Dirk Nowitzki was selected to the All-NBA 1st team. He received 383 points including 35 1st team votes from a panel of 122 media members. It was the 4th time Nowitzki was selected to the 1st team and the 9th straight time he was selected to any of the 3 All-NBA teams. Game 5: Dallas at Denver (May 13) It was once again a do-or-die game for Dallas. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle had a rough day as he attending Chuck Daly's funeral (Daly was a mentor of Carlisle and Carlisle was a pall bearer at the funeral) and Carlisle arrived at the arena about an hour before game time. The Mavs went with a lineup change in starting Jason Terry in placed of Antoine Wright. Josh Howard opened the game with a 3-pointer (and would scored Dallas' first 7 points). A 3-pointer by Terry gave Dallas a 10-4 lead with 9 minutes to go, but Chauncey Billups connected on consecutive 3s and a jumper by Carmelo Anthony gave Denver a 12-10 lead with 7:10 remaining. 8 straight Denver points, with 6 of them from Nene, gave the Nuggets a 22-14 lead with 4:15 left. A 3-pointer by Jason Kidd pulled Dallas within 21-28 with 2:15 to go, but Billups converted a 3-point play and Anthony drained a 3-pointer to give Denver their first double-digit lead at 32-21 with 1:40 left. Dallas did score the last 4 points of the quarter. Denver led 34-27 after 1. Anthony had 9 points and Billups had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assitss. Howard had 11 points for Dallas. Both teams shot well as Denver shot 15-23 FG and Dallas shot 11-19 FG, but Dallas had 5 turnovers off of which Denver scored 9 points. After an Anthony layup, Dirk Nowitzki converted a 3-point play to pull Dallas within 5 points, but Anthony answered with a 3-pointer. A 3-pointer by J.J. Barea again made it a 5-point game at 37-42 with 8:35 to go, but Denver rattled off the next 6 points in a little over a minute. A 3-pointer by J.R. Smith gave Denver a 51-39 lead with 6:45 remaining and Dallas was struggling just to keep Denver from really pulling away. Consecutive buckets gave Denver a 57-43 lead with 4:50 to go. Dallas did pull within 9 points twice the rest of the quarter, but Denver had an answer each time to push their lead back in to double-digits. A 3-pointer by Anthony and dunk by Nene near the quarter's end gave Denver a 69-55 lead at the half. Denver out-scored Dallas 35-28 in the 2nd quarter as Denver continued their hot shooting with 15-24 FG. Anthony had 12 points on 5-6 FG and Nowitzki had 9 points in the quarter. For the half, Dallas had 8 turnovers off of which Denver scored 15 points - that's just 1 turnover off of which Denver didn't capitalize. Dahntay Jones opened the 3rd quarter with a jumper to give Denver a 16-point lead. The teams traded buckets and Dallas connected on a string of 3-pointers to get them back in to the game - 1 by Nowitzki and 3 by Jason Kidd as Dallas scored 9 straight points to pull within 66-73 with 8:45 left. Denver did score the next 4 points, but Kidd hit another 3, Anthony hit a jumper, and Terry got into the game with a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 72-79 with 6:30 to go. Denver scored the next 3 points and the game hoved around 10 points for the next couple of minutes. A jumper by Kidd puled Dallas within 76-85 with 4:16 remaining, but Denver scored the next 8 points (5 free throws followed by a 3-pointer) to take their largest lead at 93-76 with 2:45 left as Dallas had 2 turnovers and 2 missed shots. Dallas did out-score Denver 4-1 from the line over the rest of the quarter - neither team scored over the last 1:30 of the quarter. Denver led 94-80 after 3. Both teams had 25 points in the 3rd quarter and Kidd had 11 pts on 4-5 FG and 3-4 3-pointers in the quarter. The teams traded buckets to open the 4th quarter and Dallas scored the next 8 points to pull within 90-96 with 10 minutes remaining, but Smith ended the run with a 3-pointer. Consecutive buckets pulled the Mavs within 97-103 and Dallas knocked the ball out of bounds with less than 2 seconds on the clock. The Nuggets inbounded the ball to Anthony and he swished a killer 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded to give Denver a 106-97 lead with 6:35 to go - Wright added to Dallas' misery by shoving Smith after the basket and was called for a technical foul and Denver made it a 10-point game. Nowitzki converted a 3-point play, but Billups answered with a 3-pointer. After Kenyon Martin hit 1-2 FT, Brandon Bass converted a 3-point play, but Anthony got a bucket and Billups hit a jumper to give Denver a 115-103 lead with 4:30 to go. Dallas missed consecutive 3-pointers, but Denver also missed 2 shots. After 2 free throws by Nowitzki and 1-2 FT by Martin, Terry nailed a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 108-116 with 3 minutes left. But Billups answered with a jumper and Nowitzki missed a forced shot. Bass stole the ball, but Terry missed a quick 3-point attempt, but Bass was fouled on the rebound and he hit both free