Game 2: Golden State at Dallas (April 25) The Mavs went back to their usual lineup as Erick Dampier started the game. Despite that, the Mavs still struggled as the game stayed close in the 1st quarter. A 3-point play by Josh Howard gave Dallas a 7-4 lead with 10 minutes left, but Golden State then scored the next 11 points, with 8 of them by Monta Ellis, to go up 15-7 with 8:05 to go. But that would be the largest lead of the quarter. A 3-pointer by Stephen Jackson gave the Warriors a 23-16 lead with 5 minutes left, but Dallas scored the next 6 points to pull within 22-23 with 3:20 remaining. Jason Terry got a layup with less than a second left in the quarter. Golden State led 30-28 after 1. Ellis had 13 points and Jackson had 12 points. It was a dramatic change from the 1st quarter of Game 1 as both teams shot 48% FG in this game. Golden State continued to hold a small lead early in the 2nd quarter and a dunk by Baron Davis gave the Warriors a 38-33 lead with 9:10 to go. Dallas then went on a 13-2 run, with the last 5 points by Terry, to take a 46-40 lead with 6:15 left. But that would be Dallas' largest lead of the quarter and a 3-pointer by Jackson pulled Golden State within 50-51 with 1:40 remaining. Dallas led 54-52 at the half. Both teams were playing a lot of one-on-one as Dallas had 8 assists (on 21 FGM) and Golden State had just 3 assists (on 19 FGM). Golden State came out of halftime rolling and scored the first 6 points of the quarter to go up 58-54 with 10:45 to go. Golden State lead 60-58 with 9:50 remaining and Dallas got rolling while the Warriors went cold and the Mavs scored the next 11 points to go up 69-60 with 6:35 left as Golden State missed 5 straight shots and committed 2 turnovers. The last point of the run came on a technical free throw as a minor shoving match went on when Terry and Davis went toe-to-toe, Jackson stuck his nose in and got aggressive (and was being restrained by his teammates), and DeSagana Diop added some words - all were separated with nothing more than words exchanged and the result was technicals on Davis, Jackson, and Diop (don't ask me how Terry, one of the instigators, got away without getting a T). Dallas held a high single-digit lead over the next several minutes and 2 free throws by Jerry Stackhouse gave Dallas their first double-digit lead at 81-70 with 1:50 to go. Davis was called for a foul (his 5th) with less than a second left in the quarter and mockingly clapped his hands. Ref Bennett Salvatore (of all people - my 2nd most disliked ref) warned Davis to stop, warned Don Nelson to control his player, and then tossed Davis as he continued clapping. Stackhouse missed the technical free throw, but hit the 2 free throws from the foul to give Dallas an 87-74 lead after 3. Dallas shot 15-16 FT in the 3rd quarter (Golden State got in the penalty with 6:35 left in the quarter) and Golden State shot 4-4 FT as Dallas out-scored the Warriors 33-22 in the 3rd. Dallas opened the 4th quarter with a 4-1 mini-run to take a 91-75 lead with 10:50 remaining. The Mavs then got 3-point happy as their next 4 shots were 3-point attempts (all misses) and Golden State scored the next 7 points to pull within 82-91 with 8:40 left. After a short shot by Terry, Jackson converted a 3-point play to pull the Warriors within 85-93 with 7:55 left. But Dallas then went on a 6-1 mini-run to push their lead back in to double-digits at 99-86 with 6:20 to go. Jackson was called for a foul with 4:35 left and complained to one ref, walked over and complained to another ref, Dirk Nowitzki hit the first free throw, Jackson was subbed out, and Jackson was toss by ref James Capers [I didn't see the toss live and the TV replay wasn't on Jackson when he was tossed, so I don't know if he simply said the magic words or what]. Nowitzki hit the technical free throw and the 2nd free throw and a 3-pointer by Terry (Dallas' only 3 of the game) gave Dallas their largest lead of the game at 110-90 with 4 minutes left. Golden State did score the final 7 points of the game to make the final margin closer. Dallas won 112-99. It still wasn't a great performance by either team. At least Dallas was more aggressive in attacking the basket in this game (as seen by a high number of free throws attempted). Even though Golden State held the lead in the 1st quarter, I liked the way Dallas looked with a true center on the court much more than when they played small ball. The Warriors helped the Mavs by losing their cool in the 2nd half. There was no excuse for Baron Davis' ejection. Normally I'd side with a player in a situation like this (especially with Bennett Salvatore being the ref), but the ref