Art Garcia of NBA.com: “Wright said he didn’t want to make any extra contact in case Anthony was about to shoot, which would have led to three foul shots. ‘What do you want me to do? Do you want me to Derek Fisher him, just take him out and then I get a flagrant foul late in the game,’ Wright fumed. ‘I can’t blatantly run through the guy. I have to try to make a play on the ball and that’s what I felt like I did. I didn’t want to jeopardize my team in any way by making a foolish foul.’” In the grand scheme of things, Wright is but a peon. Carmelo is an elite offensive player that tends to do amazing things in the final moments of games. Call me crazy, but I err on the Wright side of this debate. If AW is waiting for a whistle and one never comes, he has fractions of a second to react and scramble to contest the shot. In that scramble, the odds that he gets called for a foul are probably 50-50, despite what actually does or doesn’t happen. In a perfect world, should Wright have played out the sequence regardless of a whistle? Sure. Does that mean we should blame him for it? Hardly.
Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Despite a controversial ending, let there be no Mavs crying, not after missing two free throws (one by Jason Terry, one by Josh Howard) in the final 2:12, among four clanged in the fourth quarter. Or when Dirk Nowitzki, who otherwise was very game, threw up a lame shot with 7.9 seconds left, which was a failure in three areas: No. 1, he missed. No. 2, Dirk didn’t milk the shot clock enough, leaving three critical seconds and 6.5 overall. No. 3, while guarded man-to-man by Kenyon Martin, he didn’t do what he had been doing much of the afternoon. Driving the rim hard, getting to the line.” There are millions of reasons why the Mavs ended up at 105 points, and plenty of those reasons are failures to complete certain tasks. Yes, Dirk should have milked the clock. Yes, he should’ve tried to get to the basket. And yes, the Mavs should’ve made their free throws. But essentially, the Mavs were penalized for regressing toward the mean. On the season, the Mavs as a team shot 81.6% on their free throws. They shot exactly that same percentage in Game 3. On the season, the Mavs as a team had 49 free throw attempts, which is almost double their regular season average. Dirk far exceeded his average attempts of 6.7 by shooting 15 free throws. It’s a pity that those already excellent marks were brought back down to earth by a failure to score in the final minutes, but the numbers would tell you that such a fall was inevitable. The Mavs had played well enough to endure that slip, but they were hardly afforded the chance to.
Via Tim MacMahon of the DMN Mavs Blog: “If I was the league, I wouldn’t say that,” Dirk said Sunday. “I don’t think it makes anybody feel better. We don’t get the last seven seconds back, to kind of play it over again. So more than anything, I think it made it worse.” Sigh.
“When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.”
-Mark Twain
There are losses that make you want to yell and scream. There are losses that make you want to roll over and die. And then, there are losses that leave you staring in disbelief, mouth agape, as if the life has been sucked right out of you.
Or, if you’re like me, it’s a rotation of the three until I successfully recover from my postgame stupor.
In general, I try to avoid the thing that nobody wants to talk about but everybody wants to talk about: officiating. There’s a certain give and take to the ref game, and I respect that. But tonight is different. Although a blown call in the fourth quarter technically carries the same weight as one in the first, the critical mistake of the officiating crew in the final seconds of Game 3 was the biggest dagger I’ve seen in these playoffs. In one missed call, Dallas fell from a hopeful 1-2 to a funereal 0-3, a death knell in NBA basketball. It’s up for debate whether or not the Mavs had a real chance at winning this series, but one suddenly silent whistle made any debate irrelevant.
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit, and though winning some games would dress up the series in its Sunday’s finest, the Mavs don’t appear to be a team that can buck that trend. Every piece of evidence imaginable would point to the Mavs losing this series, and can’t even convince myself, much less you, otherwise.
What makes last night’s loss so painful is that the Mavs did what they needed to to win. Nene (5 points, 2-10 FG), a dominant force in Games 1 and 2, was neutralized by a more effective frontline and a defense aware of his presence. Josh Howard was revived from ankle hell to score 14 points, grab 7 rebounds, and play some commendable defense on a white-hot Carmelo Anthony. Dirk (33 points, 16 rebounds) was absolutely wonderful, and managed to actually build upon his prior brilliance by adding an impressive 15 free throw attempts to his series resume. Jason Kidd and Jason Terry each broke out of their respective slumps, with Kidd running the break with mastery and Terry hitting the (original) biggest shot of the game to put the Mavs up 4. But all of that was wiped away when Antoine Wright tried to use the Mavs’ foul to give with two seconds remaining and was denied by official Mark Wunderlich, who saw no reason to stop the play and allowed Carmelo a free look at a game-winner. This isn’t a complaint about a questionable call — NBA president of league and basketball ops Joel Litvin confirmed the boo-boo — but rather voicing the frustration of a clear error that denied the Mavs a chance at this series.
