Game 2: Dallas at Sacramento (May 6) The game stayed close for the first half of the 1st quarter with both teams holding small leads. Dallas led 15-14 with 6:35 to go when Sacramento kicked it into another gear in scoring the next 9 points in scoring on each of their possessions to go up 23-15 with 4 minutes left. Dallas pulled within 21-24 with 2:45 remaining, but the Kings closed the quarter with a 12-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Mike Bibby (who had an awesome quarter), to take a 36-23 after 1. Bibby had 13 points on 5-6 FG and 3-3 3-pointers and Chris Webber had 10 points. Sacramento shot a dominating 13-18 FG and 7-12 FT and Dallas shot just 10-25 FG and 2-4 FT. Dallas survived the Kings' onslaught and picked up their game some as Sacramento came back to Earth. Sacramento led 40-27 with 10:45 remaining and Dallas went on a 14-2 run, including consecutive 3-pointers, to pull within 41-42 with 7:45 to go. Sacramento was able to build their lead back up to 8 points twice, but Dallas managed to get that lead back down to 1 point and even tied the game at 55-55 with 2 minutes left. Nick Van Exel, who had 13 points on 6-7 FG in the quarter, hit a runner with 4 seconds left and Sacramento led just 60-59 at the half. Dallas shot 15-27 FG and Sacramento shot 9-17 FG in the quarter. Vlade Divac had 10 points. Dirk Nowitzki lobbed the ball inside to Shawn Bradley for the dunk to open the quarter to give Dallas their first lead since midway through the 1st quarter. The game stayed close throughout the 3rd quarter with neither team holding more than a 5 point lead. Sacramento scored the last 4 points of the quarter and Dallas led 81-80 after 3. Sacramento shot poorly at 8-28 FG, but was able to stay in the game as Dallas committed an incredibly high (especially for them) 10 turnovers in the quarter (Dallas shot 8-15 FG). Divac opened the 4th quarter with a jumper, but Raef LaFrentz answered with a jumper to give Dallas back the lead. Nowitzki hit a jumper, but Hidayet Turkoglu tied the game at 85-85 on a 3-pointer with 9:40 left. The teams traded buckets and Steve Nash hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 90-87 lead with 8 minutes to go. Sacramento tied the game at 93-93 with 4:50 remaining. Dallas ran the other way and Nash did a behind the back flip to LaFrentz for the dunk, LaFrentz got the putback on Dallas' next possession, LaFrentz blocked Webber, Nash drove for a layup, and Nash drove on the break and passed back to Nowitzki who came in for the power slam to give Dallas a 101-93 lead with 1:30 to go. Turkoglu hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left to end Sacramento's 3 1/2 minute drought. Van Exel missed with a minute left and Stojakovic missed with 40 seconds remaining and the Kings started intentionally fouling. Dallas shot 9-12 FT down the stretch to seal the win. Dallas won 110-102. The series is tied 1-1. Dallas got what they wanted out of the first 2 games - a split. It is now a best of 5 series and Dallas has the home court advantage. The Mavs need to take care of business at home for the next 2 games. In this game, Sacramento was the better team in the 1st quarter - I don't think anyone could have beaten them in that quarter. However, the game consists of 4 quarters and Dallas played better than the Kings in the other 3 quarters. Despite (or because of) the fast paced game, it was a pretty ugly game (though exciting). Both teams made many mistakes and there was a lot of sloppy play - besides the Kings' 1st quarter, neither team was at their best. In the 2nd half, Sacramento seemed to get suckered into playing Dallas' game - fast paced with quick shots. The Kings went away from their inside game and had to be driving Rick Adelman nuts with some of the quick shots they took, especially when Dallas played small ball and the Kings had a definite height advantage. Sacramento shot 62.9% FG in the 1st half, but Dallas attempted 17 more shots. Sacramento shot just 29.3% FG in the 2nd half, but attempted 23 more shots than Dallas. This game was dominated by the back court. Mike Bibby played great in the 1st half and Steve Nash and Nick Van Exel played great in the last 3 quarters. Both Don Nelson and Adelman basically went with a 7-man rotation - Nelson played more than 7 players, but was quick to pull players who weren't looking good. Nash was the high man and star of the game with 30 points including 12-18 FG and 4-6 3-pointers and 8 assists. Raef LaFrentz, amazingly, had a very productive night and played a key role in the 4th quarter where he had 6 points and 3 blocks and did not pick up another foul (picked up his 4th with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter). He finished with 14 points on 7-10 FG, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Dirk Nowitzki had a quiet night with 22 points and 15 rebounds - hard to call it quiet, but that was the way it seemed and he only attempted 15 shots and his numbers were spread throughout the game. He did have 8 points and 9 rebounds in the 4th quarter. Michael Finley had a poor night with just 11 points including 2-10 FG, but did take the ball to the hole strong twice (once a monster dunk and the 2nd resulted in 2 free throws) and snagged 10 rebounds. Johnny Newman started, but only played 10 minutes as he picked up 2 