didn't quick-T him and actually warned him to stop and then warned the coach to get his player to stop before ejecting him. Add in Stephen Jackson's ejection and the real surprise was that it was the Warriors' playoff veterans that lost their cool - Don Nelson has said that he will fine the players for their ejections if the league doesn't take any action (the team and league can't both fine a player), though I expect the league to fine Jackson for his actions after the ejection (failing to leave the court in a timely manner and verbal abuse of the refs). The Mavs did lose their cool a couple of times during the game (it was a much more physical game and, as always, some questionable calls both ways), but the players and their teammates were quick to calm down and walk away - Avery Johnson made it public before the playoffs started that ejections would be seriously fined and they would not have a repeat of last year's playoffs where 3 different players were suspended during the playoffs. Note to the Mavs: Don Nelson has always played 2-for-1 at the end of quarters, so you might want to make sure you are up defensely and defending against the quick shot, as seen by Davis' 3-pointer in the 3rd quarter of Game 1 and Jackson's missed shot (an open look) in the 2nd quarter of Game 2. As for the numbers, Dallas shot 48.7% (37-76) FG and Golden State shot 47.4% (36-76) FG. Both teams were poor behind the arc as Dallas shot just 1-16 3-pointers and Golden State shot 4-20 3-pointers. Dallas had a large edge at the line in shooting 37-43 FT while Golden State shot 23-27 FT (the fouls called difference wasn't that large as Dallas was called for 23 fouls and Golden State was called for 29 fouls). Dallas out-rebounded Golden State 41-34 including 12-8 offensive. Throughout the game, Golden State's low assist numbers were shocking me. They did finish with 9 assists, but 2 of them came in the last 3 minutes of the game - 9 assists tied the Dallas playoff opponent record low. Both teams were sloppy with the ball as Dallas had 18 turnovers and Golden State had 24 turnovers. The series is tied 1-1 and Game 3 is Friday night in Oakland. Josh Howard was again stellar and had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals. Jason Terry showed up offensively and was the high man for the Mavs with 28 points. He made the Mavs' only 3-pointer (but also missed 6 3-point attempts). He had 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Devin Harris continues to attack the basket and 3 of his 5 made shots were layups. He had 15 points and 4 assists, but had some foul trouble and played just 19 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse showed up this night after a very poor performance in Game 1. Stack had 17 points on 3-9 FG and 11-13 FT, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists in 30 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki still hasn't had a stellar game. He looked better this game than his performance in Game 1, but still wasn't great. He had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 5 steals (I know, those numbers sound good, but watching the game gave a different impression). The center combo played 41 minutes in this game as small-ball was seldom seen from the Mavs. Erick Dampier was limited by foul trouble and made his only shot and had 2 rebounds and 5 fouls in 14 1/2 minutes, but also had 2 blocks. DeSagana Diop shot 1-2 FG for 2 points and had 6 rebounds. Devean George missed 5 shots and shot 3-4 FT for 3 points and 4 rebounds. Greg Buckner also showed up for this game after a poor Game 1 and had a couple of nice defensive plays. He didn't attempt a shot and had 1 rebound and was credited with 1 steal (I saw 2) in 10 minutes. Maurice Ager and J.J. Barea saw their first playoff action in the final 1:30 of the game (okay, Barea was also in for the last 0.2 seconds of the 2nd quarter, but I didn't even notice that and my dad had to point it out to me). Stephen Jackson had a stellar 1st half and a forgettable 2nd half with his ejection. 20 of Jackson's 30 points came in the 1st half. He shot 9-16 FG, 3-7 3-pointers, and 9-11 FT and also had 3 rebounds, but also turned the ball over 8 times. After a poor outing in his playoff debut, Monta Ellis looked strong in the 1st quarter where he scored 13 of his 20 points. Baron Davis was quiet most of the night, even before the scuffle midway through the 3rd quarter and his ejection at the end of the quarter (I had to think that some of that resulted from his frustration with his play). Davis had just 13 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists and also had 6 turnovers and picked up 2 quick fouls at the end of the 3rd (with the last being his 5th) before his ejection. Jason Richardson showed signs of life, but still hasn't shown the 3-point offensive flair that opponents fear. He had 14 points on 7-15 FG and 0-4 3-pointers and also had 10 rebounds and 3 assists. Al Harrington continues to be MIA and had just 5 points including 1-8 FG. He did have 8 rebounds, though. The Warriors bench was fairly quiet as they had just 10 points until scoring 7 points in the last 2 1/2 minutes of the game. Matt Barnes had 4 points and 1 rebound before fouling out in 21 minutes. Andris Biedrins had 4 points on 2-2 FG and 2 rebounds in 20 minutes. Mickael Pietrus had 4 points on 1-1 FG and 2-2 FT, 1 rebound, and 5 fouls in 17 minutes. Kelenna Azubuike, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Adonal Foyle got in for garbage time. Foyle made his playoff debut after this being his 10th NBA season and having played in 641 regular season games. Foyle also had the highlight of the night (that few saw) in making 3 straight halfcourt shots prior to the game, including banking in the 3rd (he and Jasikevicius shoot halfcourt shots at the end of the pre-shoot around). Quotes Avery Johnson on the pace of the game: "Well again, we like to run sometimes, sometimes we like to run our halfcourt offense. Fortunately tonight, you know, we just made a few more shots and got a few more stops." Johnson on Buckner: "Buck, even though he only played 9 minutes, when he was in there he gave us some good energy. We had a stretch there where we had some of our bench guys in. Again, Stack had a bounce back game tonight. And when he plays the way he played tonight and aggressive as he played. And Dirk and JET [Terry] and Josh, you know, we're just a different ball club. They understand they have a huge responsibility to the team. Sometimes we are pretty small out there, especially when I don't have a center out there and those guys have to rebound. Again, a lot of our bench contributed in different ways tonight. Stack had the points and the free throws and the rebounds. Diop had rebounds and he contested a lot of shots." Johnson: "Well again, when we have a healthy respect for our opponent and when we're playing at a high level, you know, we can be pretty good. and if we don't miss 11 layups. So again, we got 19 offensive rebounds the last game, but we didn't finish them. We got 12 offensive rebounds tonight and I thought we did a much better job of just finishing around the basket." Johnson on Diop: "Gana is only down for 1 blocked shot, but I thought he kind of contested a lot of shots inside. His ability to get out there on the floor and play some pick-and-rolls really helps us tremendously. And even Damp tonight, even though he only played 14 minutes, just his ability to get out there and guard their smaller guys. When our 5s can do that, then they can play. And when they can play, we're pretty good." Johnson on a timeout early in the 3rd quarter: "We were disappointed with our effort offensively and defensively. I just think we need to be persistent about attacking the basket. And when we aren't persistent about attacking the basket, if we don't take care of the ball and get back on defense, we're not very good. Then we got back to attacking the basket. Even in the 4th quarter, our first 4 shots of the 4th quarter or 3 of 4 or something like that were all 3s. And again, I'm just trying to get our team to understand that you have to attack the basket first and that will loosen up the 3s." Johnson on Harris: "He was going strong [to the basket]. He played a strong l8 minutes and he finished strong for us. So with the way he finished, I'm hoping that will have some carry over into Oakland." Johnson on getting loose balls and creating turnovers: "You know, that's what it's all about. I thought we got after it in a lot ways the last game, but when we got to the basket, again, we didn't make layups. And that's what it's all about. I think you have to finish around the basket, against anybody. But if the Warriors have a lot of small guys out there, you know, we got to attack the basket and finish around the basket and make smart plays. And I think that was the difference of not only of getting the loose balls, not only rebounding, but finishing on offense." Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought offensively we were a lot sharper than we were the last game. Just attacking from different angles and take advantage of the scrambling defense they play. They are all over the place, double-teaming, rotating, and we wanted to make sure that we execute a lot better. Take the shots if they were there; if not, try to break the defense down. And I think we did a lot better job." Nowitzki on Dallas' 3-point shooting: "They shot 4-20 too, so it's not like they were shooting the lights out. But, yeah, I don't think we really shoot the ball well from the outside in either game. But you have to give them credit. You know, like I said, they're scrambling at every shot, somebody else is running at you, flying at you. But I still thought we had some good shots that we can make and we've got to stay confident that we can make plays and make shots. It's going to be a beast obviously on the road. They're still in the drivers seats and we've got to make sure it comes down to make some big shots if you want to win on the road. We've got to stay confident and take the shots that are there and if not, then move it and let somebody else make the play." Nowitzki: "It was a physical game and emotional. I think they got us in the first game and took us out of our game. I said after Game 1, we need to execute a lot better offensively. We made a couple of adjustments that worked. Now they'll make adjustments going home and we'll go from there." Josh Howard: "We needed to turn it up. They were aggressive at the start of the last game and we didn't respond. This time, we turned it around." Jerry Stackhouse: "We were really disappointed in that first game. We just didn't compete and that's not Mavericks basketball. That's not our philosophy. Everybody talked about the X and Os and the decision Avery made to go smaller, but it really wasn't that, it was just the fact that we didn't compete. I thought we came out and really competed tonight for 48 minutes and the game went in our favor." Stackhouse on the 3rd quarter: "We continued to attack the basket and got into the bonus early on and when we were aggressive, we got to the line and knocked down our free throws. We still need to shoot the ball better from 3." Stackhouse on the scuffle in the 3rd quarter: "We just can fall prey to any to any of those antics. We worked all season to get to this point and the first sign of adversary, we're not going to tuck our tails. We just got to take the show on the road and get some wins." Don Nelson: "Well, I thought they played a lot better tonight than they did their first game, and we expected them to, and obviously shot the ball better. And then I thought it was a fairly good game for a while. We didn't stay in charge of our emotions. And we just can't, probably, we're not good enough to lose a player on an ejection, let alone 2, and that's 2 of my best players. And it really hurt us, I thought, when we lost Baron. I thought we had a shot at the time, but it wasn't to be. So we'll try to do a better job of that in the future. And we're going home to Oakland and play a couple of ball games there. So we'll see what happens." Nelson on what was said about the ejections: "We'll keep that in the locker room." Nelson: "I think we actually played a pretty good 1st half and we're just not hitting on enough cylinders to beat this team, as far as I'm concerned. We don't have enough guys playing at a high level. We've got to get that. I don't know what Al [Harrington] did, but not much. You know, if we're going to go small, he's got to be a bigger factor, definitely." Nelson on Ellis' 1st quarter: "Yeah, he played a lot better, but still I thought the 2nd quarter was poor. I'm not talking about scoring points. We just need more intensity really from him as well. He had a better game than the first one, that's for sure." Baron Davis on his ejection: "The first one [technical] I think I got because I reached in after Jack fouled him. And then the 2nd one, I think he told coach he gave me a warning and coach told me to calm down, and I was calm. I know I've got 5 fouls and this is the end of the 3rd and so I clapped at coach and clapped to the bench and said, 'We're going to be all right fellas, we're going to be all right.'" Davis on if he let his team down: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, most definitely. I told the guys, I apologized to my coaches. I understand how important I am to this team. And my intentions were not to get thrown our of the game. My intentions were not to stand up the ref in any purpose. I understand it's the playoffs and it's emotional and I try to do as good a job as I possibly can and keep my emotions in check, but we're an emotional team. I'm the leader and they feed off my emotion, but at the same time there were no intentions to get kicked out and no intentions to show up the ref or anybody else out there on the floor. It was an unfortunate situation. I still felt when I got