Game 4: San Antonio at Dallas (April 25) San Antonio made an adjustment in this game in starting Bruce Bowen over Roger Mason. A 3-pointer by Michael Finley gave San Antonio an early 11-5 lead with 9:30 left, but Josh Howard then scored the next 5 points. A layup by Jason Terry gave Dallas their first lead of the game at 16-15 with 6:15 remaining, but San Antonio then scored the next 11 points (and Dallas committed 3 turnovers) to give the Spurs their largest lead at 25-16 with 4:05 to go. But Dallas then rallied back with a 14-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Kidd, to give Dallas a 30-26 lead with a minute remaining. Dallas led 32-29 after 1. Howard had 9 points, Tony Parker had 13 points, and Tim Duncan had 9 points. Parker hit 2 free throws, Antoine Wright hit a 3-pointer and Brandon Bass hit a jumper, and Parker drove for a layup to pull the Spurs within 33-37 with 10:30 left. The Spurs then went 3 minutes without scoring, but Dallas struggled too with only hitting 3 free throws. 2 free throws by Terry gave Dallas a 47-38 lead with 5:30 remaining, but momentum swung as Parker connected on consecutive 3-pointers, Duncan hit a hook shot, and Parker hit a jumper to give San Antonio a 48-47 lead with 3 minutes to go - Dallas had 4 turnovers during the run. Dirk Nowitzki hit 2 free throws, but Dallas would then missed their next 5 shots while San Antonio scored 5 more points to give them a 55-49 lead with 33 seconds left. San Antonio led 55-51 at the half. San Antonio out-scored Dallas 26-19 in the 2nd quarter as the Spurs shot 8-14 FG and Dallas shot just 4-17 FG. It was a 2-man show for the Spurs as Parker (18 points, 7-9 FG) and Duncan (6 points) scored all but 2 of San Antonio's 2nd quarter points. Dallas was sloppy with the ball with 10 turnovers in the half (some of them unforced), which San Antonio converted into 17 points. Howard opened the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer to kick off a 13-3 run (ended with another 3 by Howard) to give Dallas a 64-58 lead with 8:25 remaining. Dallas would continue to hold a single-digit lead over the next 7 minutes as San Antonio could get no closer than 3 points. A jumper and 2 free throws by Kidd gave Dallas their largest lead at 80-68 with 30 seconds left, but Bowen answered with a 3-pointer. Dallas led 80-71 after 3. Dallas out-scored San Antonio 29-16 in the 3rd quarter as Dallas shot 9-18 FG and San Antonio shot just 5-19 FG. Howard had 14 points in the quarter while Parker had just 4 points (2-6 FG), after he had 31 points (12-17 FG) in the 1st half. 2 free throws by Kidd again gave Dallas a 12-point lead at 85-73 with 10 minutes to go, but the Spurs rallied with an 11-2 run to pull within 84-87 with 6:45 left. Kidd ended San Antonio's run with a 3-pointer, but the game stayed tight as Michael Finley got a surprising dunk. Both teams went scoreless over almost 2 minutes before Ryan Hollins (playing due to Erick Dampier having 5 fouls) slammed home a 3-point miss. But Hollins also ended San Antonio's scoring drought as he had a loud yell of celebration and Duncan was right in front of him and the ref called Hollins for a taunting technical - Finley hit the free throw to pull San Antonio within 87-92 with 4:20 left. The teams went back to missing (including free throws). Howard hit 1-2 FT with 2:50 to go, but rookie George Hill nailed a 3-pointer on San Antonio's 2nd shot attempt to pull them within 90-93 with 2:30 left. Howard was fouled driving and hit 2 free throws with 2:05 remaining. Parker missed a 3-pointer, Terry missed a jumper, Finley missed a 3-pointer, and Hollins was fouled under the basket with 1:05 to go. But Hollins missed both free throws and San Antonio called timeout. San Antonio ran a play for Matt Bonner to shot a 3 from the corner, but he missed and Howard got the rebound. Dallas ran some time off the clock and Nowitzki drove for a layup to give Dallas a 97-90 lead with 40 seconds left. After another San Antonio timeout, Finley's 3-point attempt jammed between the rim and the backboard, which results in a jumpball at center court. Duncan controlled the tip, but Howard stole the ball and was fouled. His 2 free throws capped the scoring. Dallas won 99-90. Dallas leads the series 3-1. I was expecting a good, tight game, and that's what I got. The two teams battled hard and neither had control of the game until the end. San Antonio's largest lead was 9 points and Dallas' largest lead was 12 points. Dallas got control over their sloppy 1st half performance (at least 3 of their 10 turnovers were simple throw-aways) and had just 5 turnovers in the 2nd half. Dallas had balanced scoring with 5 players in double-digit scoring and 2 others with 9 points. It was a 2-man show for San Antonio as Tony Parker and Tim Duncan combined for 68 of the Spurs' 90 points - there was a stretch of