"Mavs vs Spurs"

I am done. I have vowed to no longer underrate this Dallas Mavericks team. All season long I have been talking with everyone about Dallas' downfall, how they would be "that team in the West to drop out of the playoff race", and all the other baseless things we said assuming Dallas is not the same team they once were. I know you thought the same things too when this season began. But no more. No more.

Dallas clinched the 6th seed last night with an entertaining win against the Rockets. Down by double-digits at one point they came chuggin' back to life like a freight train with Jason Kidd conducting it all, ended up winning by double-digits while Kidd managed to grab his 103rd career triple-double while Dirk had a nice 30 points and 15 boards. Dallas really made a emphatic point with this game, telling America that they are still a top team. They have great momentum going into the playoffs, and they have the clutch shooters to win.

With the regular season finally over, we can actually analyze the matchups for the first round. The Spurs also won a great fight against the Hornets last night; Finley hit a clutch 3 to push the game into overtime, and OT was dominated by Parker and Duncan. That's really all they need to be contenders: Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. The problem is Ginobli is gone, and they have no real 3rd option. Duncan and Parker are surrounded by good role players, but will that be enough?

So enough regular season talk, let's get to the matchup. The Spurs are the 3rd seed, and the Mavs are the 6th; thus homecourt obviously goes to the Spurs. This is the one series that really confuses me, and I think everyone. The 8 ESPN columnists split their votes 4-4 on who would win. So let's take a quick look at the rosters/matchups:

Dallas Mavericks
PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Antoine Wright
SF: Josh Howard
PF: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Eric Dampier
6th: Jason Terry(PG/SG)
Bench: Brandon Bass(PF); JJ Barea(PG); Ryan Hollins(C); James Singleton(PF/SF)
San Antonio
PG: Tony Parker
SG: Roger Mason
SF: Mike Finley
PF: Matt Bonner
C: Tim Duncan
6th: Ime Udoka
Bench: Drew Gooden(PF/C); George Hill(PG/SG); Bruce Bowen(SF/SG); Kurt Thomas(PF/C)

Looking at the matchups I have to give Dallas the advantage. Parker will obviously wreak havoc on the offensive end with Kidd/Terry guarding him most of the game, but both those players will be able to do their thing on offense too. Wright starts at SG most of the time for his defensive presence, but Jason Terry and Kidd are the back-court for this team a majority of the time so I will give the nod to Jason Terry outplaying Roger Mason; Terry is just the better pure scorer. Then at SF Howard is just a better all-around player and athlete than Finley. I think Howard is going to be the X-Factor in this series. If he plays like he has lately the Mavs are going to be scary. Dirk obviously has a big advanatage on Matt Bonner, and Duncan obviously has a huge advantage on Dampier too.

Both teams have mediocre benches; Ginobli really changes the structure of this team, and without him they are 2 stars surrounded by role players. This series is going to come down to the Spurs being able to stop the Mavs high octane offense. Can Popovich use his scheming to try and force the ball out of Dirks hands while maybe having Bowen shadow Jason Terry all over the court? Most of us have seen the drop off Bowen has displayed this year, but maybe they are just saving him for the playoffs like these smart coaches often do.

Better starting 5: Dallas
Better 6th man: Dallas
Better bench: Tied
Better go-to guys: Spurs
Better coach: Spurs

You be the judge. This is definitely the series I am looking forward to the most; moreso than the great Hawks/Heat matchup and the Blazers/Rockets matchup. I think this will be a 7 game series, and Dallas might steal this. Either way though, it should be a great series.