Game 6: San Antonio at Dallas (May 29) Dallas was once again without the services of 3 big men as Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Bradley, and Evan Eschmeyer did not play. Bradley did dress, but did not play - it looked like he was wearing a bulky knee brace [didn't take off his warmup pants, so I can't be sure]. San Antonio had their own health concerns as Tony Parker spent the night throwing up and wasn't feeling well. He did play, though. The teams stayed close in the 1st quarter with San Antonio mostly holding small leads, none larger than 4 points. A jumper by Raja Bell near the quarter's end tied the game at 22-22 after 1. Tim Duncan had 10 points and 6 rebounds and the birthday boy Raef LaFrentz had 8 points on 4-6 FG, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, and just 1 foul in playing all 12 1st quarter minutes. Dallas shot 9-20 FG and 3-4 FT and San Antonio shot 10-24 FG and 2-4 FT [the refs were calling it like a playoff game and letting lots of contact go the entire game, and were fairly consistent about it]. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 2nd quarter to take their 1st lead of the game and led 28-22 with 9:50 remaining and San Antonio called the early timeout. Dallas took their largest lead on a 3-pointer by Nick Van Exel to go up 37-28 with 4:25 left. Stephen Jackson answered with a 3-pointer of his own and that kicked off a 12-4 San Antonio run (including another 3-pointer by Jackson) to pull the Spurs within 40-41 with a minute left. A jumper by Michael Finley and a 3-pointer by Walt Williams (with 7 seconds left) closed the quarter and Dallas led 46-40 at the half. Williams had 9 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 11-22 FG including 2-4 3-pointers and San Antonio shot 7-17 FG including 2-3 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter - but the Spurs were sloppy as they committed 7 turnovers, including 4 offensive fouls. There were only 2 free throws attempted in the quarter, both San Antonio makes. Tony Parker got pulled a minute and a half into the 3rd quarter as he just was not able to perform due to his illness (he played 11 minutes in the 1st half) - Speedy Claxton came in for Parker and did not impress. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter to take their first double-digit lead at 52-40 with 10 minutes to go. Dallas led 57-48 with 6 minutes remaining and the Mavs scored the next 6 points to take their largest lead at 63-48 with 4:20 left. Then Gregg Popovich made the substitution of the series as he replaced Claxton with seldom used veteran Steve Kerr with 3:45 left - Claxton shot 0-2 FG and had 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, and 2 rebounds in his almost 7 minutes in the quarter. The Spurs went on an 8-2 mini-run (their only real run of the quarter), capped by a 3-pointer by Kerr (his only shot of the quarter), to pull within 65-56 with 1:40 remaining. Neither team scored on their next possession, Van Exel hit 1-2 FT, San Antonio missed a 3-pointer, and Williams nailed another 3 with less than a second left in the quarter. Dallas led 69-56 after 3. Dallas had balanced scoring in the quarter as 6 different players scored. The Mavs double-teaming had succeeded in shutting down Duncan as he had just 2 points on 1-7 FG and 3 rebounds in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. For the 3rd quarter, Dallas shot 10-21 FG including 2-2 3-pointers and San Antonio shot 6-16 FG including 2-5 3-pointers. Everything that had gone right for Dallas through 3 quarters went wrong as they went ice cold and the Spurs went red hot from the outside in taking advantage of the open man with the double-team on Duncan. The teams traded buckets to open the 4th and then it was a nightmare for Dallas as they went almost 8 minutes (7:56 to be exact) without scoring a point. Dallas led 71-58 with 10:53 to go and San Antonio used a 23-0 killer run to go up 81-71 with 3:30 left. The Spurs scored 5 straight times on 3-pointers during the run (1 by Emanuel Ginobili, 2 by Jackson, and 2 by Kerr) and then Duncan ended his 26:26 minute drought and then Kerr drained another 3 with 5:15 left. Dallas missed 7 shots and committed 7 turnovers during the run. Van Exel finally ended Dallas' drought with a layup with 2:50 remaining. On any other night, an 8 point deficit with 2:50 left wouldn't have been daunting, but Dallas still couldn't score as San Antonio scored the next 7 points to take a commanding 88-73 lead with 1:30 to go. The Mavs starers were pulled as the game wound down to a round of applause. San Antonio won 90-78. Dallas' roller coaster of a playoff run ended with a roller coaster of a game and it came to a stop on a down hill. Who would have thunk that Steve Kerr would have been the log on the tracks that caused the derailment. Forget about his 3 4th quarter 3-pointers - Dallas could have survived San Antonio's offensive fire storm, it was Kerr on the defense end that took Dallas out of their game. The Mavs saw a defensive liability in Kerr and almost every time down put the ball in the hands of the