The thought that history will likely remember this day as a Nuggets’ triumph rather than an officiating failure pains me, but credit to Denver for clawing their way through this game. It wasn’t always pretty and, to be frank, wasn’t always effective, but they managed to perservere despite a lot of things going wrong. Foul trouble and poor execution be damned, the Nuggets weren’t going to see themselves embarrassed, and that mentality just so happened to get them face-to-face with a winning jumper. Luckily for the Nuggs and their fans, Melo didn’t blink.
Brandon Bass (16 points, 5 rebounds, 12-14 FT) was awesome. He alone dominated Chris Andersen (plagued by foul trouble) and J.R. Smith (plagued by poor shot selection being J.R. Smith), and played tough interior defense while Erick Dampier was resting. Early in the game, it looked as though Ryan Hollins may have supplanted Bass as the back-up center, but Bass played with exactly the kind of energy and discipline that he needs to be effective on a regular basis. The free throw attempts are clear evidence of his assertiveness around the basket, but that kind of quantification hardly tells how important he was to the Mavs’ offense. In the first half, Dirk sitting on the bench meant a scoring drought. But once Bass started hitting his stride, he afforded Nowitzki some much-needed rest and the team a much-needed weapon.
Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups…were Carmelo Anthony (31 points, 8 rebounds) and Chauncey Billups (32 points). They had the kind of big games that you expect from players of their paygrade, and there was no chance that Denver even sniffs a win if those two don’t contribute huge baskets and meaningful plays at both ends.
Aside from that, the only other Maverick-killer was their inability to secure defensive rebounds. The Nuggets grabbed 13 offensive boards, many of which were converted into impressive tip-ins and dunks. That’s a disheartening way to end a play, especially when Dallas’ half-court defense seemed much improved from the first two games. They were putting the Nuggets in tough spots, but Birdman or Kenyon Martin would swoop in for an easy jam as the ball bounced off the rim. We’ve asked the Mavs to improve their defense and they responded, which makes those easy put-backs that much more harrowing.
Closing thoughts:
Well, Gerald Green played a full 9 minutes, and it wasn’t pretty. Josh Howard and Antoine Wright’s foul trouble left Carlisle digging into his bench, and Green rewarded his generosity with 0-4 shooting, 0 assists, 0 rebounds, 0 steals, 0 blocks, and 3 fouls. Ai yai yai.
In case you missed it, you can actualy re-watch the game in its entirety here.
Say what you will about Antoine Wright “giving up” on that final play, but I don’t see many faults with his play. If he challenges the shot, there’s actually a decent chance that Anthony catches him jumping from out of position, draws a foul, and gets three free throws (or maybe even more if the foul was flagrant). If he even challenges the shot, there’s still a chance that a whistle negates his efforts. And all of this is taking place in about a second flat, fleeting moments in which Wright is expecting play to be stopped by a tweet.
Josh Howard was called for an offensive foul on a play where he drove into the lane and warded off a defender by kicking out his foot…which you may remember was almost the exact play that won a regular season game for Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets against the Mavs back in January (check the clip here at the 1:50 mark, although it’s pretty bad quality).
Damn.
GOLD STAR OF THE NIGHT: The Gold Star of the Night goes to Brandon Bass. Dirk has been playing well all series long and deserves his props, but Bass provided something both unexpected and delightful tonight. Shooting 14 free throws off the bench in just 25 minutes is quite a feat, and Bass is quite a player.
All indications point to Howard playing today, but your guess is as good as mine as to how effective he’ll be. Fingers crossed that the Mavs’ training staff was able to work a miracle in three days.
No Grapevine today, but I did want to pass along a link to the “RoundCast” I did with Will Brinson and Matt Watson at the FanHouse last night. It’s good times, as we talk a bit of Mavs-Nuggs, touch on Dirk’s personal troubles, and make our way to LeBron and the games tonight as well. Check it out, all the cool kids are doing it.
The Mavs’ playoff hopes are undoubtedly dimmed, but hardly extinguished. That said, a couple of sore, swollen ankles are hardly the support that a massive comeback needs.
