The Dallas Game

["hironaka@nomade.fr"<hironaka@nomade.fr>]

-Boston has lost five of its last six games in Dallas (37-
17). I don't remember the games being that close either.

-The Mavs began a four-game homestand on Tuesday with a 
117-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were 
without All-Star forward Kevin Garnett. Maybe we should 
sit out Walker. :-)

-Dallas has lost three of its last four home games on the 
heels of a five-game home winning streak. 

-Against the Timberpoodles, Dirk Nowitzki scored only 
nine on 2-of-10 shooting and Michael Finley made just 3-
of-19 shots en route to 10 points. I don't know how they 
held Dirk Diggler to 10 shots, but I'm sure Obie watched 
plenty of tape.

-The trade deadline is 5pm Thursday, with Michael Finley 
still rumoured to be on the block.

-BTW it sounds like the Van Exel to Boston trade nearly 
happened, had it not been for money issues. He doesn't 
seem like a good "chemistry" player at all, on a two-
gunner team. Its strange.


Here's TSN's Positional Analysis (from February 16th)

-Small forward/center: Nowitzki has reached elite status, 
and he's determined to stay there. Nelson still likes 
starting Nowitzki at center, with Shawn Bradley as a role 
player. When Bradley is active on defense, he alters 
shots and disrupts an opponent's offense. Grade: A 

-Power forward: Juwan Howard was the team's most 
consistent player over a 10-game stretch, providing 
rebounding, scoring and low-post offense (18.6 points and 
10.2 rebounds). Grade: A 

-Point guard: Even Nash is entitled to an off night. In a 
loss at Portland, Nash had only three points and missed 
six of seven shots from the field, but 24 hours earlier 
he had 28 points and eight assists in a win at Seattle. 
Grade: B 

-Shooting guard: Finley's recovery from a hamstring 
injury is ongoing, and Nelson will continue to scale back 
Finley's minutes and lean more heavily on his bench in an 
effort to have Finley healthy for the playoffs. Now that 
Finley has returned to the lineup, he's become a lesser 
part of the offense. Finley gets fewer touches, and he's 
playing fewer minutes because Nelson wants Finley's 
hamstring to totally heal in time for the playoffs. 
Finley saw his scoring average fall to 15.5 points over 
his first eight games back from the injury. Finley 
doesn't mind taking fewer shots at crunch time, as long 
as the team is successful. Grade: B 

Bench: Eduardo Najera has recovered from a minor knee 
injury to provide rebounding and hustle to the rotation, 
but another bench energizer, Greg Buckner, seemed headed 
back to the injured list. That means more minutes for 
Johnny Newman. Grade: B+ 

Coaching: Nelson continues to get plenty of mileage out 
of zones. The matchup has become his favorite. Grade: B+ 

GO Celts!

***



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