Game 1: Dallas at Denver (May 3) The 2nd round started with Dirk Nowitzki taking advantage of the non-swarming defense on him (unlike in the San Antonio series) as Nowitzki scored Dallas' first 10 points to give Dallas a 10-6 lead with 7:10 to go. Jason Kidd hit a jumper with 6:35 left to give Dallas their first non-Nowitzki points and put the Mavs up by 6 points and Dallas continued to hold a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Keynon Martin fouled Nowitzki as he drove baseline (but before he attempted a shot) and then gave Nowitzki an extra shove after the whistle blew and Martin was called for a technical. Carmelo Anthony picked up his 2nd foul with 4:30 remaining (and Dallas up by 6) and sat for the rest of the quarter. Erick Dampier sprained his left ankle with 3:30 left, but got it re-taped and was able to return to action in the 2nd quarter. A layup by Martin pulled Denver within 5 points, but consecutive buckets by Josh Howard gave Dallas a 24-15 lead with 2:10 to go. The end of the quarter was ugly as the teams combined to miss 9 shots and a free throw by Chris Andersen (1-2 FT) with 15 seconds left were the only points scored. Dallas led 24-16 after 1. Nowitzki had 13 points on a perfect 6-6 FG and 1-1 FT and Howard had 9 points. A 3-pointer by Chauncey Billups opened the 2nd quarter scoring and the teams traded buckets. Howard sprained his right ankle (he's been playing on a sore left ankle that will require surgery in the off-season) and left the game - fortunately he was able able to return to action midway through the quarter. Anthony hit 2 free throws, but Dallas answered with consecutive jumpers to give the Mavs a 30-23 lead with 9:25 to go. Denver then went on a 10-2 run, with 6 points from Nene, to give the Nuggets their first lead at 33-32 with 6:30 remaining. Anthony had picked up his 3rd foul with 7 minutes left and sat for the rest of the half. The teams traded leads and ties over the rest of the quarter as neither team held more than a 2 point lead until the end of the quarter. J.R. Smith stole the ball and feed Anthony Carter for a layup with 4 seconds left and gave Denver a 51-47 lead at the half [Howard hit a jumper at the end of the quarter, but it was a fraction of a second too late and didn't count]. Denver out-scored Dallas 35-23 in the 2nd quarter as Dallas had 5 turnovers in the quarter off of which Denver scored 8 points. Denver shot 6-11 FT and Dallas shot 2-4 FT in the quarter. Nene had 14 points in the quarter and Nowitzki shot just 1-7 FG after his hot 1st quarter. Anthony opened the 3rd quarter with a layup, and after the teams traded buckets, Anthony converted a 3-point play to give Denver a 58-49 lead with 10:25 remaining. But Dallas then went on a 14-4 run to take a 63-62 lead with 6:45 to go. A 3-pointer by Jason Kidd gave Dallas a 66-64 lead with 6 minutes left - but that would be Dallas' last lead as the team got sloppy and Denver went on a 10-2 run to take a 74-68 lead with 2:30 to go as Dallas had 4 turnovers in the 3 1/2 minute span. A layup by Carter gave Denver their largest lead thus far of the game at 81-72 with a minute remaining (and completed an 18-6 extended run). Denver led 82-75 after 3. Though it seemed like more, Denver only out-scored Dallas 31-28 in the 3rd quarter. Nowitzki and Kidd each had 10 points in the quarter. Jason Terry opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer and Nowitzki followed with a jumper to pull Dallas within 80-82 with 11:10 to go. But Dallas' sloppiness resumed and they added a lot of bricks (on a lot of 1-on-1 non-team plays) and Denver took full advantage and went on a 15-2 monster run to make it a blowout at 101-84 with 5 minutes left - Dallas had 7 turnovers and missed 6 shots during the run (their only 2 points came from free throws). A dunk by Ryan Hollins (off a nice pass by Nowitzki) with 4:20 left ended Dallas' 5:44 field goal drought - but that only pulled Dallas within 15 points. Terry nailed a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 14 points, but Anthony answered with a dagger of a 3 to give Denver a 106-89 lead with 2:50 left and Dallas pulled their stars. A layup by Anthony gave Denver their largest lead of the game at 108-89 with 2 minutes to go. The Dallas scrubs did close the game with a 6-1 mini-run to make the final margin a little more respectable. Denver won 109-95. Denver leads the series 1-0. Dallas only showed up for 1 quarter and that just won't do it in the playoffs. Dallas out-scored Denver 24-16 in the 