Don Nelson's decision to leave Avery Johnson off the playoff roster was indeed injury influenced. An MRI revealed an blot clot in Johnson's bruised left calf that would have kept him out of action for 3 weeks. Nelson decided that it was too long of a time frame to go with just an 11-player roster (no IR for the playoff roster - just the 12 players you put on the playoff roster for the entire playoffs). Johnson is participating in the coaching staff now - attending coaches meetings and such. Dirk Nowitzki finished 8th in the IBM Award - the highest statistical computation of the following formula: (Player PTS - FGA + REB + AST + STL + BLK - PF - TO + (team wins x 10) x 250) / (Team PTS - FGA + REB + AST + STL + BLK - PF - TO) The top 10 finishers for the IBM Award Player Points Tim Duncan (SA) ........... 112.82 Ben Wallace (Det) ......... 103.75 Kevin Garnett (Min) ....... 101.51 Elton Brand (LAC) ......... 94.67 Shaquille O'Neal (LAL) .... 90.89 Jason Kidd (NJ) ........... 90.10 Paul Pierce (Bos) ......... 89.32 Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) ....... 88.85 Tracy McGrady (Orl) ....... 87.29 Gary Payton (Sea) ......... 83.35 Game 1: Minnesota at Dallas (April 21) Once again, Dallas opened the game sluggish and Minnesota took an early 11-4 lead with 9 minutes left. Don Nelson subbed out a struggling Raef LaFrentz (in his first playoff game ever) and put in Evan Eschmeyer to try to combat Radoslav Nesterovic, who already had 6 points. Eschmeyer did a better defensive job and LaFrentz returned later in the quarter and seemed to have gotten rid of the nerves. Dallas pulled within 5 points at 11-16 with 5 minutes to go, but Minnesota scored the next 6 points to take their largest lead at 22-11 with 3:30 left. Their lead would get no larger, but Minnesota would hit an 11 point lead 4 more times in the quarter. Minnesota led 31-22 after 1. Minnesota shot 12-23 FG while Dallas shot 8-18 FG. Chauncey Billups again lit Dallas up and had 12 points. Dirk Nowitzki was carrying Dallas as he had 10 points. The 2nd quarter was a different matter as Minnesota went ice cold. Minnesota led 35-26 with 10 minutes remaining and Dallas scored the next 10 points, started by 2 3-pointers, to take their first lead of the game at 36-35 with 7:45 left. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter. Nowitzki scored 4 straight points to give Dallas a 6 point lead, but Anthony Peeler answered with a 3-pointer with 2 minutes remaining and neither team scored again in the quarter. Dallas led 50-47 at the half. Minnesota shot just 4-21 FG in the quarter while Dallas shot 11-24 FG while out-scoring Minnesota 28-16. Nowitzki had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Minnesota leading scorer Kevin Garnett had just 6 points in the half. Minnesota scored the first 4 points of the 3rd quarter and the lead see-sawed back and forth over the first half of the quarter. Minnesota led 63-60 with 5:30 remaining and Dallas scored the next 9 points to go up 69-63 with 3:35 to go. But Minnesota went on a 10-1 run to go up 73-70 with 50 seconds left. Billups left the game with 8 seconds left due to leg cramps [much to my relief as I feared he had pulled a hammy (don't like to see any player injured)] and left the game - he did return a minute into the 4th quarter. Peeler missed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left and Steve Nash's running 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt swished through at the buzzer to tie the game at 73-73 after 3. Minnesota out-rebounded Dallas 17-8 in the quarter, but only out-scored Dallas 26-23. Dallas opened the the 4th quarter with another unlikely shot as LaFrentz banked in a 3-pointer and Dallas scored the first 9 points of the quarter to go up 82-73 with 9:35 left. But Dallas was not able to maintain a comfortable lead as Minnesota scored the next 6 points to pull within 79-82 with 7:25 to go. Nick Van Exel answered with a 3-pointer, but Garnett and Nesterovic each had a bucket to pull Minnesota within 83-85 with 5 minutes left. Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining and Nesterovic hit a short jumper with 3:20 to go and Dallas led 88-85. Eduardo Najera hit a jumper as the shot clock was running down, Minnesota turned the ball over, and the teams traded misses. Michael Finley hit a jumper to give Dallas a 92-85 lead with 1:45 left. Minnesota again turned the ball over, but Van Exel missed. Van Exel committed a dumb foul and Billups hit 2 free throws with a minute remaining. Van Exel was fouled himself with 57 seconds left and hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Dallas a 93-87 lead. Minnesota again turned the ball over and started intentional fouling. Dallas hit 8-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Dallas won 101-94. Dallas leads the series 1-0. A couple of unlikely shots turned the tide in this game. After Steve Nash hit the near half-court shot to end the 3rd and Raef LaFrentz banked in a 3 to open the 4th quarter, the momentum seemed to