No Terry, No Problem
By David Pincus (5/22/2006)
Towards the end of Game 5, Mavericks guard Jason Terry dove for the ball
against Spurs guard Michael Finley. On the instant replay a frame of Terry
punching Finley in the nether region was found and thus he was suspended for
Game 6. I still don’t understand how Reggie Evans could something worse on the
court and not get suspended, but I suppose this is Stu Jackson’s way of
compensating.
Many analysts have found his absence in this game as an excuse to hop back on
the Spurs bandwagon, while previously noting Dallas as a one-man team. But don’t
be fooled, as Dallas still is prime to win this game and will do it without
Jason Terry.
Much of the reason Dallas is winning this series is because of backup PG
Devin Harris, whose 16 PPG have been unstoppable for San Antonio. Now the kick
between him and Terry are gone in this game, but it only means more minutes for
Harris.
Adrian Griffin and Marquis Daniels are inline to get an increase of minutes,
and this could be their one and only moment to get a boost in playing time.
Perhaps getting more than scrap time will be Darrell Armstrong, who is
personally my favorite player to ever come from the Orlando Magic. Armstrong
matches up well with the veterans on San Antonio and is a better defender than
Terry.
Just because the Mavs are going bigger doesn’t necessarily mean it will
benefit San Antonio. The Spurs were reluctant to play Muhammad and Nesterovic to
begin with and Dallas going small gave Popavich an excuse to bench them. But
with Dallas going big, the Spurs might not be able to get away with the 4-guard
lineup they’ve implemented lately and might resort to Oberto, Raso and Nazr
instead.
If Dallas is truly the best team in the West, then they should be able to
function without Terry. We’ve seen from Indiana and Sacramento that the loss of
a great player tends to spur on excellent games from the supporting cast. With
the Mavs bench, we should look forward to someone stepping up.
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