1st quarter and Denver out-scored Dallas in each of the next 3 quarters, a total of 93-71 (and that's including the 6-1 Dallas mini-run to end the game). It would be one thing if it was just Denver's solid play (and they did play well), but Dallas was cursed with sloppy turnovers - a lot of them unforced with passes to where players just weren't at, lazy passes easy to pick off, and even dribbling the ball off their feet. Dallas had 20 turnovers in the game (one off the team playoff record) and Denver converted them into 25 points. And after a clean 1st quarter (1 turnover), the Mavs were balanced with their turnovers with 5 in the 2nd quarter, 6 in the 3rd quarter, and 8 in the 4th quarter. It was clear that Dallas wasn't playing well and got away from their game late in the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th quarter - from Dallas' 2 point lead midway through the 3rd quarter to Denver's 19 point lead with 2 minutes left in the game Dallas had just 3 assists. Add to that the lopsided free throw shooting and Dallas had little chance in this game. Both teams made 40 shots, Dallas actually made 2 more 3-pointers, but Denver shot 25-36 FT and Dallas shot 9-13 FT. I didn't have a problem with Denver's free throws, but Dallas getting to the line just 13 times, and in particular Dirk Nowitzki only attempt 5 free throws (and just twice sent to the line on shot attempts), was ridiculous. Denver's game plan was to be physical with Nowitzki and it worked as the refs let them be overly physical - even the TNT broadcasters commented on some of the non-calls where the defender had his hand on Nowitzki's hip or other body contact. Of course, long time Mavs fans knew from the start that they had no shot of winning this game once they saw that Danny Crawford was officiating (either Crawford and Bennett Salvatore are the 3 refs Mavs fans never want to see) - Dallas is now a mere 2-16 in playoff games that were officiated by Danny Crawford. As for the other numbers: Denver shot 54.8% (40-73) FG including 4-12 3-pointers and Dallas shot 48.8% (40-82) FG including 6-18 3-pointers. Dallas out-rebounded Denver 37-30 including 10-5 offensive. Though Dallas was sloppy with 20 turnovers, Denver wasn't much better with 15 turnovers. Denver killed Dallas in the paint 58-30 and also got their running game going with a 29-4 edge in fastbreak points (though George Karl made me laugh with his comments about Dallas not wanting to run). As I said, Denver did play well and got strong performances from a number of players. Nene was stellar with 24 points (career playoff high) including 9-13 FG, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists. Carmelo Anthony got going in the 4th quarter where he scored 14 of his 23 points - he was a perfect 5-5 FG, 2-2 3-pointers, and 2-2 FT in the quarter. He also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks, but also had 4 turnovers. Chauncey Billups was quiet with just 6 points on 2-8 FG, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 4 turnovers. Kenyon Martin had 8 points and 5 rebounds. And the bench players played very well as J.R. Smith had 15 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals; Chris Andersen had 11 points (and shot 5-8 FT, a very good percentage for him), 6 rebounds, and 6 blocks; and Anthony Carter had 12 points on 6-8 FG, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists in 22 minutes. Starter Dahntay Jones had 9 points in 18 minutes. The NBA came out the day after the game and fined Kenyon Martin $25,000 and assessed him a flagrant foul for his shove on Dirk Nowitzki during the 1st quarter. I'm sure reputation had something to do with that and Martin said before the series started that he was going to be physical on Nowitzki. Dirk Nowitzki got going early and then cooled off. After starting 6-6 FG, he shot 6-16 the rest of the game. He finished with 28 points and also had 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Josh Howard was able to keep playing despite having 2 sore ankles from the 2nd quarter on, but only 6 of his 15 points came after the 1st quarter. Jason Kidd scored 10 of his 15 points in the 3rd quarter. But he was a main culprit with Dallas' turnover problems with 8 turnovers in the game (after just having 3 turnovers in the entire 5-game San Antonio series). Kidd also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Erick Dampier also tweaked an ankle but continued to play and he had 3 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. J.J. Barea