about 30 minutes of game time where those two were the only Spurs who scored. But it was just a good game and Dallas simply got a couple of more buckets to go and countered the Spurs' rally attempts in the 4th quarter. Neither team shot well, especially in the 2nd half where both teams shot under 40% FG - but Dallas held a 27-17 rebound edge in the 2nd half. San Antonio really hurt themselves with missed free throws throughout the game. For the game, Dallas shot 38.4% (28-73) FG including 10-25 3-pointers. San Antonio shot 44.3% (31-70) FG including 6-23 3-pointers. Dallas shot 33-39 FT and San Antonio shot 22-34 FT. Dallas out-rebounded San Antonio 49-35 including 14-6 offensive. Josh Howard led the way for Dallas with a series high 28 points on 7-14 FG and 11-13 FT. He also had 4 rebounds, but also had 4 turnovers (2 of them sloppy ones early in the game). Jason Kidd easily had his best game of the series with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals (and no turnovers). The Spurs continue to focus defensively on Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry and they continue to rely on their teammates. Nowitzki had a double-double with 12 points (4-9 FG) and 13 rebounds. Terry had a lousy night with 10 points including just 3-17 FG and 1-6 3-pointers. J.J. Barea again started and had 9 points and 4 assists in 25 minutes. Erick Dampier had 10 points and 6 rebounds (but also 4 turnovers) before picking up his 5th foul - he sat the rest of the way. Ryan Hollins came in for Dampier and gave the Mavs a surprising spark. He held his own defending Tim Duncan and had some good rebounds and a great putback slam (though celebrated too much). Hollins had 2 points (missed 2 free throws late in the game, though), 8 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 3 blocks (including a wicked swat into the crowd) in 19 minutes - he played the last 7:45 of the game. Brandon Bass was fairly quiet with just 2 points on 1-4 FG and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes. Antoine Wright had 9 points in 11 minutes. As I said, it was a 2-man game for San Antonio. Tony Parker was stellar with a playoff career high 43 points on 18-29 FG and 5-8 FT, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. But only 12 of his points came in the 2nd half. Tim Duncan had a solid outing with 25 points on 7-13 FG and 11-18 FT, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. The other 8 players who played combined for just 22 points. Bruce Bowen had 5 points and 6 rebounds in 31 minutes. Michael Finley had 7 points including 1-5 3-pointers in 36 minutes. Starter Matt Bonner missed all 4 shots he attempted (3 of them 3-pointers) and had 1 rebound and no assists in 22 minutes. Off the bench, San Antonio had just 10 points, with 6 of them coming from rookie George Hill (all in the 4th quarter). Quotes Rick Carlisle: "The biggest thing we had to overcome were turnovers and some mistakes that we were making mostly in the 1st half - and a lot of it was in the 2nd quarter. At halftime, I believe it was 10 turnovers, [for] 17 points. We were putting ourselves in a hole. We did a better job with that in the 2nd half. And then Josh Howard gave us a huge half, just tremendous. And that was certainly the difference in the 2nd half." Carlisle: "By nature, we're a pretty confident group. It's a veteran team. But we get tested. We were tested a lot during the regular season, you know, very slow start. A lot of people just wrote us off early. Guys battled back. The harder you fight, the tougher it is to give in. In the 2nd quarter when they made a huge run at us and got the lead, we had to really suck it up as a group. The guys did a great job in the 2nd half. San Antonio is a persistent strong-willed team. We had to be very good in the 2nd half to win the game." Carlisle on winning despite shooting 38% FG: "Fortunate. We were fortunate to win Game 1 when we gave them 11 3s and let them shoot 47%. But the stats can be misleading, there are other things. We got to the free throw line 39 times, which mitigated some of those other things. And we had a huge rebounding night. When you're getting extra possessions off rebounds and extra points at the free throw line when the clock is stopped, they're going to help mitigate some of the other statistical things that kind of stare you in the face." Carlisle on the 3-1 lead: "We've just got to go hour to hour with this. It's so dangerous to get ahead of yourself. Right now, I'm thinking about the things we need to do better from this game. And I'm really please that we won because it was a gut check to start the 3rd quarter with the way they finished the half. A 3-1 lead is great to have, but it's no guarantee. I was on 1 of the only 8 teams of all-time that came back from 3-1 lead, and it's possible to do. They're by no means out of the