Dallas at Utah Game 5 (May 3) The game started out with a scare for Utah as Karl Malone tweaked his strained lower back a mere 40 seconds into the game and had to leave for a little bit to receive some treatment for his back. He did return with 7:45 left (but had to sit for the rest of the quarter after picking up his 2nd foul with 5 minutes left). Dallas was unable to take advantage of Malone's absence as the Jazz mostly held single digit leads. Utah led 20-16 after 1. Again Dallas let Olden Polynice go off with 8 points in the quarter. Steve Nash sprained his ankle in the quarter, but continued playing. Dirk Nowitzki picked up his 3rd foul with 9:45 left in the 2nd quarter and sat for the rest of the half. Michael Finley nailed a 3-pointer and Utah led 28-27 with 8:15 reamining and Utah went on an 18-4 run to go up 46-31 with a minute left. Utah led 48-33 at the half. 33 points was Dallas' lowest ever in a playoff game. Malone had 12 points in the quarter and Finley had 9 points. Dallas shot a mere 12-31 FG in the half while Utah shot 19-45 FG. Utah had their largest lead at 52-35 with 10:20 to go, but Dallas answered by scoring the next 9 points to pull within 44-52 with 8 minutes left. Utah's lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter. Nowitzki picked up his 5th foul with 2 minutes left in the quarter and sat the rest of the quarter (but did return for the 4th and did not pick up a 6th foul). A 3-pointer by John Starks with 30 seconds left game Utah a 71-57 lead after 3. Finley was single-handedly carrying Dallas as his 13 points in the 3rd were the only points Dallas scored over the last 7 1/2 minutes of the quarter. Utah led 75-61 with 10:50 to go before Dallas finally realized that this could be their last game of the season and came alive as Malone simply missed some layups, Calvin Booth got an offensive rebound and the ball went out to Finley for a 3-pointer, Booth blocked Malone and Nash hit 2 free throws, Booth blocked Donyell Marshall and Finley drove, stopped, and popped in a tough shot as part of a 12-0 run by Dallas to pull within 73-75 with 7:20 remaining and we had a new ball game. Malone got a putback, Dallas got 2 offensive rebounds and Nash nailed a 3-pointer, Malone made a layup with Finley guarding him, the teams traded a couple of misses, Nash nailed a 3-pointer, and the game was tied 79-79 with 4 minutes to go. Malone made another layup and hit 1 of 2 free throws to put Utah up 82-79 with 3 minutes left. As the shot clock was winding down, Finley faked a pass which John Stockton fell for and Finley nailed the long jumper at the shot clock buzzer. Marshall hit 1 of 2 free throws and Juwan Howard hit 1 of 2 free throws and Utah's lead was only 83-82 with 2 minutes remaining. Booth tipped a cross-court pass away and Dallas got the ball ahead to Nowitzki, who blew the layup by hitting the underside of the rim. Danny Manning forced a missed jumper as the shot clock was running out and Finley missed a quick long 3-pointer. Malone missed a turn around 15-footer and there were only 30 seconds to go. Dallas got the ball to Finley with Stockton guarding him on a switch and Finley went in to a high post and as Manning came over to double, Booth slipped baseline past Malone (who was guarding Howard and Booth with the double on Finley) and Finely passed to Booth who made the layup to give Dallas an 84-83 lead with 9.6 seconds left. Timeout Utah. It was only Dallas' second lead of the game - the first being 3-2 just 1:40 into the game. Utah moved the ball to halfcourt. Bryon Russell inbounded to Stockton, who the Mavs double-teamed with Nash and Nowitzki; Stockton passed to his right to an open Russell, whose 3-pointer bounced off the back of the rim and the rebound went long and Stockton was able to grab it and make a touch pass to Malone, who threw up an off-balance 20-foot fade away jumper. The buzzer sounded while the ball was in flight and the ball bounced off the rim and game over! Dallas won 84-83! Dallas takes the series 3-2 and advances to the 2nd round of the playoffs where they will face San Antonio. Oh my gosh! Mavs Win! Mavs Win! Mavs Win! Dallas played terrible for 3 quarters and had no business winning this game. Dallas basically stepped up their defense in the 4th and finally found their offense and Utah simply choked. I know that's a strong thing to say, but Utah only had 12 points in the 4th while Dallas had 27. Utah shot a mere 5-17 FG in the 4th and Dallas out-rebounded them 13-8. You don't give up a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter in a win-or-go-home Game 5 and not call it a choke. Dallas simply wanted the win more in the 4th. The Mavs