There is absolutely nothing shocking about Golden State's Game 1 win. Nothing. They beat Dallas twice this season when the teams were at full strength, and then in the last game when it was just a cakewalk with reserves for Dallas. At what point do Golden State's wins stop being shocking and start being described in a way more befitting a team that has dominated this particular opponent in their last six meetings?

maybe because 3 of the 15 losses this season for the Mavs were against the Warriors (5 straigght losses)?

Iverson and Carmelo were playing very well Sunday. Spurs did not seem to be able to defend them well. Hopefully the Spurs will make them work for their points more next time!

What's worse, the Mavs get a two day layoff after this loss think about it. I never imagined a 1 seed adjusting to an 8 seed. Isn't it the Mavs job to dictate this series?

You're right about the Mavs. But one more thing: Dirk is the biggest guy on the freakin' court and settles for jumpers and treys on a 4-16 shooting night. GET TO THE BASKET!

apparently avery johnson is scared of don nelson. showing too much respect in my opinion. If golden state wins, this would be the worst case of serious mental breakdown for avery johnson and dirk, talk about last year's meltdown vs heat.

i like underdogs, and denver is one of the best underdogs right now. iverson and anthony are both scorers and spurs backcourt of parker and ginobili might not be fast enough to hold them, even if bowen's on melo. right now that duo is hot on spurs' heels.

lebron and co are just too slack, taking their easy road to the eastern conference finals for granted. i reckon washington will win 2 in a row, and the cavs will wake up from their dreams and bounce to beat them.

people who think the spurs are in trouble will be surprised, pop is one of the best coaches when it comes to adjustments. Nelly's squad is playing with a nothing to lose mentality, this could cause some trouble for the mavs, but eventually the better team (mavs) will prevail after the sparkle is cleared off. Cleveland just didn't take advantage of the injury plagued shortened roster of wizards, but fatigued took its toll at the end.

I think MAVs made adjustments based upon the 5 losses in the regular season. They may have won 67 games non of which were against the Warriors. I think what the CAVs are doing is somewhat smart, why burn up all of your energy and blow teams out when you don't have to. That the Nets are going to do that against TOR and so the CAVs can save it and use it when necessary. They still won by 15, like Nash said, in the playoffs a win is a win, by 1 point or 30 who cares, its 1 notch and you go get 3 more.

I'm surprised there's this much overreaction to the first game of a 7 game series.

All it takes is one win to even the series.

1. not that shocking that we(dallas) lost to the warriors, but i don't expect us to lose the series. this will test avery johnson's coaching ability. there is no reason for dark to play center and sit on hte high post, dallas can't win playin small ball with the warriors. the warriors are better than the mavs going small, going small creates match up problems for mavs. Dirk needs to go in the low post instead of starting high, and tryin to back n spin his way to the bucket. Damp or Diop needs to play and take over the paint.
2. the nuggets plays extremely well, the spurs did not. spurs will come out on top this series, Pop is too good of a coach and the spurs are too experienced and poise to let this one get by.
3. cavs will win this series simply because the wizards don't have agent zero or caron butler. but like i've been saying all year, the cavs need a better playbook, and a someone to push the tempo for them, larry hughes can be great with LBJ in the open court.

People hate to be wrong thats why GS still gets no respect. You have the best team in the NBA vs. GS so if GS wins, it was luck right. Never mind B-Diddy, J- Rich, Ellis, Harrington, and Jackson, there just (lucky). If GS goes to Oakland 2-0 you can bet your bottom dollar it will be a sweep.

It seems silly that most of the media comments about the cavs is they should have really blown the wizards out of the water in the 1st quarter..What about the mav's..They won 67 games in the reg season, sure they were swept by the gs in the reg season, but this is the playoffs and using the same logic everyone is using on the cavs, how can the mavs be considered a serious contender for the finals when they lose the first game to gs..For the cavs, they won by 15 points, the biggest margin of victory for any of this years playoff games to date.

The Mavs have there work cut out for them. Don Nelson knows that team like the back of his hand. Remember Baron Davis has been well rested for the year so he is more than ready to make this a tough series.

AI and Carmelo looked great against the spurs. People keep talking about a the way they loss to them the last time they were in the playoff. Well, this is a much improved team and they now have a more mature Melo and a experience scoring guard in AI. The role players such as Nene and Canmby make this team good enough to beat the Spurs in 6 games.

