Game 2: San Antonio at Dallas (April 21) 1st quarter: Dallas got off to a terrible start in missing their first 6 shots and committing a ton of fouls - the Mavs were in the penalty a mere 3 minutes into the game and Dirk Nowitzki picked up his 2nd foul with 9:15 left and sat the rest of the quarter. It could have been worse as San Antonio didn't take full advantage of Dallas' miscues as the Spurs shot just 2-8 FG and 3-6 FT in taking a 9-0 lead with 8:10 remaining. Caron Butler's 3-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim, up, and in to finally put Dallas on the scoreboard with 7:45 to go. A putback by Eduardo Najera (in for Nowitzki) pulled Dallas within 5-11 with 5:35 left, but Tim Duncan hit a jumper and converted a 3-point play to push San Antonio's lead back into double-digits at 16-5 with 4:35 to go. Dallas then went on a 13-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by J.J. Barea, to pull within 18-20 with a minute remaining as San Antonio shot just 1-9 FG during the Mavs' run. Dallas also had their first 2 assists of the game late in the run (first assist came with 1:35 left). Tony Parker got an uncontested layup with 6 seconds to go to give San Antonio a 24-20 lead after 1. Nowitzki wasn't the only player to get into foul trouble in the quarter as Duncan picked up his 2nd foul with 4 minutes left and Manu Ginobili had his 2nd with 12 seconds left. For the quarter, Dallas shot just 6-22 FG, but shot 6-6 FT. San Antonio was only slightly better in shooting 9-24 FG and helped Dallas by shooting just 6-11 FT. San Antonio had 7 offensive rebounds, but only scored 6 points off of them. 2nd quarter: Matt Bonner opened the 2nd quarter with a 3-pointer, but Shawn Marion hit a jumper and Jason Terry nailed a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 2 points. Parker missed a layup and Barea took the ball coast-to-coast for a layup to pull Dallas within 31-32 with 9:05 remaining. But the Spurs continued to hold on to a small lead and led 36-35 with 7:10 to go and San Antonio then scored on their next 7 possessions (while Dallas missed 3 shots and committed a turnover) and the Spurs went on a 15-3 run (including 4 friggin open layups), capped by a 3-pointer by Ginobili, to take a 51-38 lead with 3:40 left. To show how many things were going wrong for Dallas, Nowitzki only shot 1-2 FT during the run - snapping his string of 88 straight makes [though his regular season run of 74 straight still holds for next season]. After Butler hit a short baseliner, Richard Jefferson drained a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 14-point lead. Dallas would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the quarter and San Antonio led 58-46 at the half. Dallas tried using a zone defense to contain the Spurs down the stretch, but that just resulted in nice passing by San Antonio for open looks (and makes). Jefferson had 13 points in the 2nd quarter including 6-7 FG to up his game total to 17 points - remember that he had just 5 points in Game 1. San Antonio out-scored Dallas 34-26 in the 2nd quarter while shooting 15-22 FG (and didn't get to the line). Dallas shot 10-21 FG in the quarter, which upped their half shooting to 37.2% FG while San Antonio shot 52.2% FG in the half. 3rd quarter: Dallas continued to miss shots to open the 3rd quarter as they missed their first 6 shots and the Spurs took a 62-46 lead with 9:50 left. Terry had a nice look for a 15-footer to finally put Dallas on the board with 9:35 remaining, but Dallas would get no closer than 12 points (5 times) over the next 4 1/2 minutes. Butler had a pretty drive for a reverse layup to pull the Mavs within 60-72 with 5:20 to go, but Ginobili nailed a 3-pointer to kick off 8 straight Spurs points as San Antonio took their largest lead at 80-60 with 3:25 to go. Dallas finally showed a spark of life in scoring on their next 5 possessions to score 12 straight points, capped by consecutive 3-pointers, to pull within 72-80 with 45 seconds remaining as San Antonio had consecutive turnovers and then consecutive misses. Parker connected on a runner with 30 seconds left and Dallas could not converted on 3 attempts inside. San Antonio led 82-72 after 3. Despite getting up by 20 points during the quarter, San Antonio ended up only out-scored Dallas 26-24 in the 3rd quarter. San Antonio shot 7-16 FG and 8-11 FT while Dallas shot 9-24 FG and 6-6 FT. 4th quarter: Ginobili drove to open the quarter and was well covered, but he still managed to find an open Duncan for an easy layin. The teams traded misses and then Nowitzki had spin-in for a layup (with no foul called) with 10:20 left, but George Hill answered with a quick 3-pointer to give San Antonio an 87-74 lead with 10:10 remaining. But Dallas then went on a 10-2 run, started with a 3-pointer by Nowitzki (faking a pass and then being wide open) and capped by a 3-pointer by Terry, to pull within 84-89 with 7 minutes to go. But the Spurs recovered and scored on 4 of their next 5 possession and scored the next 8 points to take a 97-84 lead with 3:35 left as