If Dirk Nowitzki wins MVP no one should complain. The MVP is for the regular season. Not the play-offs. Nash is probably going to get it anyway.

I know there's going to be plenty of posts about this upset, but lets talk about Dirk and all the criticism he's going to get for this game and series.

The first point I'd like to make is if it wasn't for Dirk Golden State would have been celebrating on Dallas' home court the other night. He sparked that 15-0 run that ended the game. The block, the threes, the huge offensive rebound on a freethrow that got knocked out of his hands, but went out of bounds so Dallas held possession. Blame Dirk ALL you want, but he was part of the reason Dallas kept pace in this series.

Ok so last night he had an AWFUL game. Even though Dallas won the game before it was evident Golden State had the momentum from that home crowd in Oakland. Barkley ripped Dirk for not driving, but Dirk is a jumpshot first drive second type player. I doubt Dirk driving to the basket really would have changed how the Warriors played. Dirk may have choked in some people's minds, but Golden State actually played defense on him. He couldn't get open ANYWHERE inside. He had to lurk at the perimeter. Who knows Dirk better then Don Nelson? He coached him since he was in the NBA before he left Dallas. He made the adjustments to stop Dirk.

Even though he's probably my favorite coach in the league, Avery Johnson is partially to blame for the Mavericks early exit. He got outcoached. I wonder what he tells this team in the locker room at halftime? In Games 5 and 6 they played AWFUL in the third quarter.

Let alone Dirk's teammates. Harris, Howard, and Stackhouse stepped it up, but then again they were hit and miss. Sometimes they were hitting a lot, other times they were missing a lot. I don't think they got Dirk the ball enough. Harris drove A LOT more then usual, and last night after Stackhouse hit those four threes he decided to just heave them up all night. I don't think Dirk had that many touches because of these guys trying to step it up instead of giving it to their super star.

The only criticism I have of Dirk is he said if they didn't win Game 4 their season was over. I don't know if that was some kind of motivational comment, but it backfired. AND he didn't seem to ask for the ball. If I was in Dirk's position last night being still in the game in the first half and only scoring two points I would be begging Avery Johnson to run plays for me and for my team to feed me the ball.