started [I wouldn't be surprised if Antoine Wright returned to his starting role as it's a better matchup against Denver] and had 4 points and 5 assists in 23 minutes. Jason Terry had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 turnovers. With the more athletic Nuggets, Ryan Hollins saw extended minutes in place of Dampier and Hollins had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. Antoine Wright had 3 points (made his only attempt) and 5 fouls in 15 minutes. Brandon Bass had a string of 2s - 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals - and 4 fouls in 13 minutes. Quotes George Karl: "We had a hot offensive player almost the whole game and that makes it easier. I think our passing - but talking about anybody's offense right now would be 3rd or 4th on the list of what a great defensive game we played in the 2nd half. AC [Carter] and Chris [Andersen] were incredible. They covered so much territory and made up for the intensity in their ability to cover skip passes and mistakes. And being able to put Chris on Dirk I think helped us in our rebounding. And as they game wore on, J.R.'s [Smith] penetration, the defense, and Melo's [Anthony] making shots and getting good matchups - you know, we ran some stuff that I think got him good space and opportunity. Offensively we were good, but defensively we were really good." Karl on the bench: "What's fun about the game is, you know, 'Melo getting in foul trouble made us go some place I probably wouldn't have gone - and it worked. That's a complement to guys, you know. We knew AC played well against them in the regular season, but we never expected him to have an All-Star type game in a playoff game. He was great - his offense, he made shots, he made good decisions. He seems to play at a tempo, he creates our team to play a tempo that right now I don't think Dallas enjoys. Our first unit, they kind of have more of a comfort zone against our tempo and when our bench comes in the game, the tempo goes up a little bit and it seems like - right now my amateur vision is it looks like they don't like playing at that higher speed and that's the way we want to play." Karl on Anthony: "I think what I felt about 'Melo is his maturity. The foul trouble didn't bother him, it didn't freak him out, it didn't take him to a dark side that we had to worry about. He trusted the team, the team did great. And came out in the 2nd half and was a leader for us. He picked up his 4th foul and kind of wanted to stay in the game, but I didn't think that was a risk I wanted to take at that time. And we got him back into the game. I think just the flow of the game created a good opportunity for him and he closed the door. I just think his maturity, his teamness, his mental involvement is team and not individual." Karl on defending Nowitzki: "I don't know what our concepts were, other than be aggressive. We had some reads - sometimes we did it well, sometimes we didn't do it well. And we always mix in switching. A couple of guys - that's something we will re-evaluate by looking at the video. But we want to give him different looks, different activity. And in general, I think we got that done. But I think if we stay with too much switching, I don't think that's the formula. I think there's a mixture of some double-teams, some jumps, some rotations. They ran a lot of plays to kind of try to trick us into a mistake on rotations on Nowitzki. And I think our activity, our hustle compensated for our mistakes I would say at least 10 times. But they did have some advantages, and that's what's good about the playoffs. We'll study some video and hopefully we'll minimalize the conceptual mistakes and keep the energy high." Karl on defending Terry: "We just want to stay tight to Jason. We just want to bother his catches, don't let him to have a lot of space to feel free. I still think the guy made, to me, some incredible jumpshots. I thought he made 3 or 4 with our hand near the ball. Josh Howard made some great jumpshots early in the game. Dirk was incredible early in the game. But I think in general we were going to live with that until the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter, we might double that or make a read on taking the ball out a hot guy's hand. They made some shots, they're a great jumpshooting team. But the big thing is to stay hungry, stay humble, stay hungry, but stay hungry to make sure we get better on Tuesday night." Karl on Nene: "It was huge. We thought Nene had an opportunity to have