quick fouls early in the game and Greg Buckner was playing better. Buckner gets the title of unsung hero (and Nelson said he deserved the game ball). Buckner came in off the bench and provided hustle in going strongly after the rebounds, including getting a couple of offensive rebounds in traffic, and playing defense. He had 8 points and 8 rebounds in playing 22 minutes. Nick Van Exel helped get Dallas back into the game in the 2nd quarter, where he scored 13 of his 19 points. Eduardo Najera only played 4 minutes as his broken thumb seemed to be bothering him - he got hit on the thumb early into his time on the court. Adrian Griffin saw 5 minutes of play after sitting out the last 3 games, but was pulled after passing up an open look. Shawn Bradley started the 3rd quarter to try to keep LaFrentz out of foul trouble and played 4 minutes. [Van Exel needs to learn that you don't get the ball to Bradley below the waist as he rarely scores when he gets the ball that low.] Wang Zhizhi came off the bench for less than a minute. Mike Bibby had 22 points for Sacramento including 4-8 3-pointers, but only shot 2-11 FG to close the game after a very strong 1st half. He also had 7 assists and just 1 turnover. Chris Webber had 22 points and 12 rebounds including 6 offensive, but did not take advantage of the height difference between him and his defender enough - he kept floating outside instead of taking it inside. Peja Stojakovic had a poor outing with 14 points including just 5-19 FG and 1-5 3-pointers, but did have 12 rebounds. Vlade Divac had 15 points and just 1 rebound in 28 minutes of play. He had a pinched nerve in his shoulder that limited his court time, but also sat some due to the fast pace of the game. Doug Christie had 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists before fouling out in the last minute of the game. Hedo Turkoglu contributed 15 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Bobby Jackson had 8 points including 2-7 FG, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. No other King player played. Quick note on the refs: they let the players play most of the night. They didn't call much of the hacking that was going on most of the game, by both teams. And, considering the crew (I groaned when they showed the lineup - Javie, Garretson, and Hollins) they called a lot fewer technicals than I expected and allowed the players to gripe and whine (the only complaining T went to Donn Nelson). Quotes Don Nelson: "It was a hard fought playoff basketball game. It was great to be part of it. You live for games like this that are competitive and exciting. And of course it sure helps when you win. We made some adjustments, I thought they were successful. We worked out some things and it was better for us. The main thing was individual players played better for us than in Game 1. That was the most important thing. We just played a better basketball game. It was a very competitive game both ways. The league should be proud of this game and I'm sure they are." Nelson on LaFrentz: "Well, he sure seemed more comfortable. for what ever reason, he just seems to get in foul trouble. I started Shawn Bradley just in case there was an early foul in the 3rd period. And then he seemed more comfortable in the 2nd half. We played an outstanding defensive game the 2nd half. Our offense was clicking pretty much the whole game, even though the score didn't look right, I thought we were getting good shots and I thought eventually they would fall. LaFrentz was a big part of our win today. I really cut my rotation down because basically I tried to play the players that were playing really well and not play the ones that were struggling. I thought Buckner was a huge difference because I can't play Eddie Najera very much because of that thumb. He has trouble shooting and catching the ball and I think they are pretty well keying on him when he's in the game. So we went another way and I thought it was good. Van Exel was great for us off the bench, but I thought Greg Buckner got the game ball for us." Nelson: "Bibby was having a game, no question. He was their hot guy in the 1st half and we had a concerted effort to try to shut him down in the 2nd half the best that we can. But when a guy has his confidence up, it's really hard to shut him down at that point. We did a better job in the 2nd half and I thought that it helped when he missed a couple of shots when he was open." Nelson on Nash: "Well, Nash got 0 rebounds. I don't know how in the world we can allow him to play that many minutes without getting a rebound. We've got some guys that are really important to our franchise and he's one of them. He's just an outstanding player and when he has 30 points and gets his assists, it sure helps our offense. He's always competitive, always there defensively, always giving it 100%. The other guys really key off of that. I thought his game was really important. I never know how he's going to be felling. Sometimes that back won't allow him to shoot the ball like he likes to. He seemed to be all right today. I over-played him. There's no question that we thought this was going to be an important game. We had to go after it. If you lose the first 2, it's not that you can't win the series, but when you think of the odds, they only have to win 2 remaining games