Patricia Bender
04-21-2008, 11:07 PM
The Mavs finished the 2007-08 regular season with a record of 51-31.
While in the past, that might have been considered a very good record, in
the ultra-competitive West this year, it was only good enough for the 7th
seed. The Mavs face the #2 seed New Orleans Hornets in the First Round of
the playoffs. It was an up-and-down season for the Mavs with a major
trade in the middle. The Mavs never really clicked either pre- or
post-trade and were never really hot or really cold. Their longest
winning steak was 7 games in January and their longest winning streak
post-trade was 5 games (all against non-playoff teams). Obviously, the
trade was the defining moment of the season for Dallas. On Feb. 19 (as
the All-Star break ended), Dallas traded Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop,
Maurice Ager, Keith Van Horn (sign-and-trade) to New Jersey for Jason
Kidd, Antoine Wright, and Malik Allen. I already stated my opinion of the
deal at the time of the deal and the Mavs play since did nothing to change
my opinion. There was some positive sights to the team early after the
trade with the players seeming to play with a more enthusiasm and
excitement, but that soon returned to normal. It is difficult for a team
to adjust in making such a major change (especially changing the point
guard) so the inconsistency the Mavs showed in March was no surprise. The
Mavs did have a scare on March 23 when Dirk Nowitzki went down with a high
ankle sprain (and a non-serious knee twist), but he shockingly returned
after being out just 10 days (players are usually out at least 3 weeks and
sometimes as long as 2 months with high ankle sprains). Credit his
trainers and Nowitzki's willingness to play in pain to his early return -
he says it still bothers him and it won't be fullly healed until he can
rest it. As for the team, they finished with a record of 16-13 in games
with Kidd, though that included a few close losses to top-tier teams (as
well as a few bad losses to lower-tier teams). The good news is that,
for a change, the team had to play the full season (where as the last few
seasons, the last number of games were meaningless) and were not slumping
into the playoffs. The bad news is that the team does not have homecourt
advantage in the First Round for the first time since 2004 (lost to
Sacrament 1-4).
Playoff Schedule:
Game 2: Tuesday April 22 Dallas at New Orleans at 6:00 pm on TNT and Ch 21
Game 3: Friday April 25 New Orleans at Dallas at 7:00 pm on ESPN and Ch 21
Game 4: Sunday April 27 New Orleans at Dallas at 8:30 pm on TNT and Ch 21
*Game 5: Tuesday April 29 Dallas at New Orleans at TBA
*Game 6: Thursday May 1 New Orleans at Dallas at TBA
*Game 7: Saturday May 3 Dallas at New Orleans at TBA
*if necessary
Game 1: Dallas at New Orleans (April 20)
Dirk Nowitzki scored the first 4 points of the game and Dallas held a
small lead for first half the of the quarter. The Hornets scored 5
straight points to take their first lead at 11-10 with 5:40 remaining, but
Dallas then went on a 14-3 run to take a 24-13 lead with 45 seconds to go.
New Orleans made a full-court pass at the end of the quarter and Chris
Paul nailed the long jumper (inside the arc) with .5 seconds left. Dallas
led 26-19 after 1. Dallas shot 48% FG and 6-9 FT and New Orleans shot 32%
FG and 1-2 FT (with Dallas attacking the basket which resulted in more
free throws). Neither team hit a 3-pointer with Dallas missing 3 and the
Hornets missing 8. Nowitzki had 11 points in the quarter. The teams
struggled to open the 2nd quarter with 5 missed shots and 3 turnovers in
the first 2 minutes. Brandon Bass has a monster dunk to give Dallas a
30-22 lead with 9:25 remaining. New Orleans scored the next 5 points, but
Dallas was able to hang on to a single-digit lead. Nowitzki hit 2 free
throws and Jerry Stackhouse made a sweet touch pass to Erick Dampier for a
dunk to give Dallas a 40-30 lead with 4:50 to go. After a Dallas miss
with 25 seconds left, Jason Kidd stole the rebound from David West and
Dallas set up a last play and Josh Howard hit a 3-pointer with a little
over a second left to give Dallas a 52-40 lead at the half. Dallas
struggled with their shot in the 2nd quarter in shooting just 7-21 FG, but
got to the line and hit 10-10 FT. New Orleans shot 9-19 FG and 1-5 FT.
Then came the 2nd half. Dallas' shooting remained poor and Paul showed
why he's an MVP candidate. Paul scored New Orleans' first 6 points and
assisted on another bucket as the Hornets opened the 3rd quarter with an
8-2 run to pull within 48-54 with 9:45 left. A deep 3-pointer by Nowitzki
gave Dallas a 60-50 lead with 7:10 remaining. 3 consecutive free throws
by Nowitzki (including one off a technical on Tyson Chandler for shoving
Nowitzki) game Dallas a 65-56 lead with 5:35 to go, but Paul scored 7
straight points. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry momentarily stopped the
bleeding, but the Hornets scored the next 9 points to go up 72-68 with
1:30 left. Kidd spun and banked in a long shot at the quarter buzzer, but
replay showed that it was just a tad too late. New Orleans led 76-72
after 3. New Orleans shot 15-25 FG in the 3rd while Dallas shot a poor
4-17 FG as the Hornets out-scored Dallas 36-20. Paul was a monster in
scoring 15 points and assisting on 5 more buckets - meaning he scored or
assisted on 25 of the Hornets' 36 3rd quarter points. Nowitzki drove for
a layup to open the 4th quarter, but New Orleans then scored the next 10
points, capped by a 3-point play West, to go up 86-74 with 7 minutes to
go. A 3-pointer by Peja Stojakovic gave their Hornets their largest lead
at 91-76 with 4:25 remaining. Kidd hit a 3-pointer and Nowitzki hit 2
free throws to pull Dallas within 86-96 with 1:55 left, but Paul hit 2
free throws, Kidd turned the ball over, and Stojakovic hit another
3-pointer for the nail in the coffin. New Orleans won 104-92. New
Orleans leads the series 1-0.
It was a tale of 2 halves. Dallas played well in the 1st half and poor
and the 2nd half and New Orleans played poor in the 1st half and great in
the 2nd half. Dallas out-scored New Orleans 52-40 in the 1st half.
Dallas only shot 40.5% (17-42) FG, but shot 16-19 FT while New Orleans
shot 38.3% (18-47) FG and 2-7 FT in the 1st half. Dallas out-rebounded
New Orleans 28-23 in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, New Orleans
out-scored Dallas 64-40. New Orleans shot 56.1% (23-41) FG and 16-19 FT
while Dallas shot a mere 25% (9-36) FG (though they did shot 17-19 FT) in
the 2nd half. And New Orleans out-rebounded Dallas 24-20 in the 2nd half.
Dallas was the aggressive team in the 1st half and New Orleans was
aggressive in the 2nd half. And Dallas once again settled for jumpshots
in the 2nd half instead of continuing to attack the basket like they did
in the 1st half. The Mavs' collapse shouldn't be a surprise to those who
have been watching the team all season - they've shown a habit of jumping
out to an early lead and not being able to maintain the lead. Pure and
simple, Dallas still needs to find a way to put together a complete 48
minute game.
