As with most Dallas Mavericks fans, the memory of Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals remains fresh in my mind. I remember, vividly, the excitement through the first 2 ½ quarters of basketball in that game, glowing in the very real possibility of a four game sweep and the soon to follow championship parade snaking through downtown Dallas.
From the end of the third quarter of that game, through Game 5 of the San Antonio series on Tuesday, the NBA post-season has been a nightmarish time for me and legions of Mavs fans. First, I watched Dwayne Wade pull off his best imitation of Michael Jordan (with a little help from his friends with whistles) and lead the Miami Heat to four straight victories to claim the 2006 NBA title.
In 2007, I watched all 82 games, as the Mavericks compiled a 67-15 record heading into the playoffs as the #1 seed against the #8 seed Golden State Warriors. In what still may be the biggest upset in professional sports post-season history, the Warriors dominated the round 1 series from the start, dispatching of the Mavs in six games.
Last year, the Mavs still managed to win 50 games, but entered the playoffs with a lot of excess baggage. The New Orleans Hornets had no trouble whatsoever in dominating the series, but the off-the-court issues overshadowed and outweighed the on-the-court disappointments.
During the off season, Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and the other decision makers in the Mavericks organization decided to stay the course, replacing only the coach and choosing not to make any major moves with the roster. This lack of movement baffled critics, MFFL’s and the media talking heads alike and many felt the Mavs would continue to struggle.
After a disastrous start to the season, the fears seemed legitimate. Indeed, some felt that the initial assessment of the damage done to the team’s psyche and chemistry was far too conservative. Around the All-Star break, something began to change within this team and despite a few set backs the Mavs began to play like a transformed team, a transformation that has carried into the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
Mavs fans, our little Mavericks are now a mentally tough team.
For years, the knock against Dirk Nowitzki has been that he does not perform under pressure. Whether it was missing key free throws in Game 6 of the 2006 Finals or allowing his emotions to overcome him when dealing with double and triple teams, critics certainly have a lot of evidence to point to in their argument. Throughout the last two months of the season and in the San Antonio series, we began to see a different Dirk.
The blueprint that Don Nelson drew up for beating the Mavs in 2007 was shutting down Dirk. “Take Dirk out of the game and the Mavericks can’t score” was the philosophy the Warriors used and the Hornets copied. Sure enough, the Spurs continued to focus their defensive attention on Dirk, but this time, Dirk showed true discipline and decided to handle the situation differently, passing the ball to other teammates, which opened up the offense, getting some of the key role players involved in the scoring.
In the past, many teams tried to exploit the emotional side of Dirk. They recognized that if you stifled him physically, he could become emotionally frustrated, lose focus on the game and commit costly errors (i.e. missed free throws, turn overs, technical fouls, etc.). Again, over the course of the final two months of the regular season and during the San Antonio series, we began to see a new Dirk emerge, a Dirk more in control of his emotions and more focused on the mental aspect of the game.
In the past, the confidence of the Mavericks seemed to hinge on the performance of Dirk. They heard the chatter that without Dirk they were nothing and seemed to believe it. Perhaps no one player epitomized this more than Eric Dampier. In spite of his size and strength, Dampier has always been a bit of a timid player, unsure of himself, even when Dirk was hot.
This started to change over the last part of the regular season as well and we saw flashes of a changed Dampier in Games 1 & 2 of the San Antonio series, but it was Dampier’s comments after Game 2 regarding Tony Parker and the energy he brought into Game 3, refusing to let the media criticism and scrutiny of the NBA Gestapo get to him.
Dampier did not put up gaudy statistics in the San Antonio series and he made a couple of bone headed mistakes during the series, but the Mavericks don’t need a double-double out of Dampier to be successful. They simply need Dampier to play his role. If you look at Dampier’s performance over the last two months of the regular season and his performance during the San Antonio series, you will see that he is playing with his most confidence and his best basketball since joining the Mavericks, possibly in his NBA career.
In the past, critics railed that the Mavericks lacked “poise,” a vague, intangible element that I place under the “mental toughness” umbrella. For the sake of this post, “poise” simply refers to the ability to remain steady throughout the course of a game or series, refusing to succumb to the ups and downs that will surely come.
The 2006 Mavericks squad lacked “poise” and when they blew a 13-point lead in Game 3 of the Finals there was no recovering. The 2007 Mavericks squad lacked “poise” (and confidence) heading into the Golden State series and they never put up a fight. The 2008 Mavericks squad lack a lot of things, including “poise.”
What’s different in 2009? Jason Kidd!
Yes, Kidd was part of the 2008 that lacked “poise,” but, as discussed earlier, there were other issues at play with the 2008 team (even then, it was his “poise” that led a furious comeback in Game 5 of the New Orleans series). Throughout this season and throughout the San Antonio series, Jason Kidd has been the steady, guiding hand—dare I say the leader—of this team.
Without a doubt, the biggest mental liability on this team over the past few seasons has been Josh Howard. Where do we begin? In last year’s playoffs, Josh Howard decided to declare over the air waves that he was a proud pot smoker. He followed this up by shooting around 26% during the New Orleans series and decided to throw a birthday party for himself on the same night the Mavericks suffered a huge defeat at home to the Hornets.
Contrast that with the San Antonio series where J-Ho was consistent from start to finish in all games. Whereas the last few seasons, J-Ho appeared to be just stepping on the court to draw a paycheck, during the San Antonio series you could actually see passion and emotion in his face. His previous lack of performance in the second half was due to a lack of focus. The energy with which J-Ho is playing with this season, helps to keep that focus throughout the game. (This focus can be seen off the court as well. Just compare his interview from the past two seasons to his interview this season.)
The Mavericks have grown mentally tough. How this happened is not so much as important as how to keep it. Denver is one of those teams that only folks from Denver can like , a cast of miscreants and social deviants who will stop at nothing to try and expose the Mavericks as physically and mentally soft—hard fouls, taunting, showboating—all attempts to draw the Mavs offsides.
Which Mavericks’ team will we see in the Denver series—the Mavs teams of ’06, ’07 & ’08 or the Mavs team of the San Antonio series?
