That Warriors team was able to finish eighth in the playoffs, firstly, because Nelson, who had been the head coach of the Mavericks, knew Nowitzki very well, and secondly, because the Warriors that year played so well.
In fact, there have been several black eights in history, but other black eights were either due to injuries to the team's main players or shortened seasons, all of which had objective reasons.
Only the Warriors and Mavericks this time, it is a real black eight!
The league's best record was KOed by the eighth seed, still 2:4, with almost no ability to fight back throughout the whole process.
The Mavericks fired Avery Johnson last season and hired Carlisle as head coach.
Carlisle is a long-established coach and is known as the league's top tactician.
Under the leadership of Carlisle, the Mavericks are performing very well this season, losing two games so far and ranking third in the Western Conference.
The Mavericks' starting five are Nowitzki, Kidd, Gooden, Beaubois and Quentin Rose.
Nowitzki is the undisputed leader of the Mavericks. He is 2.13 meters tall, has a soft touch, can shoot accurately, and can break through. He plays like a guard.
However, Nowitzki was still evolving at this time, and his unique skill of golden rooster independent post-up singles was still being honed.
Not to mention Kidd, he is an old elf and a master of field control. He has also developed three-pointers as he got older.
Drew Gooden was originally a substitute, but was put into the starting lineup due to injuries to Dampier and Marion.
Beaubois is a rookie, 1.83 meters tall, very fast, good at breakthroughs, and has a basket.
Quentin Rose is a shooting guard and was temporarily named to the starting lineup.
In order to maintain the firepower of the bench, Carlisle put Jason Terry and Barea in the starting lineup.
Both of them played more than 30 minutes and scored very efficiently.
Especially Terry, he is the Mavericks' second leading scorer this season.
Without Marion and Dampier, the Mavericks' starting lineup has serious problems on the defensive end and is also stretched thin.
But Carlisle is really good. Under his management, the Mavericks' defense is very good.
The focus of the Warriors' lineup is Curry, while the others rely more on open three-pointers to score.
Carlisle's strategy is to guard against the Warriors' outside three-pointers and actively defend inside.
The disadvantage of the Mavericks lineup is that it cannot protect the rim inside, but it also has an advantage in speed.
Beaubois followed Curry closely, and the others were optimistic about their own man and would never give the Warriors a chance to make a three-pointer.
What if Curry gets a kick and beats Bubova?
What to do, give up!
Carlisle still dared to bet.
Facts have proved that he was right.
With the Mavericks' defense, the Warriors didn't feel very good on the perimeter today.
Even Curry had a rough start on the offensive end.
There was no way, Curry rested for several days due to injury after all.
The injury has fully recovered, but the hand feeling has not returned yet, and it will take time to find the feeling for the game.
It was precisely for this reason that Carlisle dared to bet.
While you are sick, I will kill you!
The Warriors had some troubles offensively, but the Mavericks played well.
The first reason is that the Mavericks are very well prepared.
The Warriors currently have the best record in the league and have won 11 consecutive games. Whenever they encounter the Warriors, no matter which opponent they face, they will be fully prepared.
Not to mention the master tactician Carlisle.
The second reason is that Nowitzki played very well today.
The person guarding Nowitzki is Lopez. He has the advantage in size, but suffers in speed.
When facing other opponents, Lopez can take one step back, or even two steps, but not against Nowitzki.
What Nowitzki is best at is shooting!
But as long as Lopez got closer, Nowitzki would break through.
It's very difficult for Lopez to defend.
Nowitzki is the power forward and Lopez is the center. The two are not in the same position.
Although they are all skilled in technology, Nowitzki is obviously better and more comprehensive.
Even in three-pointers, Nowitzki is much more accurate than Lopez.
In fact, the Warriors have another trick, which is to help defend against double attacks.
But Nowitzki's passing is also good, not like the average stupid, big, black and thick center.
The Warriors flanked twice, and Nowitzki was able to find an open teammate each time and pass the ball in time.
The Mavericks were very accurate from the perimeter again today, almost hitting all open three-pointers!
This gave the Warriors a headache.
Of course, there is another reason why the Warriors' double attack is not effective, and that is that they are not used to the new defensive tactics.
After Ron Adams arrived, he brought some changes to the team's defensive end. Although it was not big, it was still there.
The Warriors' defensive tactics had been practiced for more than two months before, but now they have suddenly changed, and some people will definitely not adapt.
Especially young players with little experience.
This makes the Warriors always make mistakes when defending, either not making up for it in time, or attacking too late.
Deng Fang had no choice but to bear the pain of reform.
The Warriors' offense was restricted, and the Mavericks performed well. As you can imagine, the point difference between the two teams continued to rise.
At the end of this game, the score became 46:68!
The Warriors trailed by 22 points.
The second half of the game started quickly. On the Warriors side, Curry first found his form and singled out Beauboa and hit several consecutive shots.
Carlisle quickly called a timeout and replaced Kidd to guard.
But Curry's touch is back, and it's useless for anyone to defend him.
Especially Kidd, who is too old, slow, and was raped several times by Curry!
The Mavericks were forced to double-team Curry.
However, the Mavericks' defense is not very good, and the double attack is always not in place.
For Curry, failure to double attack means there is no double attack!
As long as the feeling comes, give him a little space and you can take action!
Once Curry opens up, there will be room for others, and the Warriors' offense will go smoothly.
Led by Curry, the Warriors continued to score.
Fortunately, the Mavericks' Jason Terry performed well in the second half, taking advantage of the Warriors' defensive loopholes and hitting several consecutive three-pointers.
The title of Jet is not earned for nothing!
Curry alone scored 20 points in the entire third quarter!
This also narrowed the point difference between the two teams to less than 10 points.
In the fourth quarter, while Curry was resting, Carlisle left Terry on the court to partner with Nowitzki.
Terry and Nowitzki both performed very well today. With internal and external cooperation, the point difference between the two teams widened again.
Deng Fang also wanted Curry to play, but Curry was returning from injury after all, and he didn't want Curry to get injured again.
If you play again after a few days of rest, you can easily get injured if you exert too much force.
Now Deng Fang only has 10 ability points. Once Curry is injured, treatment may not be enough.
When Curry came on the court, the point difference widened to 18 points again.
Curry played well, but the opponent's performance has been very good.
If your opponent doesn't make mistakes and your own defense still has problems, then there's nothing you can do.
Finally, the referee blew the final whistle, and the score between the two teams was fixed at 105:114.
The Warriors lost their second game of the season.
