Everything seems to be going wrong for the Mavericks this season.
Despite their immense failure against the Warriors last postseason, many pundits still had the Mavericks tagged to be a major player this year.
Today, the Mavericks are in a three-way battle for the final two playoff spots with the Nuggets and the Warriors.
This leads to the question, what's wrong with the Mavericks? On paper, they should be faring much better than they are.
They have the reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki. Plus, they have six players who have been All-Stars: Dirk, J-Kidd, Stackhouse, Josh Howard, Jamaal Magloire, and Juwan Howard. Heck, they could put these guys in as their starting five!
And they have one of the most respected and capable coaches in Avery Johnson.
I must say I am truly disappointed in the season that the Mavericks have put together. Despite the addition of Jason Kidd, it looks like this team will be simply gobbled up by the true NBA elite in the first round.
Who knew the first-round loss to the Warriors would leave such a scar on a once perennial contender?
2 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Larry McCollum about 1 year ago
To somehow link their poor playing to the loss against the Warriors last season really makes me wonder about idea to let anyone write. The Mavs haven't played with enough heart in the 4th against the good teams, no one can argue that. Prior to the trade though, the Mavs were good. Granted everyone in the West seems to be good also so the Mavs lost the advantage they once had over a lot of teams. Of the games they lost to those good teams, quite a few ended close. The Mavs would have been fine had they made the trade earlier in the year. As it is now they're running only a small percentage of the Mavs Offense and a couple Nets plays Kidd likes. As much as I hate to admit the Mavs won't go far this year, but I am confident in next year. And also lets not forget how much better almost every other team in the league has improved from even last year. Lakers, Hornets, Celtics, even the Magic. All of them would've been games any team would look forward to last year. No nobody looks forward to those games. A lot of writers, bloggers, etc. want peope to read their words so they focus on one small part of a story so they seem knowledgabe, not taking into consideration the overall picture. (Hard to get the whole picture in 1000 words or less.) The Mavs are still a good team in a pool of good teams, but they have lost their edge. Hardly something that can't be fixed. Not quite the dramatic FALL people try to make it.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
While I agree that you can't focus on ONE element as the reason for a team under-performing, I think that history does play around with players' and coaches' heads -- for better or for worse. Last season's collapse should have lit a fire under the Mavs. Certainly their owner Mark Cuban is feeling the heat -- which is why, I think, he pulled the trigger on the Kidd deal. He doesn't want to wait til next year; he wants it NOW. And it's not happening. Maybe the Kidd trade was the wrong move. (Kidd to the Cavs, anyone?) Maybe it was made too damn late. Maybe chemistry is disrupted. Maybe other teams did get better. But whatever the reason, the Mavs are running on fumes right now. And to under-perform for two years in a row may not be a FALL -- but clearly there's a problem that needs more than a little fixing.
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