A Royal Flush?
Cards Fall Mavs' Way; Kings In Round 1
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-04-15 00:00:00.000
By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
For the Sacramento-bound Mavs, the playoff cards have fallen just right.
Now we’ll see if the Mavs can avoid falling, too.
If luck is a key to advancing in the NBA Playoffs, then the Mavs are one step closer to turning the lock. As they now prepare for Sunday’s … Game 1, Round 1 meeting at Sacramento, the Mavs:
Are happy with playing the underdog role -- "There's no pressure on us," Michael Finley said. "We're the fifth seed. We're expected to go out in the first round. It's a position that I kind of like a little bit. Nobody's talking about us. All the hype is on the other four teams. It's good for us to be the silent assassin, so to speak.’’
Fin is a bit off; the pressure will build if Dallas plays poorly, loses ugly and lights the same unfortunate fuse that could lead to drastic changes. But that ‘silent assassin’ bit? That’s cool.
Are healthy – Finley played through the bruised ribs and, as coach Don Nelson said, “got the bad game out of his system.’’ Josh Howard was deactivated for the Wednesday game in Houston, giving him five days for his aching bun to heal. Antawn Jamison’s ankle is fine, Steve Nash is at high-energy alert, and Dirk Nowitzki is taking no chances with his ankles by having them taped almost all the way up to his kneecaps. Additionally, Nellie gave 19 minutes to just-activated Tony Delk, and will now presumably decide between Delk’s scoring and Travis Best’s point-guard play for the final playoff roster spot. (An educated guess: the last thing Dallas needs is more scoring.)
Are joined by contenders in the West who are not healthy -- Chris Webber continues to labor up and down the floor for the Kings. Sacto’s Bobby
Jackson has played once since Feb. 20 because of a strained
abdominal muscle. Minny's Troy Hudson is done. Karl Malone nastily rolled an ankle and might be unavailable for a bit in LA, which is already planning to go without Rick Fox and Horace Grant.
There is a weird, TV-related quirk in the Dallas-Sacto sked: Game 2 is Tuesday, Game 3 not until Saturday. So weary players will get their rest there.
Still, if the playoffs are a game of attrition, the Kings and others are behind Dallas in the game.
Are catching a struggling Kings team at the right time -- Sacramento ended its regular season by losing 10 of 16, including a Wednesday nighter at Golden State that could have given them the conzy No. 2 seed. Against the Warriors, the Kings shot less than 40 percent (36-of-91) from the floor, were outrebounded 57-46 and got yet another pedestrian result from Webber, the one player who can single-handedly carry them through a series when he’s right.
But C-Webb is not right. And the Kings are not right. And Dallas-Sacramento for the third straight postseason is probably not a comforting thought for a Kings bunch that feels it should’ve opened against erratic No. 7 Houston.
Are set for a winnable Round 2 match -- OK, we know it’s a long way off. But the series of events that unfolded in the NBA on Wednesday ended with Minnesota getting the No. 1 seed. If the Mavs pull a Round 1 upset (and make no mistake, Las Vegas views it that way), they get a meeting likely to be a Timberwolves team that the Mavs view as beatable. Maybe the Mavs would’ve been huge underdogs to the Lakers (and might be, if both advance to the Western Conference Finals); but they are not huge underdogs to the Kings or the T’wolves.
Are on a roll -- “Going into the playoffs on a roll’’ is a bit of a myth; Tuesday’s win over Memphis had limited importance at the time, and Tuesday’s road win over Houston had none. But if this club needs any sort of confidence boost, it will psyche itself into believing that a two-game winning streak matters, that winning seven of the last nine matters, and that a 52-30 record is a weighty milestone.
Oh, and by the way, it is. The 52 wins, we mean. In the impossibly challenging West, the No. 1 team (Minny) reached only 58. Sacto finished with 55 wins, earning home-court edge over the Mavs by just three games.
(Don’t remind us - or the feeling-good-about-themselves-Mavs -- that Dallas really needed only to handle the likes of the Wizards and Hawks to the home-cookin’ fourth seed.)
Are still developing players and concepts -- Antoine Walker as a ‘center’ – or at least as the guy who requires being guarded by a center – is an experiment that is working far better than ‘Toine as a perimeter ball-handler. It got another test drive against Houston, where Yao Ming played guinea pig in a way Dallas hopes is matched by the Kings’ Brad Miller or Vlade Divac. (Vlade on Antoine? Compelling.)
Meanwhile, is there another contender in the NBA giving starters’ minutes to two rookies? Is there another veteran coach in the NBA who redesigned some defensive schemes in the final month of the year to take advantage of the unique skills of an undrafted free-agent rookie?
Welcome to Nellie’s open-minded willingness to make not only Josh Howard work for him (remember that Nellie said on draft day that his first-round pick, Howard, would be a starter) but to also make Marquis Daniels a centerpiece of his defense and a truly viable second option (behind only Dirk) on offense.
"I'm in love with Marquis," Nelson said. "I think he's sensational."
And the Mavs should be in love with the cards dealt them by fate. Now let’s see how they play ‘em.
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