For the 2nd year in a row, Dirk Nowitzki was named to the All-NBA 2nd team and Steve Nash was named to the All-NBA 3rd team. Nowitzki had the 6th most total points in the media voting. Besides last year's selection of the 2 to the same teams, the only other time a Mav has been named to an All-NBA team was in 00-01 when Nowitzki was selected to the 3rd team. Game 1: Sacramento at Dallas (May 6) The Mavs fought through and made it to the 2nd round where they faced a buzz saw. Sacramento came out looking like a team that wants to win it all this year and Dallas came out looking like a team just happy to still be playing. Both teams did start out shooting well, but Sacramento just never cooled off while Dallas did. The game was tied at 10-10 with 8:50 left and Sacramento scored the next 12 points to go up 22-10 with 5:55 to go as Dallas turned the ball over, missed 4 shots, and even missed 2 free throws. Vlade Divac picked up his 2nd foul to end the run and send Dallas to the line and he sat for the rest of the quarter. The Kings' lead hovered around 10 points the rest of the quarter and Sacramento led 33-24 after 1. Chris Webber had 13 points including 6-8 FG. Consecutive 3-pointers by Bobby Jackson gave Sacramento their largest lead at 43-28 with 9 minutes remaining. Sacramento led 50-36 with 6 minutes left and Dallas went on a 10-2 run to pull within 46-52 with 3:35 to go. Neither team scored over the next minute and Sacramento scored the next 3 points to give themselves a little more distance. Mike Bibby buried a 3-pointer from the corner as the quarter ended to give Sacramento a 62-50 lead at the half - and with the way they played in the 1st half, Dallas had to be happy just to be down by 12 points (it could have been much, much worse). Nick Van Exel was the only aggressive player for Dallas and he had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. The Mavs did actually out-rebound Sacramento 17-8 in the 2nd quarter, but that advantage was negated by the Kings shooting 8-11 FT while Dallas shot just 2-2 FT. For the half, Dallas was a miserable 0-10 3-pointers while the Kings were 5-12 3-pointers. And it did get much, much worse in the 3rd quarter as Sacramento came out blazing hot and aggressive. The Kings opened up the quarter with a 8-2 run to go up 70-52 with 10 minutes remaining. 9 straight points by Sacramento, capped by a 3-pointer by Doug Christie, gave them a commanding 87-59 lead with 5:20 to go. Dallas would get no closer than 20 points the rest of the quarter. Sacramento led 98-76 after 3. Sacramento shot a white hot 12-17 FG while Dallas shot 11-27 FT. And when they weren't draining shots, they were shooting free throws as Sacramento shot 11-13 FT and Dallas only had a single free throw in the quarter (and it wasn't the officiating, it was the style of play). Dallas did make a mini-run during the 4th quarter where they scored 10 straight points to pull within 95-112 with 5:35 left, but after the teams traded misses, Peja Stojakovic got 2 buckets to give Sacramento a 21 point lead. Dallas closed the game with a 13-3 run to make the final score not reflective of the game. Sacramento won 124-113. The Jekyll-and-Hyde routine continued as Dallas suffered their 3rd blowout of the post-season (and despite the final margin being just 11 points, it definitely was a blowout). This time it cost them home court advantage and facing their first series deficit of the playoffs. No Mav looked sharp in the 1st quarter and, except for Nick Van Exel, it stayed that way for most of the rest of the game. The bench, with Michael Finley, did play well in garbage time and made the final numbers look better. It wasn't quite the layup drill and dunk fest that last year's Dallas-Sacramento series was as Sacramento was simply hitting a good percentage of outside shots. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of dunks and layups, but it wasn't as porous as Dallas' interior defense was in even just the recent Portland series. Sacramento was simply the hotter team this night. Through 3 quarters (since the 4th was pure garbage time), Sacramento shot 58.3% FG including 6-13 3-pointers and Dallas shot 44.6% FG including 3-16 3-pointers. The Kings had a huge advantage at the line as Dallas really wasn't attacking the basket and was settling for outside shots. Through 3 quarters, Sacramento shot 22-27 FT and Dallas shot just 7-10 FT. The Kings held a slight rebounding edge at 32-31, but if you are shooting such a strong percentage, rebounding doesn't mean much. And the Kings came out strong for both the start of the game and the 2nd half as they out-scored Dallas by 9 points in the 1st quarter and 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas did continue to play hard in the 4th quarter, prompting Sacramento to re-insert some of their starters for a