No question as to who turned the game around: Chris Paul was awesome. He
took his team on his back in the 3rd quarter and propelled them to the
win, pure and simple. He finished with 35 points including 15-23 FG and
10 assists - quite a playoff debut. And he had just 1 turnover in 41
minutes. David West came alive after starting the game shooting just 1-8
FG - he got going late in the 2nd quarter in hitting his last 3 shots of
the quarter. West finished with 23 points (8-18 FG) , 8 rebounds, and 4
blocks. Peja Stojakovic remains an outside threat and had 14 points on
5-10 FG and 4-8 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Tyson Chandler had a
double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds including 7 offensive. No
other Hornet was in double-digits scoring. Starter Morris Peterson had
just 6 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. Bonzi Wells remains a thorn
in Dallas' side and had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 21 minutes off the
bench. Jannero Pargo had 5 points including 1-9 FG and 0-5 3-pointers,
but got praise from his coach for his defense on Jason Terry. Hilton
Armstrong had 1 point and 3 rebounds in 7 minutes, Ryan Bowen had 2 points
and 2 rebounds in 4 minutes, and Julian Wright missed 3 shots in 7
minutes.
Dirk Nowitzki played well, but didn't get enough help. He had 31 points
including 12-13 FT and 10 rebounds in 42 minutes. Jason Kidd had a near
triple-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists. But he also had 4
turnovers and couldn't contain Paul (once Paul got going in the 3rd, the
Mavs often put a bigger player on Paul). Josh Howard started well and
disappeared in the 2nd half. 15 of his 17 points came in the 1st half.
He also had 8 rebounds and 4 turnovers in his 37 minutes. No other Mav
was in double-digits. Except for 2 sweet passes, Jerry Stackhouse was a
negative. He missed shot after shot after shot and did not score until
less than 7 minutes left in the game. He did score 9 points during those
7 minutes, but it was too little, too late. For the game, he shot 2-9 FG
and 4-4 FT. He did have 8 rebounds, though. Jason Terry never got going
and had just 8 points in 24 minutes. Erick Dampier had 4 points on 1-3 FG
and 2-4 FT, 4 rebounds including 3 offensive, and 5 fouls in 27 minutes.
Brandon Bass look good in spurts and was invisible for other stretches.
He had 8 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes. Devean George couldn't
contain Paul and George's shot was off. He had 4 points including 1-7 FG
in 12 minutes. Eddie Jones missed his only shot in 4 minutes and Juwan
Howard missed his only shot in 5 minutes. Tyronn Lue got in for the last
minute of garbage time and did not score.
Quotes: [Bryon Scott's, Chris Paul's, David West's, Avery Johnson's, and
Dirk Nowitzki's quotes transcribed by me]
Bryon Scott: "I thought [we were] a little too anxious to start the game.
But the 2nd half we obviously calmed down a little bit and stayed
disciplined in what we were doing on the defensive end and did a heck of a
job of guarding their hot shooters and rebounded and run. So it was our
type of game as far as on the defensive end and our type of game on the
offensive end."
Scott on Dallas letting Paul go off: "Like we say, you got to chose your
poison. I thought that Chris did a great job of being aggressive and we
did a great job of keeping our spacing. Again, our discipline on offense
end and defense end, I thought was very, very good in the 2nd half. But I
assume they'll probably make some adjustments and they'll probably try to
trap him a little bit more."
Scott on Paul: "He was just making plays. You know, just getting in the
lane, creating havoc, and that's the one thing he's so good at. And, you
know, like I said earlier, it's just a matter of him just staying
aggressive for, you know, 30 minutes, 35 minutes, what ever the case may
be, 40 minutes; and I thought he was able to do that in the 3rd quarter,
that got us going. Then when they do collapse, he was able to find guys.
And, you know, Peja hit a couple of a shots and David [West] was knocking
down shots, and like I said, you got to chose what you're going to against
him."
Scott on Terry: "I thought, you know, Jannero [Pargo] didn't shot the ball
well, but he played real good solid defense on him. You know, and again,
you got to match energy with energy. Jason Terry posses a problem because
he moves so well, he's extremely quick. So we have to put an energy-type
guy on him and I thought Jannero did a pretty good job."
Scott on what he said at halftime: "To Relax. Just relax. Just remember
what we talked about. Remember how we played all season long. You know,
we talked about - the last thing we talked about coming out and try to get
a quick 6-0 run, put us right back in the ballgame. I think we got 4-0 or
they scored first and we scored the next 6 or something like that. But,
you know, it's a long game. We pretty much all season long been like
this. You know, if we played bad 1st halves or not 1st halves that we
think we didn't play real well, then we come out the 2nd half and we play
much better. So it was just a matter of us understanding of what was
going on."
Scott on winning game 1: "Well, it was good. I mean, any first game at
home you want to get off to a good start. You know, all the games are
important. Just like you'll talk about the 2nd game is the biggest game.
Each of them are important wins because you have to try, number 1 for us,
is to keep homecourt advantage. You know, so getting off to a good start
winning this is great. Tuesday's game is going to be the biggest game for
both teams. You know, we want to make sure we can go there 2-0, and not
give them homecourt advantage and give them the momentum going back to
Dallas."
Scott on 2nd half free throws by New Orleans: "Well, we were better as far
as attacking. I thought the 1st half we did a lot of settling for
jumpshots. And when they're not going down, you've got to sometimes put
your head down and try to get to the basket. And, you know, 2nd half we
did a much better job of that. We didn't do a good job defensively of
keeping them off the line, especially in the 1st half. But 2nd half we
kind of negated that by getting to the line ourselves."
Scott on Paul's playoff debut: "It was pretty damn good. That's all I can
say. It was pretty damn good. It was impressive, especially the 2nd
half. I thought the 2nd half, you know, before we started the 2nd half, I
told him, you know, superstars can MVP, MVP-type candidates; when series
like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your
will. And I told him that you probably won't come out in the 2nd half.
So, again, you've got to give him a lot of credit. He's a tough kid and
he wants to compete. I thought he did a great job."
Scott on playoff experience: "I told that what I really feel is true, that
I think it is overrated at times. Like I said, I had a team in New Jersey
and we didn't have a whole lot of playoff experience and we got to the
Finals. so, you know, you play 82 games, or you play
90-what-ever-the-case-may-be with preseason and regular season games,
that's enough basketball to have enough experience to know understand what
it's all about in the playoffs. The only difference is the intensity is
higher, officials let you play a little bit more, teams have an
opportunity to scout you a little bit better and prepare for you a little
bit better, but it's still basketball. So, you know, Chris has played
almost 200 games, I think that's enough experience right there."
Scott on his team being anxious instead of not playing well: "Everything
was a little quick. Quick-shot the ball, rotations at times weren't quick
enough or sometimes we went too soon. We were just a little too anxious
to get it started. Like I said, I thought we calmed down 2nd quarter,
especially obviously in the 3rd quarter."
Scott on the 1st half: "I thought, like I said, we were a little too
anxious. You know, we didn't really come down and make them work
defensively. We just quick-shot the ball at times and, like I said, I
just thought that was a little bit of us wanting to be out there so bad
and get the series started. That we were a just little too anxious. But
the 2nd half, I thought we played more like the Hornets basketball we've
been playing all season long."