man Kerr was defending and isolated. Dallas did not score once in such a situation in the 4th, and even turned the ball over a number of times as the help defender disrupted the isolation attempt. It wasn't a team game in the 4th quarter and the players without the ball stood around instead moving to keep their Spurs defenders focused on them and provide easy passing lanes for the man with the ball - but that might have not even made a difference as the man with the ball usually seemed intent on forcing a shot, no matter how poor of a look he had. As a result, Dallas had their worst playoff quarter ever. Dallas had a mere 9 points in the 4th quarter - and 5 of those came in the last 1:30 of the game. Through 3 quarters, Dallas shot 47.6% (30-63) FG including 5-11 3-pointers, led in rebounding 35-31, had 21 assists, and had 10 turnovers. In the 4th quarter, Dallas shot 20% (3-15) FG including 0-7 3-pointers, were out-rebounded 7-13 with just 1 offensive rebound, had no assists, and turned the ball over 8 times. San Antonio had the reverse performance in shooting 40.4% (23-57) FG including 4-10 3-pointers, had 18 assists, and had 16 turnovers through 3 quarters. In the 4th, San Antonio shot 52.6% (10-19) FG including an amazing 6-9 3-pointers, had 7 assists, and had just 2 turnovers. As a result, San Antonio out-scored Dallas 34-9 in the 4th. Basically, Dallas choked and San Antonio took full advantage. It was the first time since January 2001 that Dallas lost 3 straight home games - it wasn't a series for the home team as home court only held once in the 6 games. San Antonio takes the series 4-2 and advances to the NBA Finals where they will face New Jersey starting on Wednesday. Come on Spurs, give David Robinson a retirement gift of a championship ring! Go, Spurs, go! [I knew the Mavs were doomed in this game when Charles Barkley predicted after game 5 that the series was going to go to 7. The good news is that he predicted New Jersey to win in the finals.] The unlikely hero of the game was Steve Kerr in filling in for the ill Tony Parker. Kerr was on the court during the Spurs killer run, was able to hold his own (with help) despite Dallas attacking him on their offense end, and had 3 3-pointers during the run. He had 12 points on 4-4 3-pointers (didn't attempt any other shots), 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in his 13 2nd half minutes. The other player who stepped up for the Spurs was Stephen Jackson, who kept Dallas' lead from ballooning to a larger margin as his teammates struggled. And 2 of his 5 3-pointers came during the 23-0 run. Jackson finished with 24 points including 8-14 FG and 5-7 3-pointers. After a strong 1st quarter, Tim Duncan had a lousy game as Dallas' defense focused on him. He had just 8 points including 3-10 FG and 5 rebounds in the last 3 quarters. For the game, Duncan had 18 points including 8-20 FG, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Besides Duncan and Jackson, the other 3 starters had just 7 points, with all 7 coming from David Robinson. Robinson also had 5 rebounds in his mere 16 minutes. Tony Parker had a good excuse for his poor performance due to being ill. He shot 0-5 FG and had 1 assist in his 13 minutes. Bruce Bowen had a terrible game in shooting 0-3 FG and 0-2 3-pointers [no hack-a-Bowen] and had 2 rebounds and 4 assists in 23 minutes. Off the bench, Malik Rose had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Emanuel Ginobili had 11 points including 3-9 FG, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers in 29 minutes. Speedy Claxton had 6 points on 3-8 FG, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 22 minutes. Kevin Willis, Steve Smith, and Danny Ferry played about a minute each and did not score. No one had a stellar game for Dallas and it hurt. Nick Van Exel was the high man with 19 points, but just 2 assists. Walt Williams had 17 points including 3-7 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks, but kept throwing the ball away with 5 turnovers. Michael Finley had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 4 turnovers in playing all but the last minute. He had 3 turnovers and only attempted 2 shots (didn't make either) in the 4th quarter. Steve Nash did not have his offensive game going with just 6 points on 3-10 FG and 0-1 3-pointers, but did have 11 assists. He also shot 0-2 FG in the 4th quarter. Raef LaFrentz had a nice outing with 12 points on 6-13 FG, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks. [It was a bad omen to have your birthday on the same day as a Dallas playoff game as the birthday boys' (LaFrentz, Don Nelson, Mike Bibby) all suffered losses on their b-day.] Dallas only got 11 points off of their depleted bench. Raja Bell had 5 points on 1-1 FG and 3-4 FT, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in 15 minutes. Adrian Griffin had 4 points on 2-2 FG and 6 rebounds including 3 offensive in 10 minutes. Eduardo Najera had a poor outing with 2 points on 1-6 FG and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes. Tariq Abdul-Wahad got in with less than a minute left in