Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki: Historic Matchup Will Not Live Up to Its Billing
It's hard to believe, but when the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks face each other in the Western Conference Semifinals, it will be the first time that stars Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki have squared off in the postseason.
Considering both Bryant and Nowitzki have spent the majority of their careers in the NBA playoffs it was inevitable that their paths would eventually cross, but who could have guessed it would take this long?
Nowitzki has reached the postseason 11 consecutive years and has averaged 25.7 points per game and 10.7 rebounds while connecting on 45 percent of his shots from the field in his playoff career.
Bryant has reached the postseason in 14 out of his 15 professional seasons and has averaged 25.4 points, 4.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his own playoff career, while also shooting 45 percent from the field.
However the fates of Nowitzki and Bryant's respective teams in the postseason have been very different from their individual success, as the Lakers have been the championship standard in the past decade, and the Mavericks have been defined by their failures.
Sure, Nowitzki and the Mavericks have won an astonishing 50 regular season games for 10 straight seasons, but that pales in comparison to their more memorable postseason collapses.
The 2006 loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals after leading by two games in the series was bad, but the first-round collapse the following season to the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors was much worse.
Those two losses established a reputation Nowitzki and the Mavericks have been unable to escape, and the cries of postseason pretenders grew even louder last season as the Mavericks once again were upset in the first round of the playoffs as the West's No. 2 seed.
Conversely Bryant has managed to capture 5 NBA championships in his career, and along the way has become one of the league's all-time postseason performers.
Bryant is currently fourth all-time in postseason scoring and has scored 30 or more points in 80 postseason games, which is second in NBA history behind Michael Jordan.
For most observers, the difference in the levels of postseason success for Bryant and Nowitzki can mainly be attributed to the quality of their teammates, and it is for this reason that their historic matchup will fail to meet expectations.
I'm sure Bryant and Nowitzki will both shine when their series begins on Monday, but the outcome will likely depend on the performances of their teammates.
On paper, Dallas appears to have a roster that is deep enough and talented enough to match up to the two-time defending champion Lakers, but that comparison is as deceiving as the Mavericks' regular-season record the past decade.
The Mavericks can match the Lakers' size in the paint with seven-footers Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood, but neither player can match the talent of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
And in Bynum's case, no one on Dallas' roster can match his strength in the interior.
Nowitzki is a genuine seven-footer but is more comfortable on the perimeter, and the Mavericks are shaped in the mold of their leader.
Dallas is primarily a jump shooting team with no real offensive options in the post, and although point guard Jason Kidd is strong, he doesn't possess the type of quickness that usually bothers the Lakers at the point of attack.
The Lakers defend the perimeter extremely well and in order for the Mavericks to beat them, they will have to establish themselves in the post and work the ball back out.
But that task is easier said than done, and beating the Lakers offense is only one half of the equation, because then the Mavericks must contend with numerous mismatches on the defensive end.
Forward Caron Butler is rumored to be preparing to attempt a comeback from injury against the Lakers, but even if he can play, defending Bryant will be a huge task for the Mavericks.
Bryant has usually reveled in the opportunity to face the Mavericks, and some of his biggest career scoring games have come at their expense.
But it doesn't end with Bryant, because Dallas must also find a way to slow the inside tandem of Gasol and Bynum, and Odom represents the ultimate matchup dilemma with his combination of size and perimeter abilities.
Combine all those elements with the postseason aura that hangs over each team and it appears that the Mavericks would have little to no chance against the Lakers in a seven game series.
But stranger things have happened, and the Mavericks have already conquered one postseason hurdle by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, which is a series that many people expected Dallas to lose.
However, Dallas will soon learn that the Los Angeles Lakers are not the Portland Trail Blazers, and in order to beat them, Nowitzki and his teammates will have to play up to the best of their abilities, and then some.
It's not an impossible mission, but considering Dallas' postseason history and the real disparities on the court between the teams, a fourth-straight trip to the Western Conference Finals for the Lakers seems more probable than a Dallas upset.
