http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/teams/1/50x50c/gsw.gif vs. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/teams/1/50x50c/dal.gif

http://wtfdetroit.com/pics/dirkcubanmullin.jpg

http://wtfdetroit.com/pics/gswmavsstats.png

Series Schedule

Game 1: at DAL
Sun, Apr 22 - 9:30 pm EDT
TV: TNT

Game 2: at DAL
Wed, Apr 25 - 9:30 pm EDT
TV: TNT

Game 3: at GS
Fri, Apr 27 - 10:30 pm EDT
TV: ESPN

Game 4: at GS
Sun, Apr 29 - 10:00 pm EDT
TV: TNT

*Game 5: at DAL
Tue, May 1 - TBA

*Game 6: at GS
Thu, May 3 - TBA

*Game 7: at DAL
Sat, May 5 - TBA
TV: TNT

* - If necessary

Besides the Pistons/Magic, I think this is the series that I am most looking forward to watching.

Too bad for all of the 9:30pm + start times.

The Mavs should cruise imo.

It's the playoffs, a whole new game and this Warrriors team has no playoff expereience.

Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington have playoff experience. If harrington explodes, they can cause problems.

Harrington fades in the playoffs... that's why I was against the proposed Darko trade for him.

word on the street is that its no coincidence that g-state has had alot of success against the mavs in the last year.

sensible betting says the nba playoffs slow things down, and an over/under of 215 is a no brainer. but with these 2, you never know.

wowzers, gs is +475 on the money line. not bad for a team thats won its last 5 games of the season and the last 5 games of the series.

gstate wins by 12, and i feel like killing myself right now. i kind have been spending too much money lately, so i didnt put any money on the line like i otherwise would have. damn. damn. damn.

im not saying the warriors are winning this series, but they are a real tough draw for dallas. they have the talent, plus nelly's got the insider knowledge.

if anyone won big $ because of me, and would like to give me a piece, just pm me and ill send you my info. only seems fair.

ps: throwing out a winning +475 money line bet is the real post of the year. too bad no one, including myself, probably one anything from it.

gstate wins by 12, and i feel like killing myself right now. i kind have been spending too much money lately, so i didnt put any money on the line like i otherwise would have. damn. damn. damn.

im not saying the warriors are winning this series, but they are a real tough draw for dallas. they have the talent, plus nelly's got the insider knowledge.

if anyone won big $ because of me, and would like to give me a piece, just pm me and ill send you my info. only seems fair.

ps: throwing out a winning +475 money line bet is the real post of the year. too bad no one, including myself, probably one anything from it.

I had the balls to do it but not the memory.

I love dem Warriors!

diddy how are you betting>? I want to but cant since it became illegal in the US. If you have any info as to how to place a bet I would be most greatful.

I love that GSW took game 1, something about the Mavs bothers me, not sure what it is.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I have the Mavs in 6 games.

I actually want Phoenix to go to the Finals, because I think they are the best match-up for us, since Billups just owns Nash head-to-head. So by that token, Dallas falling to Goldne STate would be fabulous.

Kind of funny that the Mavs busted ass to win 67 games this year and then gave up home court adv. in one playoff game.

I love the soundbyte that I heard from Don Nelson a few minutes ago, something like "Game 1 means NOTHING, it was just a lucky win for us".

I suspect that by game 3 that he and Cuban are going to have some classic exchanges through the media (if they haven't already). I'll have to go check Cube's blog.

I suspect that by game 3 that he and Cuban are going to have some classic exchanges through the media (if they haven't already). I'll have to go check Cube's blog.

http://www.blogmaverick.com/

Well, I guess not.

He wrote in one of the recent entries that he is done writing about the NBA in his blog because he doesn't want to get fined anymore.

We'll see if that changes as the series goes on.

The ref screwage in Game 2 has to have Golden State feeling motivated.
Let's see if Nellie can turn that into a couple wins at home...

