Spurs vs. Mavs Game Four Previews: The New Manu? Parker thrives in new bench role [Archive]

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duncan228

04-24-2010, 06:35 PM

Dallas at San Antonio (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010042524)
Game info: 7:00 pm EDT Sun Apr 25, 2010
TV: TNT, FSSW

The New Manu? Parker thrives in new bench role (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txmavericksspurs)
By Paul J. Weber

While Manu Ginobili was fitted for a mask Saturday for his broken nose, Tony Parker’s face in these playoffs has remained unchanged.

Smiling. Nodding.

Yes, he insists. He’s fine coming off the bench.

“Whatever helps the team,” Parker said. “I trust Pop and he decided that it’s the best thing.”

If Parker does harbor any bruises to his ego, he’s consistently taken the high road in the playoffs while taking the revitalized Spurs to a 2-1 series lead over Dallas, heading into Game 4 on Sunday night in San Antonio.

Call him the New Manu.

Parker scored 23 points in a Game 3 win on Friday night, ruining Dallas’ zone late with clutch shots while scoring eight points in the last 2:34. His first jumper in that final stretch gave San Antonio the lead and put the second-seeded Mavericks on their heels in this series.

The Spurs won their previous three championships with Ginobili as their spark plug sixth man. Over the last three weeks, Parker has settled into the same role.

“He can’t live through Manu’s experience,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “You change roles with somebody, it’s tough. We appreciate the fact that he understands it and that he’s doing well with it.”

Popovich said Ginobili, who didn’t speak to reporters Saturday, will play in Game 4. Whether it’s with a mask to protect his nasal fracture remains to be seen, as Popovich said Ginobili wasn’t sure he wants to wear one.

But sacrifices are in fashion lately for the Spurs. Parker had started the previous 122 playoff games for San Antonio over the last nine years. But with Parker coming off the bench, the Spurs have appeared to solve a season-long, trial-and-error process of failed lineups and bad combinations.

Better than tinkering with personnel in the playoffs. Just ask the Mavericks, who surprisingly benched Caron Butler for the entire second half Friday night and didn’t let Shawn Marion play much more.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle stuck by that decision Saturday.

“Decisions that a coach has to make can be difficult for players,” Carlisle said. “But all year long we’ve talked about sacrifice and that fact that we have a deep roster, and that this wasn’t going to be about keeping guys happy. It was going to be about winning.”

Carlisle didn’t say how he would play Butler going forward. Butler scored 22 points in Game 1 and 17 in Game 2, but by halftime on Friday he had just two points on three shots.

“Coach made a call and adjustment, and I was all for it,” Butler said.

Sounds a lot like Parker.

Losing his starting job isn’t what Parker had in mind when he returned earlier this month from a broken hand, which he suffered March 6. But in an injury-marred season for Parker, his latest clearance came just as the formerly sputtering Spurs finally found a lineup that worked.

As far as problems go, there are worse than how to reinsert an NBA finals MVP back into the fold. But Popovich could hardly ignore that the Spurs went 11-5 with Parker gone, buoyed by Ginobili playing so well as a starter that the Spurs finally had to reward him with a three-year extension.

So Popovich turned to Parker, who missed 26 games this season with a variety of ailments, and asked his leading scorer from last season to come off the bench so as not to disrupt what was finally working. Parker accepted.

“It’s a little bit different,” Parker said. “You have to play quicker. You can’t wait two or three minutes to start the game. You have to come in and be aggressive.”

Not that Parker hasn’t seen it done before.

“I learned watching Manu,” he said. “Manu did it for so many years, so I’m just trying to get into that mentality. Try to bring a boost and try to bring some energy to the team.”

*********************

Team Stat Leaders

Points
Dirk Nowitzki Dal 25.0
Tim Duncan SA 17.9

Rebounds
Brendan Haywood Dal 9.3
Tim Duncan SA 10.1

Assists
Jason Kidd Dal 9.1
Tony Parker SA 5.7

*********************

Series Breakdown (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/playoffs/2010/sasdal)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/playoffs/2010/sasdal

bdictjames

04-24-2010, 06:52 PM

I'm excited to have Parker take the reins for this team in 3 years. He has matured slowly.

duncan228

04-24-2010, 07:26 PM

duncan228

04-24-2010, 07:36 PM

Dirk: That's a game we gotta win (http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/dirk-thats-a-game-we-gotta-win.html)
Eddie Sefko/Reporter

Dirk Nowitzki knows what everybody knows. He just doesn't mind saying it.

