How Do the Mavs Do Following a Playoff Win? Here's the Ugly Info.

The Mavericks are focused on not having a let down in Game 2 vs Portland on Tuesday night.  It's good that is a point of emphasis because in the recent past, they have struggled in the immediate game following a playoff victory.

Check this out from the Negative Nellie Department:
Since Game 2 of the NBA Finals in 2006, the Mavs are 2-8 in the postseason in the game following a win.  The ONLY games immediately following a playoff win in which the Mavericks did NOT lose were Games 3 & 4 of their first round series against San Antonio in 2009.  They beat the Spurs in Game 3 and followed that with a win in Games 4 & 5 before ultimately winning the series. 

Here's the history:
2005-06 Postseason
June 11, 2006   Mavs beat the Heat 99-85 in Game 2 of the Finals
June 13, 2006   Mavs lose to the Heat 98-96 in Game 3
♦ Mavs lose the series 4-2

2006-07 Postseason
April 25, 2007   Mavs beat the Warriors 112-99 in Game 2 of the 1st round of the playoffs
April 27, 2007   Mavs lose to the Warriors 109-91 in Game 3
May 1, 2007      Mavs beat the Warriors 118-112 in Game 5
May 3, 2007      Mavs lose to the Warriors 111-86 in Game 6
♦ Mavs lose series 4-2

2007-08 Postseason
April 25, 2008   Mavs beat the Hornets 97-87 in Game 3 of the 1st round of the playoffs
April 27, 2008   Mavs lose to the Hornets 97-84 in Game 4
♦ Mavs lose series 4-1

2008-09 Postseason
April 18, 2009   Mavs beat the Spurs 105-97 in Game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs
April 20, 2009   Mavs lose to the Spurs 105-84 in Game 2
April 23, 2009   Mavs beat the Spurs 88-67 in Game 3
April 25, 2009   Mavs beat the Spurs 90-80 in Game 4
April 28, 2009   Mavs beat Spurs 106-93 in Game 5
♦ Mavs win series 4-1

May 11, 2009   Mavs beat the Nuggets 119-117 in Game 4 of the 2nd round of the playoffs
May 13, 2009   Mavs lose to the Nuggest 124-110 in Game 5
♦ Mavs lose series 4-1

2009-10 Postseason
April 18, 2010   Mavs beat the Spurs 100-94 in Game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs
April 21, 2010   Mavs lose to the Spurs 102-88 in Game 2
April 27, 2010   Mavs beat the Spurs 103-81 in Game 5
April 29, 2010   Mavs lose to the Spurs 97-87 in Game 6
♦ Mavs lose series 4-2

2010-11 Postseason
April 16, 2011   Mavs beat the Blazers 89-81 in Game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs
April 19, 2011   ???????????

Nuggets/Mavs Preview: We're Getting Physical....Again

Could Wednesday's game against the Nuggets result in a win the Mavericks need to end their three-game losing streak?  Just at first glance, you could make the case for Dallas.  

The Nuggets are playing on the second night of a back to back, after losing to Oklahoma City in Denver on Tuesday.  It was actually Denver's first loss at home since February 7th.  They were 10-0 at the Pepsi Center since the Carmelo Anthony trade.  They had won six straight prior to the Thunder loss and are 15-5 since the trade. 

What's impressive is the way they've been playing. 

"Since trade they're best defensive team in the league, allowing 10 less points per game, which is staggering," Rick Carlisle claimed Tuesday at practice.  "They're doing it with great balance and are doing it with 10-11 man rotation."

In fact, prior to the Thunder game, Denver was allowing only 94.8 points per game in their previous 19 games, down from the 105.2 they were giving up before the trade.

Then Carlisle mentioned the "P" word which describes the Nuggets perfectly.  I'm channeling Olivia Newton-John. 

"They're physical and it's going to be a big test for us."

Oh Lord.  Another physical team (I still remember how the Mavs were pushed around in their 2009 playoff series against the Nuggets).  Another test.  How did Dallas do in its last test?   Need I remind you of last Thursday's game against the Lakers which has lit up the DFW airwaves and interwebs with "soft" talk? 

What's the focus for the trying-to-toughen-up Mavs tonight? 

"Transition defense is going to be big," Carlisle said.  "We have to compete for shots on offense because they stay into you." 

Denver has had a lot of success against the Mavericks lately, winning eight of the last 11 regular season meetings with Dallas and four of the last six at the AAC. 

I am personally stoked about this game, the first post-trade meeting between the two teams.  The Mavs said they worked on a number of things on Tuesday at practice: communication, defense and focusing on their flow game.  I'm anxious to see how they respond after playing poorly in those three straight losses and see how they react to Denver's aggressive, physical style of play which puts up a league best 107.2 points per game.

Mavs Don't Want to Get in a Small Ball Race with the Nuggets

Notice the new neck tatts

The Mavericks towered over the Nuggets shortened lineup on Wednesday night in a 102-101 win.  Dallas hopes to use size to its advantage again on Saturday when the two teams meet at the AAC.

With multi-tattooed tall guys Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin recovering from offseason knee surgery and Nene a late scratch because of a groin strain, the Nuggets didn't have a player on the floor taller than 6'9 during the game's 48 minutes. 

Between us girls, if a roster says a player is 6'9, it's more like 6'7.   They all lie.  I got in trouble once when I interned for the Rockets for revealing a Hall of Fame player's real height.

I digress.

What's the Mavericks philosophy when playing a team that goes small?  Try and stay big.

"We've got to try to keep our length in game as much as we can," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said after practice Friday morning.  "That’s one of our real defining attributes."

That doesn't mean the Mavericks are going to go big at all costs.  They'll size up the matchups and hope to take advantage.

"There are times when sizing down makes sense," Carlisle added.  "We looked at it a bit in the first game anything’s in play."

Mavs Knock Nuggets Down and More.

After Dallas' win over Denver, coupled with Utah's win over New York, the Nuggets fall to 5th in the Western conference.  They entered Monday's game tied for 2nd in the West with the Mavericks.  How crazy is that?

Detes on that, Dirk's triple double and more after the Mavericks 109-93 win over the Nuggets on Monday night here in YouTube video blog.

One thing I didn't touch on: Rodrigue Beaubois.  The hot topic this morning was just how much Roddy B would play vs the Nuggets.  The pre-game media throng that included, the Dallas Morning News' Jean-Jacques Taylor, the Star-Telegram's Jen Floyd-Engel and Dallasmavs.com's Earl K Sneed set the over/under at 14 minutes.  A number of people, including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and yours truly, took the over.  Turns out we were right just by a hair.  Beaubois' line: 14 minutes 56 seconds, five points, three steals, one assist and two fouls.  This prompted my partner in pre- and post-game crime Derek Harper to remind everyone who had just punched Beaubois' ticket to the basketball hall of fame that "40 is hard to follow-up" and that it "doesn't happen every night".  True that but I think we can all agree there's a lot to look forward to with the 22-year old Guadelope native.

Mindless Trivia Time:
Now from the dumb question department: without checking Google, do you know what a Guadeloupe native is called?  Guadelopian? Not sure.

What I am sure of, though, is that those indigenous to the US territory Guam are called Chamorro.  How do I know?  Because for six months I lived right on the Phillipine Sea on that tiny little island. 

And with that, I bid you a good night!