a big game, but we never thought we'd get 18 out of him. But with 'Melo in foul trouble and kind of searching for an offensive confidence, we got it from Nene." Carmelo Anthony: "The 1st half I thought the calls could have went either way, but that is how they were calling them. There was just really nothing I could do. Was I kind of frustrated and upset about that? Yeah, but I knew I had a whole 2nd half to go out there and play and get everything back going. George [Karl] took me out in the 3rd when I got my 4th and I was in the heat of just getting it going. We talked it out and he said me he was putting me back in - it wasn't really nothing. I am just excited that we won the game tonight." Anthony: "I thought in the 1st half we were kind of soft a little bit, kind of letting Dirk get whatever he wanted out there, Jason Terry get whatever he wanted, and Howard too. That 2nd half we buckled down on the defensive end. Everybody manned up, played team defense, got in the passing lane, and our bench did a good job of coming off the bench and giving us that spark." Anthony: "We came out not being ourselves, not attacking, shot a lot of jump shots in the first couple minutes. Bird [Andersen], AC, and J.R. [Smith] came in off the bench and gave us that spark we were looking for." Anthony on his 4th quarter play: "Try to not get no foul. That was the adjustment I made. Just tried to get into the open court, run the floor, get some easy baskets, transition baskets, and that opened the court up for a lot of other players." Chauncey Billups: "Nene was huge. We wanted to come out and try to establish him in the block. And he was great, man. He was great. He got it going today. With our team, that's the specially thing about us, you never know who, you never know who, but you can bet that somebody is going to get going and have a big night. And I'm happy that Nene did." Billups on the free throw difference: "We are aggressive and we attack. We got off to a terrible start because I think maybe 4 out of our first 5 shots were jumpshots. I was mad, everybody was mad because that's not us. We shot jumpshots and shot them well, but that's after we attack the basket or postup and then kickouts. Not just open up the game soft like that shooting jumpshots. After that point, we made an effort to attack basket, attack the rim. You know, the most aggressive team attacking the basket is probably going to shoot the most free throws in most games." Kenyon Martin on his shove on Nowitzki: "It was a foul. I don't think it was tech-worthy, but it happens. You can't do nothing about it. It was just a foul." Nene: "It's a great feeling, I thank you God for the inspiration. We did it good, we did good, we took care of business." Nene on the team taking jump shots early: "We took what they gave us, but after that played [with] power. We take advantage, we put their good players in foul trouble, and after that outside's open." Nene on the matchup with Dampier: "That is good, that is good. I thank you God for giving me strength. That dude, he is strong and big, but I am glad to do my job. We just used our advantage. We know they are a great shooting team, but we are a power team." Nene: "Yes, it is going to be a tougher series. We stepped good today and we know they have a [good] team, so we need to be humble, forget about this victory today, and focus for the next game. Every game is a war." Chris Andersen: "This is great for a lot of us guys who have never played in the 2nd round. Chauncey knows this feeling, but I don't. I thought we were a bit jittery in the 1st quarter, but we settled and I thought we played extremely well in the 2nd half against a real good team." Anthony Carter: "Nene is so big and so quick. His first 2 shots I think were jumpshots. We told him you have to attack. He did that, ran the floor, and got layups." Rick Carlisle: "We obviously have to do a better job with turnovers - 20 turnovers for 25 points is going to be a losing number on the road. The free throw line disparity is something that was too much to overcome. We're going to have to raise our level of aggression if that is what is going to get us to the free throw line. It's hard for me to believe that we committed 29 fouls and they committed 19. But I'll look at the film closely and see if that's the case and if that is the case we are going to have to get a lot more aggressive." Carlisle on Terry: "You know, he got shots. They're are doing a lot of switching, so, you know, it's going to put you in some 