There are plenty of reasons for Mavs fans to be frustrated. Be frustrated with the exact timing that brought Chauncey Billups and Josh Howard on a collision course to ANKLE DOOM. Be frustrated that the Nuggets are not a good matchup for the Mavs, and are playing a completely different level. Be frustrated that Jason Kidd has swapped brains with your rec league point guard prior to each fourth quarter.
But in spite of all the frustration and disappointment swirling around a team down 0-2, there are essentially two Mavs, in my mind, that get a free pass. Dirk Nowitzki is one, and for obvious reasons. The other is Josh Howard.
I’ve seen Josh’s name cursed aplenty, and some of those criticisms have held merit. But since Howard’s return from injury late in the regular season, I’ve had few problems with his game. Josh has played far from a perfect stretch, but his rebirth through fire, while still injured, no less, could not possibly have gone any smoother…until this series.
In a lot of ways, Josh hurting his other ankle could actually be worse than aggravating his already existing injury. At least in that case he’d have one leg on which to stand. For now, he’s left with two useless stumps that can’t quite plant, a state of limbo that allows him to stand but not move. He can probably jog up and down the court and do half-effective demonstrations of his normal movements, but asking a player with severely limited lateral movement to keep pace with Carmelo Anthony is just cruel. Though, it’s worth noting that Carmelo’s narrative seems to unfold in ways similar to Josh’s. Of course Josh wasn’t birthed into the league with a gold star on his back, he fashioned one of his own to remind the world of what they’re missing. Both of those stars have been thoroughly challenged by life away from the game and on-court limitations, but Carmelo seems to be genuinely moving into a new phase of his career.
Howard hasn’t evolved (like Melo), he’s merely returned. I think that’s an important distinction. Of course, that’s not to say that his return isn’t measured with a certain amount of progress. Nothing fundamentally Howard has changed, but in demonstrating the willingness to claw out of his scapegoat role, he has demonstrated the very same attributes that made him such a charismatic rookie. That makes for a pretty significant turnaround from his on-court shift and off-court series of unforunate decisions. I don’t know if the chip is officially back on Josh Howard’s shoulder, but he sure as hell has been playing like it is.
We’ve seen quite a bit of Josh Howard over his career with the Mavs. We’ve witnessed his emergence as a defender, a scorer, an All-Star, as a liability, a question mark, and a dilemma. But the Josh of a year ago is a ghost. He might still haunt you, but there’s no substance to the specter. Rather than partying the playoffs away or stirring up controversy, Howard has made absolutely no commotion over his willingness to endure pain, put off surgery, and play hard. J.J. Barea got his five minutes of fame in the San Antonio series, but make no mistake: the Mavs don’t win that series, and certainly not in five games, if Howard repeats his playoff performance of a year ago.
As basketball fans, we have a tendency to criticize players for what they’re not, rather than appreciate them for what they are. But this is one of those times where fans on the whole fail to acknowledge either. Josh isn’t a distraction and he isn’t disgruntled. He is valuable, productive, and energetic. Isn’t that enough? You shouldn’t have expected Josh to grow into LeBron, Wade, or Carmelo. He’ll just never be as talented or as dynamic as his draftmates. But right now, he’s doing everything that he can to help this team win games, and that deserves some respect. His performance and grit have been commendable on their own, but the juxtaposition of the 2008 Josh with the 2009 model makes it that much more impressive.
So I guess what I’m really getting at is this: don’t misconstrue injury for inconsistency or inefficiency. The mere fact that Josh was on the court when had every reason not to be is a testament to his will and his rebirth.
“It’s pretty obvious that I’m going through a tough time in my personal life right now, but like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private,” Nowitzki said. “I’m not at the stage where I can talk about it yet and feel comfortable talking about it. … At this point, I just can’t talk about it.”
It’s hard to really say anything without confirmed facts, but claims that this is somehow a character flaw or that Dirk “has moved into T.O. type territory,” are flat-out false. Maybe it’s just a writer with his hand caught in the hyperbole jar, but the mere mention of Dirk and Owens in the same breath is ridiculous, not to mention unfounded.
I don’t sit down with Dirk on the weekends to grab a drink or call him up on his birthday, but based on what we know of him I would strongly doubt he was aware of his friend’s, girlfriend’s, or whatever’s past. Dirk has apparently hired a private investigator to look into the matter, and based on the frame of questioning from reporters, it seems that Dirk has not bailed out the woman who is allegedly his fiancée. Doesn’t quite ring of the actions of someone in the know, much less a forgiving beau.
