Phoenix (TNT) 8:30
4. May 30 at Phoenix (TNT) 9:00
5. June 1 at Dallas (TNT) 8:30*
6. June 3 at Phoenix (TNT) 9:00*
7. June 5 at Dallas (TNT) 8:30*

*= If necessary (as if you didnt already know)

A rematch of last year, when Steve Nash tore Dallas and Jason Terry to bits.

Dirk mainly is looking for redemption in a series where Shawn Marion just dominated him

But with no Amare to abuse Dampier again however, I see Dallas ending this in 6 games this time around.

Phoenix is one Amare short too many to beat them again.

tim thomas has picked up some major slack and i heard they got kurt thomas back.

Yeah but Kurt Thomas doesnt have anyone to guard.

He would have been useful vs Brand or Duncan, but Dirk will blow right by him.

Whats the scores going to be in this series? 115s?

Dallas plays a much slower pace than last year.

Their ISO-offense should be extremely effective against Phoenix's swarming defense that relies on trapping.

I'd imagine Stackhouse and Terry are going to get 7-10 open threes a game from the corners.

Yeah but Kurt Thomas doesnt have anyone to guard.

He would have been useful vs Brand or Duncan, but Dirk will blow right by him.
ummm dampier and diop were cut?:confused: dirk doesnt play center and i expect marion will be on him with tim thomas in the mix on that too. marion is starting to peak now and is capable of putting 30+ up on dirk.

naw kurt thomas roll will be to battle dampier and diop on the boards. if dallas goes to its extra small lineup, i expect slashers like barbosa and nash to have a field day. I question how well Dallas can defend when diop and dampier arent on the court to clog the middle. Nash hasnt been phased by devin harris.

odd that with all this dallas defense talk, they havent held phoenis to anything lower than 108 points(their season average) all year except in one game.. i expect high scoring games. and that favors phoenix all day.

ummm dampier and diop were cut?

Yeah, Kurt Thomas can spend the series battling two non-factors. He wont be that important.

ummm dampier and diop were cut?

Yeah, Kurt Thomas can spend the series battling two non-factors. He wont be that important.
on the boards he will. and unlike those two he's capable of atleast 10 points a game.

He wont play enough to score 10ppg, since there's no reason for him to be in the game slowing things down.

either way i'm not saying dallas cant or wont win. i'm just saying they are the perfect match for phoenix. i dont care what their defense does when matched up to other teams, but they dont stop phoenix much at all. and its not about overall stats, its how you matchup. and since phoenix got tim thomas dallas hasnt been able to beat them and even before that they havent been able to slow the games down. slowing the game down vs memphis and SA is much easier than phoenix.

He wont play enough to score 10ppg, since there's no reason for him to be in the game slowing things down.
you never know. and i thought the game was gonna be slowed down anyways?:p whats with the mix up? :confused: if it aint slowed down then dallas has a serious problem waiting on them.

He wont play enough to score 10ppg, since there's no reason for him to be in the game slowing things down.
you never know. and i thought the game was gonna be slowed down anyways?:p whats with the mix up? :confused: if it aint slowed down then dallas has a serious problem waiting on them.

Dallas wants to slow the game down. Phoenix doesn't.

By putting thomas in, Phoenix is pretty much conceeding the tempo.

NxAd2sHtMf0

Damn, I want that jacket.

germans should be banned from the finals if i gotta see hasslehoff everywhere.:(

germans should be banned from the finals if i gotta see hasslehoff everywhere.:(

So would you say that you are "looking for freedom"?

Dallas wants to slow the game down. Phoenix doesn't.
they have never done this. once im not so sure they want to. even in that one lone game that they held phoenix to 96 in, they were running with them, but phoenix missed a ton of shots early in that game and came on late. i dont know, i'm sure we think they should try to slow tempo. i'm not so sure they are thinking that though.

Dallas in 5.

With every player on Dallas having the ability to drive to the basket they'll have a shitload of PITP and FTA. They also have better coaching, more depth, and better bigs. They also have great perimeter defenders to limit the 3 point attempts. Homecourt is also pretty important in this series since Phoenix isn't use to not having it.