bit, and Dallas out-scored Sacramento 37-26 while shooting 13-24 FG in the 4th. But it was far too little, too late and the Kings have a 1-0 series advantage. Dallas needs to revert to Hyde and come out shooting better and play a little bit better defense (can't expect the defense to improve too much). Game 2 is Thursday in Dallas at 8:30 pm - if the Mavs don't get their act together and put out a good showing in Game 2, this series could be over in a hurry (but if they do win, I could see home court meaning absolutely nothing in this series). Sacramento had a balanced attack with 6 players in double-digits. Peja Stojakovic was the high man with 26 points including 11-18 FG and 9 rebounds. Chris Webber was solid all around with 24 points including 9-15 FG, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists. He did have 7 turnovers, though. Bobby Jackson gave the bench boost in the 2nd and 4th quarters where he had 9 points and 12 points respectively. He finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals [and there is a heckler out there who owes him $50 for betting him that he wouldn't break 20 points]. Despite the early foul trouble, Vlade Divac was extremely productive in his limited time with 14 points including 5-6 FG and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes. Doug Christie chipped in 13 points including 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds and Keon Clark had 11 points in 18 minutes. Only Mike Bibby didn't really shine with just 7 points, but his presence was felt with his 7 assists. Numbers can be deceiving for Dallas. Only Nick Van Exel really showed up in this game, despite tying the team high with 2 other players. All 20 of his points came in the 2nd and 3rd quarters - and his 2nd quarter performance kept the team in the game. He also had 5 assists. Steve Nash had 20 points (8 of them came after Sacramento took their commanding 28 point lead) and 7 assists. Michael Finley also had 20 points, but 11 of his points came in the 4th quarter, after the game was long over. Dirk Nowitzki had an extremely quiet 18 points and 11 rebounds and needs to be more aggressive if Dallas is going to win. The only other Mav in double-digits was Tariq Abdul-Wahad with 10 points in the 4th quarter. He and Raja Bell gave a nice showing in the 4th quarter. Bell had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 12 minutes. Dallas got nothing from the center position as neither Raef LaFrentz and Shawn Bradley couldn't do much. LaFrentz shot too many bricks - 1-7 FG - and had just 4 rebounds in 19 minutes. Bradley did have a nice save of a bad pass by Nowitzki and got the layup, but that was his only bucket (on 2 attempts) and he didn't have a rebound in just 5 minutes on the court. Eduardo Najera started and had 8 points on 4-6 FG and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes - he had the fun of trying to defend Webber most of the time. Adrian Griffin had 2 points and 5 rebounds and a few of his 15 minutes came in the 1st half. Quotes [Adelman's, Webber's, and Nelson's quotes are transcribed from their press conferences] Rick Adelman: "... very focused. You kind got the sense as we had those days off and not knowing who we were going to play, but then once Dallas won Sunday, our Sunday practice, our short practice on Monday, was kind of built up and it carried over to today and we're ready to go. I give our guys a lot of credit for coming out early in the 1st quarter, jumping on them, and then in the 3rd quarter, we wanted to do the same thing in the 3rd quarter and that really set the tone for us. So, really happy to get this first win starting out on the road, get the first one and go from there." Adelman on Christie: "Doug's been playing well for us. He's just been struggling to make some shots, but he really hasn't been taking some shots. In games like we play with Dallas, he's going to get opportunities in the open court. He's going to get opportunities against this team. What he did tonight is typically his 9 rebounds. He's so activate and he's all over the court and he usually makes Michael work really hard to get his opportunities. He's been so valuable to us and it was really good to see him get going. When he gets going offensively and makes some things happen, it just makes us that much tougher to guard." Adelman: [Nellie tried a lot of different lineups tonight] Sure did. [... not any lineup that will bother you?] You kind of, when they switch up they go small or whatever they do, you kind of have to make a decision. Somethings you don't mind matching up with them just because you feel you have some advantages. Sometimes you just want to see what happens and see if it really is something that they have an advantage with. And that's kind of what I did today where sometimes I decided not to worry