The Playoffs Are Well On Their Way...

And I have alot of Mavs' talk that I need to get out!

Most of my posts are just recaps on games, not including my opinion, so I figured I'd write a post with some personal input.

There are a couple of things I'd like to talk about:

The first thing being George Karl's comment. On Thursday, Karl told a radio station that he would rather face the Mavericks in the first round than the Thunder. He figures since they are 3-1 over the Mavs this season that they'd make a good matchup. Recently, Denver acquired former Knicks players Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, and Raymond Felton in the trade that gave up Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. The Nuggets also got the Knicks' first round pick in 2014 and second round picks in 2012 and 2013, so they definitely have room to build for the future. Obviously Denver was giving up two great players, which is why a lot of fans were baffled by this trade. But to much of everyone's surprise, the trade was actually nothing short of a genius trade for Denver, as they are not only playing great ball without Melo but rather playing even better. Denver is 15-6 since the trade and have managed to lock in on the 5th seed. As of right now, Denver would be playing the Thunder in the first round; but Thunder is just 1 game behind Dallas, so anything can happen. Honestly, a 7-game series vs the Nuggets wouldn't typically be an "easy" run, so maybe Karl is right.

Secondly, JJ Barea and Jason Terry's tirade. In the second quarter of Friday night's game vs the Clippers, Terry made a remark filled with anger towards Barea which led to Carlisle kicking Terry out of  the timeout huddle and Cuban having to calm Terry down. At this point, the Mavs trailed 39-25 in the game and were losing hope. Turnover after turnover the Mavs' continued to be embarrased; but the incident with Terry miraculously sparked the Mavs. After it occured, the Mavs went on a run and led by as many as 12 in the third and wound up winning 107-96. On a four game losing streak towards the end of the regular season, the Mavs were getting frustrated. This incident actually boosted the Mavericks and probably woke them up from their nightmare. Barea confirmed that him and Terry are all good now and that the team is back to working hard to get ready for the playoffs.

Third, Caron Butler's return for the playoffs. Caron has been telling the fans over and over that he's going to make a comeback for the playoffs. He's been rehabbing his knee and working hard as ever to get it back into shape to be playoff ready; but is the Mavs' forward's words reliable? Carlisle deemed him "extremely unlikely" to play in the first round of the playoffs.

"I can't give you a medical opinion," Carlisle said. "My coaching opinion is, his jump shot looks great. He's doing great and he's way ahead of schedule. But timetable-wise, I don't have one. He's been able to step up his activity moderately, but he's not running yet or anything like that."

Caron will continue his aggressive rehabilitation but only time will tell. Personally, I think putting him in the lineup in the first round is a bit risky. I mean, he did rupture his patellar tendon and even if he feels well enough to play, one awkward jerk to his knee could end his career. So I think waiting until the second round is a better idea. And it'd give the Mavs all the more reason to make it there.


And lastly, what all Mavs' fans hate talking about: the Mavs' history in the playoffs. For Dallas, 50+ wins a season remains a given; but then comes the playoffs, and we all know that story. Not many teams have been as successful as the Mavericks have been in the regular season in the past decade, yet they have just as much to showcase as the Clippers, Bucks, Wolves, Wizards and other teams that remain on the bottom of the standings each year. In the last 10 post-seasons, the Mavs have lost in the first round 4 times and in the conference semifinals four times. Their most successful run was in 02-03 when they lost to the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals and in 05-06 when they lost in their first NBA Finals trip to the Miami Heat. And even that wasn't much to be proud of. Dallas led the series over Miami, 2-0, and managed to lose a 13-point lead with 6 minutes to go in game 3 and lost the following 3 games as well. But the Mavs' post-season failures didn't end there. The following season, the Mavs won the leagues-most 67 games and Dirk was named MVP, Dallas fans finally took a breather-they thought their post-season hardships have finally come to an end. But little did they know the Mavs would end up losing to the 8th-seeded Golden State Warriors.

As for this season, the Mavs were off to a great start but unfortunately lost several players to injuries. Dirk missed 9 games with a knee injury, his most games missed in his career. During that period, the Mavs were hopeless. Dallas also lost Caron, who had a season ending knee injury, but has been able to just get by without him. Marion also missed a few games as did Chandler. With all of these injuries, the Mavs still managed to stay 3rd seed, and even 2nd for some time. So, what does this mean? Will the Mavs make it far into the playoffs since they've managed to make it this far through all of the rough patches? Or will they lose in the first round again and prove everyone right? Well, I believe the Mavs DO have what it takes to make it passed the first round and even further. It's going to take much team effort and a great mindset, but it's possible.

Being a Mavs' fan means you've been through hell and back- but us Mavs' fans got to stick together. There's nothing left to do but pray and support our Mavs throughout the first round. If we make it through that, then that's great--but if not, then we'll just have to start focusing on next season. We can never give up and never stop supporting our team.. thats what a MFFL is for, right?