shift Dallas as as the Mavs simply had confidence in their play while Minnesota got sloppy. For the first 11 minutes of the 4th quarter, Dallas shot 8-20 FG and Minnesota shot just 5-17 FG (Minnesota hit their last 4 shots (3 were basically uncontested layups) and Dallas shot 9-10 FT in the last minute). Minnesota committed 9 turnovers, including 4 by Anthony Peeler, and Dallas did not have a single turnover in the 4th. Though Dallas had the one stat that matter (101-94 points), some of the stats from the game were really ugly. Minnesota out-rebounded Dallas 58-39 including 20-4 offensive and had 26 2nd chance points while Dallas had just 2 2nd chance points. Minnesota had 24 fast-break points and Dallas had just 6 fast-break points. The key was the turnovers - Dallas only had 9 turnovers while Minnesota had 19. Dallas also had 10 blocked shots, including 5 from LaFrentz. Another key was that Dallas actually played some good defense after the 1st quarter (they were lousy defensively in the 1st), which was needed as the Mavs were not shooting all that well. Minnesota only shot 40% FG including just 6-18 FG by Kevin Garnett as Eduardo Najera did a good job defending him half of the game. Dallas shot 44% FG including just 7-23 3-pointers. Dallas played a shortened lineup with just 6 players receiving significant minutes. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 30 points including 9-10 FT, 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks - he had 20 points and 7 rebounds at the half. Nash struggled early (he had more than the 1 turnover credited to him) and Chauncey Billups ate him alive in the 1st quarter, but picked up his game and finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Michael Finley had a quiet 16 points. Nick Van Exel had 18 points and 7 assists off the bench and played the entire 4th as the Mavs went with a 2 guard lineup. LaFrentz struggled early as playoff jitters seemed to get the best of him, but came back later and played well defensively. In addition to his 5 blocks, he had 10 points and 4 rebounds. He received a nasty looking scratch on the back of his neck during the 1st quarter. Eddie Najera made mistakes at times, but also had his usual hustle and energy and generally played good defense on Garnett despite the height advantage Garnett had. He had just 4 points and 3 rebounds, but as usual, his stats did not reflect his play. Adrian Griffin had 2 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes. Evan Eschmeyer filled in nicely for LaFrentz in the 1st quarter and helped slow Radoslav Nesterovic down in the short time Esch was on the floor. He had 2 rebounds in 6 minutes. And Wang Zhizhi had 2 offensive rebounds in 6 minutes. Johnny Newman, Shawn Bradley, and (surprisingly) Greg Buckner did not play. [When asked about Buck not playing, Nelson said that he was surprised that he did not play.] Billups continued the annoying trend of having outstanding games against Dallas. He finished with 25 points including 12 in the 1st quarter, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists before fouling out at the end of the game. He was hampered some by the leg cramps that hit at the end of the 3rd quarter. Add this game to the last 3 Minnesota games where Billups had 23 points and 7 assists, a career high 36 points and 7 assists, and 23 points and 7 assists and you have a player who seems to love playing against Dallas. On the other hand, Garnett's numbers of 19 points, 21 rebounds including 7 offensive, and 6 assists would seem impressive for most players, but the team simply needs more points than 19 from him to be successful. He also shot a poor 6-18 FG. Nesterovic had 16 points and 9 rebounds and Wally Szczerbiak had 15 points and 8 rebounds. The goat of the game was Anthony Peeler, who came in the game for the injured Billups and the stayed in the game and committed 4 turnovers and was called for 2 offensive fouls in the 4th quarter. Peeler had 7 points and 7 rebounds as the high man off the bench. "Nowitzki stopper" proved not to be, despite talk from the Minnesota media, as Sam Mitchell did not stop Nowitzki defensively and had just 6 points in 19 minutes. Gary Trent had 4 points and 4 offensive rebounds in 11 minutes and Joe Smith had 2 points and 2 rebounds in 7 minutes. Robert Pack and Felipe Lopez did not score in limited minutes. Game 2 is Wednesday at 8:30 in the AAC. The game will be televised locally on channel 21 and nationally on TNT (blacked out locally). Quotes Don Nelson: "We played well enough to win and it is going to be a great series, I feel. I think the teams are very even. Nowitzki was huge and he tweaked his ankle a little at the end. Thank goodness we have a few days off. I played Nash way too much, but I felt I needed to do that to win the game. LaFrentz seemed a little nervous, so I took him out early. I thought Eschmeyer did a real good job. He got a little confidence back. I got my rotation now. I thought we needed every player that we played to win the game. I thought we played