Parker v. Mavs PGs: No contest

Apparently I'm ahead of the curve and don't even know it.

On the day in which I do a little league point guard review, the biggest game of the week between the best 2 teams in the west comes down to a battle of the points. Duncan went 4-12 while Dirk shot 3-13. Manu Ginobli and Josh Howard sat. With their 1st and 2nd options negated, Mavs-Spurs became a contest betweek Parker and Terry/Harris.

Then again, that isn't really a contest at all, is it?

Tony Parker is on a mission this year. That mission should be to buy Eva Longoria a new hat (she looked like Toad from Super Mario Bros. last night), but it appears he's settled on raking the league every night. He assist numbers are down, but if my primary ballhandler was shooting 55% from the floor for 21 a night, I'd probably be okay with him looking for his own shot. At 23 years of age, Parker appears to have made the leap.

[Of course, it helps when Keith Van Horn runs screaming from the lane while you're charging to the hoop down 1 with 30 seconds left. This after Keith made a beautiful no-look pass to Avery Johnson with 43 seconds left.]

Parker's huge fourth quarter demonstrated the value of a guy who can consistently create his own shot. Several Mavericks are capable of the creation but not the consistency. Daniels, Terry, and Harris have the goods but come and go too easily in the flow of a game. Obviously, Terry whupped the Rockets by himself last year and just recently punked Toronto with a floater at the buzzer, but he's a touch behind Parker offensively and a complete farce compared to him on the defensive end. According to 82games.com, the Mavs give up a PER of 21 to opposing PGs; San Antonio gives up a 15.6.

Desite this mismatch, the Mavs kept it close. But weirdly enough, Kenny Smith is right: until they can body up on the perimeter, Dallas will have trouble contending with a team as good as the Spurs in May.