You'd honestly rather play OKC than the Lakers?

The mavs simply don't match up well with the Lakers. The #1 advantage we had with them (Derek Fisher) is gone and they're front court would abuse ours. Dirk does a good job on Pau but Mahinmi and Haywood aren't that great on Bynum.


Kobe is kobe but I'm not that worried about him. I'm only worried about him if he gets hot or Marion isn't guarding him. Kidd's a year older and may not be able to do as awesome as him.

And Dirk has to be amazing but that has to happen for every single game we play in the playoffs. Like average 30 ppg amazing.

I'd take OKC and the Spurs (lets be honest they're pretenders) over the lakers any day.

[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 4/20/2012 7:40p).]

I definitely would rather play OKC than the lakers. No brainer.

Spurs are pretenders

Not saying that we would beat OKC, but we would have a better chance at beating them (or any other team) than the Lakers.

The lakers are a toss-up, because you never know when Bynum is going to melt down, or kobe will try to go in take over mode(which he cant do anymore)

Saying you prefer to play someone doesn't mean you view them as inferior. I'd rather play the Spurs than the Grizzlies or Lakers, but I think the Spurs are better. We just match up better with them.

Still unlikely we win, but more likely based on matchups.

If I'm Dallas, a matchup with LA has more appeal now that they have no one to guard Dirk.

World Peace will be out for at least the first round in all likelihood, and it's not like LA has a strong PG to take advantage of the Mav's weakest spot.

The rest of LA's team is unstable and streaky. That to me seems like the best chance for Dallas to advance.

umm, we cant stop kobe or bynum. sessions is 10x better than fisher, barnes is showing a pulse. this team scares me even without artest.


we match up better with okc and sa.

The Mavs will be the underdog regardless of who they play. Its starting to look like OKC at this point followed by LAL. I suppose LAC are still in play as well. The Mavs are 1-3 versus OKC but all of the games have been close. I agree that LAL is the worst matchup. 0-4 (3 close games), but LAL has won on the boards and Tyson Chandler isn't there to help. SAS would be an interesting series. 2-2 this season and both teams know each other very well. That matchup won't happen though.

I'm good with an OKC matchup. Westbrook is the key again. Last year we had Tyson to help defend and force tough shots when he drove. This year...? I still the the Mavs can make it a series versus anyone, I expect to see a very strong effort.

such low expectations...even a series win would be gravy

OKC is definitely a better match-up than LA for the Mavs. Like you said, there is no Chandler to bang with the big guys. Haywood is all we have.

I was thinking today of historical defending champs entering the playoffs with such low expectations. Not counting the Bulls who completely blew it up.

2007 Heat - Wade wheelchair injury, fat Shaq. Worst defending champ effort ever.
2003 Lakers - Shaq vs Kobe feud
2000 Spurs - Duncan injury, 99 team was loaded with old vets who were probably content with just the one title, and everyone recognized that no one was stopping the Lakers
1996 Rockets - the Bulls completely owned this season. I can't remember a thing about this Rockets team.
1995 Rockets - great comp for the 2012 Mavs - mediocre regular season, traded a great chemistry guy and defensive anchor for a past his prime scorer, then saw Hakeem turn into a completely unstoppable force in the playoffs (not comparing Dirk to Hakeem or Vince Carter to Drexler, but Dirk could once again dominate the playoffs and Carter could be a factor)
1991 Pistons - it was obvious that Jordan had arrived and was the clear favorite. It could have been similar with Durant this year but that fell flat.

Another thing comparing to the 1995 Rockets. These are 2 teams that came out of nowhere to win their first title after many years of suffering. So the fans never really believed they would actually win the title until they actually did it on the final game. Then both teams struggled heavily and made significant changes the next year so they didn't enter the playoffs the following season as the clear defending champs. It's weird. I believe only after the big comeback against the Suns did the momentum swing back.

Siap. Or stated in playoff thread

Jason kidd is one of 5 players with 1000 rebounds and 1000 assists in postseason

Mj, pippen, bird, magic.
Not bad company.


[This message has been edited by Iowaggie (edited 5/3/2012 3:04p).]