Mavs Have Chance to End It. Game 5 Tonight 8:30 in San Antonio

Will Los Mavs succeed in defeating the 4-time champion Los Spurs?


The Dallas Mavericks have a chance to do tonight what they haven't been able to do since their NBA Finals season of 2006: advance past the first round of the playoffs. This will not be easy as the San Antonio Spurs have their proverbial backs against the wall tonight at home. I have gone through this before on here but I will do it again; the Mavericks simply have not been a very good team on the road this year especially against good teams. 18-23 was their record away from home this year, only 8 of those came against teams with winning records. San Antonio's record at home was a not too shabby at 28-13. Of course, in the playoffs, they are 1-1 so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Dallas is a veteran team, and a veteran team should know how to close the door on a beaten and demoralized Spurs team; even on the road. Isn't that why they traded a young and blossoming PG for one with years of playoff experience under his belt?

3 Keys to putting the San Antonio Spurs out of their misery:

1. Defense: The Mavericks have allowed under 90 points per game to the Spurs for the entire serious. This hasn't been because on any individually dominating defensive performance, this has been a team effort. The Mavs must keep up their defensive intensity. Jason Kidd will likely continue to guard Tony Parker for long streches throughout the game, so the anus (anus??!) is on him to make the Frenchman work hard for every basket. Kidd isn't going to shut Parker down (or even control him a little, more likely) but he can "tire him out", as Parker has been noticably winded in the 4th quarter throughout the series. (Side Note: How is a 36 year old athlete able to "tire out" a 26 year old athlete?). As has been a key throughout the series, Erick Dampier must continue to put in work on Tim Duncan while also providing weak side up on Parker drives to the basket.
2. Jason Terry: Terry has had a rough series, averaging 12ppg and shooting a horrid 34% from the field. This is a player who averaged near 20ppg during the regular season on 46% shooting. JET is due to have a break-out game in this series, and I don't see why it couldn't be tonight in S.A. The Spurs are going to continue to concentrate their defense heavily on Dirk Nowitzki, that is a given. More importantly, I can see them beginning to focus their attention on Josh Howard as he burned them again the last game of this series with 28 points on 50% shooting. San Antonio is going to have to pick their poison here, after Terry went 3 of 17 from the field in the last game, I would expect them to take some of the defensive pressure off of Terry and leave Parker on him for longer stretches. Tony Parker cannot guard Jason Terry. Therein lies a problem for San Antonio, and an opportunity for the Mavericks to get their 6th man of the Year into a rhythm for the first time all series.
3. The Role Players: How will the Dallas Mavericks that have contributed mightily to a 3-1 series lead (JJ Barea, Brandon Bass, Erick Dampier, Ryan Hollins, Antoine Wright) react to their recent success? How will the Spurs players (Entire team besides Duncan and Parker) respond after their abysmal failure in game 4, in which they combined to score 22 points? Most of these Mavericks players are younger players(excluding for Damp) with the oldest being Antoine Wright at 25. I am interested to see how they respond to the Mavericks' veteran players repeatedly comparing this situation to a game 7 in which they have to win. The Spurs team is older with only 3 of their rotation regulars (Roger Mason, Drew Gooden, and George Hill) under the age of 29. I expect them to come out with a much better effort than in Game 4 and to contribute much more than 22 points total.

This will be a tough game for the Mavericks, as the Spurs will refuse to go quietly. This is a Spurs team that was down 3-1 last year to the New Orleans and came back to win the series, so it would be unwise to count them out. They also forced an epic game 7 with the Mavs in 2006 after being down 3-1. Dallas knows what is on the line, though, and will battle throughout. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavs lost on a last second shot, sending the series back to Dallas for game 6. Fortunately for Mavericks fans, Dallas will win game 6 at home.

Spurs Win. Series goes to 3-2.