[Will637]

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Date: 10/13/07

Time: 7:00 pm

TV: None


Projected Starters

Mavericks Starting Lineup





(D. Harris, J. Stackhouse, J. Howard, D. Nowitzki, D. Diop)

2006-07 Mavericks Stats
Leading Scorer: Dirk Nowitzki - 24.6 PPG
Leading Rebounder: Dirk Nowitzki - 8.9 RPG
Leading Assist Man: Jason Terry - 5.2 APG

Points Per Game: 100.0
Field Goal Percentage: 46.7%
3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 38.1%
Rebounds Per Game: 41.9
Assists Per Game: 19.9

PG - Devin Harris - PPG: 10.2, APG: 2.5, RPG: 3.7

What To Look For: It won't be long until Devin Harris joins the next generation of point guards in a couple of years and boy does he have the talent to do so. He's had a great defensive season last year, drawing charge after charge. If he polishes his jumper and drives to the basket cleaner, he could be one of the rising point guards this season.



SG - Jerry Stackhouse - PPG: 12, RPG: 2.2, APG: 2.8

What To Look For: Jerry Stackhouse inking a 3 year, 21 million dollar deal, means a lot that the Mavericks want to keep him around for a while. With the way he improved his shooting percentage off the bench last season, I would too. Health is going to be a key for Jerry's season who missed 15 games last year, but continuing to come off the bench will help manage his energy throughout the season.



SF - Josh Howard - PPG: 18.9 PPG, RPG: 6.8, APG: 1.8

What To Look For: Coming off of a all-star season, Josh Howard looks to improve even more on the offensive end. We all know that he's added a 3 point shot last season, that he has the size to go the bucket, but can he manage his selection better? Josh made only 34.8% from the long 2 point range, which seems to be his favorite spot on the court. At only 27, he will only improve, so keep your eye out on him.




PF - Dirk Nowitzki - PPG: 24.6, RPG: 8.9, APG: 3.4

What To Look For: Could last year's first round playoff upset put fire in Dirk's eye for the upcoming season? Will another year heading towards 30 likely mean a drop-off in stats from the season before? Whatever the questions may be, Dirk always seems to have an answer for. Dirk is still one of the best players in the league until someone proves otherwise and with the rare combo of talent and size he has, he is still one of the most deadliest players in my book.



C - Desagana Diop - PPG: 2.3, RPG: 5.4, APG: 0.4

What To Look For: Desagana Diop has been a very tough player on the defensive end in over the past 2 years, while his offensive game is almost non-existent. He'll look to challenge Erick Dampier for that starting center spot this season and you have to give him some credit of what he can do on defense.

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Wizards Starting Lineup






(G. Arenas, D. Stevenson, C. Butler, A. Jamison, B. Haywood)

2006-07 Wizards Stats
Leading Scorer: Gilbert Arenas - 28.4 PPG
Leading Rebounder: Antawn Jamison - 8.0 RPG
Leading Assist Man: Gilbert Arenas - 6.0 APG

Points Per Game: 104.3
Field Goal Percentage: 45.0%
3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 34.8%
Rebounds Per Game: 41.2
Assists Per Game: 20.2

PG - Gilbert Arenas - PPG: 28.4, APG: 6.0, RPG: 4.6

What To Look For: Gilbert Arenas is coming into the pre-season looking only to get some wind and running in. He shot 2-11 in the pre-season opener and looked as if he was rusty, but know that his stroke will be there by the end of the pre-season. He has not shown signs of favoring that knee and he's been showing some signs of improvement on defense.



SG - Deshawn Stevenson - PPG: 11.2, APG: 2.7, RPG: 2.6

What To Look For: Deshawn Stevenson had probably the most quietest game in the previous game's blowout, but you can only expect that he's saving his mileage for the regular season as evident at the 17 minutes he played on Tuesday. He'll be lock in to start at the 2 spot in the start of the season, but can he perform will enough to keep his spot for most of the games?



SF - Caron Butler - PPG: 19.1, RPG: 7.4, APG: 3.7

What To Look For: Caron Butler shot a not so good 1-6 in the last pre-season game, but added 5 rebounds. It may take a while to shake off the rust and shoot at a high percentage, but should he look to go towards the basket more often?



PF - Antawn Jamison - PPG: 19.8, RPG: 8.0, APG: 1.9

What To Look For: This matchup could be a big challenge for Antawn Jamison who looks to join the rest of the team in hopes of improving this team defense. That's all going to focus around the matchup against Dirk Nowitzki, which he should have a bit of trouble with. Nonetheless, this early pre-season evaluation will inform Randy Ayers of what he has to work with in Antawn Jamison.



C - Brendan Haywood - PPG: 6.6, RPG: 6.2, APG: 0.6

What To Look For: Brendan Haywood already showed a strong start and promise for this season showing he can pickup the slack of Etan Thomas. Brendan grabbed 8 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and made significant defensive stops in 20 minutes. While he only added 5 points, what needs to be shown at the start of the season is an interior presence.

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Keys to the Game



Benchwarmers to Netburners - One of the main keys to win against the Cavaliers was the mass production from the bench during the second quarter and beyond. Rookies such as Dominic McGuire, Oleksiy Pecherov and Nick Young made their presence felt with a numerous of plays all over the court, Antonio Daniels and Darius Songalia picked up where they left off the season before, working the pick n' pop very efficiently. Roger Mason and Donell Taylor need to pick up where they left off the season before if they want any action during the regular season.

Stay Healthy - If you're Caron Butler, press the stop button when chasing a fastbreak dunker. If you're Gilbert Arenas, stay away from the paint. Seriously though, I don't think fans can't express the term healthy enough. Players need to know what surrounds them, what risk they're taking if diving for loose balls or anything else.

Keep Pressure On Defense - Playing the Mavericks will be a nice challenge for the Wizards on Saturday. They'll get to go up against last year's MVP Dirk Nowitzki, rising stars Devin Harris and Josh Howard and go up against former Wizard, Jerry Stackhouse. The Wizards forced 19 turnovers against the Cavaliers from deflecting passes and disrupting plays and that's something they'll want to keep up.

Shoot 3's - The way Brendan Haywood is performing on defense right now should not be a sight the Mavs want to see in this game. The Wizards have yet to shown significant improvement on the perimeter defensive area and with the gunners they have with the 4 starters, they should test this defense with 3's.

No Different Than the Wizards, Stay Healthy - Jerry Stackhouse has not been very healthy over the past years with groin and leg injuries, so he shouldn't look to go in the paint much. Avery Johnson should leave the game to play for the benchwarmers just like the last time and only give its starters about 15-20 minutes.

One Game at a Time - The Mavs shouldn't let the first round upset to the Warriors get in their heads at all this entire season because it will only be time until they have their chance in the playoffs once again. No need to let that series haunt them for this season, while they have a fresh 82 games ahead of them.

[afireinside]

I really enjoy reading your game threads. I'd love it if you could do it for the regular season games also.

Anyways, I see all these games as chances for the bench players to gain more minutes for the real season. Hopefully our starters can show us a little taste of what is to come though.

[Big Mike]

Starters won't play more than 20 mins, Gil wants 30 but its not happening. I want to see more N. Young and less Mason Jr. As usual good job Will

[f22egl]

Nice game thread. I have to agree with Big Mike that I want to see more of Nick Young. I'd like to see if he can crack the rotation once the regular season rolls around.

[byrondarnell66]

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