kicked out we still had an opportunity to get close and win the basketball game. It happens, man." Davis: "We straight. It's tied up at 1-1. We did what we wanted to do, come and steal one. We felt we can get 2. Stephen Jackson is my shrink and I'm his shrink, so we talked about it and we're going to be straight for Game 3. Before the series started I told everybody this was going to be a learning process for us. For a lot of young guys, they saw what went on and Monta responded, and guys didn't give up, they kept playing." Davis on his ejection: "I wasn't trying to show up the refs. I was trying to keep my emotions in check. Emotion is what got us to the playoffs. We have to channel that emotion into playing better defense." Davis: "I feel we're in good position. They're supposed to beat us by 20. There's no pressure on us. Tonight we were just out of fire." Jason Richardson on the ejections hurting the team: "Yeah, kind of. Those are 2 keys on our team. It was going well. Jack was having a good game. It was a big blow having both of those guys gone." Richardson on what Davis and Jackson said after the game: "They just apologized. They know they both messed up. We're the underdogs and we're not going to get favors and stuff like that. We've got to just back off. The refs give us a warning, we've got to back off. We need those guys to stay in the game." Richardson: "We've got to learn to control our emotions. Baron and Jack are both emotional guys. They play hard and play with their heart. I think everyone on our team is like that. I think that in any situation it could be any one of us on this team, but that's how hard we play and we play with out hearts. Still we've got to control our emotions a little bit." Monta Ellis on Davis' ejection: "It was very big. He brings a lot to the table and when he got thrown out, it's like the momentum of the game changed. They went up and they made plays, made defensive stops, and they really determined the game then." Ellis on turnovers: "It hurt real bad. We're not a turnover team and tonight it just wasn't our night. They capitolized on the turnovers, they made plays, and, like I said, they were the better team tonight and they won. Hats off to them tonight." Ellis on Nowitzki: "He was more aggressive. He attacked the basket a lot to get to the free throw line, to get himself going. And he didn't do that the first game. And that was the only difference." Game 2: Dallas Mavericks 112, Golden State Warriors 99 at Dallas (April 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 28 26 33 25 - 112 .600 .063 .487 .860 Golden State 30 22 22 25 - 99 .571 .200 .474 .852 Halftime: Dallas 54-52 3rd Q: Dallas 87-74 Technicals: Golden State defensive 3 seconds 7:56 2nd, DeSagana Diop 6:35 3rd, Baron Davis 6:35 3rd, Stephen Jackson 6:35 3rd, Baron Davis (ejected) 0:00.2 3rd, Stephen Jackson (ejected) 4:34 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, James Capers, Sean Corbin Attendance: 20,867 (sellout) IL: Dallas - DJ Mbenga, Kevin Willis, Pops Mensah-Bonsu Golden State - Zarko Cabarkapa, Patrick O'Bryant Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Devin Harris 19 5-7 0-0 5-5 15 0-1 4 3 5 1 1 Jason Terry 41 12-23 1-7 3-3 28 0-1 2 3 0 3 1 Dirk Nowitzki 36 7-15 0-2 9-11 23 2-7 0 0 2 1 2 Josh Howard 41 8-13 0-3 6-7 22 3-11 3 3 4 5 2 Erick Dampier 14 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 5 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 30 3-9 0-2 11-13 17 2-8 4 2 1 1 0 DeSagana Diop 27 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2-6 1 0 3 2 1 Devean George 20 0-5 0-2 3-4 3 3-4 0 2 0 0 1 Greg Buckner 10 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 3 1 1 Maurice Ager 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 J.J. Barea 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-76 1-16 37-43 112 12-41 15 18 23 14 9 Golden State Warriors REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Baron Davis 32 5-12 1-4 2-2 13 0-1 2 6 5 2 0 Monta Ellis 33 8-15 0-2 4-4 20 2-3 0 3 4 1 0 Stephen Jackson 38 9-16 3-7 9-11 30 1-3 1 8 4 1 0 Jason Richardson 38 7-15 0-4 0-0 14 2-10 3 3 2 2 2 Al Harrington 28 1-8 0-1 3-4 5 1-8 1 1 2 0 1 Matt Barnes 21 2-5 0-1 0-0 4 1-1 0 1 6 0 1 Andris Biedrins 20 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 0 2 1 0 1 Mickael Pietrus 17 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 0 0 5 0 0 Kelenna Azubuike 7 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 1-4 0 0 0 1 0 Adonal Foyle 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Sarunas Jasikevicius 3 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-76 4-20 23-27 99 8-34 9 24 29 7 5 patricia Go Mavs!