The Mavericks should have won Game 3. It might have been there best chance to regain the home court by winning one in San Antonio, although Sunday figures to be another nail-biter that could afford them another grand opportunity.

Still, when Nowitzki looks at the numbers, he just shakes his head.

"They (the Spurs) are tough,'' he said today. "They're good at what they run.

"But really, we started fouling at the end so they got to the 90s, but they really should have stayed in the 80s and that's a game we gotta win. We got to score enough to win that.''

Nowitzki, by the way, has no problems at all with the benching of Caron Butler and the relatively short minutes Shawn Marion played in the second half Friday. And he also knows that they will come back firing in Game 4.

"Coach went with the smaller lineup and it worked for a while and it is what it is,'' Nowitzki said. "I know Caron and Matrix are going to be ready from the jump ball and we'll go from there. Those guys have to get that game out of their heads and start fresh.''

Brazil

04-24-2010, 08:21 PM

crazy to think that TP already has 122 PO game !!!!

VBM

04-24-2010, 09:03 PM

z0sa

04-24-2010, 09:10 PM

^ right? The Mavericks should have held down homecourt. The Spurs are taking care of business and the Mavs better start doing the same if they don't want to be stunned.

duncan228

04-24-2010, 09:25 PM

Mavericks need more from Jasons - Kidd and Terry - in Game 4 (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspomavslede.38d5e67.html)
By Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News

The Mavericks went to a three-guard lineup for much of their Game 3 loss to the Spurs, and it says plenty that J.J. Barea was the least of their worries.

The Jasons, Kidd and Terry, didn't hold up their end of the bargain down the stretch of Friday's game, which is a big reason why the Mavericks find themselves down 2-1 going into Game 4 tonight at AT&T Center. It's a game that is nothing less than huge to the Mavericks' life-expectancy in this best-of-7 series.

Kidd and Terry know they have to play better. And coach Rick Carlisle believes he has ways to make sure they have a better chance of success tonight.

Kidd has not looked like the same player in the Mavericks' playoff losses as the one who was active, efficient and supremely confident late in the season and during Game 1.

The team insists there is no physical problem with Kidd, other than fatigue. He played 45 minutes Friday and was excused from Saturday's practice. Only once all season did Kidd play more than 45 minutes, and that was in an overtime win at Atlanta.

He remained at the hotel Friday after going through the film session with the team before the bus left for the arena.

"Kidd's a warrior," Dirk Nowitzki said. "He's going to be there for us. We know that."

That hasn't been the case in the last two games, however, as he has had just two points and four assists in the fourth quarters while playing 22 of 24 minutes. Overall, he's 2-of-13 from the field in the two losses.

Terry, meanwhile, played 41 minutes in Game 3 and 37 in Game 2. He was a combined 3-of-14 from the field in the fourth quarters of those games.

In Game 1, he played 23 minutes and was 2-of-4 in the fourth quarter. Maybe that's coincidence, but Carlisle doesn't think so.

"I need to get him some more rest, maybe just a couple extra minutes somewhere during the course of the game," he said.

Nowitzki added that he detected signs of fatigue in Terry on Friday, saying Terry's shot looked a little short.

Regardless of why Terry and Kidd look out of sorts in the fourth quarter, it can't continue. Not if the Mavericks expect to re-establish themselves in this series. They know they cannot afford a loss tonight, which would put them in a 3-1 hole.

"We need to win, that's all," Carlisle said succinctly.

The Mavericks also don't have the luxury of easing into tonight's game. They have fallen behind 9-0 and 12-4 in each of the last two games.

"It's not great always battling back," Nowitzki said. "We keep putting ourselves in holes. We started off the game bad again. We turned the ball over way too many times early and gave up some fast breaks. So we had to climb back and fight uphill all night. So I think that's what we've got to address is have a better start, have a little more energy and be a little more efficient.

"The last three quarters, we battled. It was a real heavyweight battle there for a long time."

Nowitzki, in fact, believes the Mavericks showed in Game 3 that this series is still there for the taking.

"They got a lot more weapons than last year in the playoffs," he said. "But if we battle like [we did] for the last three quarters, I like our chances on Sunday.

"All it takes is one win to get the series back in control. It's a tough place to win. But we've won here before and we were in a Game 7 situation before and won here. It's definitely a big game. We can't downplay that."

TWO OUT OF THREE IS BAD

In the last decade, the Mavericks have been down 2-1 in a best-of-7 series on seven occasions. Only once have they rallied to win the series (they were down 2-0 after two home games against Houston).