about it and I felt we had some advantages at the other end. I knew he was going to try a lot of different things, but I do feel that they do start making some runs, they do start making some things happen, I can switch up and we're pretty good going big or going small. It's not a huge difference, especially when we're getting the flow going like we did offensively. We really had a flow going. We had different guys coming in shooting the ball well. It makes it hard to guard us when it goes that way." Adelman: "I don't know. I think it's a type of game we both enjoy, the way both teams play. But I really feel that tonight we were really focused. We were really ready to play. You can feel it in the locker room. You never know until you step out on the floor, but there was definitely a feeling that we were ready to go. So, yeah, when you win games against a team, but like I told you before, everybody keeps talking about all these games we've beaten these guys. I looked at the scores and they're 1 or 2 points. They could have gone either way. Now you win a game like this where you really come out and jump all over them, that's a different situation. You feel like, geez, you really handled them. But those other games, I left this building really relieved, not like we were dominating. And I still feel that way. We're very closely matched and they can get an offensive game going just like we did tonight. We've got to understand that. But I do feel good about the way we approached this game. I hope it carries over into Thursday." Adelman: "I think we did a really good job of preparing them for the process that we were going to go through once we beat Utah. That we just have to worry about ourself during the time that we didn't know who we were going to play. Then once we knew it was Dallas, we were ready to go, kick ourselves into gear, and go play them. I think it's the maturity of the team that they understand that." Adelman on Webber: "He had some soreness in his knee. We just kind of let the thing progress as the week's gone on. But he played, the 1st half especially, he played very well. So it's just something that we just have to take as a day-to-day situation. But he seems to have gotten through it today okay." Chris Webber: "I think one reoccurring issue that is going to come up tonight and other nights - I really don't know what to expect out of Dallas. They are a great team, but I am just so worried about us. I am more worried about us that any other team and I really think that's the way that you should play because when you do that, you kind of pay more attention to detail in what you have to do. Besides being prepared for them and knowing how dangerous they are, I really worry more so about us. So I really expected them to come out and play well, but this has been sitting inside us a long time - losing - and we just couldn't wait to get back out on the court and play and exhibit everything we learned. Not to get upset by flopping, not to get upset at what you think may be a bad call, but just to stay focused. And it feels good to use that when I think certain players expect you to get all out of sorts just because they do things to you. So I was more worried about us today." Webber if anything went wrong: "Definitely. There were a lot of reads that we missed. A lot of things we didn't do right and we have to get better. And in no way are we fooled by winning 1 game. We know that it's tough. Heck, we learned from their example of last time - winning 3 straight and then losing 3 straight in a row. So we're never relaxed and I was glad to steal 1 here, but hopefully we can get another one." Webber: "I really like to play against defenders that are really aggressive. I think it backfires sometimes by being so far out on the floor and, us being big men, we're not used to moving our feet out there. And me having cutters out there, when I get guys to get up into me, it's great because I just tell my teammates that we're going to have a field day. And so tonight I really just tried to get a lot of assists or tried to make sure I got that extra step. So every guy tries to play you different and usually the softer guy plays you the more you try to score, so it really depends on who's on you, whether it's Najera or LaFrentz or Dirk, you just have to look at different things you want to do at those times." Webber: I think that's a really good shooting night, 55%. But I've seen us shoot some great nights. And I've also seen this Dallas team shoot like that too. So I think the field goal percentages in these games are going to be fairly high because some of the teams is going to put up so many amount shots, so when you put up that mass number of shots, it tends to usually go your way. But I think we can even shoot better. I know Peja going 2-7 from the 3-point