Anyone think GS can actually win this now that they're up 2-1 with another game at home?

I think it's a possibility. Unlikely? Yes. But definitely possible. Nellie seems to be inside Avery's head.

Game 4 winner wins the series imo.

the Mavs looked utterly lost tonight. i can't believe the Warriors have a chance to go up 3-1 on the Mavs. unbelieveable.

the Mavs looked utterly lost tonight. i can't believe the Warriors have a chance to go up 3-1 on the Mavs. unbelieveable.
regular season's best record is becoming a curse.

i thought they could win before the season, and of course i still do. gstate was a bad draw for the mavs. its almost so unfair to go up against nelly that it should almost not be allwowed.

In the past 10 seasons, only one team with undisputably the best record (no ties or other happy horseshit) won it all -- the 2000 Lakers.

Does anyone remember a series in where an 8th seed just dominates a 1seed? It's not even close either. I've been watching basketball for close to 20years now, I cant remember it.

I've seen an 8th seed win, but NOT in this fashion. It's insane. KRYPO-TOE-NIGHT.

Good lord.

Does anyone remember a series in where an 8th seed just dominates a 1seed? It's not even close either. I've been watching basketball for close to 20years now, I cant remember it.

I've seen an 8th seed win, but NOT in this fashion. It's insane. KRYPO-TOE-NIGHT.

Good lord.

I think it has happened twice in the whole history of the nba?

anyways Baron has been abusing Terry and Harris or whoever hes guarding.

Lets not forget. Avery Johnson is a pebble in the coaching game. He hasn't see every obstacle yet and its coming back to test him. He has to prove that Dallas isn't Nelson's team, and that its his. What I mean by that is that Nelson knows Dallas too well. Avery needs to redraw new wrinkles or proceed to keep getting owned.

Is there anything better than hearing Avery screaming "double! double!" and watching The Baron wait for the double to come only to drill a 3 from 3 feet behind the top of the ark?

Wow can anyone one say upset? Even with GSW sweeping DAL during the season no one could predict this

well, to toot my own horn a little, i didnt explicitly say gstate would win, but i knew for sure there was blood in the water. gstate is a bad talent match up, a bad coaching matchup, and dallas is a soft mentally team. i figured if gsw could get over the hump they'd take them. now it looks like dallas has to claw their way back into the series... not likely.

think cuban has officially put the team on the market yet?

He'll definitely be putting Dirk on the market.

Wow can anyone one say upset? Even with GSW sweeping DAL during the season no one could predict this

My name is nobody. I was rooting for GS to make the playoffs for a damn month. Just to fuck the Mavs up.

My name is nobody. I was rooting for GS to make the playoffs for a damn month. Just to fuck the Mavs up.I was rooting for GS to get in as well but I didn't think they would be able to take DAL in a 7 game series. Good Call on your part Bubbles

He'll definitely be putting Dirk on the market.
I dunno about THAT, at least not as a result of this game.

Dirk's on the court for 47:09 minutes and has a +/- of +3. In the last 14 seconds, he makes 2 3P shots. He brought some decent game to the table.

Dallas loses by 4 points overall.

There's a 7 point swing in the 51 seconds that he's not on the court.

I dunno about THAT, at least not as a result of this game.



Not this game. This series.

If Dirk keeps allowing Golden State to punk him and comes up small in every game, he's going to get trade consideration. The feeling will be out there that he can't lead a team anywhere.

I haven't watched the last couple games, but in the first two they put Jackson on Dirk a lot and Dirk didn't post him up. If you have a swingman on you and you are a F/C then you have to post him up and force Nelson's hand.

Dirk didn't post him up because he CAN'T post him up.

His post skills are average, and every time he does try he gets swarmed by a trap, and his passing skills are also average, so he rarely sees the open man.

In short, he's been exposed.

Dirk has been exposed. He can't score going right, he can't score against a smaller physical defender. Take away him going left and hes done.

