Spurs 94, Mavs 90: Game 3 Set-Up In 'No Spin Zone'

Add It Up: Who Are The 2nd, 3rd And 4th Best Players In The Series?

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   We can manufacture a tale of Friday’s 94-90 Game 3 loss in San Antonio that features the Mavs’ “heart’’ and “heroism.’’ We can celebrate Dallas’ 17-0 run in the third quarter and pretend it is a sign of things to come. We can remind ourselves that even down 2-1, it is still “early’’ in this Round 1 best-of-seven series.

    But why bother spinning this when the truth was on display for 48 full minutes?

    Dirk Nowitzki once again had far too little help from a gathering of Mavs who either:

    a) Shrank from the task at hand

    Or

    b) Gave effort but lack the requisite ability to actually achieve at the task.

    So The UberMan scored 23 points in the second half on his way to 35, and he’s the best player in the series. But the second-best, the third-best and the fourth-best players in the series?

     They’re all Spurs.

    DallasBasketball.com will spend the night and day analyzing this thing, with pieces that include:

    *The Quoteboard from the locker rooms

    *David Lord’s column on coach Rick Carlisle’s extreme (too-extreme?) rotation shortening

    *A Roddy B-vs.-JJB angle you will get nowhere else

    *Saturday Morning Mavs Donuts

    *Notable Numbers

    *Yours truly hosting “Mavs Magazine’’ at 10 a.m. on 103.3 ESPN Radio

    *Discussion on every possible angle from the most passionate Mavs fans in the world on DB.com Boards

     Stay tuned …