Dallas missed 4 straight shots. Nowitzki hit a jumper, Brendan Haywood had a nice steal and Nowitzki got a layup to pull Dallas within 88-97 with 2:45 to go. Antonio McDyess missed a baseliner, but Terry missed a 3-point attempt and then Ginobili put the nail in the coffin by burrying a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 100-88 lead with 2 minutes left. San Antonio won 102-88. The series is tied 1-1. It was an awful performance by Dallas, especially since San Antonio showed up with the energy and aggressiveness that was expected. Dallas simply didn't show up until late in the 3rd quarter and then had to expend a lot of energy trying to get back into the game. Dallas never led in the game. The Mavs' shooting was pathetic and their defense was worse - there were so many open layups in the 1st half (the big man help was not there) that it was disgusting. The only thing Dallas did right was that they got their early turnover problem under control - 4 of their 7 turnovers came in the 1st quarter. But the Spurs were also clean with the ball and had just 9 turnovers (where as they had 17 in Game 1). San Antonio shot 48.2% (40-83) FG including 8-15 3-pointers while Dallas shot a mere 36.5% (31-85) FG including 7-19 3-pointers. The refs let a lot go as just 32 combined fouls were called (and just 18 after the 1st quarter) - 15 fouls by San Antonio tied Dallas opponent playoff record low. San Antonio shot 14-22 FT and Dallas shot 19-20 FT. San Antonio held the rebounding edge at 51-42 including 16-14 offensive. After starting the game with so few assists, Dallas did end up with 19 assists while San Antonio had 18 assists. So on to Game 3 in San Antonio, where hopefully we'll finally see some good basketball (neither Game 1 nor Game 2 were pretty games). It was a 4-headed monster for the Spurs as Richard Jefferson showed up for this game (just 5 points in Game 1). He had 17 points including 7-9 FG in the 1st half - just 2 points and 3 missed shots in the 2nd half. He also had 7 rebounds. Tim Duncan was again the high man with 25 points including 11-19 FG (but just 3-7 FT, including an ugly one that clanged off the front-front of the rim). He also took advantage of Dallas' many misses in snagging 17 rebounds (including 5 offensive). After having 6 turnovers in Game 1, Duncan did not have a turnover in Game 2. Manu Ginobili played very well and took advantage of the many open looks he had (whether off of screens or Dallas' poor zone defense for the outside shots) and had 23 points including 4-6 3-pointers. He also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. Tony Parker continued to come off the bench had chipped in 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists. Antonio McDyess had 4 points and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive in 30 minutes. George Hill saw more time in this game and had 7 points (just 2-7 FG) and 3 rebounds in 31 minutes. Matt Bonner was the only other Spur who scored and he had 8 points (including 2 friggin open 3-pointers, the one thing he can do). DeJuan Blair missed 4 shots in his 11 minutes and had 4 rebounds. Roger Mason played 6 minutes and missed 1 shot and had 1 foul for his stats and Garrett Temple got in for less than a minute at the end of the game. No one played well for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points, but shot just 9-24 FG. He also had a team high 10 rebounds. Caron Butler had 17 points including 6-17 FG - he passed up a few open 3s in opting to drive (yeah, he still scored on some of them, but it showed a hesitation in his shot this game). He also had 7 rebounds. Jason Terry was the high man with 27 points off the bench (in 40 minutes). Jason Kidd did not play well with just 5 points including 1-7 FG and 1-4 3-pointers. He did have 8 assists and no turnovers, but did not look as good as he did in Game 1 (though that applies to all Mavs but Terry). The 2-headed centers played poorly. Brendan Haywood had a couple of nice blocks and steals, but that did not make up for the many instances where his help-side defense was late (or not at all). Haywood had 2 points on 1-3 FG and 8 rebounds in 26 minutes and Erick Dampier missed his only shot and had 7 rebounds including 5 offensive in 22 minutes. Shawn Marion had 6 points including 2-7 FG and 2 rebounds in 21 minutes. J.J. Barea's 5 points came in the 1st half and he had 3 assists in 10 minutes. 