[Tchocky]

The Warriors won the regular season 3-0. Is this the 1st time that an 8th seed has had a winning record against the number one seed going into the playoffs. I like the Mavs in 5.

[bigboydan]

Mavs in 5 is my prediction.

[austintx05]

Golden St in 4

[Tchocky]

Golden St in 4

Goldent State is +750. How much you got on them?

[Junkyard Dog]

This is gonna be a fun series. If Warriors can steal an early game Dal will feel the pressure of being 1 seed. GS in 7.

[tevari]

like GS here 4-2

[Curse Fire]

Mavs all the way baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

[austintx05]

Well nothing yet...but wouldn't it be funny to see the mighty best record dallas mavericks lose to an 8th seed!

[Dark Horse]

I'm trying to figure out what strategy AJ will come up with. I don't expect he'll want to run with the Warriors, because that will make the series more or less a toss-up. Even though GS swept the season series, there was really only one meaningful game; after tossing out the games from the first and last week of the season. In that one meaningful game DAL committed an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers and allowed GS to shoot 57%. Also, DAL missed 12 more shots, but grabbed 19 more rebounds. So the most obvious points for game 1 of the playoff series: no turnovers, better defense, and continue to crash the boards. If DAL does that, they should be fine.

Meanwhile, Nelson will focus on neutralizing Dirk. GS is good at swarming Nowitzki as soon as he gets the ball, and he doesn't have the greatest ability to find the open man.

Game total is set at 214.5, and my early lean is towards the under.

[Zikaris]

GS is to good when everyone's healthy. They start off with 5 proven scorers... how many teams do that? (Okay maybe Biedrins isn't proven yet but he's put up points all year)

Monta ellis off the bench is the equivalent of the Sun's Barbosa but Ellis can pass much better. Michael Pietrus is a nasty dunker off the bench who plays good hard defense...

I think the warriors have the talent to take this one... if they had their current lineup throughout the entire year they may very well have taken the #1 spot instead of Dallas.

If Dallas goes on to win the championship I'm sure this will be the hardest series they play.

[rjt721]

GS is to good when everyone's healthy. They start off with 5 proven scorers... how many teams do that? (Okay maybe Biedrins isn't proven yet but he's put up points all year)

Monta ellis off the bench is the equivalent of the Sun's Barbosa but Ellis can pass much better. Michael Pietrus is a nasty dunker off the bench who plays good hard defense...

I think the warriors have the talent to take this one... if they had their current lineup throughout the entire year they may very well have taken the #1 spot instead of Dallas.

If Dallas goes on to win the championship I'm sure this will be the hardest series they play.

Are you serious? GS has no shot in this series.

Avery Johnson will make GS play a halfcourt game and negate their explosiveness in the open court. On the other end, Dallas will abuse the Warriors and their nonexistent defense. Don Nelson will never win anything playing this style, just as Phoenix will never win a title under D'Antoni. The playoffs are all about toughness and halfcourt execution. There is a reason Dallas turned into a legit title contender after replacing Nelly with AJ. Dallas has the 2 best players in this series in Dirk and J Howard, and the far superior coach. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavs swept GS.

How can you say this will be a tougher series for the Mavs than playing the Spurs in the WCF?

Mavs in 5.

[austintx05]

Mavs need to take this series quickly because going 6+ in round 1 is not the key to success. I still think that part of their playoff success last season was due to a quick 4-0 sweep of Memphis.

[Zikaris]

Are you serious? GS has no shot in this series.

Avery Johnson will make GS play a halfcourt game and negate their explosiveness in the open court. On the other end, Dallas will abuse the Warriors and their nonexistent defense. Don Nelson will never win anything playing this style, just as Phoenix will never win a title under D'Antoni. The playoffs are all about toughness and halfcourt execution. There is a reason Dallas turned into a legit title contender after replacing Nelly with AJ. Dallas has the 2 best players in this series in Dirk and J Howard, and the far superior coach. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavs swept GS.

How can you say this will be a tougher series for the Mavs than playing the Spurs in the WCF?

Mavs in 5.

I understand dirk is the best player in the series but you rank Josh Howard over Jason Richardson and Baron Davis? seriously? First time I've seen Nelly bashing... he's an offense minded coach and he made a nice trade to make the warriors fit his coaching style. Without him the Warriors wouldn't be in the playoffs this year.

[onlooker]

If the Warriors can heat up and catch fire, they can give the Mavericks problems.

But I say Mavericks in 6.

[rjt721]

I understand dirk is the best player in the series but you rank Josh Howard over Jason Richardson and Baron Davis? seriously? First time I've seen Nelly bashing... he's an offense minded coach and he made a nice trade to make the warriors fit his coaching style. Without him the Warriors wouldn't be in the playoffs this year.

