DALLAS (AP)—Tony Parker
was exhausted, having done everything the San Antonio
Spurs wanted him to by aggressively taking the ball to the basket.
When Parker wasn’t scoring, Tim Duncan was while bouncing back from the
worst playoff game in his long career.
Series at a Glance
vs.
That still wasn’t enough to save the Spurs from the brink of an unusual early playoff elimination against the Dallas Mavericks.
Josh Howard scored 28 points, seven in an early second-half spurt that put
Dallas ahead to stay in a 99-90 victory Saturday. The Mavs gained a 3-1 lead in
their first-round Western Conference series, putting them on the verge of
ousting a Spurs team that has little beyond Parker and Duncan.
“It’s obvious that that’s what we need to do. Those guys have to have the ball as much as possible,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Sure, we hope that other people step up and make shots and make plays. It didn’t happen enough.”
For the Mavericks, it did—even without big nights from Dirk Nowitzki and
Jason Terry.
“They have a lot more weapons than us,” Parker said.
Without an incredible comeback, beginning Game 5 in San Antonio on Tuesday night, the Spurs will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000. They have been in every postseason since and won three NBA titles.
“A 3-1 lead is great to have, but it’s no guarantee,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.
“They’re not going anywhere,” Jason Kidd said. “We have to understand
that. … It’s not easy to put a team away, especially a team that has won
championships.”
Parker had 31 of his 43 points by halftime, matching George Gervin’s franchise playoff record for points in a half. That came after he was held to 12 points in Game 3, when the Spurs lost 88-67 in their lowest-scoring playoff game ever.
“Pop wanted me to be very aggressive after what happened in Game 3 because we couldn’t score,” Parker said. “I was trying to be very aggressive, and attacking.”
He got started with two baskets in the first minute of the game, quickly looking like he did during a 38-poing performance in Game 2 when he was constantly driving for scores in a victory that evened the series.
And Duncan, after being held to four points and two rebounds in Game 3, finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Between Bruce Bowen’s 21-footer with 5 minutes left in the first quarter and
his 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter, Parker and Duncan had
the only field goals made by the Spurs.
“Our offense was designed to let Tony go. Tim was the next option after
that and everyone else falls in line,” Roger Mason said.
After Parker and Duncan helped push the Spurs to a 55-51 halftime lead, Howard hit a 3-pointer to open the second half. By the time Howard made another three minutes later, after Kidd hit one, Dallas led 64-58.
“This was huge. We’re one game away from clinching,” Howard said. “But they’ve done it before. We’ve got to be ready.”
When San Antonio got the ball back, Parker had another drive and the ball
was swiped away by Dirk Nowitzki. Then Duncan was blocked by Ryan Hollins.
Kidd scored 17 points while Nowitzki was held to 12 points with 13 rebounds. Terry, who received the NBA’s sixth man award Friday, had 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting.
“Win is the only outcome you’re looking for,” Terry said. “They’ve made a point that they’re not going to let me and Dirk beat them. We’ve got guys around us stepping up. … Josh Howard is the key to this whole thing. If he continues to have big games, then we like our chances.”
After Dallas had stretched its lead to 83-71 early in the fourth quarter,
Parker had a driving layup on a give-and-go with Duncan. George Hill hit a
3-pointer for the Spurs before Parker made three consecutive baskets: a layup on
another pass from Duncan and two jumpers from at least 20 feet that got the
Spurs within 87-82 with 7 1/2 minutes left.
It was still a five-point game when Parker had a breakaway after Nowitzki’s turnover and was fouled by Kidd going for the layup with 3:47 left. But a tiring Parker missed both free throws.
“I was trying to go hard every play,” Parker said. “I got a little tired at the end.”
That came just seconds after Hollins had a putback slam over Duncan on Kidd’s missed 3-pointer. Hollins was then called for a technical foul for taunting Duncan.
Parker, who made 18 of 29 field goals, had 13 points in the first quarter— one more than in all of Game 3. That included consecutive jumpers during a 10-0 run before Dallas responded with a 16-4 quarter-ending spurt.
San Antonio made only one of its first seven shots to start the second before Parker made a 3-pointer as the whistle blew. The call was going to be defensive infraction by the Mavs, so officials counted the basket.
Parker added another pair of 3s and his 11-foot turnaround jumper with 2:15 left made it 50-49, and put the Spurs until after halftime.
Notes
Gervin scored 31 points in the second half against the Washington Bullets on April 18, 1978. … Parker had only three assists, all in the first two minutes of the game.
Pounding The Rock
Mavs Moneyball
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After Game 1: It's just one game. Spurs came back from being down 0-1 before.
After Game 2: Haha Mavs sucks. Game 1 is the only game they'll win in the series. LOL mavs lol.
After Game 3: Being down 1-2 is nothing. Spurs will steal game 4 and take game 5 at home for the lead. LOL mavs.
After Game 4: Spurs won x rings in the past x years. Mavs can never accomplish such a feat. Even if we lose the series Mavs still sucks LOL.
I'm glad you fools Spurs fans finally accept that your team is the inferior, and they will lose this series. Sure, the history is all there, and present it all you want. That doesn't change the fact that they suck this year. Not Mavs. Go Mavs!
LOL spurs fans. LOL Bonner.
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You said that:
"It was a great run! 4 Championships in the Duncan Era. How many do you have, Mavs fans?"
Yup! Spurs had 4 past championships. But we are talking here of the PRESENT, not the PAST. And we are talking here also of a head-to-head series between the Mavs and the Spurs.
Well, Spurs and Mavs had some PAST.
In 2006 playoffs, the Mavs had 3-1 lead over the Spurs. And the Spurs were eleminated by the Mavs in 7. And NOW, here we are again 3-1. IT IS NOW LOUD AND CLEAR THAT THE MAVS OWNED THE SPURS.
I repeat. THE MAVS OWNED THE SPURS. Go Mavs eliminate the Spurs on April 28 Game 5 at their homecourt (It is Josh 29th Birthday)!!!
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people wrote them off ever since the beginning of the seaon. especially when they traded harris for kidd.
but hey i like that trade. yes he's old but he's smart, he makes his teammates around him better, look at barea now, he might be the future point guard for the mavs.
another difference between this year and last year, mav's bench now is SOLID, barea, bass, JET, hollins, those guys can compete at a high level now unlike last year.
about the 2nd round, well... either hornets or denver is a tough match, i'm more certain on the hornets. coz they tormented the mavs last year, but with denver, yes they beat the mavs 4-0 in the regular season. but the way the mavs were playing then, as i was seeing back then, it was more of experimental, like who's going to start, and most of the time, some key players were out during those games (josh howard). and the final regular season game between them, kidd was out, but they lost by 2 pts at the buzzer.
mavs are playing extremely well now, especially during the final 2 weeks of the regular season, where they beat the suns, jazz, the hornets, to avoid being eliminated and also to climib up the standings to avoid the dreaded 8th spot. so they had momentum entering the playoffs unlike last year.
i'm sure teams now perceive the mavs differently now. coz this is a dangerous mavs squad , who knows, mavs could be the lowest seed again like the rockets of 94-95 where they were the 6th seed to win the championship.
just my 2 cents! MAVS ALL THE WAY
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