5 of Eduardo Najera's 6 minutes of playing time came in the 1st quarter where he filled in for the foul hampered Nowitzki. Najera had 2 points and 2 rebounds in his first action of the playoffs. Side note: Dallas again started the game without music and PA prompts for cheering during the game (though they did occur during breaks) - though occasionally the drumline would provide prompts. After Dallas got down big during the 3rd quarter, the regular season music and PA prompts reappeared and continued for the rest of the game. Quotes (Popovich, Duncan, Carlisle, and Nowitzki quotes transcribed by me) Gregg Popovich: "We took care of the ball better tonight and we didn't foul. After last game, I had mentioned that we'd given up 20 points on turnovers and that we had fouled inordinately in that game and we kept putting them on the line. And those 2 things we took care of this evening and it helped us win a ballgame." Popovich on their pick-and-rolls: "We just took care of the ball. And it's not because we ran pick-and-roll better or they didn't guard it very well. As I said, it's a game of mistakes and people score. I mean, the games aren't 10 to 8. No matter what anybody runs or anybody defends, people are going to score. So, we just played sharper than we did the other night. By that I mean not fouling and taking care of the ball. I don't know what else to tell you." Popovich on Hill's play in the 4th quarter: "It's huge, for him and for the team because he's trying to get his confidence back and feel good about his game. So making a couple of shots and get the minutes he got tonight will hopefully help him in the future." Popovich on Jefferson: "Richard was huge for us tonight. He didn't have a great game in Game 1, obviously, but tonight he was in attack mode. He looked for his jumper, he drove it, he worked hard, he was really important." Popovich on not doubling Nowitzki much after his hot Game 1: "I might just be dumb, I don't know. As I said the other game, Dirk's seen everything. We're not going to trick him with anything or give him anything that he hasn't seen before. We came at him a little bit in different situations - some times we didn't, some times we did. But there's nothing we can do that he hasn't seen, that's for sure." Popovich on Duncan: "We went to Tim just about every other time down the stretch and he came through by scoring and rebounding at the other end. And he's always the guy that gets taken for granted because he's been doing that for some many years, just being an anchor for us. And he did a really good job in scoring for us when they, I think, cut it to 6 or 8, and he really helped us keep the lead." Tim Duncan on his 4th: "Coming down the stretch, just got some shots to go - I don't know any other way to put it. I got a roll from Manu where I was kind of wide open in the middle, and got a couple of post ups where I tried to make some quick moves, and got some shots to fall. Just a good run there." Duncan on Ginobili: "He hit some really big shots for us. When they made runs, it was Manu who hit the shots, he was the one who stretched our lead - and he's the one that's going to do that. He has the ball in his hand. Jason Kidd did a really good job with him the 1st game and I thought we countered pretty well, got Manu some space. And just that he shot the 3-ball really well. We moved the ball around. I thought Tony [Parker] also played really well. He made some very good decisions and we found some guys wide open. And, again, Richard [Jefferson] also gave a big game tonight. We're going to need a big game from someone like that throughout this series if we're going to win it." Tony Parker on Jefferson: "You could see it in his eyes that he was motivated. Nobody likes to play bad and he knew he didn't have a good first game. Knowing his mentality, we knew he was going to come back." Richard Jefferson: "My teammates were looking for me, coming off the pick-and-roll and throwing it back to me. That's pretty much my game. After I struggled the last game, I think there was a concerted effort to get me involved." Rick Carlisle: "We started out and blew 3 coverages in the first 3 plays of the game - and those are mental mistakes. They score, Dirk had 2 fouls, you know, then we were digging ourselves out of a hole going from there. In the playoffs, you've got to be very precise. You're going to make mistakes at times, but to start the game was a really tough situation for us." Carlisle: "When you're down 0-1, you come out and play a desperate game - which they did. And we're a veteran team and I think our guys understood that's how they were going to play. But again, when you make mistakes that lead to easy baskets and fouls on your best player, it's going to put you in a hole. So, hey, we got to go down there and win a game - it's as simple as that." Carlisle: "We got a lot of good looks the entire game and had some tough luck with open shots. And there were other times when we needed to make one more pass or we needed to trust the pass and someone would be trying to make something happen and turn it over. We didn't have a lot over turnovers, it just seemed that everything was ill timed. So, hey, this is a tough series. It's 2 teams that are very good and you got to play your best." Carlisle: "To me, I think the stat that stands out the most is rebounding: 51 to 42. And the 2nd chance points: 23 to, whatever it is, 9. That's a huge discrepancy. Look, when the ball's in the air, it's anybody's ball and they came up with all those plays. They got the loose balls and they were more opportunistic." Carlisle on San Antonio's shooting: "They were a hot shooting team and we were unable to keep them from being a hot shooting