Hey ya'll, new to the blog, figured it wouldn't hurt to share some thoughts.
Melo has woken up from his slumber and he is pissed. Before we all discuss how well AC, Birdman, and Nene meant to all of us, lets give credit where credit is due. Since Melo has been drafted, I haven't seen this kind of energy from him. Those two blocks on the mav's 'big man' were the plays that impressed me the most. Melo is a changed man for these playoffs, and with him playing as hard as he did this afternoon, I can see (tentatively) busting the brooms out for a round 2 sweep.. The mavs are desperately missing a defensive specialist who can match up with him and that will be the ultimate cause for the massacre in Dallas.
I really shouldn’t call it a surprise…but the pleasant surprise today was the reemergence of Nene. Man, I haven’t seen him throw down those kind of power slams in faaaar too long. Simply put, he is far too quick for Dampier to handle. The only thing I can add that hasn’t been said yet is KEEP FEEDING THE BIG BRAZILIAN! PLEASE GEORGE KARL, I PLEAD THAT YOU FEED HIM THE ROCK LIKE A MAN WHO HAS FASTED ALL THANKSGIVING IN ORDER TO EAT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOR THAT BIG FEAST (personal, very common, experience). Feed him, he won’t fail us.
Our bench shined. JR, Birdman, and AC all provided the spark that we’ve come to love. You know it’s a good game when you feel confident in (almost) every shot that JR takes, and that’s how at least I was today. He was a man on a mission, and I thought he outplayed sixth-man of the year Jason Terry. I don’t expect him to fade away from this series against Cuban. Bird’s presence in the lane was the reason for the soon to me much talked about FT discrepancy. The mavs wouldn’t attack the hoop! I’m sorry, but you can’t complain about free throws when your scoring comes from jump shots and fade aways. As Nuggets fans, we know that. Oh god do we know that. Fantastic playing by Bird, can’t say enough. Also, it was nice to see AC being on the receiving end of a Bird pass for once, it made my day. I was never a part of the crowd that hates to see AC stroll in, never got it. I thought, and still think, that he is a great back up PG to come in and spell Chauncey. Today, he shot 6-8, and had his one 3-pointer just rim out. Add that to 4 assists and 2 steals and you’ve got a solid bench PG.
While on the topic AC, was anyone else disappointed in the highly touted JJ Barea? I mean, who else saw those highlights against the Spurs and thought he’d make an impact in this series? I sure did. I still kinda hope he breaks out for a good game because the guy seems likeable enough, but I don’t think I see him getting many minutes. He’s a defensive liability against any of our guards besides AC, but AC is perfectly fitted to shut him down, a-la Dahntay Jones to Chris Paul on a smaller scale (haha, get it?).
Speaking of disappointments, how weird was it to see Jason Kidd throw the ball away so many times? I remember a game during the regular season against the suns where he COMMANDED what happened, something like 16 assists in the first half. It was incredible. I think this was a very off game for him, and I don’t see happening again anytime soon, still scares the crap out of me.
Dirk can smoke us, I’m not about to look past him into the Conference Finals, but as long as we can keep putting bodies on him and getting into his head, I think we can somewhat tame him. He’s like that little German puppy that pees on your carpet. Scold him one time, and he’ll stop (hopefully). Kmart scolded Dirk, in a play that I wasn’t honestly too happy with, and Dirk defiantly thought twice about driving to the hoop after that. Someone pointed out that he was 6-6 before that foul, and was something like 1-7 after (thank you to whoever pointed that out during the game today!). As long as we keep a body on him, we can keep him from blowing up for another 43 point performance like the regular season….I hope.
Keys for game 2? Keep that intensity up guys, if we’re playing as hard as we did for the last 3 quarters of todays game, there are few teams that can stop us. Keep feeding the ball to Nene, and the offense will come.
-ryan