throws to pull Dallas within 110-118 with 1:45 remaining. Denver ran the clock down some and Billups fed Nene for the power slam with 1:25 left. Nowitzki threw the ball out of bounse with 1:10 to go and Denver again ran the clock down and Smith lobbed the ball to Martin for the alley-oop slam to give Denver a 122-110 lead with 52 seconds remaining. Dallas called timeout and pulled the plug in subbing out Howard, Nowitzki, and Kidd. 2 free throws by Smith capped the scoring. Denver won 124-110. Denver takes the series 4-1 and advances to the Western Conference Finals. Congrats to the Denver Nuggets. They were clearly the better team in this series. The Mavs were struggling from behind most of this game and they fought to the end, but Denver had an answer for every Dallas push. The game was really won in the 1st half where Denver out-scored Dallas 69-55 as both teams had 25 points in the 3rd quarter and both had 30 points in the 4th quarter. But Dallas had little defensive stops in the game (though also didn't play a great defensive game as both teams shot over 50% FG) and, as Dirk Nowitzki said, you just can't give up 124 points in an elimination game. Both teams capitalized on turnovers as Dallas scored 26 points off of Denver's 13 turnovers and Denver scored 21 points (15 in the 1st half) off of Dallas' 14 turnovers. For the game Denver shot 58.5% (48-82) FG including 11-26 3-pointers and Dallas shot 51.4% (38-74) FG including 12-34 3-pointers (including 5-12 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter). Denver out-rebounded Dallas 38-30 including 12-9 offensive. It was a balanced attack by Denver as 5 players had 15 or more points. Carmelo Anthony continiued his stellar play with 30 points on 13-22 FG and 4-7 3-pointers (I think the fact that he didn't attempt a free throw was more indicative of Dallas' poor defense than Anthony not being aggressive). He also ahd 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Chauncey Billups had a great all-around game and hit some key buckets that stopped some of Dallas' rallies. he had 28 points including 10-16 FG, 7 rebounds, and 12 assists. Kenyon Martin had his best game of the series with 15 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals - it helped that he didn't get in to foul trouble in the game. Nene played well in attacking the basket and had 17 points including 8-10 FG and 7 rebounds. He also had 4 turnovers, though. As usual, J.R. Smith provided the punch off the bench with 18 points including 4-10 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in 29 minutes. Starter Dahntay Jones had 8 points including 3-4 FG and 2 rebounds in 19 minutes. Anthony Carter had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 17 minutes. Chris Andersen had a surprisingly quiet night (he usual plays well in Denver) with just 5 rebounds and no shots attempted in 14 foul-plagued minutes. Surprisingly Linas Kleiza did not play, coach's decision. As usual in this series, Dirk Nowitzki was stellar. 10 of his game high 32 points came in the 4th quarter. He shot 9-17 FG and 12-12 FT and also had 10 rebounds and 7 assists, but also turned the ball over 5 times. Jason Kidd helped Dallas get back in to the game in the 3rd quarter where he scored 11 of his 19 points. But his turnovers were a problem, surprisingly with a number of them coming in the 1st quarter (and most of them weren't forced turnovers, just sloppy ones), and he had 5 turnovers in the game. But he also had 9 assists. Starting didn't help Jason Terry get going in the series as he had just 11 points on 4-13 FG and 3-10 3-pointers. Josh Howard contributed 14 points (but just 1-6 3-pointers) and 3 rebounds as he continued to play in pain. Erick Dampier was again fairly quiet with just 2 rebounds, though he did have 6 points on 3-3 FG, in 24 minutes. Brandon Bass had his 2nd consecutive nice outing with 17 points, of which 15 came in the 4th quarter. He also had 7 rebounds in his 25 minutes. But he was about it for Dallas' bench production. J.J. Barea had 7 points and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes and Antoine Wright had 4 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in 15 minutes. Both teams went with 8-man rotations, with the scrubs getting in for the last minute of the game. So Dallas heads home for the summer, with only a litte more satisfaction for at least getting out of the 1st round this year. And we'll see what changes happen for next year's roster [Jason Kidd as the option to become a free agent and Brandon Bass is a free agent, but the Mavs are limited as to what they can offer him as the team doesn't have full Bird rights for him]. Josh Howard (still under contract for next season) will undergo surgery on his left ankle (the one that has been bothering him all season, not the right one which he sprained during the playoffs) next week. Quotes George Karl: "I would like to congratulate Dallas. I thought at the end of the year they were playing really scary basketball. And, as