BTW, a number of reports listed Dallas' playoff record being 1-15 in playoff games that Danny Crawford officiated [probably got that number for the same source]. I came up with a record of 2-16 (including Sunday's Game 1) - I double-checked the official boxscores and Danny Crawford was indeed a ref in the below games. L 1990/box5-1:Refs: Mike Mathis, Danny Crawford, Lee Jones W 2001/box4-28:Refs: Danny Crawford, Ed F. Rush, Scott Foster L 2001/box5-14:Refs: Bernie Fryer, Mike Callahan, Danny Crawford L 2002/box5-13:Refs: Danny Crawford, Joe Forte, Ted Bernhardt L 2003/box4-27:Refs: Danny Crawford, Jim Clark, Monty McCutchen L 2003/box5-6:Refs: Danny Crawford, Jack Nies, Tony Brothers L 2003/box5-15:Refs: Bob Delaney, Danny Crawford, Joe Forte L 2003/box5-23:Refs: Bill Spooner, Bob Delaney, Danny Crawford L 2004/box4-26:Refs: Bill Kennedy, Danny Crawford, Tom Washington L 2005/box4-25:Refs: Danny Crawford, Greg Willard, Mark Wunderlich L 2005/box5-9:Refs: Danny Crawford, Ken Mauer, Monty McCutchen L 2006/box5-7:Refs: Danny Crawford, Greg Willard, Mark Wunderlich W 2006/box6-1:Refs: Danny Crawford, Kenny Mauer, Jack Nies L 2006/box6-13:Refs: Jack Nies, Danny Crawford, Ken Mauer L 2006/box6-20:Refs: Ed Rush, Danny Crawford, Steve Javie L 2007/box4-27:Refs: Danny Crawford, Tim Donaghy, Joe Forte L 2008/box4-29:Refs: Danny Crawford, Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy L 2009/box5-3:Refs: Danny Crawford, David Jones, Tom Washington Game 2: Dallas at Denver (May 5) Not surprisingly, Dallas made a lineup change in starting Antoine Wright instead of J.J. Barea [it's a better matchup against Denver]. After the teams traded misses, Wright hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring and Dallas held a small lead over the first 7 minutes of the game. Josh Howard left the game midway through the quarter as his sprained right ankle (the one he injured in Game 1, not the ankle that has been hindering him most of the season) was bothering him and he did not return. Wright hit 2 free throws to give Dallas their largest lead at 14-8 with 5:40 remaining, but Denver went on a 16-4 run to take a 24-18 lead with 2:20 left and the Nuggets held a single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Denver scored the last 4 points of the quarter and led 30-22 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 12 points in the quarter. Dallas shot just 6-21 FG while Denver shot 8-18 FG. Dallas also had 5 turnovers in the quarter. The whistles were blowing frequently in the quarter as Denver shot 14-16 FT and Dallas shot 9-10 FT [Wright, Erick Dampier, Ryan Hollins, and Kenyon Martin each had 2 fouls in the quarter]. Jason Terry opened the 2nd quarter with a jumper, but Chauncey Billups answered with a 3-pointer as Denver stayed in control. A jumper by Martin and 2 free throws by Nene gave Denver their first double-digit lead of the game at 49-38 with 5:30 left, but Dallas then scored the next 4 points to put Denver's lead back in to single-digits. Hollins grabbed Martin to prevent a layup and the refs thought that there was too much interaction between the two and called a double-technical [undeserved both ways and I wouldn't be surprised if the league rescinded the techs]. Denver led 53-45 with 3 minutes remaining and Dallas went on a 7-1 run to pull within 52-54 with 1:30 to go. J.R. Smith ended the run with a 3-pointer and Nene hit 1-2 FT, but Smith attempted a long 3-pointer with 4 seconds left (and time still on the shot clock) that clanked short and Jason Kidd snagged the rebound and pushed the ball the other way and was able to get off a 3-pointer before time expired and it went in [and was his only field goal of the game]. Denver lead 58-55 at the half. Dallas out-scored Denver 33-28 in the 2nd quarter as Dallas shot 14-21 FG and did not have a turnover. The game stayed close to open the 3rd quarter and consecutive jumpers by Nowitzki and Terry tied the game at 66-66 with 7:50 remaining. A 3-pointer by Terry gave Dallas a 74-71 lead with 8:20 to go, the Mavs' first lead since 4 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Dallas led 76-74 with 4:20 left and Denver went on a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Billups, to go up 84-78 with 1:40 remaining. Nowitzki ended the quarter scoring with a 3-point play with 45 seconds left. Denver led 86-83 after 3. Nowitzki had 13 points and Terry had 10 points in the quarter (and was a 2-man game as only 2 other Mavs players scored, 5 points). But Dallas camed out flat and turnover prone to open the 4th quarter and Denver again enjoyed a 4th quarter monster run to put the game away early. Denver opened the quarter