line, that's just not him. And he played such an awesome game. So I look at it like we all can get batter and I think we all feel like we can play so much more better than we played tonight." Webber on the guards: "I just think the game suits them. Any time you can run and get up and down and let a player with the experience that Mike Bibby has or Bobby Jackson. Any time you don't call a play and Bobby got the ball, whether you are a guard or a big man or whatever, that's what his eyes light up for. I just think our guards are aggressive. But I tell you, Nick Van Exel, he's set this last year the anchor for that team. I don't care what you say, 'cause believe me, it's Nick. And we're going to have to try to figure out somethings for him." Webber on if he was surprised by Nelson's various lineups: "No, no. I think that's one thing that's great about Nellie. Being a player, when I played for him, I remember everything from center to point guard. And I think that's what's great. He's not caught up in these power forward, centers. I think that's why his players do so well. I think he's caught up in if you have this skill then you play here, if you have this then you play here, not just because you are tall. Which is what the European players have done - they're not characterized by height. With Nellie, no, I think that's one of his strengths, making you adapt to them and using all of the guys that he has. So I really wasn't surprised. We didn't know how they were going to start and we knew he was going to come with some different lineups." Webber: "I think it helped us to play Utah, just like it did last year, 'cause we're very comfortable in the half court set. We have to tell ourselves to run sometimes today. And that's why I said I think that we can still get better, because I still think we were playing a half court game today, believe it or not. So myself, I didn't get in there. I couldn't rebound like I wanted to. I don't think any of our guys really got 10 rebounds or anything like that. So when we got our guys get those number of rebounds and then being able to get out, I think we can improve much better. But I think Utah helped us." Webber on not being stale: "I think it was different for different guys. I think coach really worked hard this week in practice, and I haven't been able to practice since the game we beat Utah. So for me, it was anxiousness of getting back on the floor, not being able to practice, not being able to run, and wanting to. And for the other guys, it was like, we're tired of practicing against each other and hopefully we'll get some fresh meat." Webber: "I really don't know our record against Dallas or how well we played them because I think what we learned from last year is not about the team that is across from you, it's what you do. Coaches say so much stuff, the same thing so many times, it tends to go dead in your ear. And I think the main thing is to take advantage of your opportunities. And that's why I really don't think about Dallas - how we played against them or if we're in their head - because we don't think about them. We really are more on ourselves: Keon, did you block out; Keon, did you block this shot; Chris, did you rotate; Vlade, did you go to the hole strong. It's about us. It's about us. So I really don't know Dallas' mind frame or what we do against them. I just know that we're ready to play and we're responsible one to another and every guy gets on each other. And when we do that, we're a better team than worrying about who's the guy checking us across, because we're loyal to each other on that team, that defense or that offense." Predrag Stojakovic: "We had time to prepare ourselves for working our game. We had time to plan for how they were going to play. We did a lot of good things today." Stojakovic on rust with the layoff: "It looks like we didn't have any. We did a lot of good things, especially on defense. We had a lot of deflections. We contested shots. That was the key. Offensively, we put the ball in Chris' hands, and Chris did a good job finding open guys. All we had to do was hit some open shots." Stojakovic on Webber: "Chris was a big key getting the ball in the crease. They didn't have an answer for that." Vlade Divac: "We knew exactly what we needed to do. It was beautiful." Divac: "If we play like that, it's not just Dallas, it'll be hard for anybody to beat us." Divac: "We talked about rebounding the ball better at halftime, because we knew if we could, we'd be able to run the ball and get some better looks." Doug Christie on if Dallas was tired: "Maybe a bit. They were still pushing the ball. They really tried to attack us." Jim Jackson: "Too many weapons. When we move the ball, when we're on, we're great. People say the layoff might hurt us, but we didn't let it bother us." Don Nelson: "What can