1-on-1 situations. But he was aggressive and he made his share of shots. As always, we are going to be looking for ways to get all our scorers better shots. But Denver is a good defensive team and very aggressive. You're going to have to be extremely aggressive offensively to create those opportunities. A lot of it is going to come down to being able to get stops and get out on transition without turning the ball over." Carlisle on Denver: "They are an aggressive team - we know that. They push and shove and that's their nature. That play [Martin's shove on Nowitzki] from the standpoint of the way the rule reads is a technical foul. But if it happens before the whistle, it's probably a flagrant foul. So it's kind of one of those things that's just the way the rule reads. Look, none of that stuff surprises us. This is the 2nd round playoff action, this is serious stuff, and you've got to be aggressive. We are going to obviously have to be more aggressive." Carlisle: "We're going to have to turn the ball over less, that's one thing that's going to have to happen. I'm not sure about the intensity level versus them just playing better than us. Again, I said coming in, we're not going to out-run and out-jump these guys. We're going to have to play our game better than they play their game. And we got into a period where the game got frantic and that's where they ultimately got their cushion. But, we're going to have to stay aggressive. It's hard for me to believe that Dirk Nowitzki only shots 4 free throws during this game with the way he's being played and he's driving the ball. He shot 5, but one of them was a technical free throw. But I'll look at that closely - and if the referees were right, then they were right. But he's being played very physically, he's being played very physically away from the floor where the rules are different than in post-play. So that's something we'll look at and if there's a complaint to be made, we'll talk to the league about it. But the foul discrepancy was too great to overcome and the free throw discrepancy - you're minus 23 on free throw attempts, you know, you're going to be taken out of a lot of opportunities to both score and get stops." Carlisle: "We're not looking to have calls given to us, I don't think Denver is either. Everyone wants the calls to be correct. It's possible the majority of them were, that's why you watch film after the fact. This is not meant to be a bitch session about the officials. This is meant to point out that if you're minus 23 on free throws and plus 10 on fouls committed, you know, you got to raise your level off aggression. And if there's something on the film that looks like there's a discrepancy then we'll address it how ever that's done. But give Denver credit. They played well, they played aggressively. We did a lot of good things, but certain stretches took us out of it." Dirk Nowitzki on Denver's defense: "We knew after watching the 1st round against New Orleans how aggressive their defense is. And we talked about protecting the ball a lot better - just awful there in the 2nd half, throwing the ball all over. They did a good job, active hands, reaching. We got to give ourselves a chance to at least get a look at the basket or get a chance to get fouled. But if you turn the ball over against them in the open court, most of the time they're going to convert in the open court, they're so good and they have athletes. They had like 30 fastbreak points and it all started with our turnovers. So we can talk about it all you want, I guess we had to experience it once. Hopefully we'll do a lot better in the 2nd game taking care of the ball." Nowitzki on Martin's shove: "Nothing. Just a hard playoff foul. It felt like in the 1st quarter I had some good looks and then after that they made me work for everything I got. They got a lot of big bodies they can throw at me and they did a good job rotating and staying down and staying physical. I was able to make some plays and they were able to get some good stops. I still got continue to play my game and attack when they don't double-team, and go from there." Nowitzki on Anthony: "He had a good rhythm. I thought after our turnovers, he got on the break some, he got to the basket some. And I think what always helps is getting to the foul line and he was able to penetrate some and we had to foul him. And he made all his free throws, and that usually gets your confidence up. And then the next thing you know, he made a couple 3s. And on that one play, I