the game and had 1 rebound for his stat line. Thus ends Dallas' season. Don Nelson went to Maui for 2 weeks and the decision of whether he'll coach the Mavs next season will be decided when he returns - Cuban has said that it is his job if he wants it and Nelson has said all along that he wants it, so I'd be stunned if he doesn't return as coach next season. Maybe later I'll do some Mavs playoff analysis, but the fact that the season is over is still too painful for me to go into that [thought that I'd be okay 40 hours later, but doing this game write-up was still hard]. Have a great summer! Quotes Gregg Popovich: "First of all, I have to say the Mavs were really impressive, relentless, did everything they could do under difficult circumstances, obviously, without Dirk. That's a tough situation for them to be in. We've been in there before and we know how that feels. So I really have to credit them and congratulate them with a hell of an effort in doing what they did. I was really proud of our team in just hanging in and continuing to play, not worrying about circumstances on the court and what the score was and anything like that and to just continue to play. And we got obviously a big boost out of Steve Kerr tonight, which was something that you don't plan on because it's tough to do that if you don't play. He was great coming in. It was obvious that Tony was having a hard time, that he was feeling badly. We had mentioned to Steve that he needs to be ready, that he was coming in tonight, and he was really ready. We were fortunate in that regard. I thought everybody offensively did a great job of sharing, attacking, and doing what they needed to do composure-wise when we were down. And we really did pick it up defensively in the 4th. And as I said before, that's who we are. If we played D, we're a tough team to beat. If we don't, we're not all that good." Popovich on Jackson: "Stephen kept us from just falling down the hill totally. And he showed good choices. He made some 3s, but he penetrated and pulled up, did a good job in that sense. He was very important in keeping us rolling. I thought down the stretch Timmy was great, playing Joe Montana down in the block. Doing it himself at times, other times finding the open guys. Just using what was available. So everybody did a pretty good job. To end up with a 4th quarter like that, you know people just have to play well and we did." Popovich: "You know we wanted to start the 3rd quarter and see how Tony'd be, just give him another shot, see if he'd felt better. I think it was 10 minutes and a few seconds when it was obvious that he just didn't have the juice. He took 2 liters of saline solution today intravenously all day long, hoping he could get back all the water that he lost. So at that point it was obvious that we needed to play all the other guys and there is only a half left. So Speedy and Steve split the time. When we took Steve out, he was exhausted. He had to come out for a minute or so, but at that point the game ended and he didn't get back until the very end for free throws." Popovich on coming in cold: "For Steve Kerr, it's not difficult at all. I don't say that flippantly. I say it because it's true. He's a consummate pro. The guy is there before every practice, after every practice, running, shooting until he's dripping wet. He hasn't stopped practicing ever. He's been working every day when we haven't played or practiced between games, that kind of thing. He's in the gym with Danny Ferry, with Steve Smith, with Kevin Willis, those guys have been working and working and working. So I'm not surprised that he's ready. I mean, if you saw him doing those things, you'd understand that." Popovich on the 4th quarter: "It's a great confidence builder. And it's something that's sort of been pent up, you know, if you will, because we've given up so many leads ourselves. It was pretty sweet to be down and be able to come back by doing the right things and making stops and getting rebounds and being composed offensively. We've done it before, but we've probably lost more leads than we've come back from. But that's the nature of our club and as the years go by, they'll get better and better in that regard. But tonight was a huge confidence builder for us." Popovich on the 3rd quarter: "I was a very unhappy man. 4th quarter, I was a happy man." Tim Duncan on Kerr: "The guy is incredible. He's the epitome of a professional. He's always ready. We joked about him going in the other night in playing the 30 seconds he did and hitting the free throws, to be put in that situation and still perform. And then to be ready tonight. To have the mindset and the understanding that it's possible that he would go in and to come out there and perform in such a big situation and get us right back into the game. The guy is incredible." Duncan: "We were fortunate enough to make shots down the stretch. Defensively, we turned our intensity up and they missed some shots. Just lucky enough we were able to get back in the game and win it." Duncan: "It wasn't even about getting shots. The shots that I