had the energy in the 4th and Utah looked tired. Dallas used a defense trap on Stockton to try to keep the ball out of his hands and it worked. It also helped that several Mavs players started performing in the 4th. Steve Nash shot 0-7 FG in the first 3 quarters, but shot 3-4 FG in the and all of those were 3-pointers. Calvin Booth had 2 blocks, 5 rebounds including 3 offensive, and all 3 of his points in the 4th quarter. He had a strong effect on the quarter besides his game winning shot. And Michael Finley was strong the whole game. Utah should have gotten Dirk Nowitzki's 6th foul at some point in the 4th, but never truly challenged him to try to get him that last foul. Take Nowitzki out of there and that is one less offensive threat Utah has to worry about. I could go on and on about all the ugly things from Dallas in this game (winning with just 12 assists, 39.7% FG, only 9 offensive rebounds, ...), but it doesn't matter. Dallas led for just 29 seconds in the game, but the final score is all that counts. The Mavs win and Utah goes home. No question Michael Finley was the hero of the game. The Mavs would have been blown out without him as he was the only Mav clicking in the first 3 quarters. He simply carried the team for a good chunk of the game. And though some may question his long 3-point attempt with 53 seconds left (the Mavs have done things like that all season), his patience in waiting for the double team to arrive and finding the open man on Dallas' last offensive play was just as important as Booth making the shot. That was his only assist in the game (though he had a couple of others with missed shots and resulting free throws). Finley had 33 points including 13-24 FG and 3-6 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. And the surprise of the night was Calvin Booth. None of his playoff rookie jitters were evident in the 4th quarter (it's only his 2nd season in the league) and he played a key role in the comeback in the 4th with his blocks and rebounds. And, of course, he had the game winner. His line doesn't say much (3 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 blocks in 19 minutes), but if you saw the game, you know how much he meant to this win. Steve Nash was terrible through 3 quarters but came through in the 4th. He had the excuse of playing on a sprained ankle, but, man, did it get ugly out there. His 3 3-pointers in the 4th were pivotal in the comeback. He had 9 points on 3-11 FG, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki struggled from the floor and was limited by foul trouble, sitting good chunks of the game (playoff low of just 36 minutes) and finished with 18 points on 3-11 FG and 10-10 FT and only had 4 rebounds. From watching the game, it seemed that Juwan Howard had a terrible game with many missed layups and still unable to defend Malone. I was surprised when I saw his stat line of 19 points (13 in the 1st half) and 8 rebounds. He again benefited from some easy baskets while David Benoit tried guarding him with a tall lineup by Dallas on the court. Shawn Bradley wasn't a big factor in the game like he was in Game 4, with just 2 points and 5 rebounds. He did have 6 blocks, though. Booth took Bradley's minutes in the 4th quarter. Howard Eisley and Vernon Maxwell both had donuts in limited minutes. As usual, Karl Malone (bad back and all) led the way with 24 points, but with a mere 9-28 FG, and 10 rebounds. The back was obviously bothering him and he missed a number of good looks and even layups. Bryon Russell chipped in 15 points and 5 rebounds. John Stockton did not provide the needed offense in this game with only 4 points on 4 field goals attempted. He did have 11 assists, but the Jazz need him to score more. The Mavs again let Olden Polynice go off for some easy buckets as they left him open when doubling. He had 11 points and 7 rebounds. The world is still not right as he shot 3-4 FT in the game, bringing his series total to an amazing 7-10 FT - this is the guy that shot 26.2% FT (17-65) during the regular season. Donyell Marshall was the 4th Jazz player in double-digits with 11 points and 7 rebounds. No one else contributed much. Round 2 starts Saturday in San Antonio. Go Mavs! Schedule: Game 1: Saturday May 5 at San Antonio 5:30 pm on NBC Game 2: Monday May 7 at San Antonio 7:00 pm on TNT Game 3: Wednesday May 9 at Dallas 8:30 pm on TNT Game 4: Saturday May 12 at Dallas 2:30 pm on NBC *Game 5: Monday May 14 at San Antonio 7:00 pm on TNT *Game 6: Wednesday May 16 at Dallas TBA on TNT *Game 7: Saturday May 19 at San Antonio TBA on NBC *if necessary Quotes Don Nelson: "This is so special. We played hard and played together." Nelson: "It was obviously an incredible win for us. There's just no quit in this team. I don't think you're going to find anyone questioning this team's heart any more, or character. They just never stopped believing." Nelson: "The main thing is that this team is capable of scoring quickly. We've gotten back in the ballgame just because we have an uncanny ability to shoot the ball. We can really score. We can shoot it from 3. We don't miss free throws." Nelson: "The shots we made were long, and that's not exactly what you want. But we've been making them all year." Nelson on what he said to the team during timeouts before the comeback: "I didn't have anything to say in the huddle but 'Hang in there, keep the faith, things are going to turn.'" Nelson on the change in the 4th: "Well, I told them that we had to go to our trap more, which I didn't want to over use it because it takes a lot of energy to do that. But they were just cutting us apart on their set offense. So we knew that what the offense would be once we ran our trap, what they were running, and we liked that better than anything else they were running. So we kept it going and we got a couple of misses and open court looks. I think more than anything, because you don't have control over the open court - it's easy to say that we're going to run, but you can't run when they get offensive rebounds and putbacks and those kind of things and control the tempo. But what that trap did was get us in the open floor a little bit. I did not use my timeouts to let their defense set because we just couldn't score against their set defense." Nelson on Dallas' defense over the last 9.6 seconds: "We took a bit of a gamble on the last play. I thought they were probably going to get an open look. But it wasn't going to be from Stockton and it wasn't going to be from Malone. We made sure of that with our zone trap. Luckily, they missed the shots." Nelson on Finley: "Mike was really the guy that kept us afloat when things didn't look like we were going to get a win. There was a period of time when Mike was the only guy that kept us going, kept us in the game, kept us close enough. It was just an outstanding performance." Nelson: "Cal Booth stepped forward and was the reason that we won the game." Michael Finley: "We never stopped fighting. As far behind as we got, we knew from the previous games we could come back." Finley: "It was a total team effort. We got down 14, but the coaching staff said, 'keep pushing, keep pushing.' And that's what we did. We never gave up." Finley: "It's a total team effort. When one guy doesn't got it going, it's up to the other guys to pick it up. We did it on the defensive end. I'm just so happy right now." Finley: "Once we cut it down to 1 or 2, I knew for sure we were going to win." Answered Nelson: "The coach, however, wasn't so sure." Finley on the comeback: "If you look over our season, we've been in those situations before and we've come back and once we cut it down to 1 or 2, I knew for sure we were going to win the game. Juwan said in the huddle, 'We came this far back; let's not give this game away like we did in Game 1,' so we just kept trucking and trucking and found a way to win." Finley on his pass to Booth: "I saw the double-team and I had to go to the open man. I trust Cal - that's his job [to make the shot] in that situation." Finley: "This is the ultimate thus far in my career. I've been through some dog days in Dallas when 20 wins was a good year for us. To come and win in the 1st round means a lot not only for our team, but also for the city of Dallas and for the organization." Dirk Nowitzki: "We showed some character and hung in there. We did it the whole year and we knew we would come back. If we struggled, we just played through it and worked through it." Nowitzki: "We just kept on hanging in there. We showed character all year long. We knew we were going to come back. We showed it before in Game 2 where we were down 20 and we came all the way back and had a chance to win the game. That's what we did. We kept on fighting and we had some guys stepping up - Mike Fin, and Steve hit some great shots at the end. And, of course, I think we played some great defense on Malone, which really was a big key." Nowitzki: "It wasn't my best shooting day. But it's a team sport and that's why we won." Steve Nash: "We kept our composure. A lot of times we could have folded, but we hung in there, and now we're going on." Nash: "A lot of times we could have quit. We deserved this win. We made our own breaks. The forte of this team's success was how our chemistry was able to work to our advantage even when things weren't going well. Shooting