Tuesday Warriors Game Links

by Wes Cox on Apr 17, 2007 10:17 AM CDT in News

Pretty exciting game tonight for fairly obvious reasons. The big question seems to be, should the Mavs be trying really hard to win tonight so they reduce the chances of facing Golden State in Round One? But that question really just raises two more. Do really think Dallas doesn't care about winning tonight regardless of the opponent, and if Dallas can beat Golden State tonight can't they just them in the playoffs making the point moot?

The Mavs certainly aren't worried about it, Avery will continue to rest players tonight.

Several Mavericks may not see full game action today, because Johnson has said he wants to rest his players for the playoffs. Wednesday's regular-season finale at Seattle will be the Mavericks final full-speed playoff tune-up, Johnson said.

The Mavericks have lost the last four games against the Golden State Warriors. "I don't think we want to show them much [today]," Dirk Nowitzki said. "And I'm sure Nellie doesn't want to show us much either. I'm not even sure how much some of us will play. Obviously, the game means more to them than it does to us."

The Warriors, on the other hand, sound pretty pumped up.

"They probably want to send us a message if they play us in the first round," Richardson said.

Yet in addition to the obvious worries about injury and fatigue engendered by that approach, there is some psychological jeopardy if the Mavericks play their hardest and get stopped by the Warriors for Golden State's first season sweep of Dallas in 10 years.

"They come in ready to play, and then we get after them and win, it could be demoralizing and have them second-guessing themselves going into the playoffs," Harrington said.

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One Mav who will definitely play tonight is Erick Dampier.

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News that makes me happy -- More people in Dallas watched the Mavs/Spurs game than the NASCAR race.

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Jeff Caplan writes about tonight's game and has two good quotes from Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse.

"They're like Phoenix. You cannot get caught up into their play," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "They'd love for you to come down and shoot quick, early shots so they can run back. They'd much rather you get two points, they get three points. That's a difficult style of play to guard. You just have to be disciplined."

"I just think we worry about us," Mavs swingman Jerry Stackhouse said. "We're not trying to juice the balls or anything like that. We're just trying to do what we do, and if that means getting ready and guys are playing 30 minutes, so be it."

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This Day in Mavs History

1984 Defeated Seattle 88-86 in first ever playoff game.

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all harrington

not the smartest guy

by zkmavz on Apr 17, 2007 11:03 AM CDT reply actions

We Haven't/Won't See a True Mavs-Warriors Game

Game 1, November 6, 2006: Mavs Lose 107-104. This is before the trade that sent Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod to the Indiana Pacers for Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell (trade happened in January). The Mavs were still incorporating the new guys and Devean George was out I think.

Game 2, March 12, 2007: Mavs Lose 117-100. This was the second game of a back-to-back, and it was against the "new" players like Jackson and Harrington. The Mavs had just handed the Lakers their worst home loss in LA and were coming off an emotional high.

Game 3, Tonight: Avery will be limiting minutes with the Mavs having "nothing" to play for. Meanwhile, it's the last home game for the Warriors -- on a night they can clinch a playoff spot if they win and the Clippers lose to the Suns. I can see us getting blown-out just because of the conflicting goals for both sides.

It'd be worse to try to win the game with the starters playing a lot of minutes like against SA, and still losing. That won't happen with the real dress rehearsal tomorrow. We don't want to increase their confidence level any more than it already is!

My point is there hasn't been a game yet where we've seen both teams play with the same incentives. I guess this will have to wait until the playoffs.

by dirk41 on Apr 17, 2007 1:48 PM CDT reply actions