series. We've got to continue to do the things that we do well as a team and eliminate some of our mistakes that we can control." Carlisle on San Antonio getting back in to the game: "There were mistakes being made. And some of it had to do with the way the Spurs were playing us - they forced us in to some errors. And the ones that were unforced are the ones that were frustrating. There were things that we control. We had a great building. Our guys played hard, even when we weren't playing well. Our fans were in to it, it supplied some energy. Hollins came in and helped energized the crowd a little bit. He's a little bit up and down out there, but he does so many good things that his energy really helps our team. It was a very tough game, extremely tough. And we were very fortunate to win with what the shooting percentage was." Carlisle on Howard: "Well, they were double-teaming him as well. He was not in many of those situations in the 2nd half because when he got the ball, he was going quick before the double-team could get there or he was on the weakside reacting to how they were playing Dirk or JET. His shot making in our 3 wins has been decisively important. He drove the ball, got to the free throw line, and he's shooting free throws very well. What he brings to our team is unreplaceable." Josh Howard: "First of all I'd like to thank the fans and they pushed us over the hump. We've got another tough game coming up on Tuesday, but for the most part guys came out there and played great." Howard: "It was a collective group effort, everyone giving it their all. We know as far as San Antonio what they want to do with JET and Dirk so we're working on and doing different things to get the ball in the basket and guys are responding great to it." Howard on Kidd's defense on Parker in the 2nd half: "It was real big. Tony came out hot, so we refocused at half and JKidd lead the charge." Howard on Hollins: "He had a lot of energy out there, but we need that. It came at the right time and he was a spark plug for us. We've got to help him with the dunks and yelling, but for the most part its great energy and we need that night in and night out." Howard: "We have to do the same things down there and we did up here. It's going to be a tough crowd, they're going to come with everything and we've got to be ready and focused." Howard: "This was huge. We're one game away from clinching. But they've done it before. We've got to be ready." Jason Terry: "Win is the only outcome you're looking for. They've made a point that they're not going to let me and Dirk beat them. We've got guys around us stepping up. ... Josh Howard is the key to this whole thing. If he continues to have big games, then we like our chances." Jason Kidd on Howard: "I thought Josh was great. I thought Dirk was great too. He had to get off and I think he just played the game. Saw a lot of double-teams, triple-teams, and down the stretch we went to him and he made all the right plays." Kidd on Dallas winning with Dirk scoring so low: "Well, it's a team game. So, surprised, no. Happy, yes. Because one, other guys have picked up Dirk. As much as we've leaned on him all season, I think this is the best time to pick up your star player, and we've done that. But the biggest thing is, I think, we've played pretty good team defense. And, you know, Parker and Duncan had great games tonight, but we didn't let that bother us and we kept playing and executing our game plan." Kidd: "We took the lead and then again they came back right before halftime and go on a run. Sometimes in the past, we've folded tent. And for some reason we've put that tent away and we just kept fighting and came out of halftime and had a big 3rd quarter." Kidd on Nowitzki: "People might say that Dirk isn't scoring enough, but I think Dirk is playing the game the right way - being patient and not taking any bad shots now. Because a lot of times if he takes the shot in a bad situation, that's to their advantage. I don't think he has to score 30 for us to try to win - you can see that in this series." Kidd on getting Nowitzki and Terry going: "When you're looking to get guys going, you can fall in to a trap and forget about the other guys. I think Damp and JHo [Howard] have been huge - you know, Jason and Dirk have been getting so much attention that these other guys have benefited from that. Damp and JHo have been great, J.J.'s been great. For us to try to get Dirk and JET going would be a mistake." Kidd: "They're not going anywhere. they're going to showup and give us their best game on Tuesday. So we have to understand that and understand it's going to be a tough environment. It's not easy to put a team away, especially a team that has won championships. So we got to bring our best game yet to try to close the series." Kidd: "This is probably the best we've done in the