Spurs-Mavericks Round 1 Game 3 Preview

[ScolaFan]

Spurs-Mavericks Preview



After chatting with league officials, Mavericks center Erick Dampier is toning down his plans to thwart San Antonio's Tony Parker.

The big guy is still going to get physical with the speedy point guard in Game 3, but he's no long guaranteeing that "my first foul Thursday night is going to put him on his back."

"I probably shouldn't have said it like that," Dampier said Wednesday. "Maybe the way it came out, it sounded bad. ... I'm just going to go out there and play the way I've been playing."

Dampier vowed to pop Parker on Monday night, after he turned Game 2 of this first-round series into a personal layup drill. Parker scored 38 points in 33 minutes, leading San Antonio to a 105-84 victory that tied the series at one game apiece.

The quote appeared in Tuesday's editions of The Dallas Morning News. Once it reached the league office, a "review" began, which essentially meant Dampier having to explain himself. He did so again Wednesday with reporters.

"It's just the game of basketball," he said. "It wasn't said intentionally to go out and hurt anyone. I mean, fouls happen in the game of basketball. It's just that we want to shut down the paint and not give up any easy layups."

No punishment was announced by the league. However, there will be repercussions in the form of more scrutiny from the refs.

"Probably magnified 100,000 times," Dampier said, laughing. "I'm just waiting to see how it's going to happen. But, like I said, I'm not going to go out there and do anything stupid. I just want to go out there and play the best I can."

Mavericks players and coaches stood up for Dampier, essentially calling his threat a heat of the moment, slip of the tongue. They also agreed with his message.

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[ScolaFan]