I've told you guys, I think sometimes a 4-1 series is a lot closer than people sometimes think it is. And I think they made us a better basketball team because of the playoffs. It's always privilege to play against guys like Nowitzki and Jason Terry and Jason Kidd - guys that have been great representives of the game. A lot of guys down there have coached with me before and seeing Mario Elie, Terry Stotts, and Dwane Casey was kind of fun to coach against them. And also want to thank my basketball team because I think they're playing great. They're very easy to coach right now and a lot of fun to be around. I'm just so happy for so many of the guys for so many different reasons." Karl on Anthony: "I think this is a great day for Melo. I don't know if he'll feel it as much as I [do]. I think winning and getting to the Western Conference Finals and making 3rd team All-NBA is better than - other winning the [Olympic] Gold Medal and probably winning the NCAA Championship - these 2 awards tonight solidify who he is and how good he is. Making All-NBA is real, I mean, the basketball people talk about that. Winning in the playoffs is real. Some of the other stuff isn't as real - statistics, All-Star games, hype. What he's done in the past couple of weeks has been first class big time and real." Karl "As I told them in New Orleans and I told them tonight, we're good enough to make some noise. We're playing basketball at a really nice level. And I have a feeling we're not going to be messed up by the next round." Karl on Nene: "He ran the court. I thought he got some easy baskets because of his court-speed. We got him to the rim; he made a jumper. Nene is, I hope in a year or 2 maybe we can upgrade him into being a more demanding player, but I don't think so - I think he's going to be Nene. He loves to play the game the right way." Carmelo Anthony on the win: "It's a blessing. We worked hard to get were we are right now. We want to keep that in the back of our mind that we still have unfinished business to take care of, but for the most part we did a hell of a job this season. Up until now just staying focused, staying humble, staying hungry. As a result it all paid off and we are right here in the Western Conference Finals." Anthony: "We're not done yet. We are excited about this moment, about this opportunity to be in the Western Conference Finals. Like I said, we worked hard to get where we are right now. We are looking forward to the challenge, whether it is the Lakers or Houston." Anthony on the win: "I really don't know how to feel right now. I don't want to get too excited, but I'd be lying to you if I said I am not excited. The Western Conference Finals is a big accomplishment for myself and for the Nuggets, obviously. Like I said, we worked hard, I worked extremely hard to get where I am at today. And I am going to continue working hard throughout these playoffs." Anthony on his 3-pointer as the shot clock was running out: "Yeah, that was a spark. But if I'd tell you that I knew it was going in, I'd be lying to you. It was a lucky shot, it went in. That sparked our momentum though. After that shot, we got out in transition, got some easy baskets, got some stops. But I think that shot right there sparked the momentum for us." Chauncey Billups on Anthony's 3-pointer as the clock was running out: "That was a huge play. They kind of had the momentum going a little bit and the ball went out of bounds. I was actually curling for an open shot as well, but Melo popped a little faster than I did and was wide open. And I don't know how he hit that shot, but that was a big, big shot for us." Billups: "It's absolutely been a storybook, and I couldn't write a better hopefully, I don't wake up anytime soon. The win is for all the guys who have been here, haven't been able to get out of the 1st round and carried that weight. And it's for the city, for the fans." Billups: "We're just trying to keep it going, man. We're very dangerous. If our defense is locked in and focused, our offense is explosive. This is not over." Rick Carlisle: "First of all I just want to say that I am really proud of our guys the way they hung in this series through some difficult stretches and difficult times. Our disappointment of Game 3 and then bouncing back and winning Game 4 was important for us and then just hanging in all night tonight under difficult circumstances, you know, a great crowd here, and all those things. You know, Carmelo throws in that 3, we are getting close and he throws in that 3 and it was just sort of a microcosm of the series. We would get close and then it would be a couple of turnovers or it would be a great shot or something like that. I think in the final analysis, Denver is a better team, and they showed it I think throughout the series. But a lot of progress was made by our guys this year, and I'm proud of that, all though when you're involved with a franchise like the Mavericks, anything short of a Championship is going to be considered