He should be able to hit a little turn around jumper in the post. If he can't do that then he needs to work on his game. You can't be your team's best player and not evolve your game. Look at RIP. He's a pretty one demensional player and yet he improved his three point shooting one year, his passing another, and his defense the following year. Dirks a punk if he thinks he can simply be a great shooter and that's it. If you don't have the drive to get better than you don't deserve a ring anyway.

He does have a little mid-range jumper in the post.

The problem is, he gets trapped every time he tries, and his passing skills suck.

He also does not have the ability to get deep post position and dunk on his man before the trap gets there, like a 7-footer should be able to do to a 6'5" guy.

Larry Bird wasn't any better down low, but nobody even thought about double-teaming him, because he'd find the open man with ease. Dirk can't do that.

For a big man, Dirk doesn't suck as a passer. Comparing him to Larry Bird is as ludicrous as it's ever been, and Larry Bird wasn't a PF/C sort. For passing PF/C white studs, try Bill Walton.

For a big man, Dirk does suck at letting some smaller defenders frustrate the shit out of him, though. There's a ton of ways to take advantage of such mismatches, and not one of them involves taking a lame-ass shot in place or turning the ball over.

I'm not comparing him to larry bird.

I'm comparing his post game to larry bird.

Dirk and Bird have very similar post games. I don't care that they played different positions. Bird made a living posting up 6'5" guys just like Stephen Jackson and shooting over the top of them.

one-on-one, Jackson probably can't guard Dirk. He has help everywhere.

Bird probably can't shoot over a trap either with any accuracy. The difference is he's an MVP type player that can make a defense pay no matter what it tries. Dirk can't do that.

Sorry, my bad. I guess I get frustrated with big white guy who can stroke it equals Bird crap from the media, and Dirk's just the latest (or maybe Adam Mustache is?). Hell, I remember KVH being compared to Bird...

And for the record, Bird could just as well shoot his way out of a trap as pass. And, if you were really unlucky, he'd tell you how he'd fucking destroy you beforehand and elbow you in the process. Fucking Larry Bird...

That's my point. Nobody would dream of trapping Bird like Golden State is trapping Dirk, even though they have pretty much the same arsenal of post moves.

Yeah, I'm sensing a lot of disappointment in Witzi from all around. He just seems like he's being eaten up in this series, and clearly the GSW are inside his head.

i doubt they trade dirk. in fact, i know they wont trade dirk. the real guy who should be watching his back is avery johnson. especially with LB already lurking around in the dirty south.

here it is, my bold sports prediction of the year: your 2007-2008 nba champs are the dallas mavs coached by larry brown. book it.

He just won that game at the end by himself.

Refs made some iffy calls for Dallas, but that was to be expected. GS shot their way into the lead, but then shot their way into a loss. Shoulda ran more shot clock by far.

Damn, I hope GSW didn't blow their chance last night.

I had to LOL hearing all of the Mavs trying to convince us that now the pressure is really on the #8 seed, rather than on the 64-win #1 seed.

You can quote me right now. Dallas will win this series because of the win last night. The Warriors missed their opportunity, and now Dallas has got some momentum back.

Damn, I hope GSW didn't blow their chance last night.

I had to LOL hearing all of the Mavs trying to convince us that now the pressure is really on the #8 seed, rather than on the 64-win #1 seed.


67 win... 5 games away from the best record ever...

oops, yeah, my bad

Pistons had 64 last year, brain flatulance

That 4th quarter was insane last night, so many big shots. I was glad Dallas won just so I could see another game. The Warriors are for real, and will win game 6. The Mavs played a perfect first quarter, were up by 21 at one point, and GSW still almost won.

There's Bad Blood
When the Warriors
Play the Mavericks
Coach Nelson, Mark Cuban
Feuding Over $6.6 Million;
The Playoffs Get Personal
By PETER WALDMAN
May 1, 2007; Page A1

When basketball coach Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors team threw a party two weeks ago for some friends associated with his former club, the Dallas Mavericks, he greeted an old protégé with a hug and a compliment.

