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Sports » rec.sport.basketball.pro » Mavs News: San Antonio game 1
| Mavs News: San Antonio game 1 [message #1015487] |
Tue, 09 May 2006 07:19 |
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Dirk Nowitzki finished 3rd in the MVP voting with 544 points, including
14 1st place votes. Steve Nash (Pho) won the award with 924 points
including 57 1st place votes and LeBron James (Cle) was 2nd with 688
points including 16 1st place votes.
The NBA fined Dirk Nowitzki $15,000 and assessed him a flagrant foul
level 2 for throwing an elbow at the chest of Pau Gasol during Game 4 of
the Dallas-Memphis series.
Game 1: Dallas at San Antonio (May 7)
The series everyone has been waiting for since the last 2 months of the
regular season was finally here. Neither team was happy with the noon
start time for game 1 - with San Antonio having to play a mere 36 hours
(including a long flight from Sacramento) after game 6 and Dallas usually
struggling with early starts. No surprise to Mavs followers that Dallas
did start the game sluggish, despite being the more rested team, and Avery
Johnson called a timeout a mere 72 seconds into the game after the Spurs
jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Dallas got on the board on 2 free throws by
Josh Howard with 10:20 left (the refs were really whistle-happy in the
quarter) and 5 points would be San Antonio's largest lead. DeSagana Diop
picked up his 2nd foul with 8:25 to go and Erick Dampier came in. Jason
Terry was struggling early so Johnson subbed Devin Harris in for him and
Harris played the rest of the quarter (Terry also was on the court for the
last 2 1/2 minutes of the quarter). San Antonio led 12-8 with 6:45
remaining and Dallas scored the next 5 points to take their first lead at
13-12 with 5:25 to go, but Michael Finley ended the mini-run with a
3-pointer and the game stayed tight the rest of the quarter. Dampier
picked up his 2nd foul with 3:55 left - Diop came back in for a minute and
then DJ Mbenga played the rest of the quarter at center (as Tim Duncan
rested) - and Mbenga also picked up 2 fouls. A bucket by Howard with 30
seconds remaining was the last points scored in the quarter and gave
Dallas a 29-26 lead after 1. Howard had 12 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 9
points, and a very active Duncan had 10 points. The refs called 14 fouls
in the quarter and the teams combined to attempt 22 free throws. And then
the refs swallowed their whistles as they only called 1 foul over the
first 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter (and just 5 fouls in the entire
quarter) - got to love consistency from the officials. The game stayed
close in the 2nd quarter. Consecutive buckets inside by Duncan gave San
Antonio a 34-33 lead with 8:20 to go, but Jerry Stackhouse answered with a
3-pointer and San Antonio wouldn't lead the rest of the quarter. A jumper
by Stackhouse gave Dallas their largest lead of the quarter at 48-42 with
2 minutes remaining. Dallas led 52-46 at the half. Duncan had 10 points
in first 6 minutes of the 2nd quarter and had 20 points in the 1st half.
For the half, Dallas shot 47.6% FG and San Antonio shot 41% FG. The teams
traded misses to open the 3rd quarter and a layup by Howard gave Dallas
their largest lead at 54-46 with 10:40 left (and it was would also be the
largest lead of the game). The Spurs then scored the next 8 points to tie
the game at 54-54 with 8:05 remaining as Dallas missed 2 shots and
committed 2 turnovers. Stackhouse did answer with a reverse layup and a
3-pointer by Terry Dallas up by 5 points - but that would be the largest
lead the rest of the way as the game stayed really tight. Dallas held a
small lead the rest of the quarter and led 72-71 after 3. Dallas only
shot 7-20 FG in the 3rd quarter while San Antonio shot 8-16 FG. Marquis
Daniels had a couple of errors to open the 4th quarter - a dumb turnover
and then a foul - that resulted in a quick hook and he sat on the bench
the rest of the game. A bucket by Duncan gave San Antonio a 73-72 lead
with 11 minutes to go - their first lead since early in the 2nd quarter.
The teams traded buckets (with Nick Van Exel hitting his only basket of
the game) and Terry hit 1-2 FT [and I said during the 3rd quarter that
missed free throws were going to be what killed Dallas] to tie the game at
75-75 with 9:30 remaining. The game was again tied at 79-79 with 7:15
left and Duncan had a layup, the teams traded turnovers and then misses
and a bucket by Tony Parker gave San Antonio an 83-79 lead with 5:20 to
go. Stackhouse hit a jumper 17 seconds later and then it got really ugly.