well." Nelson: "History would say that Game 1 is the easiest game for your visitors to win. I do read about history and numbers. So I was very careful. That's why I played my regulars so many minutes. I did whatever I had to do to win this particular game." Nelson: "We had our hands full and we played well enough to win. Nelson: "I expected this type of game. I expected a very close game. I think both teams are very even. They had a bit of bad luck at the end of the year and we had a bit of good luck. We could easily had their record at the end. They could have been playing in Minnesota today and we could have been the visitors." Nelson: "I thought we followed our game plan pretty well defensively. When we did make some errors, they didn't seem to capitalize on them." Nelson on the boxscore: "Looking at it now, it's amazing that we won the game." Nelson: "Can you imagine what kind of game we would have had without Nowitzki?" Nelson on Nash's and LaFrentz's 3-pointers: "But everybody should remember that we had 2 lucky shots. Those were big shots. They were confidence builders." Nelson on subbing Van Exel for Najera: "I like having Van Exel in the game. Eddie wasn't good early, but he turned out good late. He understood his role better. Not that he doesn't make mistakes, but he's a young player and we needed to get Van Exel in the game." Nelson on Billups: "He's incredible against us. He's bigger than our point guards and we've really had trouble with him this year. He shoots over us and runs their screen-and-roll game really well. I think he's surfacing as one of the big, bright point guards in the game." Michael Finley: "The coaching staff emphasized the importance of winning the first game. We knew that Minnesota was going to come out with a lot of intensity and we knew it was going to be a tough game, but fortunately for us we were able to win an ugly ballgame." Finley: "The defense is really what gave us the win tonight. We made them miss shots that they are uncomfortable taking, we distributed the ball offensively and got everybody involved, and it was just a total team effort. If we can play like that and knock down the easy shots that we were missing tonight, hopefully the same outcome can come up on Wednesday." Finley: "At the start of the game, we were missing shots that we usually make, but you have to give credit to Minnesota's defense. They played the type of defense that you need to play in the playoffs. If you look at the history between our two teams it has always been ugly ballgames, nothing spectacular and today was nothing different. Fortunately for us, we were able to come out on top." Finley: "We got dominated on the boards. It was a fortunate game for us to win. It was an ugly game. We can't go in with this same type of attitude, as far as rebounding is concerned. Everybody is going to have to get more rebounds." Finley: "We can't go in with this same type of attitude as far as rebounding is concerned if we're going to win the second ballgame. I have to get more rebounds, and everybody does. Only Dirk was a dominant force for us on the boards. We just have to, as a team, do a better job on the boards, be aggressive on the offensive boards and do all the little things that we need to do." Finley on Nash's half-court 3-pointer at the end of the 3rd: "That was the biggest shot of the 2nd half, Steve hitting the long buzzer-beater. For us to see that ball go in, I knew good things were going to come for us because of that shot. When Steve hit that shot it gave us a little spirit. We carried that shot with us into the 4th quarter." Finley on Garnett: "Well Kevin is one of the premier players in this league and no matter what you do against him, at the end of the night he always seems to have big numbers offensively and tonight wasn't anything different. We just wanted to make it tough on him. He makes everything look easy." Dirk Nowitzki: "We know that the pressure is on us. We have home court advantage and we want to protect our home court. I haven't been doing a great job lately of getting to the foul line, so I just tried to drive a little more and post-up a little more and it worked out well for me tonight." Nowitzki: "We've been doing a great job lately of getting to the foul line, so I just tried to drive a little more and post up a little more and it worked out well for me tonight. They started with a smaller guy on me and I just tried to drive a little more with the smaller guy on me. I think it worked out pretty well." Nowitzki on the rebunding difference: "Yeah, that was brutal. We were lucky to have won the game. We just have to all get in there and battle for every rebound. We have to do a better job on the boards and then I think we'll be fine." Nowitzki on looking at the boxscore: "That's brutal. I didn't recognize that the rebounding difference was that bad." Nowitzki on Nash's 3-pointer: "It was amazing. They had the momentum going their way and Steve's shot was huge because that got the momentum turned around for us." Nowitzki