Spurs V Mavs

The Texas sweep huh!.. "We don't want to see Texas again. It's a great state, but we don't want to see these three teams any more. They're too tough," said coach Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics. Of course, the Texas trio [Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs] are tough teams and I've never seen a tougher Western Conference than this season. Why these trio are tough to beat? First of to Houston, which despite the absence of Yao Ming can still pull off a long winning streak. As long as T-Mac stays healthy, the Rockets are a team to beat. Second stop is Dallas. The Dallas were reshaped with the coming of Jason Kidd. He's a great advantage for the team when it comes to the offensive end. And obviously, the Mavs are offensively better and are trying to improve defensively especially with the loss of a great defensive player in the name of Diop.

But despite all the efforts coming from Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, the Mavs are on the 7th spot of the Western Conference. And they've recently lost two straight games against winning teams that is very unlikely of the Spurs' situation now who's won back-to-back games against losing teams. The Mavs are about to face their fellow-Texan team in their homecourt soon. The team's best weapon against the Spurs is their offensive edge. If they play tough D, don't ever let Erick Dampier get early fouls or they'll end up playing the slow-paced style of the Spurs. Of course, anything can happen and I'm not saying that the Spurs got this game on their bag. What I'm trying to say is that the Mavs lack of D strategies cannot easily beat a defense-minded team like the Spurs. If they want to win, they have to take the lead as early as possible and don't let Manu Ginobili out of their sights!.. And lastly, watch out for Kurt Thomas!.. =p Spurs-Mavs game by Bill Fitch