with a 16-2 run, with 10 points by Carmelo Anthony, to take a 102-85 lead with 6:30 remaining as Dallas shot 1-8 FG and had 3 turnovers during the run - the Mavs' 1st points of the quarter didn't come until 3 1/2 minutes into the quarter. A layup by Wright and 3-pointer by Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 92-105 with 5:10 to go, but Denver was able to build their lead up to 18 points at 112-94 with 3:30 left with 5 straight points by Anthony. A 3-pointer by Billups gave Denver their largest lead at 115-96 with 2:50 to go. The Dallas reserves did manage to close the game with a 9-2 run to make the final score a little more respectable. Denver won 117-105. Denver leads the series 2-0. Pure and simple, Denver was the better team down the stretch. Dallas struggled in the 1st half and had to feel fortunate to be within 3 points at halftime. The Mavs played better in the 3rd quarter, but forgot to show up for the 4th quarter where Denver turned on the afterburners. It was again a Denver run in the 4th quarter that left the Mavs looking rattled and unsure how to stop the Nuggets' rally. Denver out-scored Dallas 29-13 over the first 9 minutes of the 4th quarter [31-22 overall in the quarter, thanks to Dallas' mini-run at the end]. Sure, it's easy to say that Denver simply held serve in defending their homecourt, but Dallas is going to have to play much better for the entire 48 minutes if this is going to be anything but a short series. Overcoming an 0-2 deficit is very difficult, but can be done [and Dallas has done it twice before]. As for the game numbers, Denver shot 50% (39-78) FG including 8-28 3-pointers and Dallas shot 47.4% (37-78) FG including 8-23 3-pointers. Denver shot 31-40 FT and Dallas shot 23-30 FT [and since I complained about it in the last game, let me point out that I didn't have a problem with the overall officiating in this game]. Denver out-rebounded Dallas 42-37 including 12-9 offensive. Dallas did better overall with their turnovers with only 13 in this game, but 3 of them came during the game turning Denver run in the 4th quarter. Denver had 10 turnovers. Denver held a 25-9 fastbreak edge. It was another balance attack by Denver with 4 of 5 starters in double-digit scoring - and the non-double-digit starter only played 15 minutes. Nene again played well and had 25 points including 9-13 FT and 8 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony again turned it on in the 4th quarter where he scored 15 of his 25 points (he shot 4-8 FG in the 4th and just 4-12 FG through the first 3 quarters). He also had 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Chauncey Billups had 18 points including some key 3-pointers (shot 4-9 3-pointers in the game), 8 assists, and 3 steals. Kenyon Martin overcame early foul trouble and had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists in 29 minutes. Dahntey Jones started and played just 15 minutes and didn't score in missing 3 shots and 2 free throws. J.R. Smith as usual provided Denver's bench points with 21 points. And Chris Andersen provided the bench energy and had 8 points on 4-5 FG and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive. All 4 of his baskets came near the bucket and 2 were off of putbacks. Anthony Carter had a string of 4s with 4 points (2-4 FG), 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 20 minutes. Dallas can point to Josh Howard playing just the first 6 minutes of this game due to his sore ankle (missed 3 shots, 1 rebound, 2 assists), but that doesn't excuse their poor 4th quarter performance as Howard is normally quiet in the 4th. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry showed up in the game, but no one else did. Nowitzki had 36 points including 12-13 FT, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Terry had 21 points and 6 assists. Antoine Wright was the only other Mav in double-digits with 10 points. Jason Kidd was in one of his non-shooting modes where he passed up a number of good looks. But maybe he knew what he was doing as he missed all the shots he attempted except the 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. Kidd had 4 points on 1-6 FG, 1-5 3-pointers, and 1-2 FT, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. Erick Dampier was limited by foul trouble and had just 4 points on 2-4 FG and 4 rebound in 20 minutes. That meant that Ryan Hollins and James Singleton saw more court time. Hollins had 8 points on a perfect 4-4 FG and 4 rebounds (and also 5 fouls) in 14 minutes. Singleton had 5 points and 2 rebounds in 14 minutes. Brandon Bass had 8 points on 4-6 FG and 2 rebounds in 16 minutes. J.J. Barea was back on the bench and