Spurs Brazil
04-26-2009, 10:48 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090426
Mavs Win 5-On-2 Battle By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki took a whopping total of nine shots and still hasn't reacquainted himself with the feeling of splashing home a 3-pointer in the playoffs.
Jason Terry took possession of the NBA's Sixth Man Award trophy in a pregame ceremony and commemorated the occasion with the longest shooting drought anyone can remember for Nowitzki's normally locked-in sidekick, somehow clanking his final 13 shots in a row.
And if you take note of two other pertinent variables -- Tony Parker uncorked a ridiculous 43 points, and Joe Crawford couldn't referee this game because he worked the last game here -- you realize the conclusion from all of the above was inevitable: Tim Duncan must have enjoyed a reasonably happy birthday.
"What can you say?" Duncan said as he sat alone at his locker, looking more dazed by the way Game 4 of this slipping-away series unfolded than he was when his San Antonio Spurs were completely disassembled in Game 3.
That's because seemingly simple math was a myth on the afternoon Duncan turned 33. Neither the combined brilliance of the Spurs' little-and-big tag team nor the ongoing success of their ambitious defensive blueprint could prevent the Dallas Mavericks from claiming a 99-90 triumph that shoved the Spurs to the brink of elimination and rendered Duncan merely the second-most influential Wake Forest alumnus on the floor.
The Spurs' trusty Timmy rebounded from the worst statistical performance of his playoff life and a rising panic about what he has left in his legs with a tidy 25 points, 10 boards and seven assists Saturday -- only for Josh Howard to trump him with 14 points in a series-changing third quarter and 28 overall. So San Antonio will not be taking a 2-2 score line back home for Tuesday's Game 5, largely because the Mavs had Howard, Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and even Ryan Hollins to prop up Nowitzki and Terry.
Whereas Duncan and Parker, if you're looking for more storytelling numbers, were basically playing 2-on-5.
The eight other Spurs who played produced a mere six baskets and 22 points, leaving the visitors exposed when Parker finally began to fade in the fourth quarter. "He was all-out gassed," Duncan said.
"We've done a great job of executing our game plan," Duncan said. "We've taken Jason and Dirk, and we've been able to limit what they've been able to do, and we're still in a 3-1 hole. So ...
There was no need to finish the thought. Duncan understandably doesn't want to talk about what's coming, but the reality is that the Spurs -- who were having enough trouble playing through the unspoken realization that they were never going to win a championship with Manu Ginobili in street clothes -- surely see they don't even have enough minus the injured Ginobili to prevent the maiden first-round exit of Duncan's career when he has played.
The Spurs were knocked out in Round 1 by Kidd's Phoenix Suns in 2000, but Duncan was injured in that series. In the 10 previous first-round matchups of the Duncan era, the Spurs went 10-0.
Yet they've been pulverized by the limitations of the Parker-Duncan duo when those two have received so little help, Howard's sudden turnaround and the late-season cultivation of a tangible supporting cast for Nowitzki, Kidd and Terry. Mavs owner Mark Cuban couldn't contain his giddiness after seeing the rarely used Hollins summoned by TNT for an on-the-court interview after the win, pausing briefly as he skipped to his bunker suite at American Airlines Center to say, "We have a bench now."
For seemingly more than half the season, Terry was the Mavs' bench. In the playoffs, J.J. Barea has played his way into a starting spot and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle can be reasonably certain he'll get something useful from one or two of the following: Brandon Bass, James Singleton, Wright and perhaps Hollins. Erick Dampier picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, setting up the uber-athletic but thoroughly untested Hollins to grab eight rebounds in 19 minutes, block three shots and collect his first playoff technical foul for taunting Duncan after a ferocious follow slam over TD with 4 minutes, 20 seconds to play that Terry deemed "one of the best dunks I've ever seen in the playoffs."
Then there's Howard, who's finally supplying the sort of all-around energy and productivity the Mavs have been waiting for all season. The team believes this core group could still achieve something significant when Howard delivers.