Year Opp. Round Result

2008 New Orleans First Lost in five
2007 Golden State First Lost in six
2005 Houston First Won in seven
2005 Phoenix West semis Lost in six
2004 Sacramento First Lost in five
2003 San Antonio West finals Lost in six
2002 Sacramento West semis Lost in five

*********************

Game 4 preview: Mavericks at Spurs (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspomavscap.392c890.html)
Eddie Sefko

Scouting the Mavericks

The Mavericks have given up at least 48.2 percent shooting in all three games, which is a comment not only on their defense, but the Spurs' efficiency on offense. ... A key element will be Erick Dampier's ability to stay out of foul trouble and continue to guard Tim Duncan one-on-one as much as possible. Duncan has been a beast, but it could get worse if the Mavericks have to resort to Brendan Haywood or Eddie Najera for long stretches. ... Defensively, the Mavericks have to figure where to plug the holes. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker combined for 20 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3. In Game 2, it was Duncan scoring 10 of the Spurs' final 20. ... J.J. Barea's 14 points Friday were his career playoff high.

Scouting the Spurs

As if the Mavericks needed another problem, they have to deal with a healthier George Hill, who dropped in 17 important points in Game 3 and also picked off five rebounds, including two on the offensive end that should never have happened. Hill clearly looks like his ankle problem is behind him. ... In their two wins, the Spurs have averaged 18.5 second-chance points, far more than their season average. ... Tony Parker's 23 points Friday were his most since Feb. 17, when he had 28 at Indiana. ... Rookie DeJuan Blair had five rebounds in four minutes, including three offensive boards in Game 3. Don't be surprised if he plays more tonight.

duncan228

04-24-2010, 09:50 PM

Mavericks' message: check your egos (http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/columns/story?columnist=caplan_jeff&id=5133735)
Struggling vets Butler, Marion overcome disappointment, refocus for crucial Game 4
By Jeff Caplan
ESPNDallas.com

*********************

Help wanted: Dirk can't do it all for Mavericks (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspotaylor.39e1aaf.html)
Jean-Jacques Taylor
Dallas Morning News

duncan228

04-24-2010, 09:52 PM

Not to be nosy, but how's Manu? (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspotownsend.3901877.html)
by Brad Townsend / The Dallas Morning News

The most famous schnoz in San Antonio and maybe Texas had a cut on its bridge and was swollen on one side.

Not that media members were allowed to see Manu Ginobili up close Saturday, roughly 17 hours after he returned from a nasal fracture to rally the Spurs past the Mavericks in Game 3.

After the Spurs watched video at their practice facility in Northwest San Antonio, Ginobili was briefly visible to the media from a distance, but he quickly ducked into another room.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Ginobili will play in tonight's Game 4 at the AT&T Center, although it has not been determined whether he will wear a mask.

"We're trying to figure that out now, what to put on him," Popovich said. "He's not sure he wants to wear a mask. They'll try to fit him and do what you do in these situations."

Popovich said Ginobili had a bump on the nose and probably will have somewhat more bruising by game time. But teammate Antonio McDyess gave a more graphic scouting report.

"Oh, man, he's got a big ol' hump on one side," McDyess said. "One side looks normal, one side doesn't."

The Spurs could afford to poke a little fun at Ginobili on Saturday. There's a monumental difference between being up 2-1 in the series with a banged-up Ginobili, and being down 1-2 without him.

The Spurs were awfully close to being in the latter predicament, or at least trailing in the series. Instead, one might say they're leading the Mavericks by a nose – an already prominently large but also apparently hard nose.

With 9:47 left in the third quarter of Game 3, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki drove against Ginobili from the right wing. Nowitzki pulled up and not only knocked down a jumper, but floored Ginobili with an elbow to the snout.

"There was a lot of blood coming through his nose, constantly," Spurs forward Richard Jefferson said. "They had to keep changing out the gauze."

Ginobili was taken to the locker room. By the time he returned, the Mavericks were midway through a 17-0 run. Simply returning was valiant in itself, but Ginobili practically willed the Spurs to the victory.

He was their best player in the fourth quarter, when he scored a team-high 11 of his 15 points. Along with 3-of-5 shooting, he drove fearlessly, making five of six free throws in the period.

"I think those are the players who you know are really special," Popovich said Saturday. "Every team has to have some of those. We're fortunate that Manu's on our team."