and we have to win 4 and there aren't that many left. I think a split is what you hope for when you lose that first game and if you don't, then your back is really against the wall. Then you're really forced to win both at home. We still have that opportunity, but it takes a lot of pressure off." Nelson on Nash: "Steve's really good, isn't he? Tonight he was really terrific." Nelson on LaFrentz's foul problems: "He hasn't been able to play with foul trouble. I take him out for 5 minutes and he goes back in and gets another." Dirk Nowitzki: "I think we played better defense, beginning in the 2nd quarter. In the 1st quarter, it was kind of a layup drill the way they made shots on us, but the 2nd quarter I think we contested every shot, we made every shot hard on them, and we kept them honest in the 2nd half. I thought our defense won the game for us. Offensively, we knew we weren't going to shoot as bad as we did in the first game. We got out and ran, and got a couple easier fast break points then we did in the first game. Down the stretch, we came up with some huge plays. Steve Nash played phenomenal for us today, with those back-to-back 3s. They were unbelievable." Nowitzki: "We came in hoping to split and to win one game here is great. This is the toughest building in the league." Steve Nash: "I think there was a reason I was more aggressive. After the week off, I felt really sluggish on Saturday, and I didn't have a lot of stamina or a lot of juice in my legs. Tonight I felt a lot better, I thought I had my legs back and was able to be a lot more aggressive, and get to where I wanted to get on the floor, and use my aggressiveness to get shots off and score." Nash on Bibby: "He played great. He came out and made some shots and some 3s and really gave them a lift and got the crowd into it, and we were down 13 points in the 1st quarter. It was a position we didn't foresee and I think that it just shows the resiliency of our team. We really hung in there and it was kind of a reverse role in the 2nd quarter and got it to a 1 point game by halftime. But Mike had a great start and really had a great game." Nash: "Luckily, I was getting a lot of good looks that I didn't get in Game 1. It's fun to play this kind of game, but it can wear on you if you're not sharp. We had a lot more jump and spark in this one, and my points are just a part of that." Nash: "If you look at the 2 games, the best team defensively won both games, that's the bottom line. People are going to look at the series and say, 'The team that ran the most won, the team that made the most shots and scored the most points won.' And that's just a very simplistic view of the series. There's going to be a lot more possessions, there's going to be a lot more firepower, but defense is just as paramount in this series as it is in any of the series in the East or in the West." Nash: They're a tremendous team. It's no secret. They won the regular season for a reason and they came out and really torched us in Game 1. We're going to have to play great basketball to win any night and any game in this series. We have to be really prepared and we really have to be on our best behavior against this team because they have a tremendous mix of players and a lot of firepower and they are a tough challenge." Nash: "I think that we definitely wanted to get a split. They are such a difficult team to beat that we didn't want to have to go home with all the pressure back on us. It's just a really important game. I don't know if it's a must win and all that stuff, but who knows. It definitely was a huge game for us and we definitely put a lot of emphasis on it and Nellie really kept us out on the floor a long time because he knew it was an important game." Nash: "I wanted to be aggressive and Nick was on me before the game that I got to really be aggressive and I really go to give us the jump offensively as I've done a lot of times this year and he kept reminding me and reminding me and telling me that I got to score. So I just wanted to be aggressive tonight and take some pressure off my teammates cause the next game, you know, any one can score for us and that's just the type of team we have. But tonight in a really important game I really wanted to score. In the 1st quarter, I didn't get a lot of looks, but the 2nd quarter I came out and wanted to make sure that I made the defense guard me and was lucky to get some shots off." Nash: "I think tonight we showed what we could really do. We had our legs back under us from that game on Saturday and we felt a lot better." Nash: "Other than Saturday, we never really tire. We're a team that's in great shape. We play a lot of guys. And we love to push it and keep pushing it and keep pushing it, so sometimes we don't even reallize what the other team is doing, we're so busy going. I think it does hurt everyone when we run like that." Nash on LaFrentz: "Raef was more aggressive. Raef really wanted it tonight. He really got inside and got some easy buckets, made a few mid-range jumpers, and was really effective. He blocks shots, he hustles, he rebounds, he bangs, he does a lot of things for us that go unnoticed because we have so many guys scoring." Nash on ARCO Arena: "We love playing here. It's a great atmosphere. There is no better place to play. We feel really fortunate