The Lakers are out in 5 games.

Miami will beat the Bulls in 6 games. D-Wade is still favoring his shoulder but once he forgets about that and play it's over for
Chicago. Shaq will dominate in Game 2.

Orlando will get swept.

Rockets in 5. Tracy McGrady is unstoppable. You can only hope to contain him!

It all comes down to the fact that the Warriors have figured out how to stop Nowitski (harass him with guards and force him to dribble to get his shot), but the Mavs have not figured out how to stop Baron Davis. Unless this changes, the Warriors could very well win the series.

Dallas needs to pound the ball inside to take advantage of the Warriors poor interior defense, but are faced with the problem that Dampier and Diop are not really offensive threats and Nowitski is a permiter player who is not all that good with his back to the basket down in the post.

Look, I'm not saying, the Cavs played a spectacular game or even that they are primed to make a deep playoff run, but why is no one giving them credit for Game 1. The Wizards came out to play, even with their depleted roster, and the Cavs turned them back. They won by 15 points, the biggest margin of the weekend. No one seems to complain that the Pistons only won by 8, even though they let Orlando (just as bad a playoff team as Washington) stay in the game till the end. The Cavs will win this series in 4 or 5, and be well rested for the next round.

If the Spurs allow Iverson and Anthony to get 30 a piece a game then the Spurs will lose.

The warriors will beat the Mavs if they do not slow down the game and put their big men back in.

The Cavs got a by into the second round and are playing like it. Its hard to get excited about games that your supposed to win.

All the people that are shocked the Warriors beat the Mavs clearly have not watched the Warriors play the last month. Since they got all their players healthy they have been one of the top 3 teams in the league and since they switched to a small lineup they have been the best. All the ignorant and lazy pundits like the TNT studio crew (maybe they should watch a little film) should realize how the warriors performed with a starting lineup of Ellis, Pietrus, Dunleavy, Murphy and Biedrins may affect their overall record but has no connection to the team they are right now.

The warriors played a great game. They dictated the tempo, they defended well, and they didnt allow theyre inexperience of post season basketball rattle them. Don Nelson prepared them well. They are a good team and they deserve much more respect than what theyre getting

Mavs cannot win the series until Dirk really put his play into playoff games. He played hard and well before playoff. Why couldn't he do the same thing during playoff games? He should show his leadership skill and prove why he is MVP candidate. Shame on Dirk.

Mavs in 5

As much as I like Dallas and respect the owner, losing in the first round would merely be what they deserved. They had a chance to help assure that the Clippers were their 1st round match (rather than perhaps the team that gave them the hardest run all season). Instead they sit all their starters against G.S. and give them the edge.....just desserts....

It should be no surprise that the Warriors took game one from the Mavs. The way they have been playing since getting healthy is unbelievable. I'm sure the Mavs will adjust and win a few games of their own, but regardless of the outcome (i think it will be decided in 7), the warriors should earn respect of many.

For the Marvericks, you cannot build your house on sand with Dirk; that's what has taken place. A house should be built on a solid foundation, ala Garnett. The Mavs will not win the title and may very well lose to the Golden State.

Lets not forget just because Golden State is 8 seed doesn't mean they are bad. They just didn't have their players due to injuries/trades.

Look at Washington, they are done with out Gilbert and Butler. So if those guys went down in the begging of the season, and the team made it the 8 spot, and then they come back healthy. You are not facing a 8th seed anymore.

Like the previuos person said, Dallas had the chance to get rid of this team that caused them problems. Instead they chose to rest and face them in a 7 game serious. Well now they need to work to get rid of them for 7 games instead of one at the end of the season.

Stupid move that will hurt them.

Avery shouldn't have changed nothing. The Spurs will bounce back and the Cav's Wizards series will be short, 5 games.

What most Mavs fans and national media don't seem to understand is that Nelson and the dubs are practically BEGGING Avery to go big! We absolutely DARE you!

Cheers!

I found it wrong for Avery Johnson to change their lineup for Game 1, being a much better team (and being a championship-caliber team)compared to the Warriors, they (Mavs) should know how to dictate the tempo of the game. I did love the style of play of Golden State but we have seen how Dallas managed to beat Western superpowers Phoenix and San Antonio that is why losing Game 1 is not enough for us to expect a Texas-size shocker. The Mavs, being the great team we have seen in the regular season, will eventually adjust to pound the Warriors to finish the series in 6.