I know that Dirk Nowitzki has been painted as the hero of Game 5, but I saw the game a bit differently. Although Nowitzki was spectacular in the last two minutes of the game, he was no where to be found throughout the rest of the quarter. It was like Golden State had made him completely irrelevant.
During Dirk's fourth quarter struggles, the person that kept the Mavericks in the game was none other than third year guard Devin Harris. Harris was giving the Warriors a little bit of their own medicine by quickly and aggressively taking the ball to the basket. In the fourth quarter Harris had 11 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds. And who do you think set Dirk up for his two spectacular three pointers in the fourth? That's right, Devin Harris.
Dirk was the closer, but believe me, if Devin Harris didn't step up his game the way he did in the fourth, there wouldn't have been an opportunity for Nowitzki to close out anything.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-02-2007 @ 3:52PM
some guy said...
Devin Harris makes basketball look like soccer. Any time anyone touches him, he goes flying.
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5-02-2007 @ 5:21PM
anny said...
I find it funny that Dirk is now the hero considering he allowed the Warriors to come back from being 21 points down. Yeah he scored 12 of 15 in the 4th but hey! He's supposed to score! He's there freakin superstar! Maybe if Dirk had decided to show up in the first 3 quarters, the Mavs wouldn't have squeaked by with the win. And let's face it, if Baron Davis didn't foul out and Stephen Jackson didn't get tossed (which was ridiculous by the way) the Mavs would be starting their summer vacation. Man I hope Golden State can take care of business at home.
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5-02-2007 @ 6:20PM
Damon said...
To "some guy"...Baron Davis filed out with 23 seconds left and down 4 and Jackson 8 seconds left and down six. You mean to tell me that made the difference...
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5-02-2007 @ 9:00PM
Alex said...
I won't dispute Harris being the hero. But the zero is Josh Howard. There were several opportunities where Dirk was wide open on the break to drive it, but Howard seemed to purposely pull up and not pass to Dirk. And then 4 seconds later, he passes to Dirk when he isn't open.
That has actually been happening quite a bit this series. They have seemed at times to want to avoid giving it to Dirk. Kinda hard to get your shot back when no one will pass to you when you're open? And since game 1, GS hasn't really done much unorthodox to contain Dirk. His jumper has just been off. That happens to him all the time, except usually the Mavs keep feeding him and he goes off at some point in the game. Except this series Dirk misses a couple of shots and doesn't get to touch the ball for the rest of the quarter.
You want to look for a reason the Mavs have been playing so poorly, look at Dirk's touches.
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5-03-2007 @ 11:14AM
Jared said...
How true Alex. Not only do Dirks teammates set him up for bad shots, they also feed it to him in the post too late, giving the D time to react and double.
All that aside the Mavs just dont seem to be jiving as one organism. Howard is trying to become an independent super star, Dirk is getting stage fright and is questioning himself, Cuban is always a mess, and why isnt avery pulling his troops together. There are obviously a lot of problems going on behind the scene.
I thought Austin played awsome last night and i dont know why he hasnt been playing more. He is a tough nosed player and wont take shit from anyone, these are the type of player that match up well against GS. But its hard to play tough against GS when you have the refs calling every touch foul possible. I hope the refs let them play tonight, because its going to be a real blood bath. Will the real mavs please stand up.
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