Young Mavs won't back down from NBA old guard
MAY 8, 2001
Fans' View

AP Photo
Mavericks center Calvin Booth scores the winning basket during the fourth quarter in Salt Lake City. The Mavericks beat the Jazz 84-83.

Today, NBA fan Steve Schindler relives the Mavs' series win over the Jazz and says their style of play will change the game.

These new "Generation X" Dallas Mavericks have no respect for their elders. Their parents never taught them to respect senior citizens. Nellie's kids don't want to hear that it's not nice to steal championships from the infirm. The juices of youth are flying in Dallas and these Gen X Mavs gave the geriatric Utah Jazz fits.

What had been a "home-away-from-home" relationship during the season (each team stealing two games at the other's home-court) suddenly became a "no-place-like-home" playoff series as Dallas surprisingly evened up their best-of-five series at two apiece and then took Game 5.

It is becoming quite obvious that these "hit-and-run" Mavs may be the epitome of the new generation of NBA teams now appearing on the horizon. Outscoring the plodding Jazz 36-21 in the third quarter of Game 4 these youthful Dallas punks were only out-shown this night by the equally offensive Milwaukee Bucks that slammed down 40 in their third-quarter dismantling of the Orlando Magic.

Don Nelson and George Karl seem to know something the rest of us don't as their new wave teams run-and-gun like NBA teams of old. They score off the fast break and shoot 3s from the darkest reaches of half-court. They fly and laugh their way to horrendous victories and are much too young to realize they may someday have to pay the piper for their youthful indiscretions.

In the end it is this type of play that will eventually force the NBA to change its defensive rules. But hey, who cares! With offenses like these even a good zone defense isn't going to get in the way. Let 'em zone! Let 'em zone! Let 'em zone!

The runnin' Mavericks scored 21 points off their speed-of-light transition game last Tuesday. The rapidly aging Jazz couldn't keep up with the biggest load of transition points scored so far in this playoff series.

There were so many positives to accentuate in this wild, runaway win, but it all began with one tall, tough mother under the Dallas basket in the guise of a new and improved Shawn Bradley. This stick-boy wonder scored only one lousy bucket all night, but he altered and swatted away so many Jazz shots that nobody cared.

"That's my job," Bradley said, "to alter shots and to block shots so we can get out and run." And run they did, as the fleet-footed Mavs seemed to collect transition baskets time and again when there seemed to be no men-in-black anywhere in the same time zone.

Steve Nash pushed the pace at a fever pitch. Michael Finley finally found his stroke and Dirk Nowitzki shot 3s, sank 'em wide open and hit 'em with hands in his face as he put up 33 to dispel any fears the Jazz had put demons in his head that would drive him to fatal distraction.

The end for the Jazz came all too quickly when it became apparent that Nelly's "Big 3" were at last clicking on the same court in the same playoff game. Dallas manhandled opponents all season long when Nash, Finley and Nowitzki were on. And that game was always an outside game first, slashing to the hole the last exhibition of fearlessness. The "Big 3" combined for 80 in this Big-D whitewash, combining for 12 of the Mav's 13 long-range bombs. The Team hit 52 percent beyond the 3-point line Tuesday night. That's unconscious!

Nowitzki led all scoring with his 33, Nash chipped in 27 with 7 assists and Finley broke through with a double-double 20 points and 12 rebounds. All three took turns knocking the wind from the Jazz sails. Nash finished the first-half swishing a 27-footer with both Stockton and Starks firmly planted in his face. Finley flew past the old Mailman for an in-your-mailbag dunk and Nowitzki buried a three at the end of the third to signal the end for the sagging Utah visitors.

I remember the electricity in the air when I attended those Western Conference Finals between the Mavericks and the Lakers way back when, and my ears still hear the thunder of the wild Reunion crowd when that young team knocked at the door of the NBA Finals that one last time.

Maybe I'll get another chance to take Steven Jr. to hear the Reunion Arena crowd roar if these new youthful Mavs can brush these old guard Jazz out into the street and bring the David and Duncan Spurs to town for an old-fashioned Texas knock-down drag-out slugfest. These Gen-X Mavs have no respect for the old NBA guard, and it may not occur to anyone to put them in their place until it's too late to do anything about it.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved.