Steve Nash finished 3rd in the Most Improved Player award. Nash received 9 of the 126 media votes. Jermaine O'Neal (Ind) was the run away winner with 52 votes and Ben Wallace (Det) was 2nd with 16 votes. Jerry Stackhouse (Det) was 4th with 7 votes and 17 other players received votes. Game 2: Minnesota at Dallas (April 24) The game stayed really close in the first with neither team holding more than a 3 point lead over the first 11 minutes and there were 8 ties and 8 lead changes. Michael Finley drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Dallas a 33-28 lead after 1. Finley and Steve Nash had 9 points each and Wally Szczerbiak had 11 points. Dallas shot 14-30 FG including 4-6 3-pointers and Minnesota shot 10-23 FG (no 3-point attempts), but was able to stay in the game due to going 8-11 from the line. The game remained close and exciting in the 2nd quarter with Dallas' largest lead just 5 points and Minnesota's largest lead just 3 points. There were 9 ties and 4 lead changes. Nash had one of the shots of the night when he drove on the break, was fouled, threw up the ball behind his head (not looking at the basket) as he was nearly sitting on the floor, and it went up and in. He converted the 3-point play to give Dallas a 57-55 lead with 1:45 to go. Finley hit 2 free throws with 30 seconds left and had a slam dunk on the break with 15 seconds left and Sam Mitchell's basket came after time expired. Dallas led 63-59 at the half. The stats from the 1st quarter were reversed in the 2nd quarter - more field goals for Minnesota and more free throws for Dallas as Minnesota shot 14-23 FG and 1-2 FT and Dallas shot 9-21 FG and 11-12 FT. Finley had 15 points and Szczerbiak had 17 points. Minnesota pulled within 66-67 with 9:20 remaining, but Dallas responded with a 19-7 run, capped by a monster slam by Finley on the break and a putback dunk by Raef LaFrentz, to go up 86-73 with 4:15 left. Minnesota pulled within 8 points twice the rest of the quarter, but Dallas had an answer both times. A jumper by Finley gave Dallas a 97-86 lead after 3. Finley and Dirk Nowitzki had 9 points each and Kevin Garnett had 10 points. Minnesota pulled within 89-99 with 9:45 remaining, but Nick Van Exel's 3-pointer started a trend where Dallas would answer any Minnesota points with a 3-pointer. It was a string of 5 straight 3-pointers for Dallas to seal the win. Dallas took their largest lead at 118-99 with 3 minutes left. Minnesota scored the next 8 points as Dallas settle for running the clock down, but it was too little, too late. Dallas won 122-110. Dallas leads the series 2-0. Dirk Nowitzki was the catalyst for Dallas' win in Game 1 and Michael Finley was the catalyst in this game. His energy and aggressiveness towards the basket seemed to motivate his teammates. Dallas basically played a very good game and won this game based on their play - it wasn't a case of Minnesota making a ton of mistakes. It was a _much_ better game by Dallas than Game 1. Dallas came off a terrible rebounding game to nearly even Minnesota on the boards at 45-46; both had 12 offensive rebounds. Dallas only committed 6 turnovers while Minnesota had just 12. Dallas pushed the ball more (though they did get stagnant in settling for the half court game a few times) and, as a results, had 27 fast break points while Minnesota had 12 fast break points. Dallas had 23 assists and Minnesota had just 14. Minnesota actually shot better at 50.6% FG to 48.9% FG, but the key was that Dallas shot 11-22 3-pointers. The Mavs were led by Nowitzki's 31 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 9-10 FT, 15 rebounds, and 4 steals before fouling out late in the game. Finley had 28 points and 8 rebounds including a number of electrifying plays. In addition to those mentioned above, he had a great rebound-touch pass from near the top of the key to Raef LaFrentz for the dunk. Steve Nash played well in slashing and hitting the pull-up shots with 17 points and dished out 10 assists. LaFrentz had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds (a vast improvement on the 4 boards from Game 1). 2 of his buckets came from key putbacks. Dallas now has a record of 13-1 this season in games Eduardo Najera starts. Najera had 13 points including 6-9 FG as he was often the open man. He had just 1 rebound, but his job was to stick to Kevin Garnett like glue. Nick Van Exel was again the spark off the bench with 17 points and 5 assists in 30 minutes. He hit 2 key answer 3-pointers in the 4th quarter [one of which had myself and a number of people around me thinking or actually saying, "Noooo!" and then going nuts with the swish]. Greg Buckner was the only other Mav to score. He had 2 points in an uneventful 12 minutes. Shawn Bradley (3 minutes), Evan Eschmeyer (1 minute), and Wang Zhizhi (1 minute) barely saw the court and Johnny Newman and (surprisingly) Adrian Griffin didn't get off the bench. After taking a lot of criticism from Game 1, Garnett came out and had a great game. He had 31 points including 13-17 FT, 18 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Unfortunately, the criticism won't go away as his team did lose, despite his performance. Wally Szczerbiak had a much better game with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Garnett's and Szczerbiak's points were career playoff highs for both. Chauncey Billups started slow, but finished with 25 points and 4 assists. Though he did have 9 points and 8 rebounds, I hardly remember Radoslav Nesterovic on the court (besides Finley's monster dunk on him). Sam Mitchell was only on the court for 13 minutes and had 2 points. Joe Smith still hasn't been found and had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. Felipe Lopez played back-up guard and had 0 points and 1 assist in 19 minutes. Gary Trent was productive offensively in his time on the floor with 9 points including 4-6 FG, but only played 15 minutes. Robert Pack had a 3-pointer in his 2 minutes and Anthony Peeler only had 1 rebound in his 4 minutes, after being the goat in game 1 and Flip Saunders used Lopez in this game. Dallas was simply the better team this night. Game 3 is Sunday in Minnesota at 2 pm on NBC. Game 4, if necessary, is Tuesday at 8:30 pm on TBS. Dallas needs to stay focus and take care of business on Sunday. Though being up 2-0 is exciting and a team overcoming such a deficit is very rare, all Dallas has really done so far is held serve in winning 2 home games. Quotes Don Nelson: "What a great basketball game, especially for our franchise. I thought both teams really came out and played as if both our backs were against the wall. I give Minnesota a lot of credit - they really came out with the best that they had. I thought they played hard, played well, played smart, hustled, and we had our hands full. We also played a terrific game and I think it was one of those in which, especially in the 2nd half, we were really clicking offensively and put them in a bind a little bit with our outside shooting. But it was a tough game and, like I said going into this series, these 2 teams are very, very close. Whoever on a given night is going to be the team that shoots better or plays a little better or gets a break here and there, which again we threw in a long jumper that again was a break for us, and probably going to be the guy that is going to win the game. I still think that this game will have a chance to go to 5 games. We'll have our hands full when we go to Minnesota. They're a great team and we have a lot of respect for them." Nelson on rebounding: "We've been talking about it for 3 days. It wasn't even the 1st half. They had, I think, 21 2nd chance points in the 1st half and none in the 2nd half, so somewhere between my talk at haltime - I gave the same talk before the game but maybe no one was listening, I don't know - or it could just be the luck of the draw or the bounce of the ball or fatigue. I think that fatigue has a factor in these games because, again, we're playing less players and it is hot in a lot of these arenas. You see the coaches are sweating. It's not just the pressure of the game, it is warm in there and fatigue is a factor in the playoffs." Nelson when asked if he was conscious of the offensive rebounds being even: "I was conscious of coaching the score and coaching my players to win. I wasn't conscious of those type of things. I think those are things that we coach on the spur of the moment Those are hustle kind of things. I was more interested in the matchups and the results that we were getting on our set offense - what was working and what wasn't and what I liked. Often times even if you don't make shots, as long as you get good shots, you like those shots. that is what coaches are looking for. We went through some dry spells. They really defended us well for periods of time, but then again, when our superior shooting, our range, really meant a lot in the 2nd half." Nelson: "On a given night, it's going to be the team that shoots a little better or makes the better plays or makes the lucky shots. We got that." Nelson: "I think very easily they could win 2 games there; it could still be a 5-game series. We definitely have an advantage by winning the first 2 games, but it doesn't mean anything really until you win the 3rd game. We're going to approach every game the same. We're going to give it our best shot, and whether we win or lose the series, as long as we play the way we played the first 2 games, I can accept winning or losing. We're playing as well as we can play. We're playing together as a team. Coach can't ask for nothing more." Nelson on Dallas' low turnovers: "It is amazing that we lead the league in scoring and also commit the fewest turnovers. That hardly ever happens. I think I have 2 sensational point guards. Neither one turns the ball over. The other players take care of the ball. The other thing that cuts turnovers is that when we have shots we shoot them. We don't over pass sometimes, which can lead to turnovers. I have been an advocate of not taking risky passes. The worst thing in the world to me is the guy that wants to make the sensational pass and makes them occasionally, but turns the ball over more than he makes the sensational pass." Nelson: "They made a conscious effort to go to Garnett, and he played a great ballgame. He did what his coaches wanted him to do, and that's score more points." Michael Finley on his monster dunk: "I was trying to make the most of the opportunity. I knew if I would have went in there soft or not aggressive it probably would have gotten blocked. I just wanted to make something happen and get the crowd and my teammates into the game." Finley: "I wanted to be aggressive both offensively and defensively. I wanted my teammates to see that I took this game seriously and I knew it wouldn't be a cake walk and that Minnesota was going to come out hungrier than in the first game. My teammates fed off my energy and we started to do the little things on the defense end. It carried over to the offensive end and, as result, we got a win." Finley: "Every time we made a run tonight, they seemed to comeback and make their own little run. Fortunately, for us, we were able to keep our composure even after some of the big shots - and they made some big shots too. Hopefully we can go into the game on Sunday and don't have to rely on spectacular shots." Finley: "The 3-point shot has been one of our weapons, so to speak, throughout the year and for us to knock down half the shots, it was a good feeling. It was a good sight to see. We know we can't rely on the 3-point shot, but when you have it in our arsenal, you don't go away from it. Minnesota shot 50% from the field and we only shot 48, but since our percentage was a little bit better from the 3-point arc was the reason we got the lead. I think coming into Sunday, they'll probably try to limit our 3-point shots so, as a result, we'll have to find out ways to score." Finley: "You have to play with confidence, no matter what the game is - the situation, regular season, playoffs - you have to play with confidence. I think that started with us last year when we started winning. Winning brings confidence and we're a confident team right now and we feel as if we can go on the court against any team in this league and beat them. And when you have that type of confidence on the court, it makes it easier for you to go out there and play. You have no distractions, nothing like that, the coaches give you the free reign to do whatever you can do on the court and that breeds confidence and that makes our shots a little bit easier." Finley on Game 3: "That's our midset - to go in there and win the ball game. I know it's going to be tough. The Target Center, they have great fans in Minnesota, so it's going to be definitely a hostile environment, but we have to keep our composure and go in there and do what we've been doing throughout the season on the road and hopefully we can be as successful." Finley on Game 3: "We'll have to generate energy on the defensive end. I think offensively it's going to be tough because of their defense. They're going to take it up a notch. They're going to feed off their crowd. And they're going to make it a tough night for us. but we have to keep our composure when they make a run and hopefully knock down big shots when we have to. And down the stretch in the 4th quarter, be in a position to win the ball game." Dirk Nowitzki: "When we make our shots and when we run the ball, I think we can beat anybody in the league. We were shooting the ball extremely well, but the major thing is we rebounded the ball pretty well today, much better than last time and I think that set our running game up and it always helps if we control our defensive glass - we can go out and run and make shots." Nowitzki on Garnett: "It's fun to play him. To me, he's one of the top 5 players in the league and he's just so much fun to play against because he's just so competitive out there. He just wants to do everything to help his team win. It's amazing. Just a great all around player and, like