The Suns are puke garbage. Remember, the Suns had to go seven against a 6 and 7 seed, including being down 3-1 against a crappy Laker team. LOL@struggling against lower playoff teams. They were one Tim Thomas three pointer from losing to the Lakers and were a Raja Bell lucky shot away from losing to the...........Clippers.

Fuck the Suns and their no defense paper MVP. They're going down!

the lakers are crappy and cleveland gets no respect? :p fair enough, but they did beat a very good clippers team and they've had no problem playing dallas all season with the series split 2-2. All the games except one were in the 100+ range and they are undefeated against the mavs since they got tim thomas. I do think they are very capable of taking this series if the mavs slip up in a home game.

As far as luck goes, everyone is lucky. The mavs were one ginobli layup from not even being eliminated. We were one lebron pass w/o the touch call away from cleveland pushing us to ot in game 6. its always nice to be lucky IMO. but at some point you have to give a team credit for coming up big. making big shots as much as they have isnt luck. Its clutch.

I had the Suns over the Spurs in my bracket and I felt pretty good about that matchup.

I think PHX would have run circles around the Spurs.

Suns/Mavs? I'd say it's a coin toss, could go 7.

can we trade Sheed for Diaw please?

wow, gutsy win by Nashie and the Suns. sounds like a 70's band...

Nash is making some of you guys look real silly right now.......

Avery Johnson should be fired if he keeps trying to run with the freaking suns. That was stupid as hell.

Avery Johnson should be fired if he keeps tryign to run with the freaking suns. That was stupid as hell.
i saw it coming a mile away. dallas played the slow tempo because SA dictated it. but truthfully they dont know how to force a slow tempo well enough to slow down the suns.

can we trade Sheed for Diaw please?
no, unless you want to find out home much better sheed is when diaw gets burned ten times worse in our scheme on defense.

Everytime I watched Dallas run up the court and take an early (and often bad) shot I cringed. They played with fire all night and it burned them in the end. Even when they had that 10 point lead they kept running it down there. Slow down, run your sets, and make them play defense. The exact same thing you've been doing all year. They need to watch the Pistons, walk that shit up there. Sure, it may not be very fun - but man does it mess with the Suns' momentum.

Raja might have a torn achilles.

That might be a killer.

------
RE: Dallas running

I think they were just looking for freedom, obviously.

I never counted on Diaw to do much because he seemed so passive with the Hawks, but I figured if anyone was going to get something out of him, it'd be D'Antoni. Da-a-amn....

Does that sign on KVH's neck say "free pussy, enter here" or "abuse me, I am bitchmade"? Dallas was doing their best with Dampier on the court forcing a more reasonable pace for them.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2457177

Josh Howard re-sprains his ankle for the 3rd time this season.......definitely not good news for the Mavs.

Nash is making some of you guys look real silly right now.......



I agree with Kstat.

Avery Johnson should be fired if he keeps tryign to run with the freaking suns. That was stupid as hell. i saw it coming a mile away. dallas played the slow tempo because SA dictated it. but truthfully they dont know how to force a slow tempo well enough to slow down the suns.

We'll see. I don't think anyone said the Mavs wouldn't run in any game. But Avery was smart enough to see the changes he needed to make in the SA series, I doubt he'll be too foolish to see the change he needs to make in this series.

We'll see. I don't think anyone said the Mavs wouldn't run in any game. But Avery was smart enough to see the changes he needed to make in the SA series, I doubt he'll be too foolish to see the change he needs to make in this series.


He is the COY after all.

Which makes last night even more surprising, IMO.

Don't forget that Phoenix is the same team that made Denny believe Kwame Brown was legit. Dampier played 16 minutes and Diop got a DNP. The Mavs didn't even try to play at a different tempo. Hell, maybe they can even win at this tempo but they certainly haven't shown yet that they can't slow it down.

you guys obviously didnt see avery's post game interview. he didnt seem to think the tempo was the problem. just the mavs not playing good defense. he's happy with his teams offensive numbers and didnt sound like a guy who felt he needed to change the tempo. but he has never changed the tempo against phoenix. COY dont mean shit, and Avery can get stubborn if he thinks something works when it doesnt. much like Flip.

when the mavs actually slow it down i'll believe in them subscribing to that theory. but they havent all year againt the suns with enough mixed results to keep them running IMO.

