Warriors 97 Mavericks 85

Those of you who were around here last year know that we had a policy during the playoffs: no posts after a Mavs loss. One of the reasons we did this was because we knew a Mavs loss would cause our writing to suffer: essentially, we were afraid that we'd jump to irrational conclusions about the games because we were too pissed and/or drunk to calmly analyze what we had just witnessed.

And frankly, despite my best efforts, I'm starting to think that we might have to adopt that policy again this year. After all, there are a few things we need to remember before we start talking shit: the Mavs were consistently the best team in the NBA this season. They won 67 games, went on multi double digit winning streaks, and basically seemed to come through whenever and however they needed in order to win, often dominating even the NBA's best teams in the process. The Mavs were one of the deepest, most talented and disciplined teams in the NBA pretty much every night they stepped out on the court, and it would be insane to think that Golden State, an 8th seed that has played terrible on the road all year, would be able to beat the Mavs in a seven game playoff series, especially since the Mavs have been so focused on winning a championship all year long. These are the kinds of things that we might tend to overlook if we started posting every time the Mavs lost, and it really isn't fair.

Instead of having faith in the NBA's best team, we might, for example, get too hung up on the fact that the Mavs came out in game 1 with no fire, drive, or sense of urgency. Or we might spend too much time talking about how Dirk looked limp, timid and unconcerned throughout the whole game, or how Golden State seemed to know how to get him rattled from the start, causing him to shoot a dismal 4-16 from the field. Or we might go on and on about the fact that the Mavs, one of the NBA's deepest teams, was only able to get 4 points from their bench, including absolutely nothing from Jerry Stackhouse, who should be a serious contender for sixth man of the year. Or we might incorrectly focus on the fact that the Warriors, despite not playing their best basketball, were able to control the tempo and feel of the game all night, and didn't seem to look nervous or intimidated at any point as they maintained control pretty much throughout. Or we might waste our time wondering if Nellie, who is out for blood against Mark Cuban and the Mavericks organization, might just know enough about Dirk, Avery, Del, and the rest of the team to expose all their weaknesses on such a regular basis that even if the Mavs do win this series, the rest of the NBA will have a blueprint on how to take them down. Or we might just pointlessly worry about the fact that over the past two seasons, the Mavs have not been able to beat the Warriors under pretty much any circumstances (including their last six meetings), which is quite problematic since they are presently better than they've been at any other point during that stretch.

You see? These posts are just a downer, and quite frankly, we're probably allowing our anger to get the best of us. The Mavs are the best team in the NBA, and they just had an off night tonight. Thats all. And there is no WAY they could lose in the first round to a mediocre team like Golden State. Right? Right?

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