just not good enough. So we got work to do. But I congradulate the Nuggets. You know George Karl, he's been a terrificul coach in this league for many, many years and I told him at the end there that this is the best job I've feel that he's done in all those years, which is saying a lot because he's been a top coach for a long time. Chauncey Billups, you know, I can't say enough great things about him. It's how much I hate playing against him, coaching against him, and how great he was when I had an opportunity to work with him in Detroit; but he's been a huge difference maker. Carmelo's just taken quentom leeps as a great player and a leader. These guys are legitimate, legitimate championship caliber team. They've got a great shot, they've got a real opportunity. It will be interesting to watch how it all comes down." Carlisle: "Again, 14 turnovers isn't that many, but it resulted in 21 points. We played the 2nd half even. Our undoing was some stretches in the 1st half where we turned it over and just defensively need to be one step better, one step quicker. So that was frustrating. But, you know, every minute of this series was really a battle for both teams, but obviously dealing with their athletisim and strength and quickness was a real challenge. I loved the way we battled. We're not a perfect team. We've played some great, great games over the course of the year - we needed to play one of those tonight, but we just weren't quite there." Carlisle on starting Terry: "Just thought the time was right to make that move. The more anybody plays with Jason Kidd, the better they play and the more good looks they get. JET really hadn't had a bust-out game in the series and just felt this would be an opportunity to get him right out of warmups and right into it. And, you know, we got great shots early and a lot of that has to do with how the geometry changes when you have a great shooter in there. You know, for years I was with Reggie Miller and when he was in the game, even when the ball wasn't any where near him, there's space that opened up. So we got a lot of great looks early and he hit his share of shots during the course of the game too. But again, we need to play one of those really high efficiency games - under 10 turnovers, shooting the ball well, and staying out of foul trouble. The effort was there, but result wasn't. So, you know, it's disappointing, but again, Denver had a lot to do with it." Carlisle on defense: "We had some breakdowns. And, again, the turnovers - some of the stuff doesn't show up in the stat sheet, you know when you turn it over and they go and dunk the ball and you can't contest that and now the crowd is in to it and it energizes their team and the building. And just those stretches I thought defined the problems in for us the game, and really a lot of it was in the 1st half. As I said, we played a dead-even 3rd quarter and a dead-even 4th quarter. We fought to get within 5 or 6 T the end and Carmelo with 2 seconds left [on the shot clock] jumps over us and hits the 3. And it's just one of those shots that's too good. So that's where it is. So there wasn't one stretch in the series where I felt that our guys lost energy or dropped their heads. I thought we really battled and showed just a lot of fight. In the end, we were up against a team that was a better team." Carlisle on his tough day, having attended Chuck Daly's funeral: "There was a lot going on, but I felt completely energized about the game. And, again, I'm disappointed in the outcome, but not the effort and not the spirit. This season for us has been defined by a group of guys that had kind of a indifferent 1st half and then something happened in late January and we really became a team. And the toughness factor went up. The energy and the sort of the spirit of helping one another and encouraging one another became great. And, you know, where it probably became so difficult early, those battles led to kind of a solidification of our team and we really became a team with an identity with some real mental toughness - and that's a huge part of being successful. And then I thought it carried over into the San Antonio series, which was a huge opportunity for us to advance and all that. And I thought this team really put behind the travles of the last couple of years and all the talk about softness and all that - I think that stuffs down the road. And I'm real proud of the fight, and I know that Mark [Cuban] is. And I know that if he was here he would have been proud of the way battled tonight. And it means something to our fans too - even though we didn't win the series, our spirit was never in question. And I think that's something very important for a group of guys that compete in this league and compete in a series where you get down 3-0 and then you're battling back. So I'm proud of them." Dirk Nowitzki on Denver: "Well I think they are right there. I think they have all of what it takes to be up there to be a contender. With Chauncey they have veteran leadership. They can shoot from the outside. Melo can score a lot of ways. They have big guys who can battle in there. They have energy from the bench, scoring from the bench. I think they have all the ingredients they need to be a great team and to be up there." Nowitzki: "I thought we left it all out there. You know I think ultimately Game 3 was a killer for this series. If we find a way to win that game, I think it is a different series. But, hey, it is what it is. it wasn't meant to be. But I think today, it was down 10, down 14 and we wanted to stay in striking distance. 