is one thing, but it's another to still believe you can win." Nash: "We could have quit a few times. Chemistry has been one of the staples of our team." Nash: "In the 4th quarter, it was make a few shots or go home for the summer. Michael kept us hanging around for so long, the least I could do was make a couple. I just stuck with it." Nash on Finley: "So I really have to salute him and thank him for the guts he showed and the incredible poise and clutch performance he had." Nash: "At halftime, we just said 'Stay positive', and we did all the way." Nash: "I was struggling. I twisted my ankle early and couldn't get any lift on my shot and I just kept fighting. And, you know, in the 4th quarter I was like, 'go home for the summer or make a couple,' and luckily I made some. I've got to give credit to my teammates. They played great. Michael carried us. We kept our composure. A lot of times we could have quit. Calls weren't going our way, shots weren't going in. But we stuck with it. We stayed positive and we were fortunate to win." Nash: "I couldn't get any lift on my shot, but I kept shooting. Our shots weren't going down, we weren't getting any calls, but I just made a decision that I'm going to forget the calls and have fun." Nash: "I told myself we couldn't win if I went scoreless. I was lucky to make some shots in the fourth quarter." Nash: "I'm just proud to be a part of this team because we stuck together and that was the forte of this team's success - the chemistry that has been able to pull us through a lot of games this year when things weren't going well for us. I mean, shooting ability is one thing but it's another thing to just believe you can win, to believe you can stick together to make those shots. I have always enjoyed this team much more than I have enjoyed the game and I think that is why this has been so much fun for me." Juwan Howard: "This is very special to come here in Game 5, in a hostile environment, and win this game. Having poise and not getting rattled, we made a remarkable comeback." Shawn Bradley: "This is the thing that I dreamed about as a little kid playing in my back yard. Beating the Jazz here - it couldn't be sweeter. We're just absolutely excited. What a great game. And we're just happy to be going on right now." Calvin Booth: "I never thought I would be a hero. I just wanted to give us a little boost." Booth: "Everyone was chasing Mike, so of course I got an opening." Booth: "They just ran a tight double-team on Mike. I flashed to the open spot and he found me and I was able to put it in. He hit some big shots, and he should get a lot of credit for that last play because he set it up. He drew 2 or 3 guys." Booth: "I think all kids do that, pretend they made the winning shot in a game. It feels really good to do it [in real life]. But I think Mike deserves a lot of the credit for the pass." Booth: "I was nervous the first part of the series, but I went back and looked at some film and saw what I was doing wrong. As for the shot, it was a good pass from Finley and I just put it in." Booth: "A lot of guys made a lot of big plays. We had to come back and I was just the one who was put in the position to put the ball in the basket. Luckily, I was able to do it." Booth: "I just wanted to contribute. My role is more of a defensive presence on this team and I was looking for the rebounds. I was fortunate to get my hands on the ball a few times or kept things alive for us that put us in position to win the game." Booth: "It doesn't matter to me how many points I scored. I just know I got the 2 that mattered most." Mark Bryant on Dallas: "They're just like gnats in baseball. They just don't go away. These guys just have a knack. And when you've got shooters like Finley and Nowitzki and Nash, the game isn't over until the buzzer." Jerry Sloan: "It's a pretty bitter pill to swallow when you have people on the floor who should be able to make plays. You've got to give them credit. They did it with their energy level." Sloan: "The job's never over. You've got to stay with it, and that's one of the things we've had a difficult time doing. We get a little bit of a lead, we look up and we get comfortable." Sloan: "They got the loose balls and made the plays on the offensive end. We quit playing. We started the 3rd quarter, started off got into foul trouble. 