Ginobili missed, Duncan missed, Ginobili hit 1-2 FT, Stackhouse turned the
ball over, Duncan turned the ball over, Stackhouse hit a shot with 4:10
left, Bowen missed, Howard missed, and Howard hit 1-2 FT with 3:30
remaining to tie the game at 84-84. Parker missed, Terry missed,
Stackhouse missed and Erick Dampier rebounded and passed to the open
Stackhouse who missed the 15-footer, and Parker drove and dished out to
Bruce Bowen who nailed the 3-pointer to give San Antonio an 87-84 lead
with 2:15 to go. Nowitzki turned the ball over, Ginobili missed a layup
on the break, Terry missed, Parker missed, Nowitzki missed a layup [and
got hammered without a call - to be fair, the refs almost completely
swallowed their whistles both ways over the last 3 1/2 minutes of the game
(11 fouls called before that point, only 1 after)], and Ginobili missed
and Erick Dampier got the rebound and Ginobili committed the dumb foul in
taking a swipe at the ball and fouling Dampier under the Spurs' basket
with San Antonio in the penalty. Dampier went to the line with 37 seconds
left and he hit [what else] 1-2 FT to pull Dallas within 85-87. San
Antonio ran some time off the clock and Ginobili missed a turnaround
10-foot one-hand fling with 16 seconds left and Nowitzki got the rebound
and called timeout. Dallas advanced the ball and inbounded the ball to
Nowitzki on the wing with Bowen in his chest. Nowitzki tried dribbling
towards the basket, but Duncan was there with the help defense, so
Nowitzki threw the dangerous cross-court pass towards Stackhouse in the
corner and Ginobili tipped the pass, but Stackhouse was able to corral
the ball, and he actually dribble stepped behind the arc (with everyone
wondering what he was thinking) with about 4 seconds left and Ginobili
in his grill and Stackhouse rose and flung the desperation 3-pointer that
barely nicked the side of the rim and time expired. San Antonio won
87-85. San Antonio leads the series 1-0.
It was a great game until the last 5 minutes of the game. The teams
combined to shoot a mere 2-17 FG and 3-6 FT over that time span,
including some really ugly shots (including both team's last attempts).
Worse for Dallas is that once Dirk Nowitzki realized he wasn't getting a
good look, he or someone should have called timeout as Dallas still had
one left and still had 8 seconds left to set something else up. But no
one on the court called the timeout and it was a poorly executed play to
end the game. Dallas' last field goal came with 4:08 left and San
Antonio's last field goal (and points) came with 2:14 left. As I said, it
was a great game up until that point. San Antonio "out-scored" Dallas
16-13 in the 4th quarter as San Antonio shot 7-20 FG and Dallas shot 5-15
FG. In the game, the largest lead in the game was just 8 points (San
Antonio's largest was 5 points). There were 12 led changes and 10 ties in
the game. San Antonio shot 41.3% (31-75) FG including 3-13 3-pointers and
Dallas shot 41.6% (32-77) FG including 2-7 3-pointers. San Antonio shot
22-30 FT and Dallas shot 19-28 FT - that's 9 missed free throws in a 2
point loss from a good free throw shooting team. Put the blame for
Dallas' loss right there. Dallas did out-rebound San Antonio 47-40
including 13-11 offensive. The turnovers were a good number for both
teams with San Antonio having 12 turnovers and Dallas having 13 turnovers
(not great, not bad). Now, the assists were pathetic for both teams. San
Antonio had 11 assists and Dallas had a mere 8 assists - a Mavs playoff
low. Game 2 is Tuesday night in San Antonio.
Tim Duncan was active early and got Dallas' big men in foul trouble. He
scored 20 of his 31 points in the 1st half - Dallas went to the
double-team in the 2nd half and so he wasn't as active offensively in that
half. He had a double-double with 13 rebounds including 5 offensive. And
he had 4 assists and 2 blocks, but also turned the ball over 4 times. It
was only the 3rd time this season that Duncan scored 30+ points. Tony
Parker was steady with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, including the
key pass to Bruce Bowen for 3-pointer, that ended up being the game
winning bucket. Manu Ginobili did a lot of things wrong in this game, but
had the key defensive play in tipping the pass and getting up on Jerry
Stackhouse for Dallas' last attempt. Ginobili had 15 points including
5-14 FG, 5 rebounds, 0 assists, 4 steals, and 4 turnovers. No other Spur
was in double-digits. Bowen's focus, as usual, was on defense. He had 6
points and 2 rebounds. Robert Horry had 5 points including 1-4 3-pointers
(didn't attempt a 2-pointer) and 9 rebounds. Michael Finley had 7 points
on 3-6 FG and 3 rebounds in 23 minutes. Brent Barry and Nick Van Exel
each had 2 points. Rasho Nesterovic didn't attempt a shot and had 2
rebounds in 9 minutes.
