Dallas in a huge hole, can they dig themselves out?

[JoMal]

I'm more interested in what happens if Golden State holds on and meets either Houston or Utah.  While neither team can stay with the Warriors on the perimeter, BOTH teams have something that Dallas just doesn't have - a significant post scoring threat.  Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer both present serious problems for Golden State.

That would, indeed, be interesting, because if Golden State does manage to finish off Dallas, they certainly won't be meeting either Utah or Houston in the next round unless the Suns get surprised by the Lakers and San Antonio gives it up to Denver.

Do you have bets along those lines, or something.

[JoMal]

This series looks alot like the Bulls series.  The faster players are beating offensive players to spots, shutting off passing lanes, and are getting to the lose balls.  EVERYTIME!   Both the Bulls and Warriors are playing awesome defense relying on speed and quickness to get it done.  You have to give them props for playing with this swagger as an 8th seed.

After picking Dallas to get out of the west I look like a dummy.  Which I don't mind as it happens often and we are getting good playoff basketball!

You weren't the only one.

I figured the Mavericks were just to, darned good to lose a seven game series to a raw Golden State team, and I certainly would not have given the Warriors a chance to even win three games, but here we are.

But if the Warriors DO knock off the Mavericks, (and that look of desparation goes right through Cuban, Avery Johnson, Dirk and on down to the water boy), it does not necessarily bode for an easy series for their next round opponents. You have to initially think that it is just the Mavericks that can't figure out the Warrior defense, but we all may get surprised at how competitive GS may turn out to be no matter whom they play next.

[Lurker]

That would, indeed, be interesting, because if Golden State does manage to finish off Dallas, they certainly won't be meeting either Utah or Houston in the next round unless the Suns get surprised by the Lakers and San Antonio gives it up to Denver.

Uh...did they slip something into the water in Sactown?  The winner of the 1/8 matchup meets the winner of the 4/5 matchup.  So if GS wins they will play the winner of the Jazz/Rockets series.  They don't re-seed the brackets after every round...just that the better record gets homecourt.

[westkoast]

This series looks alot like the Bulls series.  The faster players are beating offensive players to spots, shutting off passing lanes, and are getting to the lose balls.  EVERYTIME!   Both the Bulls and Warriors are playing awesome defense relying on speed and quickness to get it done.  You have to give them props for playing with this swagger as an 8th seed.

After picking Dallas to get out of the west I look like a dummy.  Which I don't mind as it happens often and we are getting good playoff basketball!

You weren't the only one.

I figured the Mavericks were just to, darned good to lose a seven game series to a raw Golden State team, and I certainly would not have given the Warriors a chance to even win three games, but here we are.

But if the Warriors DO knock off the Mavericks, (and that look of desparation goes right through Cuban, Avery Johnson, Dirk and on down to the water boy), it does not necessarily bode for an easy series for their next round opponents. You have to initially think that it is just the Mavericks that can't figure out the Warrior defense, but we all may get surprised at how competitive GS may turn out to be no matter whom they play next.

Certainly GS could make it to the WCF if they knock out Dallas.  I don't see Utah/Houston being able to defend them any better then Dallas has.  Even if Houston and Utah both have a low post scoring threat it doesn't matter if the post player gets tired (Yao) or gets into foul trouble (Boozer) chasing around 3 slashing guards.

Since GS is a California team it wouldn't bother me one bit to see them do it.  Could you guys imagine what Cuban would do if they got bounced in the first round.   Seeing Mark Cuban's tears in HD could be legendary.

[jn]

I think GS is going to finish it.  The Mavs just don't look right to me.  I agree with the assesment that Avery should never have tried to match the Warriors with small ball in the first game.

[Laker Fan]

What I have seen is a Warriors team totally unafraid of Dallas or the record they bring into the post season. Part of that directly correlates to the fact that they have just flat man-handled them over the last couple of years in the regular season, including sweeping them this year, credit Nelson for having them so prepared by virtue of knowing the Mavericks better even than Johnson does and his excellent exploitation of the key flaws in Dallas' game, specifically, their inability to stop a speedy team from scoring almost at will, I shudder at how bad GS would be blowing them out if they would bring their shot selection under control. Dallas has no answer in the post for that high pick they run or their little give and goes, that catch Dallas defenders flat footed almost every time.

Davis is just tearing through Dallas interior defense with abandon as is Jackson and although Dallas has more or less won the battle of the boards, GS, except for the game 2 loss, have dominated in speed and fast breaks, the have hustled for loose balls and turned so many dfensive rebounds into fast break points Dallas just couldn't compete. Personally I think had it not been for Davis and Jackson getting ejected in game 2, we might be disecting a sweep here instead of whether they can beat "the better team". I now believe they can win this series and say here I think they will, they 13 point loss was an abberration compared to the 3 wins and was more a result of their 2 stars getting ejected rather than Dallas gutting it up grinding out a win. Nowitski incurred Johnson anger when he basically surrendered to the fact that the Warriors do not let him play his game and he can do nothing about it, some leader of a team.

The best part of this whole thing is watching Cuban squirm at this unexpected buzz saw they have run into IN THE FIRST ROUND that is in all liklihood sending Dallas on an early fishing trip with "the most dominant ever", I will love the look on his face if GS closes them out tonight on their home floor, and I have seen no heart whatsoever from Dallas, just resignation and surrender, I think they are done.