I said, it's just so much fun to go at him. He really gets in your face, he'll try to stop you on defense, and on offense he's a tough player. It's just fun to go against him." Steve Nash: "It's important for our team to play at a high pace and not turn the ball over and we did that tonight." Nash: "I don't know how much more loose we were tonight, but we definitely made more shots. Whether that was loose or it was just our night, I really can't tell you. We're a pretty loose team in general and I feel pretty confident about our attitude." Nash: "Game 3 is going to be a much different story playing in Minnesota. Their fans are going to be unbelievable and we're going to have to play even better than we did tonight to beat them." Nick Van Exel: "In the first game we were sluggish, so tonight we were going to play to win and not to lose and when we play to win it's up and down at a high tempo. Steve started it with his tempo and everybody else followed suit." Van Exel: "Basically we wanted to play our game and that was to just be aggressive, keep attacking, keep attacking, and play the way we play. We didn't want to play a half court game, get in a low 100 game like we did the last game. We wanted to attack and to get it up to our average." Van Exel on the low turnovers: "That's something special to only have 6 turnovers for a team that likes to run like we do. Usually you have more turnovers than that, but we did a good job of taking care of the ball." Van Exel on defending Garnett: "KG is KG. We tried to defend him the best we could, get a hand in his face and if he misses it we try to get the rebound and not give him as many second chance shots. He played big for them tonight." Van Exel on if defense was part Billups' slow start: "It was a key, but he missed a lot of layups. We still have to do a better job at containing him. He still got into the paint and he just missed a lot of layups. We know he's gonna be tough and we still got to find a way to get him out of that paint." Van Exel: "We haven't really done anything yet. We were supposed to win our home games, and that's what we've done. We're going to give it our best shot to do it in 3." Van Exel on the possibility of the sweep: "We just want to win. We're not really worried about a sweep or however we get it. We want to get that W and move on to the next series." Flip Saunders: "I thought we hung in there for a while in the 1st half. I wouldn't say the tempo was really what we wanted that much up and down. They force you to play at that tempo. In the 2nd half, they made shots. They said before they haven't played their A game, but I thought they came in and shot the ball extremely well. They made some shots that were contested and pretty much made every individual shot. They did a better job on the boards. We have to re-group. We have 3 days now to get back home and re-group. We have to make it a series by winning a game and at least put a little pressure on them. That has to be our main focus." Saunders: "The thing that makes them difficult is not only do they have the ability to shoot from the perimeter, but almost every one of their guys has the ability to beat you off the dribble. Whether it's Nash, whether it's Van Exel, whether it's Finley, whether it's Nowitzki matched up with a 4, they've got 4 guys they can put out on the floor that can create off the dribble. They put so much pressure on you to guard them on the 3-point line, but if you get too close, they beat you off the dribble. They either get to the basket or they draw help and hit one of their other shooters." Saunders: "There's a reason they score as much as they score. You don't want to get into a total running game. We got caught up with the crowd a little bit, shooting shots that they normally do. We have to control the tempo inside-out, play that way and try to control the tempo with our offense. They don't have just one guy to attack you. They can throw it up to anyone [heading up court]. That's what makes it so difficult to control the tempo." Saunders: "Every time you have a breakdown against that team, they make you pay. They blistered us with their 3s." Saunders: "We got caught up a little bit in shooting shots that we don't usually shoot and they do. We're not used to that. There were a few times I thought we rushed some things." Saunders on Garnett: "I can't ask any more. To see what he's going through, because he is extremely competitive ... KG played how KG plays." Saunders on Garnett: "He is extremely competitive and he is going to come out and give the same effort. He had 31 and 18 and got to the free throw line 17 times and single handedly with Wally kept us in the game. When you have 