Jerry Stackhouse had it going offensively and carried the Mavs for
periods of time. The down side, as usual when he scores a lot, is that he
didn't do much besides score. Stack had 24 points, 2 rebounds, and 1
assist. Dirk Nowitzki struggled in the 2nd half where he shot just 3-11
FG and had 7 points. For the game, Nowitzki had 20 points on 8-20 FG and
4-6 FT and 14 rebounds including 4 offensive. Josh Howard had it going
early where he scored 12 points, but he only had 5 points in the next 3
quarters. He only attempted 4 shots (and made 1) in the 2nd half. Howard
had 9 rebounds, but also turned it over 5 times with no assists. Jason
Terry had 14 points and shot just 6-18 FG. The starting point guard had
just 1 assist. Devin Harris looked much better than he did in the Memphis
series. He had 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 16 minutes. The
centers were plagued by foul trouble as all 3 had 2 in the 1st quarter.
DeSagana Diop also picked up a 3rd early in the 2nd quarter. Diop had 2
points on 1-3 FG, 4 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. Erick Dampier
was the most effective of the 3 and had 2 points, 10 rebounds, and 5
blocks, including a couple of really nice ones. DJ Mbenga played 2 1/2
minutes in the 1st half after the other 2 centers picked up their fouls
and had just his 2 fouls as his only stats. I was really surprised to see
that Marquis Daniels had 3 assists in his 6 1/2 minutes as I really only
remember his goofs at the start of the 4th quarter that results in a quick
return to the bench.
The refs did a really poor job in this game. They went through long
stretches where they'd call anything and then long stretches where they'd
call nothing. The one thing you want from the officials is consistency
and they had none of that in this game. Who knew when and what they were
actually going to call a foul. They called 14 fouls in the 1st quarter
and just 1 over the first 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter - in fact, I
actually called my parents when Adrian Griffin was going to the line with
3:40 left in the 2nd quarter to ask if that was the first fouled called in
the quarter (it was the 2nd). They called 5 fouls in the 2nd quarter.
Then it was back to whistles with 12 fouls in the 3rd quarter and 11 fouls
over the first 8 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter. Then almost anything was
let go with just 1 foul called over the last 3 1/2 minutes of the game.
Players get ragged for poor outings, refs deserve the same criticism.
Quotes: [Popovich's, Duncan's, Ginobili's, Johnson's, and Nowitzki's
(except his last one) quotes transcribed by me]
Gregg Popovich: "Both tams played well enough to win that one and we were
fortunate to get something to fall at the end and, you know, they couldn't
get something to fall. So sometimes it just comes down to a possession
here or there with 2 good basketball teams. And we were fortunate that it
went our way tonight."
Popovich: "Bruce did a good job tonight. He was obviously very focused
and he earned his money, that's for sure."
Popovich: "Felt that the quick turnaround, there's nothing you can do
about that and you're happy to get by any game in the playoffs with a win.
So it doesn't matter what game it is in any series. Wins are wonderful
things in the playoffs. Just as losses are devastating, you know, and you
got to come back. How you handle each is probably what's most important
for a team."
Popovich on defense: "I thought it would settle in as the game went along
and was very good in the last 5, 6 minutes of the game."
Popovich on Dallas' last play: "You know, you figure one of the big 3 is
going to get it. He's gone to Howard, he's gone to Nowitzki, he's gone to
Terry, in a variety of ways. They've got some great sets and you don't
really know which guy is going to get it, to be honest with you. So you
just prepare as much as you can and really players make plays at that
point. You know, the basic is out there as far as what you are doing
defensively, but players make decisions. And we did a good job."
Popovich: "We've been going to Timmy quite consistently through the entire
playoffs to date."
Popovich: "Well, Timmy's the foundation for us. With out him doing what
he does down low, he's our post-up threat on the block to spread court and
make lanes available, get some attack-and-kick. Without that, we'd be
pretty stagnant out on the court. So Timmy sets the table for everybody
else."
Popovich on Bowen again: "Okay, I'll say it again. I thought Bruce was
very focused tonight. Did as good [of a] job as you can possibly do on a
great player. You're going to make a mistake here and there. He's going
to score; you're not going to stop him. But I thought Bruce overall did
an excellent job."
