After two decisive wins to open the season, first against the Nuggets then the Cavaliers, we at SpursDynasty.com were taking bets as to how many wins the Spurs would get before a loss. I was the low guess with five wins. No one imagined that it would be just two wins, but sure enough, the Spurs lost in Dallas Saturday night.
Tony had a big game while Tim’s numbers were workman like, but the Mavs pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back. Dirk Nowitzki, in particular, was unstoppable. Tim said:
“Dirk was unbelievable. I thought that we contested him pretty well. He took some tough looks and he just kept knocking them out.”
Before the season started, Yahoo’s NBA experts predicted that the Spurs would win the Western Conference, with the lone exception being Brandon Funston, who predicted the Mavericks would beat the Spurs. Personally, I thought he was nuts. Even after Saturday night’s loss, I still think he’s smoking crack.
I figured if anyone had a chance to beat the Spurs early, it was the Mavs. They wanted to make a statement, and they did. But we all know what the Spurs do in the playoffs to teams who make statements in the regular season.
The Mavs present some matchup problems for the Spurs (and everyone else), but come playoff time, when the D locks down, that won’t matter. It was a painful game to watch, though. For some reason I can’t fathom, I really hate losing to those fuckers, even though I have no hate for any individual players on their roster, and their coach is one of the most important figures in the history of the Spurs franchise.
There was one bright spot in the game, however: TP was huge in the 4th AGAIN. The Spurs got the offense going and made a run, but they couldn’t get the stops they needed. That’s what’s holding them back from playing to their full potential right now – while they’ve shown flashes of good D and were able to shut down the Bulls in overtime, they’re not yet up to their usual standard. They never are this early in the season, though. No cause for concern.
And yeah, Brandon Funston needs to learn that serious predictions made on NBA websites should be based on REALITY, not the wet dream he had the night before.
The Mavs may well take a step forward this season, but until they show something in the playoffs, they can’t be taken too seriously.
Too bad they won’t win the division, conference, or their first round series in the playoffs.
Sorry bitches!