did get, it seemed like everything was going short for me. But I'm not really about [getting] the shots. I was more worried about making the shots than getting the shots. But, as I said, my team was incredible tonight. Despite my efforts of trying to give it away, they found a way to really get it done. Stephen Jackson stepped up and he was incredible for the entire 2nd half, hit some big shots for us. Defensively we turned it up. Gino, Steve, and Malik came in there and found, just found a way to get it done. So it just says a lot about our team." Duncan: "Turned the tables on them and see how tough it is to keep a lead like that. Those guys, they had that lead. When shots start going down for your opponent and your lead starts getting smaller and smaller. You're working to get such a good shot, trying to get the best shot possible. And it's momentum. It's all about momentum. And as I said, we were lucky enough to be on the other end of it and really fight back into it. Shots go down for us. They get a little tighter and everything starts going a little short for them. And that's how it goes. Just lucky and excited that it went our way this time instead of the other way." David Robinson: "We got some guys on the end of the bench there. I mean, it could've been Steve Smith, could've been Steve Kerr, could've been Danny Ferry. Those guys are great. They're the 1st ones at practice, last ones to leave, they're the best shooters in the world. Steve Kerr, how do you describe a performance like that? Guy comes off the bench cold and makes 4 3s to save the game. Phenomenal. Great show." Tony Parker on being ill: "I feel good now. You get the victory you kind of forget." Stephen Jackson on what Popovich said at the beginning of the 4th quarter: "He said, 'bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep'. That's what he said. Na, he just wanted us to relax. It was definitely loud in there today. You know, these guys were running, knocking down shots, playing real good at the beginning. So we just wanted to keep our composure and not get caught up in their style of game. And I think we did that in the 1st half, but the 2nd half, we kind of slowed down, started playing defense like we normally do, and it went in our favor." Jackson on the 2nd half: "I'm just aggressive. If they gonna take away Tim, then someone else has to score. I just stepped up and took the shots with confidence and was able to knock them down tonight." Jackson on games 5 and 6: "I just think as a team we buckled down and took better care of the ball 4th quarter and did not stop playing once we got the lead. I think we did that in game 5, we got satisfied with the lead and thought the Dallas Mavericks was going to buy down and give us the game. But they're a great team and they have one of the best records in the league too, so we shouldn't have done that 'cause they're a great team and they're not going to give up, and fight to the end. And they were able to get the win in game 5." Jackson: "I also think that when we went from hedging to switching the pick-and-rolls, kind of got them out. I think when we started switching the pick-and-rolls, their quick throw back wasn't there and they wasn't able to get a lot of wide open shots off the pick-and-roll, 'cause they do that very well. So I think that when we switched, we kind of got them out of their rhythm and was able to make them take tough shots." Steve Kerr: "I didn't expect to play until I heard that Tony was sick. And early in the 3rd quarter, it was apparent that he really couldn't give us much tonight and at that point I figured I might get in." Kerr on the 4th quarter: "I was just feeding off of the momentum. We should know that we're not out of game when we're down 15, just like Dallas was never out of the games earlier in this series. It's a very difficult thing to hold leads in the NBA. And when the momentum swings, it really can swing wildly, especially with a defensive team like us. We can make some stops and get things going. Stephen made a bunch of them. When you have Tim down there, it's the ultimate weapon. And they were zone up and collapsing on Tim - I knew I was going to be wide open. And I was just fortunate that my shots were going in." Kerr: "1st shot's pretty big and I hit one from the corner - I forgot whether it was late in the 3rd or early in the 4th, I can't remember - man, because it's been a long time. That was the first shot I've made in the playoffs, tonight. 