Ginobili's famous beak will be tonight's most prominent story line. Does he need a mask? If so, can the Spurs find one large enough to fit him? If he wears a mask, will it affect his shooting vision? Will he be able to breathe normally?

McDyess has had several nose breaks, and on two occasions he had to wear a mask.

"I think he's going to kind of think about it when he's playing," McDyess said. "Even if you get it rubbed up against, it's very tender. But at some point, when you're just going and going, you don't think about it until you get hit again."

And if Ginobili helps his team to a third straight win tonight, the Mavericks will find themselves behind by far more than a nose – thanks to Ginobili's durable model.

thispego

04-24-2010, 09:57 PM

Kori Ellis

04-24-2010, 10:06 PM

so not even Eddie sefko, a paid journalist, knows the difference between there, their, and they're? Rofl. Fuckin pitiful.

:lol And to think it's gone through an editor.

Several years ago, timvp and I saw an unedited article for the Express-News. Yikes! There (their or they're) wasn't any capitalization, very little punctuation and a slew of typos. It was 6th grade level at best.

emanueldavidginobili

04-24-2010, 10:09 PM

Exactly^

duncan228

04-25-2010, 12:17 AM

Mavericks' Butler remains confident (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspomavsdate.3c26503.html)
By Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News

Caron Butler has been through too much in his life to take anything too personally, especially a second-half benching in a playoff game.

He said Saturday that both his confidence and the team's remain extremely high and that he's eager to get back on the court in Game 4.

"I'm the type of guy who, as long as we're winning and we're playing great, I'm going to root my teammates on," Butler said. "The coach made a call, and I was all for it. To me, it's all about winning, and unfortunately we fell a little short.

"The vibe is good."

Did he think he should have been on the court?

"I wish I could have, but it was a decision that had me over here [on the bench]," he said. "I tried to encourage my teammates."

The reason Butler didn't play in the second half was twofold. J.J. Barea was a big spark for the team, and Butler had two turnovers in the first six minutes and never seemed to find any rhythm at either end of the court.

Butler said he and his teammates learned from a film session before practice Saturday.

"We saw a couple things that can really help us," he said. "This [Spurs] is a great defensive team. Their rotations are unbelievable, so you really got to be careful and precise in your decision-making once you get into the paint because help is coming from somewhere. It's not like the majority of teams in this league where you beat your guy and you got a clear shot at the basket. They're definitely coming."

Dirk Nowitzki said selflessness was emphasized at the team meeting before practice.

"It's the playoffs," he said. "You got to put your feelings aside. It's as simple as that. We're trying to win. I don't care. Some guy might play two minutes or not at all. We find ourselves in a tough series. We got to put egos aside and go to war. That's the message."

Dampier waits: The Mavericks were fully expecting the NBA to fine center Erick Dampier for his comments about officiating after Game 3.

He said the Mavericks were under a "magnifying glass" when they were playing defense and that the same wasn't the case for the Spurs' defense.

On Saturday, Dampier clarified his comments and said the Mavericks have to rise above officiating.

"I wasn't going at the refs," he said. "It's just part of being a basketball player. You know the refs aren't going to make every call.

"It's on us, absolutely. Sometimes they don't see the call. Sometimes it's a bad call. We can't let it get to us. We just got to get back on defense and play the kind of basketball we're used to playing."

Most of the fines levied this season for critical comments about officials have been in the $25,000-$35,000 range.

Since he doesn't have a history of talking about referees, it seems unlikely Dampier would be the first "example" to be made under commissioner David Stern's new, tougher stance on commentary about officiating. He said Thursday that he would not hesitate to suspend coaches or players for future infractions.

Briefly: If the Mavericks didn't already know, their job is going to get harder now, said Spurs' forward Richard Jefferson "We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of room for improvement, understanding that each game is progressively going to get harder," he said. "We can't just say, 'OK, here, we've arrived,' or 'This is our formula.' Our formula is ever-changing and always gets tougher." ... Nowitzki on the small-ball approach in Game 3: "Maybe we stuck with it a little too long. But afterwards, you're always smarter."

duncan228

04-25-2010, 12:19 AM

Spurs believe miserable Game 3 stretch won't be repeated (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspospurssider.4198608.html)
By Gaylon Krizak / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

For 43 minutes, 45 seconds Friday night, the San Antonio Spurs had their way with the Mavericks, outscoring Dallas 94-73 while putting on a textbook display of team defense and unselfish, attacking offense.