Chris Paul on his 1st playoff game: "Well, we won. We won, that's all I
care about right now. I was really nervous coming into the game, but
early in the 1st quarter my coach just told me to just play and have fun."
Paul on the 2nd half: "Well, we were down 12 going into halftime and we
felt like we weren't playing our style of game. So I knew I had to come
out, be a little bit more aggressive. Shots started falling and we
started defending."
Paul: "Well, I was really looking forward to this opportunity. You know,
a lot of people were like, 'how do you feel, what are you thinking about'
and I'm like, 'I'm nervous and I'm anxious at the same time.' But I
talked to a lot of people - my teammates and my coaches - and they said,
'Just play your game and have fun and let everything else take care of
itself."
Paul: "I think the biggest thing I learned about the playoffs in one game
thus far is the preparation for it. I think our coaches did an
outstanding job of letting us know what sets we're going to see - and I'm
sure they did the same thing. But what enable us to get a run in the 3rd
quarter was defense. We picked up our defensive intensity. And as we've
been saying all year, we're at our best when defend, rebound, and run.
And that's what we got an opportunity to do in the 3rd quarter."
Paul on 2nd half: "Well, coach talked to us at halftime and let us know
that the reason we were losing was fastbreak points and free throws. So
we knew that the only way to get back into the game was going to be to get
stops. So he told us to come out, be aggressive. You know, the most
aggressive team always wins. You know, me and DWest talked for 48 minutes
and he kept saying, 'Attack, attack, attack.' And that's what we did."
Paul on improvements for Game 2: "We still got to do a lot better in
transition, if you ask me. Jason Kidd is one of those guys - I think he
had 9 rebounds tonight - and any time he gets a defensive rebound, it's a
one-man fastbreak. And they do a good job of getting out in transition
and we got to slow them down. I think that starts with me personally.
But we got to keep them off the foul line a little bit too because we got
a lot of fouls. They made free throws and I think they're the best free
throw shooting team in the league [actually 2nd best]. So we got to try
to contain them a little bit and execute a little bit more on the
offensive end."
David West: "In the 1st half, you know, I thought we came out a little
anxious, not loose enough. But in the 2nd half, we really got back to
doing the things that got us to this point and we were able to take over
the game."
West on the conflict with Nowitzki: [Paul interjecting: "Look at his
lip."] "I don't know. Just 2 adults talking."
West on what was said: "You know, we play again on Tuesday. You know,
things happen, you know, you know, through the course of the game and
we're coming the stretch of that game, just want to make sure that, you
know, we're okay."
West on difference on his defense on Nowitzki between this and Wednesday:
"You know, I don't think it's going to change. You know, we have to try
to make, you know, his touches tough, difficult. You know, you just can't
lose him, I think that's the biggest thing. You know, a couple of times I
got caught helping too much off of him and he burned us. You can't leave
him open. You have to make sure every thing he does is contested and he
has to work for it."
West on Paul: "Well, you know, like we said, I thought we came out and was
just so nervous - wasn't not nervous about playing, but so nervous about
not getting out to a good start because we've been struggling with that in
the last couple weeks of the season, just getting off to a bad starts. So
wanted to make sure we got off to a better start. But, like he said, once
we buckled down on defense, we created opportunities for ourselves on the
other end."
West on improvements for Game 2: "Obviously we got to make sure we're
containing our individual guys. But defensively, we could to talk a
little bit more. We had a few lapses where we didn't communicate like we
should have. But for the most part, look at some tape, check this game
out, make the adjustments that we need to make as a basketball team. We
just have to make sure that we come out with that same defensive intensity
that we had in the 2nd half at the start of the game."
Avery Johnson on Paul: "Well, he really got it going there in the 2nd
half. 3rd quarter, just dominated the game. We tried giving him a couple
of different looks, but, you know, we're going to have to be much more
sound in our defense, especially can't let him get out of our traps, and
we've got to make him play more defense than what we made him play
tonight. So, hats off to him, he played a great game, he led his team to
victory. But if this was single elimination, we would really be
disappointed. But we'll go back watch the video and we know this is going
to be a tough, grind-it-out series. Fortunately there is a Game 2."
Johnson on trapping Paul: "We tried to. We tried."
Johnson on the crowd: "No, we're a veteran team. I wouldn't say the crowd
took us out of our game. You know, Chris Paul had a big 2nd half for
them. You know, one-on-one against us there at the elbow, he made his
shots. When we came out and tried to double-team him, he split our
double-teams - which that didn't happen the last time we played him at
home. So he was much more aggressive, you know. He watched film and he
saw to him at home. Even when we trapped him, he kept moving when he got
rid of the ball. He just didn't let us easily deny him the basketball.
We got to do a better job of trying to keep the ball out of his hands.
Even though the crowd was pretty crazy, you know, our team has been in a
lot of hostile environments before."
Johnson on settling for jumpers in the 2nd half: "Yeah, I thought there
were opportunities for us to drive more. Between settling for jumpshots
and turning the ball over a little bit - you know, our first possession of
the quarter, the 3rd quarter we turned it over. So we had some untimely
turnovers. And the momentum swung. We had the momentum in the 1st half,
they had the momentum in the 2nd half. And we're not going to play and
win too many games when we have 40 points in a quarter [meant half] and
shoot the type of percentage we did."
Johnson on how New Orleans played Nowitzki: "Yeah, they mixed it up. He
still saw double-teams. Kidd saw quite a few double-teams. We just
didn't make as many of our shots on the backside. And, you know, they had
some pretty good rotations. But Dirk's pretty much going to see
double-teams pretty much the whole series. When they didn't double-team
him, we think we had a chance to make them pay. But if we continue to
shoot like we did tonight, we're not going to be very good. We got to
make some more shots on the backside. We'll take a look at it and see how
we'll adjust coming into Game 2."
Johnson on defending Paul: "Well, again, when we get single-coverage on
him and we have some of our bigger guys on him, we going to have to make
it much more difficult than what we did. And, like I said before, when we
trap him, we can't let him out of the traps. I thought our traps were
much more effective at home [on Wednesday] because we squeezed him a lot
more. But you can't give him any daylight. But when we have
single-coverage on him, we've got to do a lot better job of on-the-ball
defense. But, again, I thought from an offensive standpoint we attacked
him near as much as we have in the past."
Johnson: "Well, we knew we had a hill to climb coming into this series.
You know, that's why they're the #2 seed and they've won 56 games and why
the fans were screaming MVP - they have a lot of things going for them.
So, it's an uphill climb no matter what. But we feel we're up to the
task. And we didn't play our best basketball. And even in the 1st half,
when we had that the lead, we got stuck a little bit. We felt we should
have scored a little bit more - we were only shooting 40% at the half.
But when you're playing against this team with that type of player, we
knew it was going to be an uphill climb, but we feel we're up to the
challenge. And the great thing about it, we have another game on
Tuesday."
Dirk Nowitzki: "Well, you know, it's one game. You know, the playoffs are
a game of adjustments. And, you know, I thought we played a decent 1st
half there defensive, moved the ball some, got some running game going.
