Dallas Mavericks

[kd19orcinus]

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The Mavericks have been very consistent with their performance especially in the regular season. However, their pathetic vigor and stamina during playoff period always spoil their chances of bringing home the Larry O’brien Trophy….. Still, im an avid fan of Dirk Nowitzki…. Goodluck Dallas mavericks :mrgreen:

[revax the great]

In the DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Eddie Sefko writes “Dirk Nowitzki would be loving life, paired with Michael Redd and leading the Milwaukee Bucks to playoff glory under George Karl. The sideline would be a lot quieter, the Cajun drawl of Avery Johnson absent because he’d be pulling his coaching strings somewhere else. It’s not a stretch to think that all of those things could have happened if not for Don Nelson landing in Dallas in 1997.” So tonight, Nelson “returns for the first time coaching another team, the Golden State Warriors.”

[revax the great]

Nelson set Mavs in motion

Coach returns to face team that owes part of its turnaround to him

01:13 AM CST on Monday, November 6, 2006

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Dirk Nowitzki would be loving life, paired with Michael Redd and leading the Milwaukee Bucks to playoff glory under George Karl.

The sideline would be a lot quieter, the Cajun drawl of Avery Johnson absent because he'd be pulling his coaching strings somewhere else.

And the Mavericks might still be known as the worst franchise in pro sports.

It's not a stretch to think that all of those things could have happened if not for Don Nelson landing in Dallas in 1997. The Mavericks had won 50 games the previous two seasons. That's not even an acceptable single season these days.
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They were working on a string of seven consecutive losing seasons.

So on his first day of work, Nelson waived Oliver Miller. He figured if you're going to start trimming fat, start with the fattest.

Tonight, nearly a decade after he joined the basketball wasteland that was the Mavericks, Nelson returns for the first time coaching another team, the Golden State Warriors. It's fitting that the Western Conference championship banner – won mostly with players he acquired and coached – will be unveiled in the rafters of American Airlines Center with Nelson in the arena.

"I'll be the proudest guy in the building," Nelson said Sunday.

Donnie Nelson, the coach's son and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks, said the decision to raise the banner tonight was made before Nelson joined the Warriors. "I think a lot of people don't understand that," he said.

There will be those who see the timing of the event as a poke in Nelson's side. Others will point to his legal battle against Mark Cuban over deferred money. Cuban declined to comment about Nelson's return.

But no matter the circumstances of Nelson's departure from the Mavs, he deserves to be toasted tonight as much as the team that provided all the thrills last season before losing to Miami in the NBA Finals.

"If Nellie wasn't part of this operation, where would it be?" assistant coach Del Harris said. "You've got the history. He brought in Avery. His son is the president. It's fitting. And people shouldn't put any negativity into it."

Nelson will leave it to others to determine his legacy in Dallas. But he can look back with a smile at what the Mavericks accomplished under his watch.

"I thought I did a pretty good job," he said.

Johnson said he doesn't expect to hear a single boo from the crowd tonight. He also will have a tug at his heartstrings.

"He's been a huge part of getting this franchise back in the right direction," said Johnson, who believes his life would have taken a markedly different path had it not intersected with Nelson. "Yeah, I can make that argument. Had I not been in that trade, who knows what would happen. He's definitely been an instrumental part of my career and my life, on and off the court."

Emotions will run deep for Nelson, too, after his nine years with the Mavs, a long term of employment by NBA standards.

Harris has gone through similar moments when he returned as a coach of a different team. He was in Houston, Milwaukee and Los Angeles and all of those places are still special when he goes back. But there's no time like the first return trip.

"Yeah, if you're there a long time, it is a big deal," he said. "It's just special. You leave something of you behind wherever you go. You'd like to hope that people think you did a good job – the best you could do – regardless of what the record is when you leave."

The down side of tonight's encounter is that the teams still have to play. Golden State "can't beat anybody right now," in Nelson's words.

That's not true. They're 1-2, which gives them one more win than the 0-2 Mavericks.

"They're probably glad to see us coming," Nelson said.

The same could be said for fans at tonight's game in regard to Nelson.

"We certainly wouldn't be where we are without him," Donnie Nelson said. "We were in a pretty rough stretch, and he was beckoned off the island to come try and resurrect this thing.

"And the proof's in the pudding. It pretty much speaks for itself."

[edge827]

Pwede mo apil ani na thread maski miami heat fan ko? hehehehe

[revax the great]

100 percent puwede

[Sadah]

finaly nakadaog na og usa. nindot ang duwa basta phoenix og dallas kay exciting.

[j-tech31]

33-8 record of dallas. wat can u say about dallas ?can they repeat it again into the final and get the nba thropy

[footlose]

di sayon para ma repeat nila last year, they have opponents nga equally as good as this dallas team, the spurs and the suns esp. now with amare is a very dangerous team. knowing last year they got so lucky surpassing the spurs and went on to beat the Amare less suns, this time its different, pero naa gihapon possibilities esp. Josh Howard is getting better and better.

and don't forget the houston rockets if yao and mcgrady are healthy then expect them also to be a tough opponent for dallas.

[j-tech31]

bitaw ma o ni a expectasion sa playoff it would be dallas vs houston,spurs vs dallas, in conference finals it would be phoenix vs spurs or phoenix vs houston. but i think dallas can make it becoz the intensity is der and the momentum is there . they beat the san antonio spurs in this season twice . so meaning they can beat phoenix twice also . speak of spurs are high caliver team and veteran team . so lisod bya na tumbahon ang defnding champion nga spurs

[omad]

I'll repeat what Charles Barkley said about the Mavs this year, "they're on a mission".