Popovich on Howard in the 2nd half: "I didn't notice that we shut him
down. Jason was doing a pretty good job of getting to the rim. Everybody
can't have the ball at the same time, so the points that maybe Josh didn't
score, Jason scored them."
Popovich on Parker: "Tony's fine. He's not banged up. It's the playoffs.
But he just gets smarter every day, every week, every year. He's a young
kid and he's just trying to get everything right. And I thought he was
aggressive defensively. Offensively, I think he could look for his
offense a little bit more because they're dropping on him a lot and his
shot has really improved. So I don't mind when he gets shots up."
Popovich on Ginobili: "Manu is one of the most competitive people I've
ever been around and it always shows on the court. It doesn't matter what
game of the season it is or what the score is, he's hell bent for leather.
What you see is just what he is. He's got a lot of, just a lot of fire
and a great will to win. [reporter: defensively?] He made some great
reads. He came from inside-out on the pass out to Stack and he got it
tipped and kicked it up in the air - wish he'd have knocked it about 24
feet higher so that the clock would have wound out 'cause Stack was able
to squirt that thing up there. But you always hope that you can guard
that without falling down on a guy and fouling. So it's good that he kept
his balance."
Tim Duncan on Dallas' last play: "We knew we were up 2. We wanted to
defend the 3 and not leave any shooters. At the same time, Dirk's deadly
on that right side over there, so just didn't want to get him to the
basket. Bruce did a great job of getting up on his side. We forced him
to the basket, got a good rotation, and Manu stayed down in the corner.
It was great."
Duncan on the short layoff time: "You know what, it's the playoffs. It's
what it's all about. Everything was kind of stacked against us. A lot of
excuses were there, but we played through everything. We played with
energy, we had to. We're going to do better in the next game too."
Duncan on Dallas' last play: "It was kind of all night, we really didn't
change our defense in that situation. We talked about it for a little
while and then decided to stick with what we'd done all game. Bruce
really got up on his side there and knowing he wanted to pull that jump
shot, made him a driver and I was just the help-side defense. Just
honestly nothing really different from what we usually do and just a
little more alert because it's Dirk."
Duncan: "We were much better in that 2nd half. Transition, giving up
baskets, scores right at the basket, we did a lot better job of contesting
jump shots, our rotation was better. I think we just kind of got used to
what they were doing and we're able to make those rotations a little
better than we did in that 1st half."
Duncan on the early start: "I was up at 6 am. [reporter: by design?]
That was not by design. But I was up and it felt like more of a normal
game - that might be the routine."
Duncan: "Dirk brings a whole new set of challenges. With his size, his
incredible shooting ability, you can't give him any space. And he's been
handling the ball very well too, so he'll get by you and draw fouls right
at the basket. With his size he can draw fouls and finish. So a whole
new set of challenges for the team. I thought we handled it pretty well.
We understand that our rotations are going to have to be there. We
respect the player that he is, and I think that's the first step. You got
to respect who you play, you got to respect your opponent."
Duncan: "They didn't double me at all in the 1st half and came out in the
2nd half and I knew they'd have a bit of a change, so I got less shots. I
moved the ball when they came and my teammates got some wide open looks.
I got a little hesitant towards the end there. Hadn't taken as many shots
as I did in the 1st half, I think I passed up a couple that I should have
taken. But all in all, you got to take what they give you and in the 1st
half they weren't doing anything so I had to make them loosen up and
luckily I got some shots to go down."
Duncan on the short turnaround: "I didn't do a whole lot in the last game,
honestly. I might have played 30 minutes, but we were in a great
situation where we had a good lead and TParker was great and he kind of
shouldered the load in that respect. And it felt a lot more like not a
stressful night and so I had a lot more energy coming into this game."
Duncan on why he was up at 6 am: "Just got up, don't know why."
Tony Parker on the short turnaround: "It was tough, but we just hang in
there. The whole game we were down like 5, down 8, and we just stayed in
the game. Timmy was awesome and he's the one who carried us basically the
whole game. And just stayed with our defense and in the 4th quarter, we
made a couple of stops and finally went ahead. And it was just the whole
game, it was just details. And at the end I think we got the stops that
we needed to win the game."
Parker on Bowen's 3-pointer: "Timmy, they were double-teaming him all the
time and so the play before I had a shot but it was like 7 seconds left
and I took a bad shot in front of Jason Terry and Pop told me in the
timeout to just penetrate - they're in foul trouble so either you're going
to the line or they're going to come and Bruce is going to be wide open.
