Not Much of an Upset

4 May 2007



Golden State Warriors Take Dallas out of NBA Play-Offs

Judging from the tone of this morning’s sports columnists, the Golden State Warriors had no business playing on the same court as the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas had the best team in the NBA. It had Dirk Nowitzki, the purported MVP of the league. It had the best record. It had everything but more points than Golden State. What is surprising is the surprised tone. Golden State had Dallas’ number all year long.

On the face of it, one can excuse the pundits to a degree. As the AP noted, “The Warriors hadn’t won a best-of-seven series in 31 years, since beating Detroit in a first-round series in 1975-76 -- the year after winning their only NBA championship in California.” At one stage, Dallas had 51 wins and just 4 losses this season. They remain one of the best line-ups this generation.

However, in the regular season, they went 1-3 against the Warriors this year. On any given day, one team in the NBA can beat any other. That’s why the season runs 82 games, to remove the odd fluke from the system. But losing to the same team three times suggests that there is something else going on other than luck. The fact is Dallas has trouble with Golden State’s open court game.

Some of the blame goes to Dirk Nowitzki. He had a lousy series, and a really weak game 6. He got a miserly 8 points, going 2-for-13 shooting. He did carry the day in game 5, putting up a more typical 30 points, so it shows he could do the job – he just didn’t. And some of the blame goes to whoever was supposed to stop Baron Davis. First, he blew by them, and then after having a leg taped, he rained on them from outside.

“It’s the biggest disappointment I've had in my 19 years” in the NBA, Dallas Coach Avery Johnson said. “You really have to tip your hat to them, especially Baron Davis. How special was he? I’ve seen him before. I played against him. You’re talking about a guy who refused to lose. He hurt his leg and we isolated him and went at him and he just wouldn’t give in.” Dallas will have all summer to think about that.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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