team. And that's got to be the challenge, to be good enough defensively and be, you know, solid with our coverages and make them miss and be able to go and get the rebounds. Those were the 2 problems tonight. Game 1, they were only able to get up 11 3s; and tonight they make 8-15 [3-pointers]." Dirk Nowitzki: "They were definitely ready. We just made some errors early too. Started with the first play of the game - let Ginobili right get left, walk right down the middle and lay the ball up. Which is obviously blew one coverage right after the other early. And then that didn't help that we got cold there early and that we were chasing them all game long. Did a decent job, actually, fighting back a couple of times. I think we're right there in the 4th, after being down 20, made a heck of a comeback. Kept battling. Had them down to like 6 points. And, I don't know, I think we forced a couple of things. I think we didn't play together any more. Everybody tried to carry it by themselves and we just didn't let the game come to us there when we had them down. And you've got to give them credit. They used their chances. I thought Duncan was great down the stretch. Ginobili made great shots down the stretch. So, you go to give them credit." Nowitzki: "I felt great about the looks I got, I just got to make them. Kept trying, kept working, kept trying to get to the basket a little bit and just mix it up. But just unfortunately one of those nights. A couple of them just rolled in and out. But kept looking. So if they give me those same looks on Friday, I'm going to take those looks." Nowitzki on his early foul trouble: "That never helps getting your rhythm. But it is what it is. You know, we blew a couple of coverages early and then I got one reach-in foul, got one rebound foul on a box-out that could have gone either way. So, you know, it is what it is. But after that, I stayed out of foul trouble for the rest of the night and had enough good looks to find my rhythm, I just didn't." Nowitzki on Butler: "He's a warrior. He battled on both ends of the floor. I don't think his jumper was necessarily smooth tonight, but he kept attacking, had a couple of reverse layups, went on the ground a couple of times, and really battled. That's the attitude that we've got to have. They're not going to give us anything. They're obviously very good. We got to go down there and take it. The way we fought there in the 2nd half, I thought, that's how we got to start out the game, come out swinging on both ends of the floor and go from there. The good thing is we won big road games. I felt like all season long we're a good road team. So got to get a big one on Friday." Brendan Haywood: "When we're cold on the offensive end we've got to dig in defensively a little bit better. We've got to lock up a little better and we didn't do that tonight. They had way too many offensive rebound opportunities and they scored almost every time they got an offensive rebound." Haywood: "It's disappointing not being up 2-0. It would have meant a lot. We could have put a lot of pressure on them in Game 3. Now they can be a little more relaxed and we have to have a bigger sense of urgency." 2010 Playoffs - First Round Game 2: San Antonio Spurs 102, Dallas Mavericks 88 at Dallas (April 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 24 34 24 20 - 102 .471 .533 .482 .636 Dallas 20 26 26 16 - 88 .364 .368 .365 .950 Halftime: San Antonio 58-46 3rd Q: San Antonio 82-72 Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 3:25 3rd Refs: James Capers, Mike Callahan, Ken Mauer Attendance: 20,728 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Tim Thomas San Antonio - Alonzo Gee, Malik Hairston, Curtis Jerrells San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Richard Jefferson 41 7-12 1-2 4-4 19 4-7 1 2 1 1 0 Tim Duncan 36 11-19 0-0 3-7 25 5-17 2 0 4 0 0 Antonio McDyess 30 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 5-9 2 2 3 0 1 Manu Ginobili 33 8-13 4-6 3-3 23 0-5 4 3 2 2 0 George Hill 31 2-7 1-1 2-4 7 0-3 1 1 1 2 0 Tony Parker 33 7-16 0-0 2-4 16 1-4 8 0 1 0 0 Matt Bonner 20 3-6 2-5 0-0 8 0-2 0 0 2 0 0 DeJuan Blair 11 0-4 0-0 0-0 0 1-4 0 0 0 0 0 Roger Mason 6 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Garrett Temple 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 40-83 8-15 14-22 102 16-51 18 9 15 5 1 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 21 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 1-2 0 1 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 38 9-24 1-1 5-6 24 3-10 4 0 2 1 0 Erick Dampier 22 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 5-7 0 1 3 0 1 Caron Butler 37 6-17 1-4 4-4 17 1-7 1 3 3 2 2 Jason Kidd 40 1-7 1-4 2-2 5 0-4 8 0 3 2 0 Eduardo Najera 6 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Jason Terry 41 9-19 3-7 6-6 27 0-2 3 1 2 0 1 Brendan Haywood 26 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 3-8 0 1 2 2 2 J.J. Barea 10 2-4 1-1 0-0 5 0-0 3 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-85 7-19 19-20 88 14-42 19 7 18 7 6 patricia Go Mavs!