on Nash's 3-pointers "It was amazing. They kind of had momentum going their way. They were making easy baskets and running on us and finishing some easy buckets. That was the thing that got it turned around and got the momentum going back to us." Nowitzki on Nash's and LaFrentz's 3-pointers: "Really, I think those 6 points in a row made them sick." Steve Nash on his 3-pointer: "I don't think it was the be-all, end-all. But it got us going." Nash on Billups: "I can't really say [the 2nd half defense was better] because he was hurt in the 4th quarter. We know Chauncey is very confident against us. He's one of our top priorities." Nick Van Exel on the slow start: "We were just so anxious to get going. We had a lot of energy. Sometimes that's not the best thing. Once we settled down, we were okay." Van Exel: "Dirk did a good job drawing double-teams and Steve was able to get in the lane. I was just able to be open a lot." Van Exel on Nash's 3-pointer: "That was sort of a pressure release. That gave us new life and a lot of energy to start the 4th." Van Exel on Billups: "There's certain players who just love to play against certain teams. Chauncey loves to play against us. It's just confidence. We tried some different schemes on him, but he still had that confidence. We've got to find a way to stop him. You don't want a guy like that playing at that level." Raef LaFrentz on his first playoff game: "I've been nervous in 2 games since I've been here. The first was my first game against Sacramento and today I was awfully nervous. It was more mental. I was trying to concentrate on my [defensive] coverages and made errors I shouldn't have been making." LaFrentz on being pulled early in the game: "I don't want to say I was taken aback. It was a good coaching move. I felt a lot better the second time in there." LaFrentz on the momentum shift with the 2 3-pointers: "That pushed us on. It's funny what it takes sometime to swing momentum." LaFrentz on his banked in 3-pointer: "I was just making sure I got it over the front of the rim." LaFrentz on the large scratch on the back of his neck: "It's just part of physical play in the playoffs." LaFrentz on the scratch: "I guess I'm officially a playoff veteran now. I thought it was nothing until I looked in the mirror. It's pretty ugly." Flip Saunders: "When you get 26 second chance points to 2 - that's a positive. We played hard. But they did what they are very capable of - they went on a couple of 10-0 and 10-2 runs. There's no question that the shot at the end of the 3rd quarter - a 46-foot shot. As soon as it left Steve's hands, I knew that it was going in. And then the bank shot from the top of the key by LaFrentz - those are a couple of fluke shots to end the 3rd and begin the 4th. It changed the momentum. Nowitzki was great and there is no question that Van Exel had a big impact on the game. The things he did offensively - both from the standpoint of hitting some big 3-point shots and then also getting 7 assists and spreading the offense. Dallas is extremely good at scoring in transition." Saunders: "As I told our guys afterwards, we should be disappointed because I thought that we did some things well enough to have opportunities to win. It's difficult to beat a team on the road. When you're 58-39 on the boards and you have 26 second-chance points, those are positive things. The things we didn't do - we turned the ball over more than you'd like." Saunders: "No. 1, guys are upset that we lost. We had some opportunities and we didn't take advantage of them. No. 2, they believe, even more so, that we can go out and have success. We have to put them in situations where we contest their shots a little bit more. And we can't [give up] 10-2 runs and get outscored 28-16 in a quarter [as they did in the 2nd quarter]." Saunders: "In the 1st quarter I told our guys, when they were a little frustrated over Nowitzki scoring, 'It's a team, you know.' If we had to, if Dirk would have a big game, but we contained their other people, we'd be in good shape. What happened was we let some of their other people, mainly Van Exel, came out in the 2nd quarter and kind of got their momentum going back in their way." Saunders on the bench: "In the 2nd quarter, we went to those guys pretty quick. At some point, you have to give the bench opportunities. We've got to get more out of our bench or play the other guys the whole game." Saunders: "They've got a great crowd here and they've got great players that make shots." Saunders on Nowitzki: "He made some big shots. Some of our guys were a little frustrated - but they're a good team. Some of their other people came up big - namely Van Exel - in the 2nd quarter. They made some big shots. We have to find a way to contain a little bit better." Saunders on Garnett on Van Exel in the 4th: "It was just matchups we went with. They were small. It was either him covering Finley or Van Exel. We decided to put Kevin on Van Exel." Saunders on Garnett: "I think he missed some point-blank shots. We always expect