"You're doing a much better job than I did at keeping him away from you," Mr. Nelson told Mavericks Coach Avery Johnson, according to guests at Mr. Nelson's Oakland, Calif., home. Mr. Johnson smiled.

The "him" Mr. Nelson was referring to is Mark Cuban, the mercurial owner of the top-seeded Mavericks team. It faces possible elimination tonight in the first round of the National Basketball Association playoffs, by a Warriors squad seeded eighth out of eight Western Conference playoff teams. A first-round Warrior triumph over a Mavericks team that won 67 of 82 games during the regular season would be a huge upset.

For the 66-year-old Mr. Nelson, it would also mean victory over Mr. Cuban, 48, in one of the nastiest personal feuds in professional sports. Mr. Nelson says Mr. Cuban still owes him $6.6 million in deferred compensation from his eight years as Mavericks coach. Mr. Cuban refuses to pay, because, he says, the NBA's second-winningest coach of all time walked out on him.

"It's like 'Desperate Housewives' in the NBA," says Wayne Winston, an Indiana University math professor who, as a private consultant, does statistical modeling for Mr. Cuban to predict which players, and referees, offer the best chance of success for his Dallas team.

Hired as Mavericks coach in 1997 by the team's previous owner, Ross Perot Jr., Mr. Nelson was mocked by Sports Illustrated as a "mad scientist" for trading away the team's top draft choices for a couple of unheralded prospects named Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. Under Mr. Cuban, the dot-com billionaire who bought the team in 2000, Messrs. Nowitzki and Nash became the core of one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NBA history.

The Mavericks, playing an exhilarating, up-tempo game similar to the Warriors' playing style today, became perennial 50-game winners under Mr. Nelson. Though the veteran coach occasionally chafed at Mr. Cuban's kibitzing in the locker room, and the owner's infatuation with player statistics, the two generally got along in the early years, say people who worked with them.

Mr. Nelson hired one of his oldest and closest friends, Del Harris, as his top assistant coach. Mr. Nelson's son Donnie was hired to handle player moves in the Mavericks' front office. Both men still work for the Mavericks.

But just as the Nelson-Cuban revival was peaking -- in the NBA's 2003 Western Conference finals -- it started to fall apart. With the Mavericks facing elimination by the San Antonio Spurs, the coach and owner exploded at each other over Mr. Nelson's refusal to fulfill his boss's wish to play an injured Mr. Nowitzki, according to Mavericks officials close to the team's owner.

Mr. Nowitzki had suffered sprained ligaments in his left knee in the third game of the best-of-seven series, but, with the Mavericks trailing three games to one, was cleared by team doctors to play again. Mr. Cuban confronted Mr. Nelson in the coach's office and demanded the star forward return to the court, Mavericks officials say.

Mr. Nelson refused, insisting that playing the young German with the ligament injury would jeopardize his career. The coach also confided in friends that he had promised Mr. Nowitzki's parents, when the Mavericks signed the young man at age 19, that he would look after the seven-footer in Texas like a son.

"You're just looking for excuses to lose," fumed Mr. Cuban, according to two people who heard the blowup. Mr. Nelson threw the Mavs' owner out of his office, these people say.

The acrimony worsened after the team lost the series to San Antonio. Mr. Cuban, in negotiations to extend Mr. Nelson's contract in the summer of 2003, offered the coach what Mr. Nelson regarded as a pay cut, say people who were privy to the negotiations. As with today, their contract dispute centered on millions of dollars of compensation that Mr. Nelson had agreed to defer back in the Perot years -- money Mr. Cuban wanted to slash.

With Mr. Nelson openly threatening to quit coaching, they reached a last-minute compromise: Mr. Nelson got a three-year contract extension as the Mavericks' coach and general manager -- at $5.1 million a year -- but no pay raise, despite the team's success.