Howard insists that stubborn wrist and ankle injuries -- as opposed to the spiral of off-the-court issues that so damaged his reputation last season -- are the only reasons we haven't seen a consistent solid performance. What can't be disputed is that his contributions have swung Game 1 and Game 4, given the Spurs' resolve to double-team Nowitzki almost every time he touches the ball and make sure someone extra is always jumping out at Terry every time he turns a corner.
"Josh Howard is the key to this whole thing," Terry said. "If he continues to have big games, we like our chances."
That's especially true when Howard, who historically does the bulk of his scoring early in games, gets to the line 13 times (sinking 11) and scores freely in the third quarter, as we've seen in two of Dallas' three wins in this series. Getting to the line 39 times as a team, Carlisle added, basically offset the Mavs' 38.4 percent shooting from the floor.
Nor did it hurt that Nowitzki found ways to hurt the Spurs without his jumper. He didn't even attempt a 3-pointer in this one, after going 0-for-7 in the first three games. He chastised himself afterward for not trying to force his way through at least a few double-teams to see whether he could get to the free-throw line. But Nowitzki pulled in 13 rebounds, rumbled for a game-sealing layup shortly after the Spurs had pulled to within 93-90, took a rare charge in crunch time and, according to Cuban, gave an even rarer locker-room pep talk to help Dallas recover after surrendering 17 of the final 21 points in the second quarter to throw away an early nine-point lead.
"They're leaving [people open] on the weak side," Nowitzki said, marveling at the depth of San Antonio's commitment to swarm him. "They're leaving [people open] under the basket. I've never seen a defense like this. So I've got to adjust."
Parker, meanwhile, had a stunning 31 points by halftime, and Duncan insists that his seven missed free throws hurt far worse than the creaky knees you've been reading so much about. Yet there appears to be little hope of avoiding an exit that would be shock-to-the-system early for a franchise that has won four championships since 1999.
"I feel as good as I've felt all year … but we're down 3-1," Duncan said.
Right.
What can you say?
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
Mavs Win 5-On-2 Battle By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki took a whopping total of nine shots and still hasn't reacquainted himself with the feeling of splashing home a 3-pointer in the playoffs.
Jason Terry took possession of the NBA's Sixth Man Award trophy in a pregame ceremony and commemorated the occasion with the longest shooting drought anyone can remember for Nowitzki's normally locked-in sidekick, somehow clanking his final 13 shots in a row.
And if you take note of two other pertinent variables -- Tony Parker uncorked a ridiculous 43 points, and Joe Crawford couldn't referee this game because he worked the last game here -- you realize the conclusion from all of the above was inevitable: Tim Duncan must have enjoyed a reasonably happy birthday.
"What can you say?" Duncan said as he sat alone at his locker, looking more dazed by the way Game 4 of this slipping-away series unfolded than he was when his San Antonio Spurs were completely disassembled in Game 3.
That's because seemingly simple math was a myth on the afternoon Duncan turned 33. Neither the combined brilliance of the Spurs' little-and-big tag team nor the ongoing success of their ambitious defensive blueprint could prevent the Dallas Mavericks from claiming a 99-90 triumph that shoved the Spurs to the brink of elimination and rendered Duncan merely the second-most influential Wake Forest alumnus on the floor.
The Spurs' trusty Timmy rebounded from the worst statistical performance of his playoff life and a rising panic about what he has left in his legs with a tidy 25 points, 10 boards and seven assists Saturday -- only for Josh Howard to trump him with 14 points in a series-changing third quarter and 28 overall. So San Antonio will not be taking a 2-2 score line back home for Tuesday's Game 5, largely because the Mavs had Howard, Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and even Ryan Hollins to prop up Nowitzki and Terry.
Whereas Duncan and Parker, if you're looking for more storytelling numbers, were basically playing 2-on-5.
The eight other Spurs who played produced a mere six baskets and 22 points, leaving the visitors exposed when Parker finally began to fade in the fourth quarter. "He was all-out gassed," Duncan said.
