The Mavericks were relaxed at Saturday’s practice ahead of tonight’s Game 7 in Phoenix, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Coach Jason Kidd, who had plenty of experience with pivotal playoff games during his playing career, is urging his team to enjoy the opportunity and “stay in character” the way it has done all season.
In NBA history, road teams only have a 23.2% success rate in seventh games, and the challenge is particularly daunting for Dallas, which has lost all three games of the series in Phoenix and was destroyed by 30 points in Game 5. But the Mavs are optimistic after responding with a dominant performance of their own Thursday night.
“It’s an emotional lift for us,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “Obviously Phoenix was the best team in the league in the regular season. Obviously they’re at home, hostile environment. But you know, they also say a Game 7 typically goes to the best player and I believe we have that in this series. It’s going to be an exciting clash of styles.”
There’s more from Dallas:
- Frank Ntilikina missed the Mavericks’ first-round series with Utah following a tonsillectomy, but he has been an important contributor against Phoenix, notes Chuck Carlton of The Dallas Morning News. Ntilikina was barely used by the Knicks in last year’s playoffs and had a disappointing four-year run in New York. He’s thankful to get a second chance with Dallas, which signed him in September without requiring him to work out. “Definitely it was stress and tension back then,” Ntilikina said, referring to his time with the Knicks. “But I stayed with it like every player should do and stayed confident in my work. Now I’m just glad to be here preparing for a Game 7, preparing for [Sunday].”
- Kidd wasn’t with the Mavericks when they lost Game 7 to the Clippers last season, but he believes being in that environment will benefit them today, Carlton states in the same story. “Guys who participated in it understand what it means so you don’t have to explain what Game 7 means,” Kidd said. “It’s about us executing the game plan and giving us a chance.”
- Suns forward Jae Crowder has strong memories of his first Game 7, which happened when he played for the Mavericks in 2014, Carlton adds. “Yeah, I had a lot of vets on my team. I had Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki,” Crowder said. “Those guys just talked about the atmosphere, how it was going to be enhanced, how much emotion was going to be in the game. Still, whatever they told me wasn’t enough. It didn’t put in what’s at stake and the emotions behind it. Obviously going through it helped me a lot.”
IMO
Suns don’t need Chris Paul to win game 7
Should the Suns rest Paul today?
As a Mavs fan, I hope they listen to you.
Paul plays 13 playoffs games in 28 days
Is he tired?
Mavs have Frank
Do the Suns have Frank?
Both Franks look good to me
Sillivan bot?
Bot Sillivan?
This?
Wow !!!!!! The total Bust . The guy who doesn’t belong in the NBA ….. by all accounts on this board. Where the geniuses here always trash a 19-22 yr old.
Frank Nttilikina is an important part of the Suns series. Making a Difference against the top team in NBA…….. wow who knew ??
I wonder who said. All he needed was a new place. And get older. To be a solid rotation guy At Least ….
Again getting it right. Geez I guess he’s just lucky.
While I agree that the Knicks should’ve used him more. He still played four seasons for the Knicks and averaged 19 minutes a game and had percentages of 36% from the field 32% from three. He did not have the offense to be out there. He was terrible from the field. I enjoyed seeing him defend guys but his defense wasn’t enough to keep him out there.
No. At least at first, they should have used him LESS, but more meaningfully. But, of course, that would have required a real HC. His (real) NBA career, and his development as an NBA player, began in his 4th year.
Dude Knicks didn’t use him right. He was a pawn in the Phil scenario. Next GMs all wanted him to fail so Phil can look bad. That’s the real Knick mess. Always has been. Looking over your shoulder. Only true NYK fans get it. Knicks did him wrong.
Hi Al,
I have no issue admitting fault – Frank isn’t as bad as I (and others) thought based on his extremely subpar stats in NY. I thought he’d be back in Paris by now.
Yet he’s at least found a place in this series to be a rotation guy and delayed his return to Europe by probably at least a season or two.
Looking forward to you turning over a new leaf and politely admitting when you’re wrong about something as well.
Thanks,
buttholesurfer69
I don’t have a problem admitting I’m wrong. I just don’t put myself out there like geniuses do. I always give a player or coach his due chance. But when it comes to NYK. I doubt foreigners know the real scoop. And that gets my ire. No one can be always right in sports lol. Franks D alone is enough to keep him in NBA. We should all be able to see that. Yet it seems most just want to see failure. I’m an optimist. And that’s hard as a Knick fan lol.
He has taken 7 shots in 6 games averaging a cool 1.5 pts/game vs Phx after sitting out the whole Utah series –
Idk if important is the right wording
He’s played over 10 mins a gm in this series. Those of you who thrashed him. Said he doesn’t belong in NBA. He’s only 23. And will get better in that environment. He’s already outdoing all the geniuses here. That’s all I’m saying.
Booker and Paul have combined shooting 3-40 this series when he is guarding them. I would that in and of itself shows he has played an important role this series. For you to just point out how many shots he has taken when everyone knows his value is not on the offensive side of the ball is a pretty weak take. Either you haven’t watched the series or don’t understand that players can have value without being big scorers.
All you please watch Dinwiddie today. A close out gm. See how he shows up.
To me Ayton should be the difference in this series. No one on Dallas can hold him. CP3 should be taking advantage of this. He is much more talented on O than he’s shown. Chris should know that. Suns should know that. Suns can control gm thru him. I would feed him ball and get 30 and 15 from him. He is totally capable of doing that.
I’ve said this for yrs on this board. You saw how Tucker picked up Harden full court. That’s how you play a shooter and scorer who handles the ball. That’s how you disrupt and offense like the Warriors. D is half the gm. And in a 7 gm series. It is as important as scoring. Suns with Ayton, Bridges, Johnson, Crowder, McGee should step up the D and win this gm. 2Way Sport .
I’m tempted to pick Dallas on this one. If it wasn’t for a supernova showing by Kawhi in last year’s 7 game series I think Dallas moves on.
I don’t see Booker or Paul coming through with a Kawhi level performance tonight – if Dallas can at least keep it close going down the stretch I’d have more confidence in them pulling out a close win.
It would be a mistake to underestimate DAL’s chances in this game. PHX is the better team and should win. But I’d be very surprised if this game doesn’t come down to the last 5 minutes. I’m expecting Jason Kidd, a basketball savant, to have some stuff ready. We’ll see.
On Frank, happy for him and not surprised. He’s situational, more than rotational, right now, and was that last year here too. If Thibs were here a couple of years earlier, Frank would still be here and further along. But there was too much baggage here by that time, and leaving to another team on a minimum contract was best.
Dallas has so many decent but below-average guards… Now N’kina is getting minutes too… I hope Kidd doesn’t forget about about Dins in the endgame.