"Nellie went ahead and signed that contract but the trust was broken," says a close friend who helped broker the deal.

After that, Mr. Nelson became increasingly cut out of the Mavericks' draft and trade decisions, to the point where Mr. Cuban refused to cover the cost of the Mavericks' general manager to scout predraft workouts by the college prospects, say associates of the coach. Mr. Nelson's alienation culminated in 2004 with the Mavericks' loss of Mr. Nash to the Phoenix Suns. Steve Nash was one of Mr. Nelson's favorite players and closest friends on the team. The coach regarded Mr. Cuban's refusal to keep the superstar guard as a personal betrayal that destroyed the Mavericks' championship prospects.

In March of 2005, Mr. Nelson, moping and depressed, relinquished his coaching job to Mr. Johnson, whom he had been grooming as his assistant. Mr. Cuban agreed to keep paying Mr. Nelson, now a Dallas hero, through the end of his contract in June of 2006.

"By then, neither one of those guys could stand to be in the same room," says Frank Zaccanelli, a Dallas real-estate developer who was a minority partner and president of the Mavericks in the 1990s.

Messrs. Nelson and Cuban declined to answer specific questions for this article. In a general response, Mr. Cuban wrote in an email yesterday that he has "no interest in talking about Don Nelson anymore than any other former employee." In an email on Sunday, he wrote, "If you take what Nellie says as fact, you will be wrong. To say he conjures up folk tales would be an understatement. The contract is the contract and the rest is up to the lawyers."

Mr. Nelson's lawyer, John O'Connor of San Francisco -- who worked with "Deep Throat" Mark Felt of Watergate fame in his unveiling in 2005 -- said Mr. Nelson "truly feels very proud that he and Mark built a great franchise in Dallas together." Mr. O'Connor said Mr. Nelson "personally likes" Mr. Cuban and hopes they can settle their financial dispute "amicably."

Mr. O'Connor says Mr. Nelson is in the process of making an arbitration claim against the Mavericks for the $6.6 million in deferred salary the coach believes he is owed. Mr. Cuban has never publicly said why, legally, he believes he doesn't owe Mr. Nelson any back pay. But he recently expressed disgust with the way Mr. Nelson resigned as coach in 2005.

"I'm not a fan of someone who quits on his team, but will leave only if he gets paid," Mr. Cuban wrote in an email last week to reporters. The owner also wrote that Mr. Nelson influenced his decision in 2004 not to re-sign Mr. Nash, by indicating the point guard would get less playing time because of the risks of injury. And he wrote that Mr. Nelson sent him an email after the team lost Mr. Nash "confirming we did the right thing."

Mr. Zaccanelli, the former Mavericks executive who negotiated Mr. Nelson's original contract, says the deferred salary "is not an issue. He earned that money. He only stretched out the payment as a favor to us to help our cash flow." Mr. Nelson took a pay cut to sign with the Warriors last August, friends say. But if they beat Dallas, he'll earn close to what he did with the Mavericks after a hefty incentive bonus.

"Can you imagine, now, if Don Nelson comes back to Dallas and knocks Mark out of the playoffs?" says Mr. Zaccanelli. "It's unbelievable."

Write to Peter Waldman at peter.waldman@wsj.com

cuban is considered a good owner cuz he gives his players big lockers, dvds, and rim jobs. im not a fan of his.

Cuban's considered a good owner because he's more like a fan than most of the other owners, most of whom come across as various flavors of Monty Burns. I bet you bottom dollar that the Warriors would ditch Don Nelson if they could replace their owner with a Cuban-esque owner.

The Maloofs are very fan like and aren't considered great owners.

Who are you refering to when you say "the Warriors" if you are talking about ditching the owner? Mullin, the team, the fans? I don't think 2 out of 3 of those would choose Cuban over Nelson right now.

Cuban is considered a good owner because he spent money on a dead franchise and they in turn won games. End of story.