Then there was the matter of that remaining 4:15, during which the Mavs held the Spurs scoreless, put up 17 points and seemingly in the blink of an eye turned an eight-point third-quarter deficit to a nine-point lead.

In the end, San Antonio slugged out a 94-90 victory and took a 2-1 lead in the first-round series. But much of the talk heading into tonight's Game 4 was about those 255 seconds that completely changed the complexion of a game the Spurs had dominated to that point.

"There's some things that they did, especially over that run that they had in the middle of the third quarter – that was a pretty big focus on what we're trying to improve on," forward Richard Jefferson said Saturday.

More than anything else, Dallas' switch to a zone defense flustered the Spurs, who were 0-of-4 from the field with three turnovers during the Mavs' run.

"We watched film, and obviously we didn't play very well in the third quarter," said guard Tony Parker, who ended the drought with a reverse layup and wound up with 23 points. "So there's a couple of adjustments we're going to do tomorrow and make sure if they do zone again we don't have a hard time to score. We just have to be aggressive. We slowed it down a little bit and got confused a little bit.

"It will not happen tomorrow."

Solving the zone won't require any huge adjustments, Jefferson said.

"It wasn't so much what we're going to do as what we didn't do," he said. "We weren't as aggressive; we didn't attack as we should have. That's why teams go to a zone – not necessarily to stop you, but more just to kind of take you out of your rhythm, and we allowed that to happen. It works. So it's something we have to focus in on and still keep our same mind-set."

The struggles on offense carried over to the defensive end as Dallas hit seven consecutive shots, including three 3-pointers. But, as with the offense, the lull was temporary: The Mavs hit eight of their final 26 shots (30.8 percent). Take away their third-quarter run and they shot 39.1 percent from the field overall.

"They played just as hard as we did," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They made mistakes, we made mistakes. In the last couple of minutes, we made some shots. And in some ways, it comes down to that. So we don't take any great satisfaction in 'we did this great' or 'we did that great.' "

Translation: Much of Saturday was spent dissecting correctable phases of the one stretch in which the Spurs did nothing great.

The Mavericks' zone defense "kind of took us out of our comfort zone," forward Antonio McDyess said, "and after a while Pop just kept stressing, 'Hey, we need to go out there and continue to run our plays,' and that's what we did and kind of got back into the game. But today definitely was a teaching matter of going in there and trying to attack their zone."

peteee

04-25-2010, 12:23 AM

:lol And to think it's gone through an editor.

Several years ago, timvp and I saw an unedited article for the Express-News. Yikes! There (their or they're) wasn't any capitalization, very little punctuation and a slew of typos. It was 6th grade level at best.
LOL colleague demeaning. at least try using some trolls when testing the sensitive zones.

Libri

04-25-2010, 12:52 AM

:lol And to think it's gone through an editor.

Several years ago, timvp and I saw an unedited article for the Express-News. Yikes! There (their or they're) wasn't any capitalization, very little punctuation and a slew of typos. It was 6th grade level at best.

Now that you mention it. I looks like very few here, if any, miss the Express News Spurs articles.

shelshor

04-25-2010, 10:20 AM

Referee Assignments
Sun. Apr 25
Dallas @ San Antonio: Scott Foster; Bob Delaney; David Jones

silverblk mystix

04-25-2010, 10:33 AM

delaney is a piece of shit---tainted ref.

pjjrfan

04-25-2010, 10:49 AM

I like Tony coming off the bench, he can go in and look for his offense right off and not worry about getting everybody into the game. And because of his style it changes the tempo. something for defenses to worry about. I am seeing Tony getting more and more comfortable out there, with his jumper going down he becomes a totally awesome weapon with speed and ballhandling.

duncan228

04-25-2010, 12:30 PM

Dallas at San Antonio (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-threetowatchcavsawai)
7 p.m. ET (TNT)

The Spurs have a 2-1 lead in this series thanks to some familiar faces, as the Big Three of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are playing like their old selves. Meanwhile, the Mavericks’ new guys—Shawn Marion, acquired last summer, and Caron Butler, acquired in February—are searching for answers. They were held to a combined nine points in Dallas’ Game 3 loss and played a combined 31 minutes. Coach Rick Carlisle told reporters he wants Butler to be more aggressive; otherwise, as he showed Friday, Carlisle won’t be afraid to use a three-guard lineup.

duncan228

04-25-2010, 12:38 PM

Carlisle’s rotation stays fluid (http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2010/04/24/carlisles-rotation-stays-fluid/)
by Art Garcia

Caron Butler doesn’t know why he didn’t start or play in the second half last night. The Mavericks starting shooting guard was reduced to cheerleader for the last two quarters of the 94-90 loss that left the Spurs up 2-1 in the series.