15 games, however many we've played, I haven't made a single shot. But I've been shooting a lot of them in practice and just trying to stay prepared." Kerr: "The 1st one was probably the toughest one. It's a little easier to come in when you're down 15 or 14, whatever, that you just let it go, you just play. Just like at the other end, sometimes it's tougher to make a shot when you're feeling a lead slip away, which has happened to us a little bit in the last couple of weeks, as everybody has been talking about. So I just came in and figured just let it fly and see what happens." Kerr on being a difference maker: "No, no. I haven't been a difference maker in a long time. I wasn't thinking about that. I was paying attention to what was going on in the game. We were in a zone offense and we were really struggling. We were frantic. And we were only down 14, 15 late in the 3rd, but we were making bad passes, we weren't getting to our spots in the zone offense. I was just concentrating on making sure we were getting into a little bit of a flow and finding a rhythm to our game. And we did. Thanks to Stephen Jackson, who knocked down some shots, thanks to our defense, and thanks to some smarter play in the 4th quarter. We took care of the ball, we got to our spots, and made some shots." Kerr: "This is one of the best nights in my career. It ranks right up there with anything that happened in Chicago. Just for the fact that I'm 37. I wondered if I'd ever have a moment like this. One of the things I told myself at the beginning of the year was I might not have a great year, I might not score a lot of points, but there is always a chance to have a moment, just one moment. And tonight was one of those. And it just feels great." Kerr on being isolated on defense: "Well, a lot of people don't know that I was the Master Lock Defender of the Year in 6th grade at Palsades Elementary School. And apparently the Mavericks weren't aware of that. They were going at me. There is a reason I don't play a whole lot, you know. I think we all know why that is. I'm not the greatest defender out there. But when you have a great team defense like we do and you get a lot of help, it makes it a lot easier. I also came in the game at a time when the momentum was really our way and it's easier to play, like I said, it's easier to make shots, it's easier to play defense when things are going your team's way. And the Mavs were kind of in a funk at that point and maybe they tried to force the action a little bit. I know Walt Williams tried to post me up a couple of times and once got an offensive foul. But we got such a great team defense that I was able to survive out there." Don Nelson: "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what to tell you other than we were playing so well for so long and just the bottom just dropped out. 4th quarter, we just couldn't get a good shot - or a bad shot - to go in. I think they just turned it up to a different level. It was amazing, really. I thought they were really working hard all game, so were we, but for a stretch there, they made a couple of baskets and it just ignited their defense and we couldn't score. I mean, it's really that simple. We were running the same things we ran all game with the same people and they basically just shut us down. Nelson: "... we were afraid that he was going to get some open looks because when they had both he and Jackson hitting shots, you just can't cover both with a good double-team on Duncan - and we had good double-teams and crisp rotations, but of course they spaced us and had the shots and then made them when they put their shooters in the game. I thought it was a great move by Popovich to play Kerr. He broke our zone open. We couldn't guard them man-to-man or zone when they're making outside shots like that and we still had to double Duncan on catch. So between he and Rose, we didn't want them to dominate us inside. And Kerr was the guy that probably got most of the publicity, but Jackson was the guy that got it started and the combination of both of them was truly amazing. But the shot making certainly hurt us, but the defense, I mean to score 9 points in the 4th quarter with my best offensive players in there - and I'm sure there were reasons, I'm sure there were fatigue factors and all the rest that you guys want to write about - but I think the bottom line was their defense. When they tuned that baby up, turn it up into high gear, is as good as anybody in basketball. And they sure did it against us in the 4th period." Nelson on being proud of Dallas: "Yeah, of any team I can remember ever coaching, I've never got more out of, I've never been more proud of. It's not the perfect team - we have holes in our team. But boy did those guys play. And man did they find ways to win. 60 wins in a season, in the conference finals, taking a team like this [San Antonio], you know, it certainly wasn't 7 games, we were hoping for 7 games, I thought it was going to be 7 games going into the 4th period. You know, I just don't know what to say. I'm really proud of them. They found a way to really blend together, to become one. That's really what you want your teams to do. And everyone was worried about, oh, our locker room, you know, we made so many trades. The locker room was so tight, so wonderful to coach, such great guys in there. It's just wonderful to see them. Every morning I get up and everybody, I'm happy to see them and everybody gives me a 'Good Morning', like you would hope it would be, like it would be in a book if you'd write a book about it. That's the way this team was. Actually, no, because Popovich is one of my very best friends, the other locker room is equally talented in that area of