And in the 2nd half, we just got to look at what they did. Paul was
phenomenal early on, just making shots. You know, and when we have to
take the ball out every possession, it's hard to get our running game
going. In the halfcourt, they were really sitting on our stuff, we
couldn't really score. You know, after Terry was scoring on Wednesday,
they really tried to get the ball out of his hands on every pick-and-roll.
Just offensively, we couldn't score enough to win the game today."
Nowitzki: "Well, we just didn't play well enough in the 2nd half - that's
the bottom line. You can sit back and watch it and probably make all
sorts of stuff up and see all sorts of errors that we did defensively and
offensively. But, we got to go back. We've got 2 days to sit on this and
hopefully find a way to slow down Paul a little bit. Like I said, he was
phenomenal. He was getting in our lane, shooting all those floaters, and
he's very good at that. So we got to find an answer for him. Get some
stops so we get Kidd the ball in transition and let him create and not
just be a halfcourt team."
Nowitzki: "Yeah, I mean, you know, the team that loses has to go back and
adjust and find ways to get it done the next game. I mean, we knew New
Orleans is a tough place to play. You know, they were great all year long
at home. The crowd was great, especially when they made that run there in
the 3rd, it was really, really loud. We just got to keep our composure a
little better, execute on the offensive end, and get what we want and not
what they give us. You know, we got to still attack and get some good
shots. I thought there in the 2nd half, everything was contested and they
really stepped their defense up."
Nowitzki on defending Paul: "Well, it's a little bit of everything.
Obviously the stuff that we did is all right. We just got to do some
stuff better. We tried to get the ball out of his hands some, but he's so
crafty with the ball up there. We tried to hit at the halfcourt line, you
know, he's so quick and agile there, that he just beat our double-teams
sometimes and split it, and that obviously opens up the court for the
shooters and him in the lane. So, we'll come up with something here in
the next couple of days and execute the game plan hopefully better in the
2nd half on both ends of the floor and give ourselves a chance to tie the
series up."
Nowitzki on the physical game: "Yeah, I mean, just every playoff game is a
little nippy here and there. You know, guys are playing extra hard. You
know, really in the playoffs every possession counts - it sounds pretty
stupid, but that's what you got to do. You got to play extra hard and the
intensity is a little up and guys bump each other a little more and, you
know, you run into some elbows here and there, but that's part of playoff
basketball. So I don't think it was anything special."
Nowitzki on how New Orleans played him: "I thought they came early on, on
the double-team some, when I faced up from 15-, 16-feet on the low post.
But I just wanted to make a couple of quick moves, not always wait on the
double-team. You know, sometimes that's great, kick it out and let our
shooters create. But sometimes I wanted to be aggressive too and shoot
over the double-teams some, shoot off the dribble some. And that's what I
tried to do."
Nowitzki: "Yeah, I think there in the 3rd quarter, we settled for a lot of
jumpshots. But, you know, we got to mix in some show-and-goes, get to the
basket - that automatically gets you to the foul line, sometimes that gets
the big guys in foul trouble. Yeah, we got to mix our game up a little
bit. If they get the ball out of our scorers hands, we still got to be
efficient with our offense and not just settle for contested jumpshots."
Josh Howard: "Oh, yeah, I think it's one that got away. We've got another
opportunity coming up Tuesday. We've got to be ready for that one."
Howard: "We didn't play great 2nd half defense. Paul is an offensive
player so you know he's going to get his baskets for the most part. We
knew they were coming back, it's what they've been doing all season.
We've just got to play better in the 2nd half."
Howard: "I'm not worried about my shot. We're just trying to win games,
man. I'm going to do what I've got to do to win. I don't give a damn if
I'm shooting 5-20 or 7-7; I just want to win the game."
Jason Kidd: "It's disappointing. We had a great opportunity here and we
just let it slip away. It's a lesson learned."
Kidd: "In the 1st half, we got to the basket and knocked shots down. In
the 2nd half, we got a little jumpshot happy. We didn't knock those down
and they came back on the other end and capitalized. We were back on our
heels."
Kidd: "We shot 9 jumpshots in a row. If you make them, it's good. If
you don't, you're putting a lot of pressure on your defense. At that
point, we've got to find a way to get the ball to the basket."
Kidd on the 2nd half: "They just went to the pick-and-roll, that was about
it. It's something that we have to look at to see how we're going to
defend it."
2008 NBA Playoffs, First Round, Game 1
New Orleans Hornets 104, Dallas Mavericks 92 at New Orleans (April 19)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
New Orleans 19 21 36 28 - 104 .514 .250 .466 .692
Dallas 26 26 20 20 - 92 .339 .318 .333 .868
Halftime: Dallas 52-40
3rd Q: New Orleans 76-72
Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:34, Tyson Chandler (NO) 5:36
3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:35 3rd, David West (NO) 1:53 4th,
Dirk Nowitzki 1:53 4th
Refs: Dick Bavetta, Sean Corbin, Joe Forte
Attendance: 17,446 (cap 18,208)
IL:
New Orleans - Chris Andersen, Rasual Butler
Dallas - J.J. Barea, Jamaal Magloire, Antoine Wright
New Orleans Hornets REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Peja Stojakovic 32 5-10 4-8 0-0 14 0-5 2 2 4 1 1
David West 41 8-18 0-0 7-8 23 2-8 3 0 2 0 4
Tyson Chandler 41 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 7-15 0 2 2 1 1
Morris Peterson 20 3-6 0-2 0-0 6 1-3 1 0 3 0 0
Chris Paul 41 15-23 0-1 5-7 35 1-3 10 1 2 4 1
Hilton Armstrong 7 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2-3 0 0 2 0 1
Bonzi Wells 21 4-8 0-0 0-2 8 1-5 2 1 5 1 0
Jannero Pargo 26 1-9 0-4 3-5 5 0-2 3 2 2 1 0
Julian Wright 7 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0
Ryan Bowen 4 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 0 1 0 0
Totals 48 41-88 4-16 18-26 104 15-47 21 8 24 8 8
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Josh Howard 37 4-16 1-3 8-9 17 4-8 1 4 0 0 1
Dirk Nowitzki 42 9-21 1-4 12-13 31 3-10 0 1 2 0 2
Erick Dampier 27 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 3-4 0 1 5 0 1
Jerry Stackhouse 29 2-9 1-4 4-4 9 1-8 3 1 3 0 0
Jason Kidd 39 3-5 2-2 3-4 11 2-9 9 4 4 2 0
Eddie Jones 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 1 0
Devean George 12 1-7 0-2 2-2 4 2-2 0 2 2 0 0
Jason Terry 24 3-7 2-5 0-0 8 0-2 2 0 1 0 1
Brandon Bass 20 3-8 0-1 2-2 8 2-4 1 0 3 1 0
Juwan Howard 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0
Tyronn Lue 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 26-78 7-22 33-38 92 17-48 19 15 22 4 5
patricia
Go Mavs!
