I think there's some truth to this. I think the C's destroy them in a 7 game series, but Dallas is a very high percentage shooting team. If you don't play solid D on them for 48 mins they will shoot you out of the building (saw it in the 1st qtr last night which set the tone for the game, saw it last year when they came out the 2nd half and ended up manhandling us at home)
On top of that I think Dirk gives the C's fits like no other player in the league, save for Bogut, Turkoglu used to, maybe a few others. I feel like it goes under the radar but he always seems to kill us at least in recent memory.
Don't forget that Dallas was a game away from a championship a few years ago. That series loss led to a huge downward spiral for them, losing against GS in the first round the next year.
This. If there's one player in the league that KG can't guard, it's Dirk. He has also really improved - in the past he would settle for jumpshots rather than attacking the rim or seeking contact, but now that's no longer the case. He's much tougher, and he's a matchup nightmare.
I don't know, one-on-one Dirk doesn't get great looks on KG. They are usually off-balance baseline fades. One play late in the game that Dirk scored on was after KG shut him down, Dirk passed out and lost KG on a little curl. KG just misread the play. He can defend Dirk good when the guards aren't getting beat like they had been. Barea, Terry, and Kidd were causing problems just as much as Dirk.
Against this Dallas team, our backcourt needs to stay with their's and limit their penetration, which leads to wide-open looks.
We missed shots we normally make, and let them get easy looks we normally wouldn't. A big guy like Shaq and a defender like West make them a lot easier to beat. And a Paul Pierce sighting definitely helps.
I care more about Miami and Chicago getting another L closer to us (and one more away from San Antonio) than losing to Dallas again.