So after the timeout, I keep that mind and I pump-fake and penetrate and
Bruce was wide open and he knocked it down."
Parker on his injured leg: "It's okay, it's okay. I got hit on the other
one so now I got both legs. I got a knee again. I'm not very lucky at
the moment, but I'm just going to keep doing massage and treatments and
basically keep it warm and hopefully it will feel better. Game 2 is
Monday [actually Tuesday] and then we're not going to play for 2 days, so
hopefully I can take advantage of that."
Parker on if his leg slowed him down: "I couldn't crossover as usual, but
overall I was feeling pretty good."
Parker on Duncan: "Timmy he was like when I was a rookie when we was going
at him all the time. Just going to work. He was feeling good. That
move, like crossover and finish with the left hand - that was nice, you
don't teach that in basketball school. He was just feeling great. He was
aggressive. He was not thinking. He was taking the outside shot. I
didn't see him take a shot with the glass for a long time, he took like 2
or 3 tonight, so that means he's feeling good. So if he plays like that,
that makes it easy for everybody."
Parker on the MVP voting and Duncan: "He didn't play like a couple of
years before. The 2 years he won the award, he was just dominating and he
was just doing everything. And now he is the type of player he is very
unselfish and he doesn't care if I finish with all the points or Manu
scores all the points, he really don't care. He just wants us to win and
he's just unselfish. So he's just going to play like that and he knows
that we're just not like 1 guy scoring, we need like 2 or 3 options.
Basketball is a team and so I think Timmy doesn't dominate like he used to
because now he's got help."
Parker on Dallas not doubling Duncan early: "A lot of teams doing that
late of the season because they thought he couldn't score any more and
that's a big mistake. Sacramento tried to do that. They did single
coverage on Timmy and he went to work. And tonight the same thing. In
the 1st half, they didn't double-team, Timmy went to work. So if they're
going to do that, Timmy needs to be aggressive. And 2nd half, he just
kicked it to the open man and then it's the guards we need to knock down
open shots."
Parker on if he expects a tough series: "I think so. Dallas is a tough
team. They're playing fast. They got great transition offense. Dirk
Nowitzki is a very tough cover. I thought Bruce did an awesome job
tonight, played very aggressive on him. They're just tough. They got
different matchups, you know, Jerry Stackhouse in the post and Josh
Howard. So it makes it difficult, especially when they go small."
Manu Ginobili: "We knew that the last play was going to go to Dirk. At
first we talked about double-teaming him, but we decided to play him
straight up. Bruce played him very well. I tipped [Nowitzki's] pass and
I wanted to make [Stackhouse's] final shot as tough as possible.
Stackhouse opted not to take a 2 and went for the win with the 3.
Sometimes it goes, sometimes it doesn't. We were lucky."
Ginobili: "[Duncan] was great tonight. They couldn't play him 1-on-1
because he was playing so great and that really changed their strategy.
It really opened up things for our shooters."
Ginobili: "It is always great to start with a win. We can't get too
comfortable though. Tuesday will be even tougher than today was, so we
have to stay focused and continue to play well."
Ginobili on Bowen: "He never gets tired. He is tough. He plays all the
games and never sits out."
Ginobili on the short turnaround from game 6 to game 1: "Everybody knew we
didn't have enough rest but there's nothing we could do about it."
Bruce Bowen on Johnson's comments about bearhug defense: "Stuff like that
used to bother me because you would think you try to earn the respect of
the other coaches. You want them to be happy with what you do because
you give 110%. Now, it's something that's said a lot, so add him to the
list of many others who want to say stuff."
Bowen: "This has the feel of the NBA Finals. It's going to make good
basketball."
Avery Johnson: "Well, this game was a tale of 2 halves for us. We came
out with a lot of energy in the 1st half. Scored the ball pretty good and
had the ball moving a little bit - we didn't have many assists for the 1st
half or the whole game - but the ball was moving a little bit more. We
were running. But the 2nd half, they came out and they were the
aggressor. If you looked at the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half, they were
the aggressor, they were pressing. Kind of took us out of our offense a
little bit. I had to call another early timeout, like I did in he first 2
seconds of the game. So again, they deserved to win. It was a hard
fought game. We're disappointed that we lost. We make no excuses. We'll
get back to practice tomorrow and look to bounce back in the next game."
Johnson on the 2nd half: "Well, it's either their defense got better or
our offense got worse. So probably a combination of both. But when
you're in that situation where it seems their defense gets better, you got
to really, you know, that's what you look for. You should want their
defense to get better and accept that more of a challenge and we just
didn't get it done."