To claim that this will or won’t affect Dirk’s in-game performance would be irresponsible of me. There’s never been a precedent of anything even remotely similar to this in Dirk’s career. But I’ve never doubted Dirk’s ability to focus on the game before, and I’m not about to start now. Game 3 carries a bit of weight, and this team as a whole is intelligent enough to appreciate that.
“Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.”
-Robert Cody
Brick by brick, the Mavs built the foundation for a victory. They survived 1st quarter adversity to remain within striking distance. The bench stepped up as Josh Howard went down. They clawed their way into a game that they really had no business being in. And yet, when a Jason Terry three finally pushed the Mavs ahead 74-72, I couldn’t shake the unmistakable feeling that it would all come crashing down.
Boy, did it, in a way that may seem eerily familiar.
After hanging, and hanging, and hanging with a Nuggets team playing better basketball than them on both sides of the floor, the Mavs blew a perfect opportunity by scoring just 2 points in the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. There were rim-outs, there were horrible turnovers, and there were blocked shots, all of which seemed to end in free buckets for Denver on the break. The offensive magic that pulled the Mavs through the third quarter unscathed was left gasping the thin Denver air, and the Nuggets danced on the grave of the Mavs’ dead and buried transition defense. The team that wanted to turn this series into a marathon was run out of the gym, and I can’t decide whether ‘leak out’ better describes the nemesis of the Mavs’ defense or the insufferable feeling of their playoff hopes dripping away. Each drop brings us a bit closer to another playoff loss puddled on the floor, and another step towards the team staring itself down in the puddle’s reflection.
For three quarters, this was a game. You can thank Dirk Nowitzki (35 points on 20 shots, 9 rebounds, 4 assists) for that. Dirk’s impact was anything but the silent assassinations we’re used to; each fall-away and maneuver in the post was deafening. He served as a constant reminder that no Nugget can guard him (don’t worry, I’ll get to the TNT crew later), and also that the Mavs’ offense can’t function without him. That’s where Denver’s defense really excels. They can’t stop Dirk, and they don’t even do a very good job of limiting him. But the second that the offense stops going through Dirk or the second that he sits on the bench, the Mavs look bewildered. Our possessions begin with a lot of dribbling on the perimeter by Jason Kidd or Jason Terry, and usually end with a turnover or a forced jumper at the shot clock buzzer. They haven’t taken away our best player, but they may have taken away much more.
The number of open dunks and layups the Nuggets had was humiliating. Erick Dampier, Ryan Hollins, and James Singleton finally started stopping the freebies with a steady supply of fouls, but the attempts the Nuggets were able to get on the whole were entirely too easy. The Mavs would grind and pick and squeeze two points out of a jumper, and the Nuggets would respond in a matter of seconds by hitting a wide open Nene for a dunk. It’s impossible to say exactly how much Dampier’s ankle is limiting him, but for his sake I hope it feels like a ball and chain. Otherwise, Nene has basically ripped Damp’s heart out of his chest, demoralizing and emasculating him on national television with rolls to the basket, thunderous dunks, and sly work in the post. Nene finished with 25 and 8, but it seemed like his highlight reel would last for days.
The Mavs’ bench does deserve the appropriate credit for their offensive exploits, but the defense was bad enough that no Mav should leave this recap unmarred. Jason Terry finally looked like Jason Terry again, registering 21 points and 6 assists off the bench. Ryan Hollins was the Mavs’ most effective center, and he somehow corralled his speed and athleticism into a few buckets. J.J. Barea and Brandon Bass vaguely resemble the contributors we saw against San Antonio, but even their mild success was balanced with a steady diet of defensive failure.
On his return, JET ran headfirst into his foil, J.R. Smith (21 points on 6-10 shooting). Smith showed his full range by making alert, intelligent passes to open teammates, and pulling up early for an errant 26-footer at the end of the second quarter that allowed Kidd to run the length of the court and hit a bomb of his own to pull the Mavs within three going into the half. He was every bit the Maverick irritant, coming away with a few steals and hitting big shots to stop the Mavs’ momentum dead in its tracks. I’m sure George Karl will fall asleep smiling.
Carlisle made frequent use of the zone defense, and personally, I’m not sure what to think about it. It seemed to limit the number of successful slashes, but the Mavs gave up entirely too many offensive rebounds to Denver’s bigs, and surrendered a few baskets to backdoor cuts. It’s hard to tell exactly how effective it was without some in-depth analysis, but to be honest it seemed like a wash.