remember when we were down 10, they were making their run and we were actually going to play zone and we left him open and he just banged the 3 from the wing - and that was our fault. You know Melo is one of the best players on the 3-spot we have and he was great in the 2nd half." Nowitzki on the free throws difference: "I thought we drove some. We didn't just totally shoot jumpers so I think we deserved a couple of more calls. But, hey, that's an away game. But you got to give them credit. They play active and on the offense they're driving. They got a lot of guys that can get to the paint and make things happen. Nene was phenomenal in there, running the floor. They're a team that knows how to get to the foul line because they drive very strong and they know how to take contact." Nowitzki on only 5 free throws for him: "I mean, it is what it is. I'm not going to sit here and complain about anything. You know, we knew that they were going to play tough and they have a bunch of guys that are very athletic from Chauncey all the way down to their bench. So they can play physical and we just got to do a better job of getting some shots up. We can't turn the ball over 20 times. I look at that stats sheet and it was only 20 [turnovers], but when you play out there, it felt like 30 to me. You know, every time we were right there or made a play it seemed like we turned the ball over. So, that's it. Other than that, everything else will take care of itself." Josh Howard: "They are an aggressive team. They have guys that play hard throughout the place. That is what we expected coming in. It's just us playing; we have been playing the same way so it's nothing different. Practice tomorrow and work on what we did right and work on what we did wrong and get ready for Tuesday. We had an opportunity this afternoon, but we let it slip through our fingers. So I'll say it once again: get ready for the adjustments and get ready for Tuesday." Jason Terry: "We beat ourselves, bottom line." Jason Kidd: "We've got to take care of the ball. When we turn that ball over like I did, it puts our team in a hole and puts a lot of pressure on our defense. I threw the ball into the stands a couple of times." Kidd: "I should have been more aggressive and held the ball longer instead of picking it up. When I picked it up, they swarmed me. That's what they live for." Kidd: "We've got to take better care of the ball. Again, that falls into my hands, and I take responsibility for that." 2009 NBA Playoffs - Second Round Game 1: Denver Nuggets 109, Dallas Mavericks 95 at Denver (May 3) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Denver 16 35 31 27 - 109 .590 .333 .548 .694 Dallas 24 23 28 20 - 95 .531 .333 .488 .692 Halftime: Denver 51-47 3rd Q: Denver 82-75 Technicals: Kenyon Martin (Den) 5:57 1st Refs: Danny Crawford, David Jones, Tom Washington Attendance: 19,631 (sellout) IL: Denver - Steven Hunter, Sonny Weems Dallas - Devean George, Jerry Stackhouse, Shawne Williams Denver Nuggets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kenyon Martin 28 3-8 0-0 2-4 8 1-5 1 1 3 2 1 Carmelo Anthony 29 7-10 2-3 7-7 23 1-5 4 4 5 2 2 Nene Hilario 36 9-13 0-0 6-7 24 0-3 5 3 2 2 1 Chauncey Billups 38 2-8 2-4 0-0 6 1-3 6 4 3 3 0 Dahntay Jones 18 3-6 0-1 3-3 9 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 J.R. Smith 32 7-13 0-2 1-5 15 0-3 6 0 1 3 1 Chris Andersen 28 3-5 0-0 5-8 11 1-6 2 1 1 1 6 Anthony Carter 22 6-8 0-1 0-0 12 1-3 4 1 2 2 0 Linas Kleiza 7 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Johan Petro 2 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Jason Hart 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-73 4-12 25-36 109 5-30 28 15 19 15 11 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 33 7-16 0-4 1-2 15 0-2 0 1 3 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 12-22 0-1 4-5 28 2-10 4 2 2 2 1 Erick Dampier 22 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 3-6 0 2 4 0 0 Jason Kidd 38 6-10 2-3 1-2 15 0-4 4 8 2 4 0 J.J. Barea 23 2-4 0-2 0-0 4 1-2 5 1 2 1 0 Jason Terry 32 6-13 3-7 0-0 15 0-5 1 4 1 1 1 Ryan Hollins 17 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 3-6 0 1 5 0 0 Antoine Wright 15 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-0 1 1 5 0 0 Brandon Bass 13 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 1-2 2 0 4 2 0 James Singleton 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Gerald Green 3 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-82 6-18 9-13 95 10-37 17 20 29 10 2 patricia Go Mavs!