Johnson on the last possession: "We were trying to get the ball to Dirk,
but he was out on the court like he was, 20 feet from the basket, we had
another option, and we just didn't get to that option. So that was my
fault. [reporter: other option Stackhouse in the corner?] Well, no,
coming out of the corner. So we just didn't execute it. That's
something we work on quite a bit, that kind of execution, so I got to do a
better job of working on it a little bit more in practice. It's not
anybody's fault, it's my fault."
Johnson on if it was Nowitzki's fault he was 20 feet from the basket: "In
that situation, we kind of knew they would try to push him out, that's why
we had 1 or 2 other things that we wanted to do if he was out that far and
we just didn't get to it. So, like I said, that was my fault. I didn't
do a good job of drawing up a good enough play for us to execute in that
situation."
Johnson on if they were going for a 2- or 3-pointer: "Going for the 2.
And then if we got in trouble, we had another timeout in our pocket and we
just couldn't get anyone's attention to call it. So again, that was my
fault."
Johnson on Duncan: "He was pretty aggressive. We were trying to play him
as best that we can. I thought we did a better job on him in the 2nd half
than we did in the 1st half. But what we did in the 1st half, he scored a
little bit but there weren't many 3s or anything like that. I just think
that sometimes with this team, you got to pick your poison. And I thought
overall that our game plan was pretty good. But again, in a big part of
the game tonight was we kind of got sucked in on one 3 and Bowen got his
only 3 of the game and that one was a big 3."
Johnson on the defense on Nowitzki: "It's what you call bearhug defense.
So that's the new NBA rule. It's called bearhug defense. So that's
pretty much what's going on. And I got to try to formulate or simulate a
drill to help him in what you call that bearhug defense. [reporter:
bearhug?] You know what a bearhug is? If a bear comes up to you and hugs
you that what is he going to do? Yeah, so bearhug defense. I don't even
have to use my New Orleans slang for that one. That's simple."
Johnson: "I thought our centers battled. Our centers are very important
for our whole defensive philosophy. They got a tough matchup. Pau Gasol
was a tough matchup, but Duncan is a whole nother entity on it's own.
He's won 3 championships and he has a lot of playoff experience. So they
battled him as best they can. I thought they did a much better job on him
and not letting him get his position on the post in the 2nd half. And
that's what we're going to need more of in this series. Again, you look
at this game probably a little rusty on our part. I kind of sense that
just in some of our execution and timing. So hopefully now we can get
back into some normal schedule by getting back to practice tomorrow and
coming out and trying to put together more than 1 good half."
Johnson on the missed free throws: "Well again, we with our stats, I think
we're 2nd in the NBA in free throws during the playoffs. I think we were
at about 85%, so again I'll take our guys getting to the free throw line
and trying to make 2 any night. We are one of the better free throw
shooting teams in the league. So for us to miss 9 free throws in this
type of environment, it definitely hurts your team."
Johnson if they were going for a 3 on the last play: "No. No were we
going for a win. We weren't going for a win, we were trying to get a 2.
We had a plan A and a plan B for the 2, but we got kind of out of wack and
swung the ball to Stackhouse and he was covered and, you know, if we could
of got a timeout in that situation, it would of been great. But it didn't
happen. We were going to tie the game and try to get something going
towards the basket and if you get a 3-point play, you take it; if not, you
get the easy 2."
Dirk Nowitzki on the last play: "I was going to have the ball on the wing
and just make something happen for the team. They did what they always
do, you know. Bruce kind of forced me baseline to the help and what you
always try to do is get back middle and make something happen and I
thought Stack was open in the corner and Ginobili kind of recovered and
kind of tipped the ball. So it wasn't the best of plays, but I guess
we'll move on."
Nowitzki on Bowen: "You know he's tough. You know he tries to make you
uncomfortable all game. Trying to push up on me and try to make me drive
and push me to the help as much as he can. You know, it's nothing new.
He's been doing it for a couple of years now. And I thought in the 2nd
half I had some good looks that I usually make, some fade aways that I
got to make. I had a wide open look that I got to make. So just got to
finish my shot. I thought I had a decent rhythm in the 1st half and I
kind of lost it, so got to make sure I stay aggressive and finish my
shots."
Nowitzki: "I know I'm not going to score 35 in this series in a game. You
know, they're a great defensive team and obviously they're trying to take
me out of the series. So with me scoring 20, we still should have won the
game I feel. We were right there. I thought our defense was good all
night long. We held them to 41% shooting. But offensively we got to
execute a little bit better too. You know, JET [Terry] wasn't really
feeling it. I missed a lot of shots down the stretch. So I think we had
a great shot at winning it. Got to watch some film tomorrow and be ready
for Tuesday."