sportsmanship. So both teams really deserve a lot of credit in that area." Nelson on the 1st half: "You know, we did the same thing when they just broke it open. It was just a mater of them finding the holes and shot making. It was hard to score against them the whole time. We kept finding ways to make shots and make plays. Some of them were maybe a little lucky and contested. But then the combination of them turning their gear up to a different level; we couldn't go to a different level. We were playing at a level as high as we could get it all game. And when they moved it up, we couldn't go any higher. I think that really was the end of it. And then, of course, shot making. They made shots against the same things we were doing all game long. And when they started making 3s against our double-teams and rotations - guess what, you want to take away their 3s? Guess who gets the ball - Duncan and Rose, and we just didn't have an answer for those guys anyway. So anyway, they found the holes in what we were doing. They did a wonderful job really. You know, we felt very lucky to get the 2 wins there. I think game 4, I thought we would win that game for sure. That was the best game that we had played. This would have been the 2nd best game if we take away that 4th period. We were so good in this game for 3 quarters. I don't think we can play any better with what we had. But game 4, we played that way the whole game. But we're playing it at a very high level. The highest level we can play at. Unfortunately we can't get it to a different gear and they can. And I think that was the differences." Nelson on Nowitzki: "It was never even close. Never a decision. I did look at him. Looked at him yesterday, I looked at him today. I consulted with the doctors and the trainers and I don't think he was ever close, to be quite honest with you. But he did want to play in the 1st game and it would have been a big mistake." Nelson on the season: "It's hard [to enjoy] until after the fact when you're just so overwhelmed with media and the rigor of the series and the 20 [playoff] games. It's hard to reflect now, but I tell you I'm really proud of my team and the way that they play and what they've done and everything else. But to sit back and get too full of ourselves at this point, I just can't do it. I don't think anybody can. But someday, when I'm sitting at Charlie's having a cold beer, I might say, 'What a year.'" Michael Finley: "It was the biggest game of the year and I didn't play up to par. I made a plea for the crowd to make noise for 48 minutes. They held up their end of the bargain, but I didn't." Steve Nash: "They really made us pay when we doubled Tim and even made, Steve [Kerr], he made his teammates better because after a while, we were trying to stop him and leaving other guys open. And he did a great job to come in cold at the end of a series. And he's a champion and he proved it." Nash on 4th: "I think more than anything, we stopped moving. When we don't move, when we become some what predictable - they're great defensively. Then they can anchor Tim down in the paint and he can make things difficult for us. You know, I want to give them credit. They did a great job defensively, but at the same time I think it was a fact that we were really stagnant and didn't move as much that allowed them to be the great defensive team that they are rather than the team that we were successful again for 3 quarters. I think that was a big difference. I think whether we ran out of gas, whether we weren't deep enough with just everyone getting tired, I don't know what it was, but we really got stagnant." Nash on the 4th: "We stopped moving. Fatigue, depth, a lot of things can be a factor in that." Nash: "We have a lot to be proud of. At the same time, we didn't reach our goal, so it hurts." Nick Van Exel on Kerr: "Coach of the Year made a great substitution in putting Steve Kerr into the game, the zone buster. You know, we haven't seen him all series. He was fresh and he wasn't afraid to take the shots, you know, that guys had been afraid to take before. And he made 'em. We've seen him do it before. And also on our offensive end, we just got stagnant and their defense is very good. We didn't have the motion that we had for 3 quarters. We got into a lot of isolations without movement, without motion and they were pretty good defensively like that." Van Exel: "I don't think it was fatigue. I thought we had good energy going into the 4th. I just think that once they got that momentum, that momentum sort of carried them over the top and they just kicked our butt from there. I don't think we got tired. I think we sort of put our heads down when they started making their run and we didn't have any get back. We didn't have any fight." Van Exel: "I don't feel good, being a player, being an athlete, because it's going to be hard to get back here. We got to be real with ourselves. We caught Portland injured - 7 game series. Sacramento loses their All-Star, their soon to be probably Hall of Famer Chris Webber - 7 game series. And we were right here with a great opportunity