had 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists - Denver has read the scouting report and keeps on Barea when he drives (and the big players look for blocks) so he doesn't get many of those "unexpected" layups that he was able to capitalize on against San Antonio. Quotes George Karl: "There's no question that most of the games here have had the personality of end of the 3rd, early 4th that we take a close game and get into double-digits. I think some of it is defensive intensity. I think for 3 quarters or at least the 2nd and 3rd quarters Dallas was the better basketball team today. We're going to have a lot of work from the standpoint of video to get better. But then there is just the character of our team is to get tough in the 4th. And we also kind of make a lot of 3s in the 4th in the last couple of weeks, not only in the playoffs but in the regular season a similar type of personality." Karl: "I'm proud of my team, but I still think we're humble and we've got to be hungry to go down there and try to win a game down there. This was not our most polished performance, but at the same sense some guys played very well. I thought J.R. [Smith] was great in the 1st half, other than the last shot of the half. And Nene continues to be a presence for us that they have a tough time how to figure out him. I still think that Chris Andersen and Anthony Carter were fantastic defensively in the 2nd half. When you have Dirk and Jason Terry kind of having a rhythm and then all of the sudden the rhythm stopped, I think was really important to our success." Karl on Nene: "Again, he just has good matchups. Tonight he got to the free throw line tonight more than he's probably gotten to in the season. He's just has a knack of finding the hole and the window of the defense for easy baskets. And, of course, our guards have a good feel. But 'Melo found him, I felt 'Melo kind of got him going in that situation. I think 'Melo's passing - when we pass the ball, we're pretty good and when we play hard, we're pretty good. Tonight I didn't like a lot of our 'play hard' mentality through a lot of the game, but in the 4th quarter we came back. As I said, I think in a lot of ways Dallas played a very profitable game and there are things that we're going to have to examine in the next couple of days." Karl on Nowitzki: "He's a marvelous player. I just have a lot of people and a lot of staff - I don't think we're going to double him. It seemed like they took down on the low block a little bit more trying to get the whistle to blow a little more. But I also think in the 4th quarter we got in control of him - I'm not saying he's tired or fatigued. But right now our team has a way of elevating in the 2nd half and I think that's a lot of mental thing, some of it's physical, but mentally we trust our team and trust our bench a lot. I thought Chris Andersen deflected a few balls, got some steals into the game in the 2nd half, especially in the early 4th quarter, that got us up to double-digits. I don't know if he [Nowitzki] tired - you know, he's an incredibly gifted offensive player. But he's going to see Nene, Kenyon [Marin], Chris, 'Melo's we're going to switch on to him, but I don't think you're going to see us double him." Carmelo Anthony: "I think Dallas made some adjustments. They did what any team is supposed to do after losing Game 1. They went back, went to the drawing board, made some adjustments. Dirk made some tough shots tonight, Jason Terry hit some tough shots." Anthony: "The first 3 quarters in Game 2, Dallas they did some good stuff. They ran pick-and-rolls, they got Dirk iso'ed on the wing and at the foul line. He took advantage of the mismatch early on in the game." Anthony on the game: "It was good. Take care of home court. The game was kind of close through out the whole game. We made a couple defensive stops early in the 4th quarter and just opened the game up." Anthony on Billups running down a loose ball and feeding Smith on the break [the play came midway through the 3rd quarter with Dallas up by 1 point, it would be Dallas' last lead]: "That was the key play of the game. He could've easily just let that ball go out of bounds, he chased it down, got J.R. the layup. We came down and we scored again and again and again. That play right there was the biggest play of the game." Chauncey Billups on the 4th quarter run: "We're just an explosive team in that way. We think a game can be close, when we do make a run, one of our things is to try to maximize the run. I think we could have probably a couple of big runs in this game, but I think Rick [Carlisle] does a good job of calling timeouts when he kind of