Nowitzki on if it was a missed opportunity: "Well it obviously is. I
thought we were right there. We were actually leading at halftime. They
had a decent 2nd half. But still we were right there. Obviously Bowen's
3 was big in the corner. I thought we did a great job staying with them
all game and not letting them get his little corner shot up. He got open
once and knocked a big shot in. But we were right there and we still had
a chance to win down the stretch."
Nowitzki: "Like I said, both teams are great defensive teams. They have
athletism on the perimeter. Inside we both got big guys that can step up
and clog up the paint. So I think ultimately that's what we're trying to
do, both teams, is play defense first, make it hard on the other team.
And offensively, we got a couple of go-to guys, both teams, that they can
go to. But ultimately we're both trying to be a defensive team first, be
tough-minded on defense. So I guess we're right there with them. Just a
tough loss."
Nowitzki: "We guard Duncan as much as we can with single coverage. You
know, they have a lot of great shooters out there that spread the floor
for them. So we kind of want to play him and I think our big guys did a
decent job. They battled him. But he's a great player. Once he gets the
ball pretty deep, he was able to finish and get a couple of calls and get
a couple of and-1s early too. But you know, he already had like 20 points
at half and I thought our big guys did a great job."
Nowitzki on the bearhug defense: "Well, like I said, it's nothing that I
haven't seen or we haven't seen. They've been trying to do that for years
now. Not even on a screen-and-roll, they're sending the big guy from the
baseline every time now. So I can't even get an open look. But like I
said, that's nothing new. I just got to make my shots off the dribble.
I'm not going to get an open look in the series, I already know that. I
thought I had some good shots in the 1st half that I made and, you know, I
got to make them in the 2nd half when it counts."
Nowitzki on the centers: "I thought they were battling, they were
battling. They were just fine. Obviously Duncan is so good down there
that obviously pick up a foul once in a while, but I thought they played
him aggressive. They tried to get him out of his sweet spots a little
bit. Like I said, we were right there. Maybe make a couple of
adjustments for Tuesday."
Nowitzki on if Dallas was rusty: "No, not at all. I thought we came out
firing. Like I said, we had a lead at the half. We're moving the ball,
got some stops, so I think there wasn't any rust. We played well enough
to win the game, but we didn't. So down the stretch we just should of
executed 1 or 2 times better and we would have won the game."
Nowitzki on Bowen: "Obviously, like I said, he's playing me on the high
side and forcing me right into help. So every time I drive, the big guy
is already over on my side. And if I pull up, they're both contesting my
shots. So obviously I want to mix it up a little bit with my shot and
driving, getting to the foul line some. I didn't shoot enough free
throws I thought today. But we'll see what happens Tuesday."
Nowitzki: "They're supposed to be the poor free throw shooting team, but
we were the ones missing them. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe
because the 2nd round means more than the 1st round. But still."
Josh Howard: "They competed a lot harder in the 2nd half. They made sure
we got 1 shot on each possession."
Jason Terry: "This was not our best basketball tonight. In game 2 we'll
have to play a little better at both ends of the court. Offensively and
defensively this was not our best game. Even still we had a chance to win
it at the end. We had a shot at the end of regulation so we are still
confident. This is going to be a tough series. Game 1 is over, so now we
must look forward to game 2."
Terry: "We didn't execute the way we should have. They are a veteran,
championship team. They got stops when they needed to."
Terry: "We know we can play a lot better in Game 2. We were right there."
Terry: "I promise you we had plenty of opportunities on offense. Each
game is going to be a battle. We can play a lot better. Nobody is
pressing any panic buttons."
Jerry Stackhouse: "The last play was an iso for Dirk, but he got tangled
up and the play kind of got broken. It was just a play that sort of broke
down. I ended up with the ball in the corner and I had to collect it.
When I did I wasn't sure how much time was left. Once I looked up there
was only about 3 seconds left, not enough to set up another play. So I
just stepped back and tried to get a good look for a 3 from the corner."
Stackhouse: "I got off a decent look. But obviously we could have gotten
a better look in that situation."
Stackhouse on his last shot: "Somehow, if I had a little more on it, then
maybe we'd have a different feeling right now. We came in here with the
right attitude, right energy, but we let them take the game."
Stackhouse: "It always boils down to the last part of the game. But
there's a lot of things we'll probably look at in the 1st 3 quarters that
if we do different then we're not having to make a miraculous shot."