Carmelo Anthony (25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) was again brilliant in the fourth quarter, capping an otherwise quiet game with a 15-point explosion to put the game out of reach. Whether foul trouble or stomach pains have kept Melo mortal, his close-out performances have been stellar. He’s hitting tough jumpers without forgetting to attack the basket, and essentially using a style that is quintessentially Melo to improve on his perceived shortcomings. There’s no doubt that he has evolved as a player, and when that fully-evolved form is on display it is to be both feared and respected.
Closing thoughts:
I can’t think of anything that makes me angrier than Jason Kidd penetrating all the way to the rim, and declining a layup for a chance to whip the ball around to a shooter. Truly infuriating basketball.
The TNT crew (and by that I mean Kenny, Charles, and C-Webb) really grilled Dirk for describing Denver’s defenders with positive attributes. Apparently in saying that Nene and Martin are strong and Andersen can challenge shots, Dirk was ceding some gravely important psychological edge. Oh, but then he kind of dropped 35 on them. A big thanks to Ernie Johnson and P.J. Carlesimo for being voices of reason and actually listening to Dirk’s soundbite before they frolick off into exaggeration land.
Denver’s first quarter parade to the free throw line was brutal. They entered the bonus with about 6 minutes remaining, and shot 14 free throw attempts in the first quarter alone.
Jason Kidd’s performance was much easier to swallow, but with all the free three-pointers he blew, his performance still hurt. On top of that, Chauncey Billups (18 points, 8 assists, 4-9 3FG) finally emerged from whatever cave he was hiding in, so not only was Kidd sub-par, he was outclassed.
For those who don’t know, Josh Howard missed three of the four quarters with some swelling and soreness in his ankle.
GOLD STAR OF THE NIGHT: The Gold Star of the Night goes to Dirk. Let’s just leave it at that, because even though Dirk had a wonderful night offensively, this team doesn’t deserve a superlative right now.
• When coach Rick Carlisle looks at the film of Game 1, his biggest concern has to be the Mavericks’ sloppy ballhandling and head-scratching turnovers, eight of which came from veteran point guard Jason Kidd. Fumbles, mishandles, deflections and passes to no one poured gasoline on what became a roaring fire that allowed the Nuggets to turn a close game into a blowout.
• Denver’s fast break and raucous crowd were ignited by steals that led to dunks and baskets in transition. Look for better ball protection in Game 2 from Dallas, with offensive players getting lower and keeping the ball closer to their bodies to prevent deflections on the pass. With Denver constantly reaching, the Mavericks can turn many of those steals and deflections into fouls. Dallas receivers must also cut harder to the ball to prevent run-throughs for steals.
I couldn’t agree more. As poor as the Mavs’ defense was, the catalyst of that fourth quarter implosion was poor offensive play. We need to essentially do everything better on the offensive end, from the basics of passing and dribbling to more complex play execution. That can be tricky against teams with good defenses, but I don’t think the Mavs will embarrass us that same way again.
Oh, look, another writer calling the Mavericks “soft,” and woefully confusing physical toughness and mental toughness. A push in the back or a hand-check isn’t the same as having an iron will, or the kind of mental toughness needed to survive serious road blocks. We know the Nuggets can shove with the best of them, but I’d say the jury’s still out on this team’s mental state.
Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News: “See, the Nuggets make no apologies for being front-running bullies. They prance. They preen. They pose. They play with the arrogance of a team that’s seeded second in the Western Conference. They know they’re good and don’t mind telling or showing you. They stick their collective finger in your face and dare you to knock it away. Stand up to the Nuggets by matching their physical play and there’s a chance they will implode. The signs were evident during the first three quarters of Game 1 before Denver turned the game into a blowout. You saw Carmelo and J.R. Smith and Anthony Carter whining about every single foul, even though they kept whacking Dirk upside the head. You saw them nearly lose control. We all did. But it didn’t happen. Denver regained its focus, turned up its defensive intensity and blew out the Mavs in the fourth quarter.”
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: “…trying to match Denver’s physical nature isn’t going to be the Mavericks’ cure-all. It will take more than throwing an elbow into the ribs of Denver’s attitude. It will take execution. And as Jason Terry said, it will take perseverance, like the Mavericks had against San Antonio in the first round, even if the game plan is substantially different. ‘Look for us to be in attack mode from the start,’ Terry said Monday. ‘The key is to make them work. We’ve got to give them a chance to make mistakes defensively.’”
The Mavs need to kill the Nuggets’ momentum right…about…now.
Only slightly related to the series, but I think these accounts are pretty fascinating: the life of an NBA advance scout.
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Photo by Danny Bollinger.
