Another Big 2 Games This Weekend for Dallas

Well, Dallas did what I hoped they would do on Wednesday night…pummel a team, in the Golden State Warriors, that was ripe for a pummeling. The Warriors were playing the second game of a back-to-back and had their bells rung by 24 points the night before in San Antonio. They also were finishing up 4 games in 5 days. The Mavs were at home, got an emotional lift when Dirk actually played and got an inspired effort from the rest of the team. They played a complete 4 quarters and won by 25 against a team that didn’t look like they had much interest in playing.

I’m not going to over hype the win on Wednesday but I will say it was a big win for a few reasons. If Dallas loses that game, the chances of them making the playoffs were slim and none. Also, Golden State is a team that has been in the head of the Mavericks the last 2 seasons so Dallas needed to prove to themselves they could not only beat the Warriors but beat them soundly. Dallas is now 2 full games ahead of Golden State (with 7 games left to play) and 1 game ahead of Denver, who occupies the 8th spot in the West right now. However, for Wednesday’s win to remain as big, the momentum must carry over to this weekend.

Dallas plays the Lakers tonight in L.A. and Phoenix on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix. The Mavs need at least a split here. I truly think if they play the way they did on Wednesday night against Golden State, Dallas can beat the Lakers tonight. The Lakers lost last week, at home, to both Charlotte and Memphis. How they lost to those two hapless teams, I don’t know…but the fact is they did. I don’t think they will get a win on Sunday though as Dallas, over the years, typically hasn’t played that well in day games, especially on the road. So that makes tonight’s game pretty important. Dallas needs to take advantage of the momentum they created on Wednesday night and build on that.

Josh Howard seems to be getting back to the form he had last season. The last 5 games, Josh has averaged 30.2 points. He has to continue at this level for the Mavs to have a shot of an extended post season run. JET Terry showed some signs on Wednesday of awakening as well as he poured in 31 points of his own. He, also, needs to play at a high level (especially since Dirk is still not 100% yet) for Dallas to do well in the playoffs. Over the past few games, Kidd also seems to have played better so I’m hoping he has a better grasp of the offense and he and the team are becoming more familiar with each other..

I am in hopes that Wednesday’s win started some momentum Dallas can sustain through April and go streaking into the playoffs, much the same way Golden State did last year. If that happens, Dallas will be a very dangerous team for any team in the West to play. But for that to happen, Dallas really needs to play well and get a “W” this evening.