I say except that it was a butt-whipping. They opened up a can of butt-whip on us." Nelson: "What can I tell you about this game? What a performance. Whatever we did, whatever we tried they countered and basically just dominated us. I'm a little surprised. I thought we would do better than that. It wasn't lack of effort. It was just their execution and superior passing and they just put on a clinic. We'll have to go better. We'll have to play better. In almost all of the games, that 1st quarter has been very important and we weren't very good in the 1st quarter and it set the tone for the game. The fact that it ended up not a terrible score has really no indication of the game. I thought we were totally dominated by them. The stage was set by Chris Webber, who I think had he been healthy all year, you might have been looking at a different MVP. Not that Duncan wasn't deserving, but Chris Webber was injured a big part of the year. Had he been healthy and played 80, 82 games, the numbers he puts up are incredible with his scoring, his passing, and his rebounding. The guy has got the whole package and he just knows how to play. He's just incredible to watch. I'm impressed every time that I watch film of him. He's really matured nicely and has turned into one of our best players in the league. And, you know, all I can say is that we had a good game plan. It's the same one, we have tried nothing different than what we had been doing that had been successful, but they just totally picked us apart. I didn't know where to go. I tried different players, different combinations, change of strategy, and whatever we did, they countered. So, 1st games was dominated by them, I don't know how else to put it. And we'll get together tomorrow and we'll watch film and come up maybe with a few different ideas, but bottom line is that we have to play better and they have to play worse." Nelson on defense on Finley in the 1st half: "Doug Christie has shut lots of guys down and he's hard to score against. Mike got it going in the 2nd half. If you look at the end result, we scored enought points to win. We had our big 4 all score almost 20 and the score wasn't close. We definitely need to get bigger contribution from the whole squad and just everybody really has to play better. The total numbers really don't mean that much because there was so much of the garbage time that was played. But actually, my bench played better than my 5 starters. They really did a good job in the 4th quarter. I know we don't look at that very much, but I was pretty proud of Raja Bell and Tariq and Griff and Williams and Van Exel has been my best player probably the whole playoff series. But the bench really did a good job. They got an opportunity and they stepped forward - that was good to see." Nelson: Well, I had planned on using my bench more in this series anyway, because of the fatigue factor. I guess I just didn't calculate, when you have a really big emotional win, there is just a period of time where you take a breath and you relax and I think that maybe that's what happened. Maybe we relaxed. I don't think we did it on purpose, but that happens often times in sports and they were ready for it 'cause, boy oh boy, did they lay it to us." Nelson on if Nowitzki got enough touches in the 1st quarter: "No, I thought Dirk had the ball enough. He wasn't having an exceptional game and we're trying to get everyone involved and we're trying to get better ball movement and the more we tried, the worse it got. But I thought he had enought touches and I thought his rebounding was good. Emotionally, he was into the game. I really don't have any excuses. They just kicked our butt. That will happen once and a while." Dirk Nowitzki: "They scored 130 on us. That's embarrassing. We've just got to guard them a little better." Nowitzki on Dallas' poor shooting: "I think we were just flat and the energy wasn't there. That affects the jumper." Nowitzki: "I never really got any clean looks. They were doing a good job of rotating. I didn't get open looks, but you have to give them credit for the way they played defense." Nowitzki: "I need to be a little more aggressive in going after the ball. They guarded me well, and they play really good defense on the strong side. We just have to make sure that we get better ball movement and swing the ball to the weak side. If we're passing like we're supposed to, we'll get open shot because they're not that great of a defensive team, either." Nowitzki: "You never want to get embarrassed at home. The fans booing - it wasn't fun. But we've got to do something about it." Michael Finley: "It seemed they were in a comfort zone. We were in a methodical-type zone." Finley: "It's not about me and Steve. Everyone puts an emphasis on the team on points. Our success is going to come with