to get to the Finals. LA is going to be good next year. Sacramento is going to be good next year. San Antonio is going to be good next year. Portland is going to be good. Minnesota is going to be good. Phoenix is going to be good. Houston is going to be good. It's going to be so tough to get to this position next year. And I think we really let this slip away." Van Exel on getting back next year: "Play Nick the GM. I don't think I can right now. I would like to, but I talk too much. I'd probably get in trouble." Van Exel on improvements for Dallas: "If we could keep - if I could stay here, first of all. If I could be here, I would love to play with a physical big man inside. That's the key when making a run, especially defensively, it's a big key where you don't have to double-team as much and you can pretty much stay home on shooters. You don't have to go into all these zone defense, which save us in a lot of games this year. But it really helps because you can stay home on a lot of guys and you don't make players who are not that good of players, you don't make them better when you have a good inside defender." Van Exel: "Nothing was said about game 7. Our focus was don't try to play any differently than we did in the 1st 3 quarters. Stay aggressive and stay hungry. But I think offensively we sort of went to the isolations and we didn't have that same motion. We didn't have that energy. We didn't have guys cutting to the basket and things like that. And they're a pretty good defensive team when they can just set up and know what you're going to do when you don't have guys moving. And they took advantage of it. They they made some big shots. Steve Kerr made huge shots. Stephen Jackson stepped up big for them. They just deflated us." Van Exel: "I thought it was a team of destiny early on. Definitely I thought it was. You don't just go 14-0 in the NBA [start of the season record]. And I don't care what people say, that's something special. You don't just do that. And from then on, we had our bumps in the road, but when we got to the playoffs and the opportunities kept presenting itself with other team's premier players were getting injured, it just really, I was telling guys, 'This is our year. But we have to believe this is our year.' And I think we believed it, we believed it. But we ran into the best team since January. And the coach of the year Popovich, he made a huge substitution in putting Steve Kerr in, the zone buster, and he just took it from us." Raef LaFrentz: "For whatever reason our shot left us. They put in their shooter. He made his shots. He did his job." Walt Williams: "Steve Kerr, the way he was shooting from the outside, that just opened things up for everybody else. But it's just tough to be this close to the Finals and having control of the game for almost the entire game." Raja Bell: "We got kind of stagnant on offense. They got real aggressive and Steve Kerr hit some really big shots." Bell on missing Nowitzki: "You can't blame it on Dirk because we played at a high level the whole game. We should have been able to meet it, Dirk or no Dirk. We beat them for 3 quarters big without Dirk. We just came out short. No excuses. They were the better team." San Antonio Spurs 90, Dallas Mavericks 78 at Dallas (May 29) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 22 18 16 34 - 90 .404 .526 .434 .667 Dallas 22 24 23 9 - 78 .467 .278 .423 .636 Halftime: Dallas 46-40 3rd Q: Dallas 69-56 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:44 1st Refs: Ron Garretson, Steve Javie, Tom Washington Attendance: 20,812 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Dirk Nowitzki (left knee sprain), Shawn Bradley (sprained right knee), Evan Eschmeyer (sore right knee) San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 23 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-2 4 1 0 0 0 Tim Duncan 45 8-20 0-1 2-4 18 3-11 4 4 2 1 3 David Robinson 16 2-2 0-0 3-4 7 0-5 1 2 2 0 0 Stephen Jackson 44 8-14 5-7 3-3 24 2-2 3 1 2 3 0 Tony Parker 13 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 1 1 1 Speedy Claxton 22 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 0-7 2 2 3 1 0 Emanuel Ginobili 29 3-9 1-4 4-4 11 1-2 4 4 4 2 0 Malik Rose 32 5-9 0-0 2-6 12 3-11 3 2 2 0 1 Kevin Willis 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Steve Kerr 13 4-4 4-4 0-0 12 0-2 3 0 1 0 0 Steve Smith 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Danny Ferry 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-76 10-19 14-21 90 9-44 25 18 18 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 47 5-12 1-4 2-2 13 0-6 4 4 1 0 3 Walt Williams 37 7-15 3-7 0-0 17 1-4 0 5 3 0 3 Raef LaFrentz 27 6-13 0-2 0-0 12 3-12 1 1 5 1 4 Steve Nash 40 3-10 0-1 0-0 6 0-4 11 2 1 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 40 8-19 1-4 2-5 19 0-2 2 2 2 0 0 Adrian Griffin 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 3-6 0 2 3 0 0 Raja Bell 15 1-1 0-0 3-4 5 0-2 3 1 1 1 0 Eduardo Najera 23 1-6 0-0 0-0 2 1-5 0 0 4 2 0 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-78 5-18 7-11 78 8-42 21 18 20 4 10 patricia