"We've done a great job of executing our game plan," Duncan said. "We've taken Jason and Dirk, and we've been able to limit what they've been able to do, and we're still in a 3-1 hole. So ...
There was no need to finish the thought. Duncan understandably doesn't want to talk about what's coming, but the reality is that the Spurs -- who were having enough trouble playing through the unspoken realization that they were never going to win a championship with Manu Ginobili in street clothes -- surely see they don't even have enough minus the injured Ginobili to prevent the maiden first-round exit of Duncan's career when he has played.
The Spurs were knocked out in Round 1 by Kidd's Phoenix Suns in 2000, but Duncan was injured in that series. In the 10 previous first-round matchups of the Duncan era, the Spurs went 10-0.
Yet they've been pulverized by the limitations of the Parker-Duncan duo when those two have received so little help, Howard's sudden turnaround and the late-season cultivation of a tangible supporting cast for Nowitzki, Kidd and Terry. Mavs owner Mark Cuban couldn't contain his giddiness after seeing the rarely used Hollins summoned by TNT for an on-the-court interview after the win, pausing briefly as he skipped to his bunker suite at American Airlines Center to say, "We have a bench now."
For seemingly more than half the season, Terry was the Mavs' bench. In the playoffs, J.J. Barea has played his way into a starting spot and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle can be reasonably certain he'll get something useful from one or two of the following: Brandon Bass, James Singleton, Wright and perhaps Hollins. Erick Dampier picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, setting up the uber-athletic but thoroughly untested Hollins to grab eight rebounds in 19 minutes, block three shots and collect his first playoff technical foul for taunting Duncan after a ferocious follow slam over TD with 4 minutes, 20 seconds to play that Terry deemed "one of the best dunks I've ever seen in the playoffs."
Then there's Howard, who's finally supplying the sort of all-around energy and productivity the Mavs have been waiting for all season. The team believes this core group could still achieve something significant when Howard delivers.
Howard insists that stubborn wrist and ankle injuries -- as opposed to the spiral of off-the-court issues that so damaged his reputation last season -- are the only reasons we haven't seen a consistent solid performance. What can't be disputed is that his contributions have swung Game 1 and Game 4, given the Spurs' resolve to double-team Nowitzki almost every time he touches the ball and make sure someone extra is always jumping out at Terry every time he turns a corner.
"Josh Howard is the key to this whole thing," Terry said. "If he continues to have big games, we like our chances."
That's especially true when Howard, who historically does the bulk of his scoring early in games, gets to the line 13 times (sinking 11) and scores freely in the third quarter, as we've seen in two of Dallas' three wins in this series. Getting to the line 39 times as a team, Carlisle added, basically offset the Mavs' 38.4 percent shooting from the floor.
Nor did it hurt that Nowitzki found ways to hurt the Spurs without his jumper. He didn't even attempt a 3-pointer in this one, after going 0-for-7 in the first three games. He chastised himself afterward for not trying to force his way through at least a few double-teams to see whether he could get to the free-throw line. But Nowitzki pulled in 13 rebounds, rumbled for a game-sealing layup shortly after the Spurs had pulled to within 93-90, took a rare charge in crunch time and, according to Cuban, gave an even rarer locker-room pep talk to help Dallas recover after surrendering 17 of the final 21 points in the second quarter to throw away an early nine-point lead.
"They're leaving [people open] on the weak side," Nowitzki said, marveling at the depth of San Antonio's commitment to swarm him. "They're leaving [people open] under the basket. I've never seen a defense like this. So I've got to adjust."
Parker, meanwhile, had a stunning 31 points by halftime, and Duncan insists that his seven missed free throws hurt far worse than the creaky knees you've been reading so much about. Yet there appears to be little hope of avoiding an exit that would be shock-to-the-system early for a franchise that has won four championships since 1999.
"I feel as good as I've felt all year … but we're down 3-1," Duncan said.
Right.
What can you say?
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.