stopping them. Everyone in this locker room can put the ball in the basket. It's a matter of us stopping them on the court." Steve Nash: "This is pretty much what we expect from them. We should be more than prepared to play this team and tonight we looked as though we'd never played them before." Nash on what Dallas takes from a game like this: "Not a lot. We got embarrassed tonight and we can't play the way we played tonight if we expect to win any games in this series. Our team realizes that it's very important for us to come out with the right frame of mind. Tonight we came out as though it was November and that's not good enough." Nash on if Dallas was mentally tired: "Whether or not we were, that can't be used as an excuse this time of year. We had a day off and a chance to rest. It wasn't like it was a back-to-back. This time of year you should be able to overcome things like that and we won't use that as an excuse." Nash on Sacramento: "They put on a clinic. They were extremely focused and they executed and got whatever they wanted. That's not the way the series can go if we're going to win it." Nick Van Exel on fatigue: "It could have been a lot to it, but at this point in the season you've got to dig deep, because if you go to the finals that's the end of June. This is early right now. We're still early into the playoffs. Fatigue shouldn't come into factor right now." Van Exel: "One team looked like they were in a playoff game and the other team looked like they thought it was a regular season game." Van Exel on if Sacramento has Dallas' number: "Right now, yeah. They feel like they can dominate us and we play like we're timid, like we're afraid of these guys. Everybody says we're a bad defensive team, but it's not that hard to get into the paint against these guys and make something happen. We just have to do it." Van Exel on the smattering of boo's during the game: "It was well deserved. To not have total effort against the team that embarrassed you last year ... they had every right to boo." Eduardo Najera: "We just were not in to it tonight. On the defensive end, we didn't play very hard at all. That's got to change and we've got to have a better start just like we did against Portland. Tonight, they jumped on us and it seemed like we could never get back." Najera: "It was embarrassing the way we played defense. Nobody came to play. I think Avery hit the nail on the head when he said we lost this game before it started. We have to play with more effort and be more physical." Najera on halftime: "We still felt pretty good. Sacramento was ready the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half and we were not." Adrian Griffin: "I really don't have the words to describe how I feel right now. I'm upset." Griffin on what needs to change: "Compete for 48 minutes. Tonight's performance was nothing to be proud of." Sacramento Kings 124, Dallas Mavericks 113 at Dallas (May 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Sacramento 33 29 36 26 - 124 .593 .429 .550 .818 Dallas 24 26 26 37 - 113 .514 .333 .469 .722 Halftime: Sacramento 62-50 3rd Q: Sacramento 98-76 Technicals: Michael Finley 2:15 3rd Refs: Danny Crawford, Jack Nies, Tony Brothers Attendance: 20,525 (sellout) Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Chris Webber 35 9-15 0-1 6-9 24 2-6 9 7 5 0 0 Predrag Stojakovic 39 11-18 2-7 2-3 26 0-9 4 0 0 1 1 Vlade Divac 15 5-6 0-0 4-4 14 1-3 2 0 2 1 0 Mike Bibby 31 2-5 2-3 1-2 7 2-3 7 0 1 2 0 Doug Christie 34 4-5 1-1 4-4 13 3-9 3 2 2 2 1 Keon Clark 18 4-7 0-0 3-3 11 0-2 0 1 4 1 0 Bobby Jackson 27 8-15 3-6 4-4 23 0-5 4 2 3 3 0 Jim Jackson 24 1-5 1-3 0-0 3 0-4 1 2 4 0 1 Hidayet Turkoglu 10 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 Scot Pollard 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Lawrence Funderburke 2 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Gerald Wallace 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 44-80 9-21 27-33 124 9-43 31 14 23 11 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 19 4-6 0-0 0-1 8 2-3 1 2 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 7-13 0-1 4-4 18 3-11 2 1 2 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 19 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 3-4 1 0 3 1 2 Michael Finley 37 8-17 3-6 1-3 20 1-5 3 3 1 0 0 Steve Nash 32 8-15 3-7 1-1 20 1-4 7 3 2 0 0 Shawn Bradley 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 3 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 34 9-19 1-5 1-1 20 1-2 5 2 1 0 0 Walt Williams 14 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 1-1 1 0 3 0 2 Adrian Griffin 15 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2-5 0 0 2 1 0 Tariq Abdul-Wahad 15 3-7 0-0 4-4 10 2-3 1 1 1 0 0 Raja Bell 12 2-5 1-2 2-4 7 0-4 4 0 2 1 0 Totals 48 46-98 8-24 13-18 113 16-42 25 13 23 4 5 patricia Go Mavs!