“I’m the type of guy that as long as we’re winning and playing great, I’m going to root my teammates on,” Butler said. “They always root me on. Coach made a call and an adjustment, and I was all for it. Whatever it takes to win the game.”

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle went with J.J. Barea in Butler’s place, but that was his only move that led to second-guessing today. Shawn Marion only played about five minutes in the second half. Carlisle went almost exclusively with three guards — Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Barea — along with Dirk Nowitzki and Erick Dampier/Brandon Haywood.

The small lineup not only fueled a third-quarter 17-0 that gave Dallas the lead, it was meant to counteract San Antonio’s quickness and ease the ball-handling pressure on Kidd. Manu Ginobili, playing with a broken nose for the last 17 minutes, Tony Parker and George Hill gave Dallas fits with their penetration on a night when San Antonio didn’t hit a 3-pointer.

Kidd, 37, had the task of chasing Ginobili in the final quarter when he scored 11 of his 15. Butler and Marion are both longer and more athletic than Kidd, and were both fresh down the stretch. Yet, they both could only watch as the Spurs wrestled the lead back.

“Maybe we stayed with it too long,” Nowitzki said of the small lineup sans Butler and Marion. “You’re always smarter after.”

Carlisle doesn’t seemed concern with the psyche of Butler or Marion. There’s no time for hurt feelings and damaged egos.

“In these situations, you’ve got to be able to have a selective memory,” Carlisle said. “If things haven’t been going so great, you’ve got to be able to put that out of your mind and focus on the present and what’s happening next. That’s where our mind set has to be. The first three games are water under the bridge now. Game 4 is the most important thing.”

Carlisle didn’t commit to any set Butler or Marion or anyone else getting a certain number of minutes in Game 4. That’s par for the course, as Carlisle has kept a fluid rotation during his two years in Dallas.

Other than Nowitzki and Kidd, Carlisle can go in any number of ways with the supporting cast. After hinting at a Roddy Beaubois appearance before Game 3 and not seeing a second of court action during two games in Dallas, the rookie checked in the first quarter Friday night.

Beaubois’ appearance put more of a charge in Mavs fans than the team. A turnover, missed shot and blown defensive assignment summed up his five-minute stint and may keep the Free Roddy B bandwagon tied to the bench for the rest of the series. Or it may not.

“In the playoff series sometime you roll with situations that are going good,” Carlisle said. “I decided to do that last night. Going forward who knows what will happen in a given game. Our team was disappointed because we let an opportunity slide away last night, which is tough, but we’re still a determined group.”

The Spurs appear equally so. One look at Ginobili’s nose last night was proof enough of their resolve. Ginobili was getting fitted for the mask today, but Gregg Popovich said he might not want to wear tomorrow night.

Another win on its home court would leave San Antonio a victory away from the Western Conference semifinals.

“We have to play the same way,” Parker said. “We’ve been playing well the last two games, but we respect Dallas a lot and we expect them to come back strong tomorrow. A lot more energy and intensity and we’re going to have to match that.”

DPG21920

04-25-2010, 12:39 PM

From all the match up problems, it is so hard for me to believe that the Spurs can beat this Mavs team three in a row. The Mavs will be very focused, but I really want to see the Spurs put the clamps down.

#2!

04-25-2010, 12:57 PM

Kidd given some rest (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042510dnspomavskidd.27d3badec.html)
By Eddie Sefko / The Dallas Morning News

After playing 45 minutes against the Spurs in Game 3, Jason Kidd was not required to attend a brief practice session at AT&T Center Saturday afternoon.

Some of these articles have been suggesting that the extended playing time wore on his 37 year old body, and that perhaps he is just too old. While one certainly can't ignore his age, and mileage, I'm not buying that as the reason for his play. I really only have one piece of evidence though:

Game 3

Jason Kidd - 44:53
George Hill - 44:37
(Both team highs)

Now, I acknowledge that George was chasing Jason Terry for long stretches of the game on Friday, but he was also on Kidd throughout(Does anyone know of a website that breaks games down on that level?). Even more importantly was George being able to get back on defense in the transition game to cut off charges oft led by Kidd. I also really like that George (and perhaps the Spurs in general) is playing Kidd's passes like people guard Kobe's jumpshots (unless you're Kevin Durant), just put a hand in his face, don't always worry about deflections or steals.