Yes, I think Josh Howard is a much better all-around player than Richardson and Davis, who are completely one-dimensional and have terrible shot selection on offense. Howard is one of the premier defenders in the league and is also a very capable offense player. I don't really think the comparison is even close.

As for Nelson, I do think he is a good coach and I completely agree that GS wouldn't be in the playoffs without him. He is a perfect fit for that team, and without him they wouldn't be near the playoffs. I just don't think a team that plays that style can beat Dallas. Not a knock on GS or Nelson, because I believe the Spurs are the only team in the league that can beat the Mavs.

I would love to see GS upset Dallas. I just don't think it's realistic.

[picantel]

I took the series price of +1000 on GC. How the hell can I not take that price. First game is GS +525. Also took NJ +170 as I think they are better than toronto.

[icsky3]

GS in 7. gonna be very fun to watch. especially if there is a game 7. hah

[babaoriley]

Josh Howard IS a better player than Richardson/Davis in my opinion. The problem here is that GS's guards (the aforementioned duo) have the size and toughness to truly punish Dallas. I think Golden State has a legitimate shot, here, or at least they have "a shot". A small value bet on +1000 is never a bad thing. On the other hand, the Lakers and Wizards (and Magic) have a virtual ZERO chance of winning their respective series.

[tevari]

Josh Howard is the most overrated player in the NBA.

[stump]

mavs in 5

[Zikaris]

Yes, I think Josh Howard is a much better all-around player than Richardson and Davis, who are completely one-dimensional and have terrible shot selection on offense. Howard is one of the premier defenders in the league and is also a very capable offense player. I don't really think the comparison is even close.

As for Nelson, I do think he is a good coach and I completely agree that GS wouldn't be in the playoffs without him. He is a perfect fit for that team, and without him they wouldn't be near the playoffs. I just don't think a team that plays that style can beat Dallas. Not a knock on GS or Nelson, because I believe the Spurs are the only team in the league that can beat the Mavs.

I would love to see GS upset Dallas. I just don't think it's realistic.

Richardson one dimensional? Everyone knows he's one of the best dunkers in the NBA. He's also a 35% career 3 point shooter, he didn't just "find" his 3 point shot all of a sudden this year like josh howard did. He's an excellent rebounder for his position, one of the better guards on the boards. He's not a terrible passer like most 20+ PPG guards out there and he grabs his share of steals.

Remember that he shined for years with NO supporting cast what-so-ever. Teams focussed on shutting him down to beat the warriors and he still put up elite numbers. Now he has players around him.

My vision might not be totally clear as he's my favorite player but he's my favorite player for a reason. It seems like everyone has already forgotten how good he is because he's been injured most of the year. When he came back from his knee injury he played very timidly because he really came back to soon. Then he broke his hand and also had that timid play style for a while after that injury but now he's back to his old self.

I respect your opinion but it boils my blood for someone to say an average, unproven player like josh howard is better then J Rich.

[austintx05]

Golden St in 4

1 down...3 more to go

[Tchocky]

Moneyline on the Mavs for the series has dropped from -1050 to -556. What a difference one game makes. I still like the Mavs in this series.

[austintx05]

I am reminded of the '04 Colts

[austintx05]

GS 2-1 now....talk about pressure....

[Tchocky]

like GS here 4-2

Nice call.

[onlooker]

Ira Wilton, LeoHolem, tevari, and Zikaris called the Warriors in 6 games. Very nice guys.

[gridironguy]

Mad kudos to everyone here who picked Golden St to win BEFORE the series began. In an NBA bracket pool I'm in, I picked the Mavs in 5.

Once the first game was complete and GS won by 11 or whatever, I felt my pre-series pick was in some trouble.

Nice foresight for you guys. Very nice.

[anthon9283]

Are you serious? GS has no shot in this series.

Avery Johnson will make GS play a halfcourt game and negate their explosiveness in the open court. On the other end, Dallas will abuse the Warriors and their nonexistent defense. Don Nelson will never win anything playing this style, just as Phoenix will never win a title under D'Antoni. The playoffs are all about toughness and halfcourt execution. There is a reason Dallas turned into a legit title contender after replacing Nelly with AJ. Dallas has the 2 best players in this series in Dirk and J Howard, and the far superior coach. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavs swept GS.

How can you say this will be a tougher series for the Mavs than playing the Spurs in the WCF?

Mavs in 5.

Now don't you feel silly?

[austintx05]

ha ha

[rjt721]

Now don't you feel silly?

Yeah, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Definitely didn't expect Dirk to pull an A-Rod in this series.

[austintx05]

gotta love boston fans...always have to reference the yankees

[Razz]

gotta love boston fans...always have to reference the yankees

Strange, because they have so many hometown references that would make a lot more sense.