5 minutes or 7 minutes to go, I think, they were in the penalty and we started the same thing again in the 4th quarter and we quit running our offense. Obviously they were trapping us, but it seemed like one pass out of that and then a shot, rather than trying to keep them on defense for a little bit longer. But I think you have to give them credit. They made the plays. They blocked a couple of shots. They got a couple of offensive rebounds. As I said earlier, you don't deserve to win when those things happen. You still have to play, you have to finish. And they wanted it more than we did. They proved it by their ability to go after the basketball when it was loose." Sloan: "We never blocked off the boards. You go back to fundamental basketball and you look and see what happened. We never blocked anybody off. The ball was going to bounce to them because we didn't make any contact with them - only 1 or 2 times when we defensive rebounded." Sloan: "I thought Booth did a terrific job. He blocked a couple of shots coming down the stretch. Got a couple of offensive rebounds and kept them alive. Those things are important." Sloan on Malone's injury: "Karl Malone's not, probably, at the level you'd like for him to be. But that's part of it." Karl Malone: "We had opportunities. I'm not going to take anything from their win. They did the things needed to win." Malone: "There's no quit here. We lost the game. We lost to a team that played better down they stretch than we did." Malone on his strained back: "I suited up. On the first play, I reinjured it. I had the chance to not play, but that's not me. I've got plenty of time now to rest it, that's for damn sure." Malone on continuing playing with the injury: "It was my decision to come back in the game. Coach left that decision up to me. I took the most shots and I missed the most shots, so I'm going to take the blame." John Stockton: "They're a tough team and they made shots. Some of the shots that Finley made were incredible - shot clock running down; guys jumping at him; 2, 3 guys on him." Stockton: "They just kept fighting and battling and gave themselves a chance to win it and it was enough to win." Donyell Marshall: "We gave them a couple of offensive rebounds, and they were able to make their second shots. That's something that's going to hurt you, especially that late in the game." Marshall on not getting Nowitzki a 6th foul: "They did a good job of keeping him off of people that had the ball, keeping him away from the ball on the defensive end. He was able to stay in the game. I don't think we were really focusing on trying to get him out of the game; we were trying to just focus on executing." Bryon Russell on his last shot: "We had a change. I had a good look at it and Karl had a good look at it, but they didn't go in. And now we're going home." Olden Polynice: "It's kind of funny. Their biggest lead was the one they needed to win the game: 1." Polynice: "We allowed them to get back in the game. And that's what hurts. It's the fact that we allowed them. We didn't run our offense when we were supposed to. Sometimes, we didn't even know what plays we were in." Dallas Mavericks 84, Utah Jazz 83 at Utah (May 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 16 17 24 27 - 84 .380 .444 .397 .846 Utah 20 28 23 12 - 83 .406 .300 .392 .818 Halftime: Utah 48-33 3rd Q: Utah 71-57 Technicals: Greg Ostertag 4:57 2nd Refs: Hugh Evans, Joe Forte, Bob Delaney Attendance: 19,911 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Greg Buckner (dislocated left kneecap) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Juwan Howard 46 6-15 0-0 7-9 19 4-8 2 2 5 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 36 3-11 2-4 10-10 18 0-4 1 1 5 1 0 Shawn Bradley 32 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 1 4 0 6 Michael Finley 48 13-24 3-6 4-4 33 1-6 1 3 3 0 0 Steve Nash 43 3-11 3-7 0-1 9 0-5 7 3 2 0 0 Howard Eisley 11 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 0 0 1 Calvin Booth 19 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 3-6 1 0 4 1 2 Vernon Maxwell 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 27-68 8-18 22-26 84 9-37 12 13 23 3 9 Utah Jazz REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Karl Malone 37 9-28 0-0 6-8 24 3-10 2 2 2 0 1 Donyell Marshall 34 4-7 0-1 3-4 11 1-7 1 1 5 0 2 Olden Polynice 27 5-10 0-0 2-2 12 4-4 0 2 4 0 0 Bryon Russell 45 5-12 2-6 3-4 15 0-5 3 0 1 0 0 John Stockton 40 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-3 11 0 4 4 1 Danny Manning 17 2-7 0-0 0-0 4 1-4 0 1 4 0 1 Jacque Vaughn 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 David Benoit 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 John Starks 17 2-6 1-3 2-2 7 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Greg Ostertag 11 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-4 0 0 0 0 0 John Crotty 4 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 0 0 2 1 0 Totals 48 31-79 3-10 18-22 83 12-40 19 7 24 5 5 patricia Go Mavs!