2 guys who got their playoff career highs, you can't ask much more from those guys. We didn't shoot the ball that bad, but they blistered us from the 3." Saunders: "They did their job, winning 2 at home. Now we have to do the same." Saunders: "They did what they were supposed to do - they won the first 2 games at home. We've got to see if we can win one and make this a series." Saunders: "I told our guys, the only way you can [keep playing] is to win on Sunday. Our guys are extremely competitive. KG is ready to go play right now again. The rest in between is going to be good. We'll have a chance to settle down." Kevin Garnett: "They have 4 guys who can shoot consistently and try to mix it up and that makes it tough for us." Garnett: "At times I didn't defend well and did a lot of other things not well. I'm not thinking about what I need to do individually though - I'm thinking about what we need to do as a whole." Garnett: "When you're going down the court at 100 miles per hour, this is like Indy car racing. Both teams are flying up and down the court. You don't really have time to assess anything. They're so damned unorthodox. Mike Finley took some ridiculous shots and was hitting them." Garnett: "They do a lot of leaking. Mike Finley leaked out so many times and got dunks and easy baskets. You have to cut that to a minimum and try to make them make plays. I think we did a pretty good job containing Steve. When you get easy baskets, man, your confidence gets high and you start to feel good about yourself." Garnett on being down 0-2: "It's reality and we've got to deal with it. We've got to go home and it's a must that we get these 2, starting with this one Sunday." Garnett: "They have to come to the Target Center. Let's see if they can hit the same shots there." Garnett: "I don't come in and assess my own stuff. After a loss, I sit back and think about all the things that I didn't do. I'm not really thinking about it from an individual standpoint, I'm just thinking as a whole what we have to do." Wally Szczerbiak: "Their fans were something special today and that's what we need from out home crowd in Game 3. It gave them a lot of energy and got them going." Szczerbiak: "Something must be in the air - they hit some big shots. Hopefully they don't go down in our building." Szczerbiak: "We can't give them leak-outs. Mike Finley got about 5 or 6 leak-out dunks. When you get those types of plays, that gives you a lot of confidence. They're going to kill you." Chauncey Billups: "We did a good job of containing, they just shot lights out tonight. They turned up the heat in the 3rd quarter and we could not recover. It's going to be tough but this is a team that is capable and we are going to be up for the challenge." Billups on Game 3: "It's going to be a war. They're a good road team and we're a good home team. We have to defend our home court." Game 2 Dallas Mavericks 122, Minnesota Timberwolves 110 at Dallas (April 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 33 30 34 25 - 122 .486 .500 .489 .826 Minnesota 28 31 27 24 - 110 .521 .375 .506 .730 Halftime: Dallas 63-59 3rd Q: Dallas 97-86 Technicals: Minnesota defensive 3 seconds 11:29 1st, Kevin Garnett 2:42 3rd, Dirk Nowitzki 2:42 3rd Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Don Vaden, Scot Foster Attendance: 20,084 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 26 6-9 0-0 1-2 13 0-1 0 0 4 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 9-21 4-5 9-10 31 1-15 2 0 6 4 1 Raef LaFrentz 40 7-13 0-3 0-1 14 5-12 1 0 4 1 1 Michael Finley 46 11-23 2-4 4-4 28 4-8 4 2 5 1 2 Steve Nash 38 6-14 3-6 2-2 17 1-4 10 3 3 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 12 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 1-1 1 0 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 30 7-12 2-4 1-2 17 0-2 5 1 5 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Shawn Bradley 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 46-94 11-22 19-23 122 12-45 23 6 30 6 4 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kevin Garnett 46 9-19 0-1 13-17 31 4-18 4 3 3 2 3 Sam Mitchell 13 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 1 0 1 0 1 Radoslav Nesterovic 31 4-7 0-0 1-2 9 2-8 1 1 3 0 0 Chauncey Billups 46 10-19 3-4 2-4 25 0-3 4 2 3 1 1 Wally Szczerbiak 46 9-17 0-2 7-8 25 4-7 2 3 3 0 0 Joe Smith 18 2-3 0-0 2-2 6 1-5 0 1 5 0 1 Robert Pack 2 1-2 0-0 1-1 3 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Gary Trent 15 4-6 0-0 1-3 9 0-2 1 1 2 0 0 Felipe Lopez 19 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1-1 1 1 4 0 0 Anthony Peeler 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-79 3-8 27-37 110 12-46 14 12 25 3 6 patricia Go Mavs!