--
Patricia Bender [email]pbender@eskimo.com[/email]
For NBA stuff: [url]http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html[/url]
For Mavs stuff: [url]http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html[/url]
While in the past, that might have been considered a very good record, in
the ultra-competitive West this year, it was only good enough for the 7th
seed. The Mavs face the #2 seed New Orleans Hornets in the First Round of
the playoffs. It was an up-and-down season for the Mavs with a major
trade in the middle. The Mavs never really clicked either pre- or
post-trade and were never really hot or really cold. Their longest
winning steak was 7 games in January and their longest winning streak
post-trade was 5 games (all against non-playoff teams). Obviously, the
trade was the defining moment of the season for Dallas. On Feb. 19 (as
the All-Star break ended), Dallas traded Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop,
Maurice Ager, Keith Van Horn (sign-and-trade) to New Jersey for Jason
Kidd, Antoine Wright, and Malik Allen. I already stated my opinion of the
deal at the time of the deal and the Mavs play since did nothing to change
my opinion. There was some positive sights to the team early after the
trade with the players seeming to play with a more enthusiasm and
excitement, but that soon returned to normal. It is difficult for a team
to adjust in making such a major change (especially changing the point
guard) so the inconsistency the Mavs showed in March was no surprise. The
Mavs did have a scare on March 23 when Dirk Nowitzki went down with a high
ankle sprain (and a non-serious knee twist), but he shockingly returned
after being out just 10 days (players are usually out at least 3 weeks and
sometimes as long as 2 months with high ankle sprains). Credit his
trainers and Nowitzki's willingness to play in pain to his early return -
he says it still bothers him and it won't be fullly healed until he can
rest it. As for the team, they finished with a record of 16-13 in games
with Kidd, though that included a few close losses to top-tier teams (as
well as a few bad losses to lower-tier teams). The good news is that,
for a change, the team had to play the full season (where as the last few
seasons, the last number of games were meaningless) and were not slumping
into the playoffs. The bad news is that the team does not have homecourt
advantage in the First Round for the first time since 2004 (lost to
Sacrament 1-4).
Playoff Schedule:
Game 2: Tuesday April 22 Dallas at New Orleans at 6:00 pm on TNT and Ch 21
Game 3: Friday April 25 New Orleans at Dallas at 7:00 pm on ESPN and Ch 21
Game 4: Sunday April 27 New Orleans at Dallas at 8:30 pm on TNT and Ch 21
*Game 5: Tuesday April 29 Dallas at New Orleans at TBA
*Game 6: Thursday May 1 New Orleans at Dallas at TBA
*Game 7: Saturday May 3 Dallas at New Orleans at TBA
*if necessary
Game 1: Dallas at New Orleans (April 20)
Dirk Nowitzki scored the first 4 points of the game and Dallas held a
small lead for first half the of the quarter. The Hornets scored 5
straight points to take their first lead at 11-10 with 5:40 remaining, but
Dallas then went on a 14-3 run to take a 24-13 lead with 45 seconds to go.
New Orleans made a full-court pass at the end of the quarter and Chris
Paul nailed the long jumper (inside the arc) with .5 seconds left. Dallas
led 26-19 after 1. Dallas shot 48% FG and 6-9 FT and New Orleans shot 32%
FG and 1-2 FT (with Dallas attacking the basket which resulted in more
free throws). Neither team hit a 3-pointer with Dallas missing 3 and the
Hornets missing 8. Nowitzki had 11 points in the quarter. The teams
struggled to open the 2nd quarter with 5 missed shots and 3 turnovers in
the first 2 minutes. Brandon Bass has a monster dunk to give Dallas a
30-22 lead with 9:25 remaining. New Orleans scored the next 5 points, but
Dallas was able to hang on to a single-digit lead. Nowitzki hit 2 free
throws and Jerry Stackhouse made a sweet touch pass to Erick Dampier for a
dunk to give Dallas a 40-30 lead with 4:50 to go. After a Dallas miss
with 25 seconds left, Jason Kidd stole the rebound from David West and
Dallas set up a last play and Josh Howard hit a 3-pointer with a little
over a second left to give Dallas a 52-40 lead at the half. Dallas
struggled with their shot in the 2nd quarter in shooting just 7-21 FG, but
got to the line and hit 10-10 FT. New Orleans shot 9-19 FG and 1-5 FT.
Then came the 2nd half. Dallas' shooting remained poor and Paul showed
why he's an MVP candidate. Paul scored New Orleans' first 6 points and
assisted on another bucket as the Hornets opened the 3rd quarter with an
8-2 run to pull within 48-54 with 9:45 left. A deep 3-pointer by Nowitzki
gave Dallas a 60-50 lead with 7:10 remaining. 3 consecutive free throws
by Nowitzki (including one off a technical on Tyson Chandler for shoving
Nowitzki) game Dallas a 65-56 lead with 5:35 to go, but Paul scored 7
straight points. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry momentarily stopped the
bleeding, but the Hornets scored the next 9 points to go up 72-68 with
1:30 left. Kidd spun and banked in a long shot at the quarter buzzer, but
replay showed that it was just a tad too late. New Orleans led 76-72
after 3. New Orleans shot 15-25 FG in the 3rd while Dallas shot a poor
4-17 FG as the Hornets out-scored Dallas 36-20. Paul was a monster in
scoring 15 points and assisting on 5 more buckets - meaning he scored or
assisted on 25 of the Hornets' 36 3rd quarter points. Nowitzki drove for
a layup to open the 4th quarter, but New Orleans then scored the next 10
points, capped by a 3-point play West, to go up 86-74 with 7 minutes to
go. A 3-pointer by Peja Stojakovic gave their Hornets their largest lead
at 91-76 with 4:25 remaining. Kidd hit a 3-pointer and Nowitzki hit 2
free throws to pull Dallas within 86-96 with 1:55 left, but Paul hit 2
free throws, Kidd turned the ball over, and Stojakovic hit another
3-pointer for the nail in the coffin. New Orleans won 104-92. New
Orleans leads the series 1-0.
It was a tale of 2 halves. Dallas played well in the 1st half and poor
and the 2nd half and New Orleans played poor in the 1st half and great in
the 2nd half. Dallas out-scored New Orleans 52-40 in the 1st half.
Dallas only shot 40.5% (17-42) FG, but shot 16-19 FT while New Orleans
shot 38.3% (18-47) FG and 2-7 FT in the 1st half. Dallas out-rebounded
New Orleans 28-23 in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, New Orleans
out-scored Dallas 64-40. New Orleans shot 56.1% (23-41) FG and 16-19 FT
while Dallas shot a mere 25% (9-36) FG (though they did shot 17-19 FT) in
the 2nd half. And New Orleans out-rebounded Dallas 24-20 in the 2nd half.
Dallas was the aggressive team in the 1st half and New Orleans was
aggressive in the 2nd half. And Dallas once again settled for jumpshots
in the 2nd half instead of continuing to attack the basket like they did
in the 1st half. The Mavs' collapse shouldn't be a surprise to those who
have been watching the team all season - they've shown a habit of jumping
out to an early lead and not being able to maintain the lead. Pure and
simple, Dallas still needs to find a way to put together a complete 48
minute game.