Stackhouse: "We wouldn't have to make a miraculous shot or have to be
great in the last couple of minutes if we would have done a few things
earlier in the game. There was a spot there for a little bit where we
just couldn't get anything to drop."
Stackhouse: "We have to look at this thing as a series. Yes we had some
advantages coming in where rest was concerned. But this is playoff
basketball and they are a championship team. We have to play our A game
to beat this team and we didn't play that tonight. But all that aside, it
still came down to a few bounces going one way or another. They didn't go
our way late and that was that."
Stackhouse: "Duncan is a superstar. We decided to play him 1-on-1 and he
made some tough shots. If we could of at least fouled him and make him go
to the line and shoot free throws, and we can't let him hurt us with the
and-1. He's not the greatest free throw shooter so we should at least
make him shoot though."
Erick Dampier on the missed free throws: "I don't have any explanation for
it. We've just got to do a better job in the next game of knocking them
down."
Dampier: "It's hard when they're going to give [Duncan] every call.
Everybody can foul out."
Devin Harris on attacking the basket on Parker: "As much as he attacks us
on offense, we definitely want to return the favor."
Game 1: San Antonio Spurs 87, Dallas Mavericks 85 at San Antonio (May 7)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
San Antonio 26 20 25 16 - 87 .452 .231 .413 .733
Dallas 29 23 20 13 - 85 .429 .286 .416 .679
Halftime: Dallas 52-46
3rd Q: Dallas 72-71
Technicals: none
Refs: Danny Crawford, Greg Willard, Mark Wunderlich
Attendance: 18,797 (sellout)
IL: Sean Marks (SA), Keith Van Horn (Dal)
San Antonio Spurs REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Manu Ginobili 37 5-14 0-2 5-6 15 1-5 0 4 4 4 0
Tony Parker 36 7-18 0-0 5-6 19 1-4 4 2 1 1 0
Tim Duncan 41 12-24 0-0 7-12 31 5-13 4 4 3 1 2
Bruce Bowen 34 2-5 1-3 1-2 6 1-2 0 0 4 1 0
Robert Horry 33 1-4 1-4 2-2 5 3-9 1 1 3 1 1
Michael Finley 23 3-6 1-3 0-0 7 0-3 0 0 1 0 1
Brent Barry 14 0-2 0-1 2-2 2 0-1 1 0 1 0 0
Nick Van_Exel 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Rasho Nesterovic 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 2 0 0
Nazr Mohammed 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0
Totals 48 31-75 3-13 22-30 87 11-40 11 12 20 8 4
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Jason Terry 35 6-18 1-3 1-2 14 0-2 1 1 2 2 0
Adrian Griffin 20 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 1-1 1 0 2 0 0
Dirk Nowitzki 42 8-20 0-1 4-6 20 4-14 0 2 2 2 0
Josh Howard 41 5-10 0-0 7-8 17 2-9 0 5 3 1 2
DeSagana Diop 16 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-4 0 1 5 2 0
Jerry Stackhouse 35 10-21 1-3 3-4 24 0-2 1 1 3 2 0
Erick Dampier 28 0-2 0-0 2-4 2 3-10 0 1 3 0 5
Devin Harris 16 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 1-4 2 0 1 0 0
Marquis Daniels 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 3 1 1 0 0
DJ Mbenga 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0
Totals 48 32-77 2-7 19-28 85 13-47 8 13 24 9 7
patricia
Go Mavs!
--
Patricia Bender pbender [at] eskimo.com
For NBA stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/index.html
For Mavs stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/mavs.html
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| Re: Mavs News: San Antonio game 1 [message #1015497 ] |
Tue, 09 May 2006 14:34 |
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Patricia Bender wrote:
> It was a great game until the last 5 minutes of the game. The teams
> combined to shoot a mere 2-17 FG and 3-6 FT over that time span,
> including some really ugly shots (including both team's last attempts).
> Worse for Dallas is that once Dirk Nowitzki realized he wasn't getting a
> good look, he or someone should have called timeout as Dallas still had
> one left and still had 8 seconds left to set something else up. But no
> one on the court called the timeout and it was a poorly executed play to
> end the game.
i think players forget that anybody on the offensive team can call a
timeout. when stack got stuck in the corner, there 3.4 seconds left.
most people are right in arguing that he should have taken that open
lane to the basket for an easy layup. but even after his mistake of
going to the corner, there was a smarter route than the one taken. that
mistake was made by every mav on the floor who didn't call timeout.
dave
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