senses the momentum going. But that's just kind what we do, that's kind of who we've been all year is an explosive team. We turn turnovers into points." Billups on running down a loose ball: "Those are absolutely the kind of the plays that you've got to make. And if you don't make them, just [give] 100% effort. I think that play in a strange sort of way kind of turned the game around because it told us that this is kind of game it's going to be. We can't really get away from these guys tonight. At that point in the game, we've got to make the extra plays, try to get extra possessions. And that was a big play." Billups: "Yeah well I thought that we kind of wore them down a little bit. We were extremely aggressive from the start of the game, attacking the basket, they had a lot of guys get into foul trouble. Unfortunately for them they lost Josh with an ankle injury, and that's a huge piece to their puzzle. We just kept attacking, kept attacking, kept attacking, and finally we attacked so much that they started everybody get in to the paint and help on the drive and then our shooters got going. I thought we just kind of wore them down a little bit and took off and exploded in the 4th." Billups: "We're just continue to play. To be honest I am not too worried about what they are doing; I am worried about us as our team and us being aggressive in the 4th quarters and attacking the basket early in the 4th quarters and trying to get to the bonus with 4, 5, 6 minutes left so we can use the clock. That is what we are concentrating on, not why they are falling apart." Rick Carlisle: "Again, turnovers were our undoing early in the 4th. We battled, I think we did a great job hanging in the 1st half and then in the 3rd quarter. And, you know, maybe it was a little bit fatigue again, but a couple of turnovers and it started a run and we didn't recover from it." Carlisle on Howard's health: "Not good." Carlisle on what he said to the team: "Just that we've got to stay up. They've held serve, which is as the home team what they wanted to do. We obviously wanted to come in and win one, didn't happen. So we're going to go back to Dallas and we've got to do the same. We've got a few days here to regroup and work on somethings. The offensive rebounds are obviously a problem. And the untimely turnovers have led to runs that we've been unable to recover from. So being at home will help, but we are going to have to play better as well." Carlisle: "Hollins, he's an energy guy. He's given us very good play when we've gone to him both regular season and here in the playoffs. You know, we're going to need him to continue to be ready. Singleton came in tonight and gave us a physical presence, hit a couple of shots, ran the floor, rebounded. I thought Bass played well. We just got into a situation where, again, you know, the turnovers and the 2nd shots were just too much." Carlisle on going into the 4th quarter: "I thought we were in a good position based on how the 1st half had gone. I was concerned without Josh, from a fatigue standpoint, it could be an issue. But there were long timeouts, there was one delay where there was a lady in the crowd that had problems. So going into the 4th, I felt that we were as rested as we could be and that our key guys were going to have to be in there for the majority of the time. I'm not going blame fatigue, that's just something that everybody's got to deal with. But, again, we're right there - and every time we're kind of right there, we'll miss a free throw, we'll miss a layup, just the timing has been bad. Yeah, Denver has something to do with some of that stuff, but some of it is us and we'll have to correct that going home." Carlisle on possibly playing Dampier less: "Damp played well to start the 3rd quarter. You know, he got his 4th foul and then we kept him in the game and he got his 5th and then we went to Hollins. We kept him in because he was playing well and we were making strides on the score. So I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Damp as a problem guy. He's been one of the guys that's keyed our success this year." Carlisle on Dallas' play compared to Game 1: "We played better. We played better and we played more physically. I liked the way we played, but I was obviously disappointed with the 4th quarter and some of the stretches in the 1st half. But even when we got down in the 1st half, we hung in and gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game - and that's what you've got to do." Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought we were right there again like we were the other night and just things with this team can get out of hand quick. They're so explosive. I think we kept the turnovers down to 11, but right there in that phase where they made their run, we had 2 or 3 costly ones, we took 2 bad shots. The next thing you know, from a 4 point lead it's 14. So that's how explosive that team is. We've got to look at some stuff. I think in the 4th quarter, they're trapping a little more off the screen-and-roll and they pick up the pressure a little more and we got to handle that a lot better at home. Another tough loss. We have a little while to sit on this one, got a while to figure some stuff out. We've been a great home team all season long, so looking forward to get home and see our home fans." Nowitzki on Denver's run: "Yeah, like I said, they get you on your heels so quick to run and shoot the ball. They have so many weapons out there. They hurt us on the offensive glass, every time they got one it seem like we paid with a 3. Chauncey hit a couple, J.R. Smith hit a couple in the 1st half of off offensive rebounds. They have a lot of ability to score and score in bunches." Nowitzki: "We were right there in both games. That's a credit to us fighting. Josh went out pretty early for us. I guess he tweaked his ankle again, I don't really know what happened. But we definitely need him in the 2nd half, especially with his ability to slash, put the ball on the floor, and get to the basket, get some easy baskets for us. And definitely on defense we feel like, you know there in the 2nd half we had to play a small lineup a lot with J.J., JET, and Kidd. You know, they're so physical that they had mismatches all over the place. We felt like we scrambled pretty good, but it just wasn't good enough" Josh Howard: "It's my right ankle. It's been sore. I tried to get through it tonight, but my ankle didn't respond the way I wanted it to. I'm going to continue icing and treatment and the plan is that I will be ready on Saturday." Jason Kidd: "I think we do get rattled. The big thing is we got to take care of the ball. It got away from us in the 4th quarter and so did the game." James Singleton: "We were just uncomfortable with the ball and made too many mistakes and we are dealing with a team with what they have they can make you pay. We know they are pretty solid; they are a solid basketball team. I think when it came down to it we lost confidence in our ability to stop them. And even when the game was close I never felt like we had the confidence to stop them 4, 5, 6 possessions in a row. That lack of confidence carried throughout the game on both sides of the ball. Tonight when they are on a run Nene, JR, 'Melo, Chauncey with so many directions they can hurt you. We just didn't have enough." 2009 NBA Playoffs - Second Round Game 2: Denver Nuggets 117, Dallas Mavericks 105 at Denver (May 5) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Denver 30 28 28 31 - 117 .620 .286 .500 .775 Dallas 22 33 28 22 - 105 .527 .348 .474 .767 Halftime: Denver 58-55 3rd Q: Denver 86-83 Technicals: Ryan Hollins 3:36 2nd, Kenyon Martin (Den) 3:36 2nd, Rick Carlisle 11:01 4th Refs: Monty McCutchen, Mike Callahan, Ed Malloy Attendance: 19,890 (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 29 4-7 0-0 4-5 12 1-7 4 3 4 1 0 Carmelo Anthony 42 8-21 1-8 8-9 25 1-5 5 1 4 1 1 Nene Hilario 34 8-12 0-0 9-13 25 3-8 0 1 2 0 1 Chauncey Billups 39 5-12 4-9 4-4 18 0-3 8 2 1 3 0 Dahntey Jones 15 0-3 0-1 0-2 0 0-3 1 1 2 1 1 Chris Andersen 25 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 5-9 2 1 4 1 0 J.R. Smith 25 6-10 3-7 6-7 21 0-2 3 0 2 2 0 Anthony Carter 20 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 2-4 4 0 1 0 0 Linas Kleiza 6 2-4 0-2 0-0 4 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Jason Hart 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 Johan Petro 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Renaldo Balkman 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-78 8-28 31-40 117 12-42 28 10 20 9 3 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 2 1 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 40 11-20 1-2 12-13 35 1-9 4 3 2 0 0 Erick Dampier 19 2-4 0-0 0-1 4 2-4 0 1 5 0 0 Jason Kidd 38 1-6 1-5 1-2 4 0-6 7 2 3 2 0 Antoine Wright 30 3-5 1-3 3-4 10 1-3 1 0 4 1 1 Jason Terry 39 7-18 3-8 4-6 21 2-3 6 2 1 0 0 J.J. Barea 20 2-5 0-1 1-2 5 1-3 3 1 1 0 0 Brandon Bass 16 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Ryan Hollins 14 4-4 0-0 0-0 8 1-4 0 0 5 0 0 James Singleton 14 2-5 1-2 0-0 5 0-2 0 1 2 0 0 Gerald Green 2 1-2 1-2 2-2 5 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Matt Carroll 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 37-78 8-23 23-30 105 9-37 23 13 28 4 1 patricia Go Mavs!