Much has been said about Dallas' horrific performance against Golden State in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but nothing much needs to be said. We can dissect whether or not Dirk Nowitzki is a true superstar or not, or whether Jason Terry is an adequate second fiddle, but none of that speaks to the heart of the matter. The bottom line is this: Golden State was the more confident team.
How did they get that confidence? Well, for one thing they beat Dallas twice during the regular season, once handily, going into their late-season matchup on April 17th. At that time, Golden State was fighting for their playoff lives while Dallas had clinched everything they wanted to clinch. So what happened? Avery Johnson rested his starters and Golden State thrashed them. The next day, Avery played his starters again in a mashing Oklahoma City Sonics, while Golden State throttled Portland to secure the 8th seed.
What a horrible mistake. First of all, Avery Johnson should have known from previous meetings that his team didn't matchup well with the Warriors, and further that Don Nelson would know his gameplan. Avery should have done everything he could to knock the Warriors out of the playoffs when they had the chance. Secondly, playing your starters the day after resting them against a possible playoff opponent is idiotic. What happened to sending a message? Forget about the fact that resting players before the playoffs is highly overrated, Avery essentially told Nelson's crew that he was afraid of them.
Then, as we all know, Avery changed his starting lineup before Game 1. Yes, the 67-win #1 seed changed to matchup against the barely-made-it-in 8th seed. The series was over at that point. Golden State had all the confidence it could ever need, and confidence is the single most valuable commodity in basketball. Does anyone think that Baron Davis makes so many shots without a fundamental confidence that his team was going to win? Or Matt Barnes would become a good NBA player? No chance.
Nowitzki did not step up like superstars sometimes do, but even superstars can't alone stem the tide of a confident team attacking them. The blame must fall on Avery Johnson for allowing the Warriors to gain that confidence in the first place. Coaches rarely win a series, but in this case a coach lost one.
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As much bullshit and bluster as Billy Packer without the conviction.
1 comment:
What I want to know is when did Matt Barnes learn to shoot. He's making threes like that's what he's supposed to do. Last time I checked, he's a hustle player that gets a few offensive boards and plays defense. And he has a sweet haircut.
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