No question as to who turned the game around: Chris Paul was awesome. He
took his team on his back in the 3rd quarter and propelled them to the
win, pure and simple. He finished with 35 points including 15-23 FG and
10 assists - quite a playoff debut. And he had just 1 turnover in 41
minutes. David West came alive after starting the game shooting just 1-8
FG - he got going late in the 2nd quarter in hitting his last 3 shots of
the quarter. West finished with 23 points (8-18 FG) , 8 rebounds, and 4
blocks. Peja Stojakovic remains an outside threat and had 14 points on
5-10 FG and 4-8 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Tyson Chandler had a
double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds including 7 offensive. No
other Hornet was in double-digits scoring. Starter Morris Peterson had
just 6 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. Bonzi Wells remains a thorn
in Dallas' side and had 8 points and 5 rebounds in 21 minutes off the
bench. Jannero Pargo had 5 points including 1-9 FG and 0-5 3-pointers,
but got praise from his coach for his defense on Jason Terry. Hilton
Armstrong had 1 point and 3 rebounds in 7 minutes, Ryan Bowen had 2 points
and 2 rebounds in 4 minutes, and Julian Wright missed 3 shots in 7
minutes.
Dirk Nowitzki played well, but didn't get enough help. He had 31 points
including 12-13 FT and 10 rebounds in 42 minutes. Jason Kidd had a near
triple-double with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists. But he also had 4
turnovers and couldn't contain Paul (once Paul got going in the 3rd, the
Mavs often put a bigger player on Paul). Josh Howard started well and
disappeared in the 2nd half. 15 of his 17 points came in the 1st half.
He also had 8 rebounds and 4 turnovers in his 37 minutes. No other Mav
was in double-digits. Except for 2 sweet passes, Jerry Stackhouse was a
negative. He missed shot after shot after shot and did not score until
less than 7 minutes left in the game. He did score 9 points during those
7 minutes, but it was too little, too late. For the game, he shot 2-9 FG
and 4-4 FT. He did have 8 rebounds, though. Jason Terry never got going
and had just 8 points in 24 minutes. Erick Dampier had 4 points on 1-3 FG
and 2-4 FT, 4 rebounds including 3 offensive, and 5 fouls in 27 minutes.
Brandon Bass look good in spurts and was invisible for other stretches.
He had 8 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes. Devean George couldn't
contain Paul and George's shot was off. He had 4 points including 1-7 FG
in 12 minutes. Eddie Jones missed his only shot in 4 minutes and Juwan
Howard missed his only shot in 5 minutes. Tyronn Lue got in for the last
minute of garbage time and did not score.
Quotes: [Bryon Scott's, Chris Paul's, David West's, Avery Johnson's, and
Dirk Nowitzki's quotes transcribed by me]
Bryon Scott: "I thought [we were] a little too anxious to start the game.
But the 2nd half we obviously calmed down a little bit and stayed
disciplined in what we were doing on the defensive end and did a heck of a
job of guarding their hot shooters and rebounded and run. So it was our
type of game as far as on the defensive end and our type of game on the
offensive end."
Scott on Dallas letting Paul go off: "Like we say, you got to chose your
poison. I thought that Chris did a great job of being aggressive and we
did a great job of keeping our spacing. Again, our discipline on offense
end and defense end, I thought was very, very good in the 2nd half. But I
assume they'll probably make some adjustments and they'll probably try to
trap him a little bit more."
Scott on Paul: "He was just making plays. You know, just getting in the
lane, creating havoc, and that's the one thing he's so good at. And, you
know, like I said earlier, it's just a matter of him just staying
aggressive for, you know, 30 minutes, 35 minutes, what ever the case may
be, 40 minutes; and I thought he was able to do that in the 3rd quarter,
that got us going. Then when they do collapse, he was able to find guys.
And, you know, Peja hit a couple of a shots and David [West] was knocking
down shots, and like I said, you got to chose what you're going to against
him."
Scott on Terry: "I thought, you know, Jannero [Pargo] didn't shot the ball
well, but he played real good solid defense on him. You know, and again,
you got to match energy with energy. Jason Terry posses a problem because
he moves so well, he's extremely quick. So we have to put an energy-type
guy on him and I thought Jannero did a pretty good job."
Scott on what he said at halftime: "To Relax. Just relax. Just remember
what we talked about. Remember how we played all season long. You know,
we talked about - the last thing we talked about coming out and try to get
a quick 6-0 run, put us right back in the ballgame. I think we got 4-0 or
they scored first and we scored the next 6 or something like that. But,
you know, it's a long game. We pretty much all season long been like
this. You know, if we played bad 1st halves or not 1st halves that we
think we didn't play real well, then we come out the 2nd half and we play
much better. So it was just a matter of us understanding of what was
going on."
Scott on winning game 1: "Well, it was good. I mean, any first game at
home you want to get off to a good start. You know, all the games are
important. Just like you'll talk about the 2nd game is the biggest game.
Each of them are important wins because you have to try, number 1 for us,
is to keep homecourt advantage. You know, so getting off to a good start
winning this is great. Tuesday's game is going to be the biggest game for
both teams. You know, we want to make sure we can go there 2-0, and not
give them homecourt advantage and give them the momentum going back to
Dallas."
Scott on 2nd half free throws by New Orleans: "Well, we were better as far
as attacking. I thought the 1st half we did a lot of settling for
jumpshots. And when they're not going down, you've got to sometimes put
your head down and try to get to the basket. And, you know, 2nd half we
did a much better job of that. We didn't do a good job defensively of
keeping them off the line, especially in the 1st half. But 2nd half we
kind of negated that by getting to the line ourselves."
Scott on Paul's playoff debut: "It was pretty damn good. That's all I can
say. It was pretty damn good. It was impressive, especially the 2nd
half. I thought the 2nd half, you know, before we started the 2nd half, I
told him, you know, superstars can MVP, MVP-type candidates; when series
like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your
will. And I told him that you probably won't come out in the 2nd half.
So, again, you've got to give him a lot of credit. He's a tough kid and
he wants to compete. I thought he did a great job."
Scott on playoff experience: "I told that what I really feel is true, that
I think it is overrated at times. Like I said, I had a team in New Jersey
and we didn't have a whole lot of playoff experience and we got to the
Finals. so, you know, you play 82 games, or you play
90-what-ever-the-case-may-be with preseason and regular season games,
that's enough basketball to have enough experience to know understand what
it's all about in the playoffs. The only difference is the intensity is
higher, officials let you play a little bit more, teams have an
opportunity to scout you a little bit better and prepare for you a little
bit better, but it's still basketball. So, you know, Chris has played
almost 200 games, I think that's enough experience right there."
Scott on his team being anxious instead of not playing well: "Everything
was a little quick. Quick-shot the ball, rotations at times weren't quick
enough or sometimes we went too soon. We were just a little too anxious
to get it started. Like I said, I thought we calmed down 2nd quarter,
especially obviously in the 3rd quarter."
Scott on the 1st half: "I thought, like I said, we were a little too
anxious. You know, we didn't really come down and make them work
defensively. We just quick-shot the ball at times and, like I said, I
just thought that was a little bit of us wanting to be out there so bad
and get the series started. That we were a just little too anxious. But
the 2nd half, I thought we played more like the Hornets basketball we've
been playing all season long."
