Double Whammy - Spurs Down Mavs, 88-81

Boxscore

As if it wasn’t enough to get the ball back, score and get fouled after that Dirk Nowitzki block on Ime Udoka, the Dirk “left leg and ankle” injury was absolutely icing on the cake. I’ve torn my ACL, so I don’t wish that on anyone, trust that. While I’m happy that Dirk went down, I’m also a bit upset by it as well. Simply, when a team’s best player goes out, there’s certainly not as much room for bragging rights. Deep down, while the win might come a bit easier, you know you’d rather beat them with their best. Something likely sticks out from that series against the Suns last year, with no Amare or Diaw at the end.

Either way, the Easter Sunday victory was a resume builder, to steal a NCAA phrase. The Spurs last victory over a playoff team? Oddly enough, these same Mavericks, 97-94 just under a month ago.

The turning point in the game, obviously when Dirk went down with an impending knee injury, was unnecessarily accentuated by the tempers of Avery Johnson and Jerry Stackhouse. After a few straggling possessions, Stack decided to put Manu in a choke hold, and, in his defense, Coach Johnson got called for a tech. Nice job, way to keep the composure. That’s the difference between most of these “flavors of the year” teams and the Spurs. The Spurs maintain composure and don’t often beat themselves. Stupid things like ridiculous technicals, or wrestling moves just don’t dethrone them.

Notes

• Jeff Van Gundy is easily the most entertaining color analyst on planet earth. After the Stackhouse-Manu confrontation, JVG proposed that the NBA institutes a “cage match” rule, where the players are forced to fight, in a steel cage arena. Later, he defended Stackhouse’s throttling of Ginobili’s neck, asserting, “he was just using it to brace himself to get up.
• Ime Udoka’s jumper towards the end of the game, giving him 7 points, was a true testament to how far he’s come. After not playing that much all game, and not shooting too much either, Udoka took the ball on the wing, up faked, and still stepped in rhythm to hit a 15-20 foot jumper to essentially ice the game.
• Ginobili, as I’ve said all season, is just unbelievable. 2 for 8 in the first half, he’s never deterred for long periods of time. Finishes the game 6-15 from the floor, with 26 points, 8 boards and 6 dimes. Not only that, but he’s made 35 FTs in a row. Oh yeah, he’s not bad on D either. That last steal of Terry to finish the game, that was Manu. And his back court mate? 4 of 21 from the field, and largely absent.
• I know that Jason Kidd’s never been an offensive player, but if he wants to help the Mavericks, he has to at least be willing to shoot. Things are bad on two obvious levels. First, Johnson often opted to play Tyronn Liu instead of Kidd, looking for more offense. Second, Kidd would catch a swing pass, and immediately pass the ball to the next option, without even allowing the defense the option to think of collapsing.