sense of sharing the ball, everybody's touching it. And I think defensively we're just out there sometimes scrambling and everybody's covering for one another. And I think if you'd say who makes the best defensive play tonight, you wouldn't say Dirk 9 out of 10 times - but tonight Dirk took a big charge. That just shows that he's into the game on both sides." Ryan Hollins: "I knew I had a big responsibility to come in and try to shut them down and I saw in the 1st half that Damp got 3 fouls. I know how physical he plays, he's our stopper inside, that easily that 4th foul could come, and coach looks at me in those situations - just like in the Houston game, to come in and bring energy and make everything tough for them. I just try to use my length and athleticism to my advantage." Hollins on his defense on Duncan: "It was a change of pace and I don't think he was ready for my energy. He was like, 'Whoa, hold up young fellow.' So Damp beats him up and I just try to come in and bring that energy and athleticism." Hollins: "I knew [Parker] was looking to shoot first and he had his jumper going, he had his drive going and we just tried to put 2 bodies on him, a hand in his face, and make him see me every time he comes off the screen. We played good team defense on him in the 2nd half. Dirk was on the back side and he took a huge charge on [Duncan] that definitely sparked us and we just have to try to make it hard on both of those guys." Hollins: "We have to trust each other on the defensive end. Tonight when we were scrambling and defending it was great team defense. Dirk really helped me on the weakside and JKidd was helping me and we all scrambled well and played well together." Gregg Popovich: "It was a good game. We did a lot of things we wanted to do. I thought their players stepped up and did a hell of a job. They made 3s, we didn't. They made free throws, we didn't. And that's the game." Popovich on going to Parker and Duncan so much: "It's obvious that that's what we need to do. Those guys have to have the ball as much as possible to score. Sure, we have to hope that other people step up and make shots, make plays. It didn't happen enough tonight, but it wasn't for lack of effort." Tim Duncan on Parker: "Tony was unbelievable. He really kept us in it. We just hate to have an effort like that go to waste. But he was unbelievable tonight, and once again we played pretty decent in the 1st half but the 3rd quarter killed us again. We have to find a way to solve that problem. We seem to come out of the half and lose leads or let people back in the game or increase people's leads. So that was another problem for us tonight." Duncan on needing to win 3 games: "We've got to or we go home. There's no two ways about it, there's no magic answer to that. We're going to go home here and we're going to try to win that one at home, and come back here and do that same." Duncan on concern with he and Parker having to score so much: "Obviously there is, but that's the playoffs. You want your guys to score. We have to take the shots, we have to make the shots, we have to get people involved. Hopefully we can make enough shots were we start drawing attention that we get people wide open shots. We're going to keep on doing that and see what happens." Duncan: "I feel great. I feel as good as I've felt all year. It's recovery time now and I have to gear up and do it again." Duncan on Hollins being active: "Was I surprised? No, I was not surprised. He's a young buck and he's very athletic and was all over the place. He gave them a big boost tonight. He played well." Duncan on if San Antonio was being hesitant shooting: "I don't think so. I give Dallas credit. I think they're doing a great job of rotating and contesting shots. I'll put a little bit of blame on Tony and myself. We have to create a little more space for our guys to get those shots a little more wide open. We'll continue to do that and we'll do a better job of delivering that ball and we have some of the best shooters in the league, and we love the shots they take. So we'll continue to be confident in them and try to get them better looks." Duncan on pulling within 2 points in the 4th: "We were right back in it. I don't know what the clock was, 2 minutes, and that's when Ryan [Hollins] got an offensive rebound and finished that one. Now it's a 4-point game. We had opportunities. We had great opportunities and I just think we didn't execute well down the stretch. They did a good job, Dirk with his last play put it away. All you can do is give them credit, they did their job better than us down the stretch." Duncan: "We've been in a hole before. And as I said, all you can do is take it one game at a time - as cliche as that is, that's all that you can do. We're going to focus on this next game. If we get this next game we'll come back in here