Chris Paul on his 1st playoff game: "Well, we won. We won, that's all I
care about right now. I was really nervous coming into the game, but
early in the 1st quarter my coach just told me to just play and have fun."
Paul on the 2nd half: "Well, we were down 12 going into halftime and we
felt like we weren't playing our style of game. So I knew I had to come
out, be a little bit more aggressive. Shots started falling and we
started defending."
Paul: "Well, I was really looking forward to this opportunity. You know,
a lot of people were like, 'how do you feel, what are you thinking about'
and I'm like, 'I'm nervous and I'm anxious at the same time.' But I
talked to a lot of people - my teammates and my coaches - and they said,
'Just play your game and have fun and let everything else take care of
itself."
Paul: "I think the biggest thing I learned about the playoffs in one game
thus far is the preparation for it. I think our coaches did an
outstanding job of letting us know what sets we're going to see - and I'm
sure they did the same thing. But what enable us to get a run in the 3rd
quarter was defense. We picked up our defensive intensity. And as we've
been saying all year, we're at our best when defend, rebound, and run.
And that's what we got an opportunity to do in the 3rd quarter."
Paul on 2nd half: "Well, coach talked to us at halftime and let us know
that the reason we were losing was fastbreak points and free throws. So
we knew that the only way to get back into the game was going to be to get
stops. So he told us to come out, be aggressive. You know, the most
aggressive team always wins. You know, me and DWest talked for 48 minutes
and he kept saying, 'Attack, attack, attack.' And that's what we did."
Paul on improvements for Game 2: "We still got to do a lot better in
transition, if you ask me. Jason Kidd is one of those guys - I think he
had 9 rebounds tonight - and any time he gets a defensive rebound, it's a
one-man fastbreak. And they do a good job of getting out in transition
and we got to slow them down. I think that starts with me personally.
But we got to keep them off the foul line a little bit too because we got
a lot of fouls. They made free throws and I think they're the best free
throw shooting team in the league [actually 2nd best]. So we got to try
to contain them a little bit and execute a little bit more on the
offensive end."
David West: "In the 1st half, you know, I thought we came out a little
anxious, not loose enough. But in the 2nd half, we really got back to
doing the things that got us to this point and we were able to take over
the game."
West on the conflict with Nowitzki: [Paul interjecting: "Look at his
lip."] "I don't know. Just 2 adults talking."
West on what was said: "You know, we play again on Tuesday. You know,
things happen, you know, you know, through the course of the game and
we're coming the stretch of that game, just want to make sure that, you
know, we're okay."
West on difference on his defense on Nowitzki between this and Wednesday:
"You know, I don't think it's going to change. You know, we have to try
to make, you know, his touches tough, difficult. You know, you just can't
lose him, I think that's the biggest thing. You know, a couple of times I
got caught helping too much off of him and he burned us. You can't leave
him open. You have to make sure every thing he does is contested and he
has to work for it."
West on Paul: "Well, you know, like we said, I thought we came out and was
just so nervous - wasn't not nervous about playing, but so nervous about
not getting out to a good start because we've been struggling with that in
the last couple weeks of the season, just getting off to a bad starts. So
wanted to make sure we got off to a better start. But, like he said, once
we buckled down on defense, we created opportunities for ourselves on the
other end."
West on improvements for Game 2: "Obviously we got to make sure we're
containing our individual guys. But defensively, we could to talk a
little bit more. We had a few lapses where we didn't communicate like we
should have. But for the most part, look at some tape, check this game
out, make the adjustments that we need to make as a basketball team. We
just have to make sure that we come out with that same defensive intensity
that we had in the 2nd half at the start of the game."
Avery Johnson on Paul: "Well, he really got it going there in the 2nd
half. 3rd quarter, just dominated the game. We tried giving him a couple
of different looks, but, you know, we're going to have to be much more
sound in our defense, especially can't let him get out of our traps, and
we've got to make him play more defense than what we made him play
tonight. So, hats off to him, he played a great game, he led his team to
victory. But if this was single elimination, we would really be
disappointed. But we'll go back watch the video and we know this is going
to be a tough, grind-it-out series. Fortunately there is a Game 2."
Johnson on trapping Paul: "We tried to. We tried."
Johnson on the crowd: "No, we're a veteran team. I wouldn't say the crowd
took us out of our game. You know, Chris Paul had a big 2nd half for
them. You know, one-on-one against us there at the elbow, he made his
shots. When we came out and tried to double-team him, he split our
double-teams - which that didn't happen the last time we played him at
home. So he was much more aggressive, you know. He watched film and he
saw to him at home. Even when we trapped him, he kept moving when he got
rid of the ball. He just didn't let us easily deny him the basketball.
We got to do a better job of trying to keep the ball out of his hands.
Even though the crowd was pretty crazy, you know, our team has been in a
lot of hostile environments before."
Johnson on settling for jumpers in the 2nd half: "Yeah, I thought there
were opportunities for us to drive more. Between settling for jumpshots
and turning the ball over a little bit - you know, our first possession of
the quarter, the 3rd quarter we turned it over. So we had some untimely
turnovers. And the momentum swung. We had the momentum in the 1st half,
they had the momentum in the 2nd half. And we're not going to play and
win too many games when we have 40 points in a quarter [meant half] and
shoot the type of percentage we did."
Johnson on how New Orleans played Nowitzki: "Yeah, they mixed it up. He
still saw double-teams. Kidd saw quite a few double-teams. We just
didn't make as many of our shots on the backside. And, you know, they had
some pretty good rotations. But Dirk's pretty much going to see
double-teams pretty much the whole series. When they didn't double-team
him, we think we had a chance to make them pay. But if we continue to
shoot like we did tonight, we're not going to be very good. We got to
make some more shots on the backside. We'll take a look at it and see how
we'll adjust coming into Game 2."
Johnson on defending Paul: "Well, again, when we get single-coverage on
him and we have some of our bigger guys on him, we going to have to make
it much more difficult than what we did. And, like I said before, when we
trap him, we can't let him out of the traps. I thought our traps were
much more effective at home [on Wednesday] because we squeezed him a lot
more. But you can't give him any daylight. But when we have
single-coverage on him, we've got to do a lot better job of on-the-ball
defense. But, again, I thought from an offensive standpoint we attacked
him near as much as we have in the past."
Johnson: "Well, we knew we had a hill to climb coming into this series.
You know, that's why they're the #2 seed and they've won 56 games and why
the fans were screaming MVP - they have a lot of things going for them.
So, it's an uphill climb no matter what. But we feel we're up to the
task. And we didn't play our best basketball. And even in the 1st half,
when we had that the lead, we got stuck a little bit. We felt we should
have scored a little bit more - we were only shooting 40% at the half.
But when you're playing against this team with that type of player, we
knew it was going to be an uphill climb, but we feel we're up to the
challenge. And the great thing about it, we have another game on
Tuesday."
Dirk Nowitzki: "Well, you know, it's one game. You know, the playoffs are
a game of adjustments. And, you know, I thought we played a decent 1st
half there defensive, moved the ball some, got some running game going.
