Mavs Hornets analysis 4/2008

Friday night I watched the Mavericks defeat the New Orleans Hornet in game 3. In game 1, the game was fairly close throughout, but as it turned out the Hornets had been keeping it real close and storing up energy. Then, at the end, they ran out ahead and won the game. In game 2, their strategy was even more devilish, as they came out and built up a huge lead, and then refused to let the Mavericks get close. “We're going to score a bunch of points early, and then we'll just keep doing that, and it will never be close.” And that's what happened.

In game 3, though, the Mavericks caught on, and did the same thing back to the Hornets, which is smart and probably Avery Johnson had a bunch to do with that. “Oh no,” the Hornets said, “Let's score a bunch of points in the 2^nd period and get in front fast or we'll be in big trouble.” But the Mavericks had thought of that too! They quickly scored a bunch of points right back at them, and “never looked back,” as professional broadcasters like to say.

Now if the Mavericks can remember to do that in game 4, everything will be good. Check back for more analysis.