I did listen to the Presser (I typically listen to all of them the next day at work) and no he didn't say they need to slow things down.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2457177

Josh Howard re-sprains his ankle for the 3rd time this season.......definitely not good news for the Mavs.
thats about even trade for bell.

I was being a bit sarcastic about my COY comment, FWIW.

I was being a bit sarcastic about my COY comment, FWIW.
oh. my bad then.:o

Nash is making some of you guys look real silly right now.......


Not as silly as Nash' D on Terry and Harris.

Raja update:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0526bell0526.html


Bell could be out for at least 3 games

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
May. 26, 2006 12:00 AM

DALLAS - Officially, Suns guard Raja Bell is doubtful for tonight's Game 2 of the Western Conference finals after partially tearing his left calf muscle in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Realistically, the feeling within the Suns is that Bell likely is out until at least Game 5 and perhaps the series. However, Bell would not rule out a quick comeback.

"I'm not saving anything so as soon as I feel I can help, I'll be ready to go, but I don't know when that will be," he said. "I don't know the word 'can't.' I don't know the word 'never.' "

Suns head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson said the first 24 to 48 hours after a calf strain are the worst, but Bell was no more sore Thursday morning than he was Wednesday night. He said the minimal amount of swelling was also a good sign.

"Strains like that, you have to be a lot more careful with because you don't want to reinjure it, aggravate it and make it worse," Nelson said. "He's got some small tearing. There's also definitely some microtrauma, which are small tears. The good thing was it didn't swell a lot, meaning if there was a large tear, it would have blown up worse."

Bell is being treated with manual therapy and a mix of modality treatments - electrical stimulation, ice and laser.

Dr. Russell Chick, a Phoenix orthopedist and former Cardinals orthopedic doctor who served the team for 17 1/2 years, said Bell's injury may take awhile to heal.

"It's not a serious injury, but it's a time injury," Chick said Thursday.

He stressed that the time missed depends heavily upon the severity of the tear, and that he had no knowledge of Bell's injury but was talking generally. He dealt with several similar injuries when he was with the Cardinals.

Offensive linemen could come back sooner. For receivers who had to cut, pivot and sprint, the time was much longer, sometimes two, three or four weeks.

"It's a much more disabling injury in a basketball player than in an offensive lineman," he said. "If it's not a real severe tear and there is not a lot of swelling, they can come back and play pretty quickly. There is going to be some time involved."

Shooting up with painkillers and playing is really not much of an option, Chick said.

"You can shoot it up, but it doesn't work so well," he said. "The muscle is so big and you have to be concerned about getting a clot. It's a difficult area to inject and then go out and play on.

"If this was the Super Bowl, if you had one shot and then could take six months off, then maybe you could go do it."

Phil Jackson>Mike D'Antoni>Avery Johnson>Greg Poppovich.

Phil Jackson>Mike D'Antoni>Avery Johnson>Greg Poppovich. Doesn't Pop have like 3 championships in 7 years? Kinda harsh.

Phil Jackson>Mike D'Antoni>Avery Johnson>Greg Poppovich.
not true. its matchups. poppovich is #1 or 2. but avery knows his playbook back and forth by heart and popovich doesnt know his. d'antoni and avery johnson are both stubborn knuckleheaded idiots IMO. If Dallas used the "slow it down" theory, i doubt d'antoni would have an answer. not the signs of a good coach IMO. but avery johnson is just as stubborn as d'antoni. so its a match made in heaven. I never felt the results of matchups determined whose better on a general scale with the teams they didnt play against.

D'antoni and the lsuns must be laughing with joy that dallas is continuing to try to run with them.

D'Antoni isn't laughing anymore. Dallas was able to play at their own tempo and the Suns could not hang. I think it's clear that Dallas is in another league and Phoenix does not have enough to compete.