more from him." Kevin Garnett: "The first game, you have a lot of butterflies, a lot of anticipation with yourself. Everybody wants to do well, so a better game from us wins it." Garnett: "We went out there and competed and lost the game. From that standpoint, you have to be like, oh well, it's 0-1. Gotta get this game Wednesday." Garnett: "We did a lot of things to slow them down. A lot of things to make them adjust. If I make half the shots that I shot - little front of the rim stuff - and we cut the turnovers to 10, we win this game by a nice little margin. This is a great example of when you don't do the little things, they kind of bite you in the butt." Garnett: "I missed stuff at the rim. I missed easy shots I know I can make. At times, I rushed it. At times, I just missed." Garnett: "We've got to be basketball savvy. When Nash is on me, we've got to make basketball decisions at that point." Garnett on Dallas shot blocking: "Other than Raef, I don't think they have a lot of shot blockers. Najera guarded me a lot, Dirk at times, and then Raef. So it was really Najera and Raef guarding me. Najera is not a hot blocker; I don't consider him one. Raef can, with his size, block shots. At times I rushed, and other times I just missed." Garnett on Nash's 3-pointer: "It puts the crowd back in it. I think at that point we were ahead 73-70 and the momentum just swung. Then Raef hits the bank shot. It was a 3 at that, not even a 2. Those are all momentum shots. Wally Szczerbiak: "They had some luck on their side." Szczerbiak: "When you outrebound a team by 20, you expect to win. But that's how they play. They play loose and they make shots. They hit some great shots. If they can make shots like that the whole series, I'll just shake their hands and say, 'Great job, guys, and good luck.'" Szczerbiak: "If they continue to make shots like they were today, I'll just shake their hands and say good luck." Szczerbiak on Billups: "He must really like going against them. That's good because we're going to be playing them for a whole series. Hopefully, he can keep his aggressiveness up and continue to play well and continue to get guys involved on the team." Chauncey Billups: "Playing these guys, I've got to be real aggressive because both of their point guards are very aggressive players. That's 2 All-Stars basically, in Nick and Nash, so one thing I know is I've got to keep some pressure on those guys offensively." Billups on some of the game stats (rebounding, 2nd chance points): "You look at that and it looks like we won. But they made some big shots when they needed them." Billups: "We proved to ourselves what we're capable of. We've got the ability to win. To play a game like this - to be effective, to rebound, to control the tempo a little bit - that's what we intended to do. To come out losing, it's definitely discouraging, man." Billups on his leg cramps at the end of the 3rd: "I started getting them everywhere. Front, back, the other leg. I'm going to just flood myself with Gatorades and water all night. Hopefully I'll be fine." Radoslav Nesterovic: "I was aggressive and I tried to keep it all through the game." Game 1, First Round Dallas Mavericks 101, Minnesota Timberwolves at Dallas (April 21) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 28 23 28 - 101 .492 .304 .440 .870 Minnesota 31 16 26 21 - 94 .416 .308 .400 .783 Halftime: Dallas 50-47 3rd Q: 73-73 Technicals: Minnesota defensive 3 seconds 6:16 1st, Dallas defensive 3 seconds 6:01 1st, Don Nelson 7:21 2nd, Dirk Nowitzki 10:51 3rd Refs: Hue Hollins, Joey Crawford, Ted Bernhardt Attendance: 20,010 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Eduardo Najera 22 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-3 1 1 3 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 10-19 1-3 9-10 30 1-15 0 3 3 2 3 Raef LaFrentz 29 4-9 1-3 1-2 10 0-4 0 0 5 0 5 Michael Finley 45 7-14 0-2 2-2 16 0-3 1 2 2 3 0 Steve Nash 42 7-19 2-5 5-5 21 0-5 6 1 2 0 0 Evan Eschmeyer 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 Adrian Griffin 10 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 2 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 36 6-13 3-9 3-4 18 0-3 7 0 3 1 0 Wang Zhizhi 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2-2 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 48 37-84 7-23 20-23 101 4-39 17 9 21 7 10 Minnesota Timberwolves REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Kevin Garnett 44 6-18 1-1 6-6 19 7-21 6 3 3 1 2 Sam Mitchell 19 2-5 0-0 2-2 6 0-1 2 0 4 1 0 Radoslav Nesterovic 40 8-18 0-0 0-3 16 3-9 0 3 3 1 0 Chauncey Billups 44 8-16 1-5 8-9 25 1-6 9 4 6 1 0 Wally Szczerbiak 44 7-15 1-4 0-0 15 3-8 1 2 2 0 0 Gary Trent 11 2-7 0-0 0-1 4 4-4 0 1 3 0 0 Robert Pack 4 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Anthony Peeler 26 3-7 1-2 0-0 7 1-7 0 4 3 1 0 Joe Smith 7 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 1-2 0 0 1 0 0 Felipe Lopez 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 36-90 4-13 18-23 94 20-58 18 19 26 5 2 patricia Go Mavs!