And in the 2nd half, we just got to look at what they did. Paul was
phenomenal early on, just making shots. You know, and when we have to
take the ball out every possession, it's hard to get our running game
going. In the halfcourt, they were really sitting on our stuff, we
couldn't really score. You know, after Terry was scoring on Wednesday,
they really tried to get the ball out of his hands on every pick-and-roll.
Just offensively, we couldn't score enough to win the game today."
Nowitzki: "Well, we just didn't play well enough in the 2nd half - that's
the bottom line. You can sit back and watch it and probably make all
sorts of stuff up and see all sorts of errors that we did defensively and
offensively. But, we got to go back. We've got 2 days to sit on this and
hopefully find a way to slow down Paul a little bit. Like I said, he was
phenomenal. He was getting in our lane, shooting all those floaters, and
he's very good at that. So we got to find an answer for him. Get some
stops so we get Kidd the ball in transition and let him create and not
just be a halfcourt team."
Nowitzki: "Yeah, I mean, you know, the team that loses has to go back and
adjust and find ways to get it done the next game. I mean, we knew New
Orleans is a tough place to play. You know, they were great all year long
at home. The crowd was great, especially when they made that run there in
the 3rd, it was really, really loud. We just got to keep our composure a
little better, execute on the offensive end, and get what we want and not
what they give us. You know, we got to still attack and get some good
shots. I thought there in the 2nd half, everything was contested and they
really stepped their defense up."
Nowitzki on defending Paul: "Well, it's a little bit of everything.
Obviously the stuff that we did is all right. We just got to do some
stuff better. We tried to get the ball out of his hands some, but he's so
crafty with the ball up there. We tried to hit at the halfcourt line, you
know, he's so quick and agile there, that he just beat our double-teams
sometimes and split it, and that obviously opens up the court for the
shooters and him in the lane. So, we'll come up with something here in
the next couple of days and execute the game plan hopefully better in the
2nd half on both ends of the floor and give ourselves a chance to tie the
series up."
Nowitzki on the physical game: "Yeah, I mean, just every playoff game is a
little nippy here and there. You know, guys are playing extra hard. You
know, really in the playoffs every possession counts - it sounds pretty
stupid, but that's what you got to do. You got to play extra hard and the
intensity is a little up and guys bump each other a little more and, you
know, you run into some elbows here and there, but that's part of playoff
basketball. So I don't think it was anything special."
Nowitzki on how New Orleans played him: "I thought they came early on, on
the double-team some, when I faced up from 15-, 16-feet on the low post.
But I just wanted to make a couple of quick moves, not always wait on the
double-team. You know, sometimes that's great, kick it out and let our
shooters create. But sometimes I wanted to be aggressive too and shoot
over the double-teams some, shoot off the dribble some. And that's what I
tried to do."
Nowitzki: "Yeah, I think there in the 3rd quarter, we settled for a lot of
jumpshots. But, you know, we got to mix in some show-and-goes, get to the
basket - that automatically gets you to the foul line, sometimes that gets
the big guys in foul trouble. Yeah, we got to mix our game up a little
bit. If they get the ball out of our scorers hands, we still got to be
efficient with our offense and not just settle for contested jumpshots."
Josh Howard: "Oh, yeah, I think it's one that got away. We've got another
opportunity coming up Tuesday. We've got to be ready for that one."
Howard: "We didn't play great 2nd half defense. Paul is an offensive
player so you know he's going to get his baskets for the most part. We
knew they were coming back, it's what they've been doing all season.
We've just got to play better in the 2nd half."
Howard: "I'm not worried about my shot. We're just trying to win games,
man. I'm going to do what I've got to do to win. I don't give a damn if
I'm shooting 5-20 or 7-7; I just want to win the game."
Jason Kidd: "It's disappointing. We had a great opportunity here and we
just let it slip away. It's a lesson learned."
Kidd: "In the 1st half, we got to the basket and knocked shots down. In
the 2nd half, we got a little jumpshot happy. We didn't knock those down
and they came back on the other end and capitalized. We were back on our
heels."
Kidd: "We shot 9 jumpshots in a row. If you make them, it's good. If
you don't, you're putting a lot of pressure on your defense. At that
point, we've got to find a way to get the ball to the basket."
Kidd on the 2nd half: "They just went to the pick-and-roll, that was about
it. It's something that we have to look at to see how we're going to
defend it."
2008 NBA Playoffs, First Round, Game 1
New Orleans Hornets 104, Dallas Mavericks 92 at New Orleans (April 19)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
New Orleans 19 21 36 28 - 104 .514 .250 .466 .692
Dallas 26 26 20 20 - 92 .339 .318 .333 .868
Halftime: Dallas 52-40
3rd Q: New Orleans 76-72
Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 10:34, Tyson Chandler (NO) 5:36
3rd, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 2:35 3rd, David West (NO) 1:53 4th,
Dirk Nowitzki 1:53 4th
Refs: Dick Bavetta, Sean Corbin, Joe Forte
Attendance: 17,446 (cap 18,208)
IL:
New Orleans - Chris Andersen, Rasual Butler
Dallas - J.J. Barea, Jamaal Magloire, Antoine Wright
New Orleans Hornets REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Peja Stojakovic 32 5-10 4-8 0-0 14 0-5 2 2 4 1 1
David West 41 8-18 0-0 7-8 23 2-8 3 0 2 0 4
Tyson Chandler 41 5-9 0-0 0-0 10 7-15 0 2 2 1 1
Morris Peterson 20 3-6 0-2 0-0 6 1-3 1 0 3 0 0
Chris Paul 41 15-23 0-1 5-7 35 1-3 10 1 2 4 1
Hilton Armstrong 7 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2-3 0 0 2 0 1
Bonzi Wells 21 4-8 0-0 0-2 8 1-5 2 1 5 1 0
Jannero Pargo 26 1-9 0-4 3-5 5 0-2 3 2 2 1 0
Julian Wright 7 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 1 0 0
Ryan Bowen 4 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 0 1 0 0
Totals 48 41-88 4-16 18-26 104 15-47 21 8 24 8 8
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Josh Howard 37 4-16 1-3 8-9 17 4-8 1 4 0 0 1
Dirk Nowitzki 42 9-21 1-4 12-13 31 3-10 0 1 2 0 2
Erick Dampier 27 1-3 0-0 2-4 4 3-4 0 1 5 0 1
Jerry Stackhouse 29 2-9 1-4 4-4 9 1-8 3 1 3 0 0
Jason Kidd 39 3-5 2-2 3-4 11 2-9 9 4 4 2 0
Eddie Jones 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 1 0
Devean George 12 1-7 0-2 2-2 4 2-2 0 2 2 0 0
Jason Terry 24 3-7 2-5 0-0 8 0-2 2 0 1 0 1
Brandon Bass 20 3-8 0-1 2-2 8 2-4 1 0 3 1 0
Juwan Howard 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0
Tyronn Lue 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 26-78 7-22 33-38 92 17-48 19 15 22 4 5
patricia
Go Mavs!
--
Patricia Bender [email]pbender@eskimo.com[/email]
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