10-point deficit is nothing in this league, especially the way they play up-and-down, they'll let you back in it. I thought we did a decent job battling around. We cut the lead to 6 and then forced them really in to a tough shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and that Melo 3 I think was a little bit of a killer. To battle all night and then he makes a tough shot like that and then we get a technical on top, back to 10 points and then we just didn't have enough to get back in it. But I give Denver all the credit. They played a great series. And I wish them luck in the next round." Nowitzki on Anthony: "He's been fantastic, you know, in every area. on the defensive end and rebounding, he is getting involved now. And offensively there is nothing he can't do. If he shoots the 3-ball like that you've got to push up. And he can go both ways, he's got the 1 or 2 dribbles and up. He's got the post moves, he's got that turn around fade away that's unstoppable. To me he has got a great combination of strength and quickness. That's tough to guard. I really think he's come a long way. I really think they've got a shot to win it all." Nowitzki: "To give up 124 points in an elimination game, it's just tough to overcome. We scored 110, and that should be enough to win the game. But we seemed to have problems with penetration all season long, keeping people in front of us. That was a big key." Jason Kidd: "I felt we had nothing to lose and it was like, 'Let's try to get this game to become a little interesting, put a little pressure on them.' We made some 3s and cut the lead to 7 or 5, and that was as close as this could get." J.J. Barea: "Well, we battled. We have to give Denver all the credit. They had a great series. They played really good, but we battled and never gave up and feel good about ourselves." Barea on the game: "We tried. We were down by 14 and came back, but never cut it down to 2. I think Melo hit that 3-pointer with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and I think that is the game right there. We got a lot of heart. We never gave up. It was just that bad luck at home, Game 3. We came out in Game 4, came battling, and that showed a lot." 2009 NBA Playoffs - Second Round Game 5: Denver Nuggets 124, Dallas Mavericks 110 at Denver (May 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Denver 34 35 24 30 - 124 .661 .423 .585 .773 Dallas 27 28 25 30 - 110 .650 .353 .514 .759 Halftime: Denver 69-55 3rd Q: Denver 93-80 Technicals: Josh Howard 6:29 3rd, Jason Terry 2:59 3rd, Antoine Wright 6:34 4th Refs: Joey Crawford, Ron Garretson, Bill Kennedy Attendance: 19,962 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Devean George, Jerry Stackhouse, Shawne Williams Denver - Steven Hunter, Sonny Weems Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kenyon Martin 39 5-11 0-1 5-9 15 1-2 4 2 3 4 0 Carmelo Anthony 40 13-22 4-7 0-0 30 1-5 3 1 5 1 0 Nene Hilario 41 8-10 0-0 1-2 17 3-7 1 4 4 2 0 Chauncey Billups 40 10-16 3-6 5-5 28 1-7 12 2 3 0 1 Dahntay Jones 19 3-4 0-1 2-2 8 0-2 1 1 0 1 0 J.R. Smith 29 5-13 4-10 4-4 18 1-5 6 1 4 0 0 Anthony Carter 17 4-6 0-1 0-0 8 3-5 3 2 0 0 0 Chris Andersen 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2-5 1 0 5 0 1 Jason Hart 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Johan Petro 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Renaldo Balkman 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 48-82 11-26 17-22 124 12-38 31 13 25 8 2 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 33 6-13 1-6 1-5 14 0-3 1 1 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 45 9-17 2-5 12-12 32 3-10 7 5 5 0 1 Erick Dampier 24 3-3 0-0 0-0 6 1-2 0 0 3 1 0 Jason Kidd 44 6-10 5-9 2-2 19 0-3 9 5 3 1 1 Jason Terry 34 4-13 3-10 0-0 11 0-1 1 2 4 2 0 Brandon Bass 25 5-9 0-0 7-8 17 4-7 1 0 3 1 0 J.J. Barea 17 3-5 1-3 0-0 7 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 Antoine Wright 15 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 1-2 3 0 0 0 0 James Singleton 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Gerald Green 1 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Hollins 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Matt Carroll 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 38-74 12-34 22-29 110 9-30 23 14 22 5 2 Non-basketball: If anyone knows of any computer programming positions in the Dallas area, I am job hunting. patricia