Statement Game?

by Wes Cox on Nov 16, 2007 10:09 AM CST in News

The question of the day seems to be if last night was a statement game. Queue JJT.

Dallas 105, San Antonio 92.

Message sent. Loud and clear.

But what was the statement exactly? "Hey, it's us the Mavs. Remember? The team that won 67 games last year to win the Southwest division. The team that beat you in the fake Western Conference Finals in 2006 and then beat you three times, including twice in your town, last year. Well, we're still good". I'm guessing San Antonio hadn't forgotten any of that. Just ask Tim Duncan.

You tend to believe it when Tim Duncan says that San Antonio's high regard for Dallas hasn't been diminished one iota in the wake of the Mavs' historic first-round ouster by Golden State in the 2007 playoffs.

"No," Duncan said as the crowd around his locker began to disperse, asked if the Mavs have dipped in stature.

"We were happy to see them go in the first round."

And Jerry Stackhouse knew they remembered.

"They got the proof by having the championships, but I think in the back of their minds they still know they didn't go through us [last postseason]."

Feeling so confident that the Mavs would have beaten San Antonio in a seven game series makes the first round loss even harder to think about.

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The Devin Harris section:

Fantastic game last night and exactly what Avery wants to see from him.

"That's what we envisioned when we got together for our coaches' retreat this summer and talked about how we wanted him to play," Johnson said. "We want him to be terrific defensively on the ball, be a one-man fast break at times and run the team.

Harris broke Tony Parker on both ends of the floor last night, and his impact defensively was undeniable.

Tony Parker finished tonight's game 1 for 11 from the floor with 6 points. It's a far cry for a guy who is averaging 20 points per game and shooting 52.6 percent from the field.

It's the fewest field goals that he's made in a game in which he played at least five minutes since Jan. 21, 2005. That game against Phoenix, Parker finished 1 of 9 and scored two points.

Devin's defense is what led to Reggie Miller making the observation that Parker looked completely exhausted with a few minutes left in third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Devin took advantage and scored 14 of his 18 points.

Plus/Minus stat of the Game:
Devin Harris +27
Tony Parker -21

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Jan Hubbard has an article about Popovich being a big fan of Dirk.

...he's about as perfect as you can get.

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One of the bigger surprise of the game was Maurice Ager starting, but I thought he did pretty well. Avery says that as of right now, he'll continue to start while Jones is out.

Does that also mean more DNP's for Hassell?

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Jennifer Floyd Engel writes about how the regular season doesn't matter.

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I thought this was interesting from Art Garcia's game notes.

Tonight’s attendance was 20,468 fans (19,200 capacity). The Mavs have sold out 238 regular season games at AAC

Minus all of the empty seats in the lower bowl...

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Tas and Skeets discussed the game on The Basketball Jones podcast.

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Quote of the Day

"We definitely respect San Antonio, but I don't think as much as [others] do. Still, they've got the hardware and we don't."

- Jerry Stackhouse

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This Day in Mavs History

1989 The NBA suspended Roy Tarpley indefinitely for violating the league's anti-drug policy.

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