Everyone knows the Maloofs would just as soon make their team the Las Vegas Kings if they could.

I was referring to the Warriors owner, Chris Cohan, who's nearly as bad as Donald Sterling. He traded Webber way back when to debut his ownership, and has made dumbass decisions ever since. He refuses to sell to Larry Ellison, who really is a hoops fan in the Cuban mold, instead penny-pinching mediocrity every chance he gets. AFAICT, most Warriors fans blame Cohan more than players or coaches or even Mullin-as-GM for their 12-year playoff woes.

Baron Davis is ALWAYS hurt. Dude needs to learn that success = pain.

F Snoop. Dude's got a Laker court in his backyard and he's pimpin' Warrior gear cuz Kobe's out of it.

I still think Dirk might get shipped out of town. This is embarrassing.

I think Dallas jumps in with LA in the bidding for Jermaine O'Neal and KG....

rock solid effort by dallas to save their season in the third. giving up 40 pts in a qrtr isnt a big deal, even in an elimination game, as long as you manage to score 15 yourself.

larry brown's $$$ demands are going to be sky high. funny, 2 weeks ago avery's job was about as safe as it gets in the nba, too.

Dallas is the same thing we did last year. Only thing is, GSW are for real. They beat us in 5 if we meet in the NBA finals.

um, no. Any team with a legit post scorer can beat Golden State easily.

I think the spurs beat GS by 40 twice this year, doing nothing but throwing it in to duncan.

Either Houston or Utah knocks out GS in the next round in 5 games at most.

We played without a starter in our two big losses to them.

I think we can win with our full lineup reasonably engaged.

We played without a starter in our two big losses to them.

Same thing with the Bulls.

The Houston/Utah series is ironic in comparison to the Mavs/GS series. I agree that both teams create much more of a problem for the Warriors than the Mavs who had neither the inside game nor the point guard/overall ability to slow the game against GS. I think I'd give the nod to Houston over Utah in ability to beat GS as Van Gundy demands such a slow game, Yao's shear size, the ability to throw Battier, McGrady, and even Hayes at Davis (not that Davis can't beat any of those guys with speed but in a slow game, muscling over Alston or Williams is what I'd worry about more than beating others off the dribble). In a slow game Jackson isn't going to be in a rythm offensively and his mistakes (which he always makes) cost his team more. They will have to rely more on Richardson's stroke. Where the hell is P and his Monta Ellis love?

Utah has many of the same advantages only to a slightly lesser degree, in my mind anyway. They will slow the game down almost as well, Boozer is certainly formidable inside, with Okur having size and better range than say Howard. If AK is out of his melodrama phase then they certainly have some nice help D for the cutters. Williams is eons better than Alston so Davis will have to work more on the defensive end (hows that hammy BD?). I guess I'd say that Utah has more physical strength accross the board in its starters so Jackson won't be enough as far as GS matching up defensively. Harrington will probably play more because of that, more Biedrins and Peitrus perhaps.

http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00184/Dirk_Nowitzki_fra_D_184268c.jpg

Nobody knows how any other playoff team is going to fare against this GSW team. This is the first time that they've really all played together (injury free, post trade).

So you can throw those 40 point losses to the Spurs right out the window IMO.

Also, GSW management needs to send Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh a cookie bouquet or something. No way GSW beats Dallas with Troy Murphy and Mike Bumleavy Jr. on the squad.

http://www.ryan101.com/tv/itnba/mavsgonefishing.jpg

http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00184/Dirk_Nowitzki_fra_D_184268c.jpg
Yea they ripped his balls out. Though I doubt they were that big for him to choke as much as he did on his own vomit.

I still think Dirk might get shipped out of town. This is embarrassing.

I think Dallas jumps in with LA in the bidding for Jermaine O'Neal and KG....


I was thinking the same thing Kstat, Dirk for KG is a pretty interesting thought.