It's also clear that Dirk has been Americanized. He travels all the fucking time. It makes me think that Rip and LeOffArm never travel. :p

D'Antoni isn't laughing anymore. Dallas was able to play at their own tempo and the Suns could not hang. I think it's clear that Dallas is in another league and Phoenix does not have enough to compete.

It's also clear that Dirk has been Americanized. He travels all the fucking time. It makes me think that Rip and LeOffArm never travel. :p
7 game series home skillet, and dallas still had to rally. i wouldnt say this is over by any means. but kudos to dallas for one half of defense. i wonder if they'll keep together the whole game next game. either way if they can they are in business.

D'Antoni isn't laughing anymore. Dallas was able to play at their own tempo and the Suns could not hang. I think it's clear that Dallas is in another league and Phoenix does not have enough to compete.

It's also clear that Dirk has been Americanized. He travels all the fucking time. It makes me think that Rip and LeOffArm never travel. :p
7 game series home skillet, and dallas still had to rally. i wouldnt say this is over by any means. but kudos to dallas for one half of defense. i wonder if they'll keep together the whole game next game. either way if they can they are in business.

Phoenix had to rally for the first game too. The Suns were one Josh Howard away from a 3-0 deficit.

The Suns scored 88 points, shot 42 percent, and had four fast break points.

Avery Johnson rated Dallas' D a 6.5/10. YOWZA! A little hard, eh?

josh howard got hurt again.....not sure if it was the same ankle. regardless, this could be huge.

Avery said he was fine in the postgame presser.

Avery said he was fine in the postgame presser.
The Suns must have used lube because Dallas took it up the pooper from the 3rd quarter on.

Steve Nash's wife is hotter than I expected.

Steve Nash's wife is hotter than I expected.

NASH FOR MVP!!!

Link?

damn the suns are competing better than us. the horror.:( their defense actually look better than ours last night. this is an ironic pain in the neck. though i picked this series to go 6-7 games.

Interestingly, the Suns have led all 4 games at the half.

Actually, that doesn't surprise me about the Suns. I bet if you cut every game off at the 40 minute mark, the Suns have an awesome record. I've always had questions about just how much gas is left in the tank after all that run-run-run.

Fuck Wade - where's my boy Stack when we need to smack some bitch?

WCF baby!

Ring that Bell, Stack (and Josh Howard and Jason Terry and Devin Harris)

if the PIstons were to (miraculously) make it to the Finals, I'd rather play the Suns than the Mavs. Mavs are very deep and play better D than Phoenix. Billups will just abuse Nash in a series.

Dan Mother F-in Crawford!! Do you realize what this means? He won't be at game 6 in Miami.

Ken Mauer too.

I'm on full Javie alert for tomorrow.

and Salvatore


Fuckin dickwad.

I like the up-tempo, but the 3 pt line needs to be moved farther back.

wow, Dirk drops 50. Mavs win.

Gotta give Dirk his props. He's taken his game to a whole new level. [smilie=worshippy.g:

50 points, 12 boards, 15 travels, 5 double-dribbles, 4 palming violations

But seriously: Dirk > God

A great performance when his team needed it the most. He decided to go back to his bread and butter instead of settling for *dumb* jump shots. A very Hall of Fame like performance tonight.

NxAd2sHtMf0

Dan Mother F-in Crawford!! Do you realize what this means? He won't be at game 6 in Miami.
No ref has flown around to work back-to-back nights?

Yeehaw!

Dirk is a 7 foot tall Chauncey Billups in the prime of his career.

Dan Mother F-in Crawford!! Do you realize what this means? He won't be at game 6 in Miami.

See, now that's deep fandom. Watching the game happening the day before to see who can't be the ref for your game.
Props FP.

Dan Mother F-in Crawford!! Do you realize what this means? He won't be at game 6 in Miami.
No ref has flown around to work back-to-back nights?

Yeehaw!
Danny wont miss game 7 if it comes up.

Well, i'm a mavs fan for the rest of this playoffs. No1 is going to beat them. They have the perfect set of players, and the best coach in the NBA.

I'd like to say again, no one is going to beat the mavs.

Stackhouse may end up having as many rings as us.