and put a little pressure on them. So hopefully we can continue to apply pressure." Tony Parker: "Pop wanted me to be very aggressive after what happened in Game 3, because we couldn't score in Game 3. I was just trying to be very aggressive and attacking on pick-and-rolls as they were going under so they was giving me a lot of wide open shots." Parker: "Dallas is a very good team. They have a lot more weapons than us. Offensively, they did very good and they're hard to stop. Offensively we played pretty good tonight, but defensively, if you let them score more than 90 points then they win." Parker: "I was a little bit tired, I was a little bit tired at the end. I played 41, 42 [minutes]. And I was trying to go hard every play and I got a little bit tired in the end, the last 3 or 4 minutes I was a little bit tired." [Cramps?] "A little bit, like the beginning." Parker on Hill: "George did a good job. He gave us some good minutes, played some good defense on Jason Terry, and hit some big 3s for us. I think he may be an option we can use in Game 5. He played well." Parker on Hollins taunting Duncan: "Young guys, you know. Taunt Tim Duncan - he's got 4 Championships, he don't care." Parker: "Our focus is to try to, obviously, limit Dirk and Jason Terry - and over all we're doing a good job of that, it's just the other guys that are hurting us. And like I said earlier, they have a lot more weapons. They got Josh Howard, that once again had a big game us. And Bass, Barea, they got all different guys making plays for them." Roger Mason on Parker: "Our offense was designed to let Tony go. Tim was the next option after that and everyone else falls in line." Mason on Parker: "Tony was our engine. He did everything for us." Matt Bonner on his misses: "Me, personally, they all felt good and looked good. I felt they were all going in, but they all rattled out." Ime Udoka on his defense: "That's second nature. That's what I do. But I was missing everything tonight myself. I felt I let my team down." George Hill: "The 3s were very big for me. It gives me confidence, and it gives the coaches confidence in you for the future and the rest of the games this year. Now, I have to make the best of my situation. My getting open shots and doing what I'm supposed to do at all times is going to open doors for me next time." Hill on getting to play: "I wasn't surprised. The one thing they always tell me is to keep myself ready, because you never know when your time is going to come. When I do get time, I just try to make the best of it." Hill: "I went into the game just wanting to make it tough for Jason Terry. That was my main focus. I wanted to start everything on the defensive end, and build something on the offensive end. Today, my goal was just to disrupt Terry and try to give him as few touches as possible and make every shot he took difficult. It played into our strength, but we couldn't hold them off at the end." 2009 NBA Playoffs - First Round Game 4: Dallas Mavericks 99, San Antonio Spurs 90 at Dallas (April 25) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 32 19 29 19 - 99 .375 .400 .384 .846 San Antonio 29 26 16 19 - 90 .532 .261 .443 .647 Halftime: San Antonio 55-51 3rd Q: Dallas 80-71 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 8:16 1st, San Antonio defensive 3 seconds 4:50 1st, Ryan Hollins (taunting) 4:20 4th Refs: Scott Foster, Mike Callahan, Zach Zarba Attendance: 20,829 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, Jerry Stackhouse, Shawne Williams San Antonio - Manu Ginobili, Ian Mahinmi, Marcus Williams Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 36 7-14 3-6 11-13 28 0-4 1 4 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 4-9 0-0 4-5 12 0-13 1 3 2 1 1 Erick Dampier 24 2-4 0-0 6-6 10 4-6 1 4 5 1 0 Jason Kidd 40 4-10 3-7 6-6 17 3-7 7 0 3 2 0 J.J. Barea 25 3-8 1-2 2-2 9 0-2 4 1 2 0 0 Jason Terry 33 3-17 1-6 3-4 10 1-3 0 2 1 1 1 Ryan Hollins 19 1-2 0-0 0-2 2 4-8 0 0 4 0 3 Brandon Bass 12 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 2-6 1 0 1 0 0 Antoine Wright 11 3-5 2-4 1-1 9 0-0 0 0 2 0 1 James Singleton 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 28-73 10-25 33-39 99 14-49 15 15 21 6 6 San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 31 2-4 1-3 0-0 5 0-6 0 1 1 1 0 Tim Duncan 42 7-13 0-0 11-18 25 4-10 7 4 5 2 1 Matt Bonner 22 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 4 0 0 Michael Finley 36 2-6 1-5 2-2 7 0-1 2 0 1 0 0 Tony Parker 41 18-29 2-5 5-8 43 0-5 3 3 3 4 1 Ime Udoka 19 0-4 0-2 1-2 1 1-4 1 0 4 2 1 Roger Mason 17 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-1 1 2 3 0 0 George Hill 14 2-3 2-2 0-0 6 0-1 0 0 2 0 0 Kurt Thomas 9 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-3 0 0 1 0 0 Drew Gooden 8 0-3 0-1 2-2 2 0-3 0 0 4 0 0 Totals 48 31-70 6-23 22-34 90 6-35 14 11 28 9 3 patricia Go Mavs!