to play in a ruckus environment like this and get a win. There is no better feeling than winning on the road in a great building like this." Nick Van Exel: "It's huge to get the 2nd one, because you go back home with momentum and confidence. You're just feeling good about yourself, it's a nice plane ride now. You have to look at the things you did wrong, but it's all happy now. It's a little bit more joyous. We know going home, the pressure is still on us to hold the home court. If we can do that, that will be huge for us." Nick Van Exel on Nelson playing small ball in the 2nd half: "Basically, Nellie just said, 'We got to go with the 2 little guys. I'm gonna burn you guys because we're in the flow.' It kind of set the tone that we really needed this game. When he started me [in the 2nd half], he was basically saying that we really needed this win." Van Exel on what he said to his teammates: "I was just telling them that this has got to mean more. We can't go down 0-2, and I wasn't going to let them." Raef LaFrentz: "I think our focus coming in was to be more aggressive. We tried to push them off the floor from the spots they're comfortable in, because in Game 1 we didn't do a very good job of doing that. In Game 1, I didn't play well, the team didn't play well, everybody was a little bit frustrated with the effort and the outcome of Game 1. Everybody wanted to right the ship. That was our goal, win one and then go home." LaFrentz: "They let me go after some offensive boards and try to get closer to the rim. It worked. It made me a lot more aggressive and active. When your shots are not falling, and you're a spot up shooter, you don't know where else to go, and that's where I got caught in Game 1." Greg Buckner on Sacramento's strong 1st quarter: "We knew they were going to cool off a little bit." Adrian Griffin on returning to action: "It was okay. I've got to get back in rhythm. But it wasn't about me tonight. It was about the team." Eduardo Najera: "It's a broken thumb, so it's got to hurt. To tell you the truth, I basically had to play with one hand. It's frustrating." Shawn Bradley: "Anything was better than that first game we played." Bradley: "My job is to come off the bench, give Raef a breather, and give this team some good 3 or 4 minute spurts. We have a game plan as well. We want to dictate the pace, and we think we can wear you down with our offense." Bradley: "Hey, look, man, we're in the playoffs. We had the best record this team has ever had. Hey, if you can't be happy on a team like this, then when are you ever going to be?" Rick Adelman: "You have to give Dallas credit, they really came in and took it to us. We got the lead early and they kept their poise. I thought we had some really good opportunities midway through the 4th quarter when it was close. We missed shots and they converted every time. Nash was terrific all night, Van Exel was really good too. We got to get back and get a game in Dallas." Adelman: "I have a lot of confidence in this team. I am sure Nellie had a lot of confidence in his team after the first game. I feel the same way." Adelman: "You have to keep your concentration up. I thought there was a period in the 2nd quarter, I believe, when we were up by 9 or 10 and we took some tough shots and Nash took a 3 and Nowitzki took a 3 and we didn't get back and find them. And it went from a 9 point lead to a 3 point lead in a matter of seconds. We talked about that. We want to push it and get opportunities, but when they get a run going and they're pushing it and that's which's when they're lethal. Last game, they missed shots and we maintained pretty much what we wanted to do. This game they had spurts and that's what they do. They love to go in spurts. Unfortunately, they had the spurt in the middle of the 4th quarter that opened the game up for them." Adelman: "Because I tried everything. We knew that the team they put out there was a very difficult team for us to guard. I was hoping we were going to hurt them more at the basket than they hurt us at the other end. But it just seemed like one period of time there they were really pushing it at us and we were back on our heels. And I just wanted to try to get back and control them a little bit better defensively. If we hurt them and could maintain, then we could stay that way. But the flow was going the other way. So, I was just trying to find a combination that was going to be successful. And obviously, we didn't find enough in the 2nd half." Adelman on Nash: "He was terrific. He's a heck of a point guard. He fulfilled my worst prophecy before the game because I knew he was going to come out aggressive. We talked about how they probably wanted him to really push it at us, be really aggressive, to shoot the ball. He broke us down too much. So, no, I was not happy. They did some things differently to break us down, to open up their shooters. They made shots. The thing of the 1st half that really concerned me is that they had 15 more field goals than we did and we were up 1 and shot 63%. there is something wrong there. So I wasn't really comfortable at halftime with that type of statistics. We got a ton of shots up in the 2nd half. Not many went down, but we got them up in the 2nd half. We just have to do a better job over a 48 minute period." Adelman: "I don't think we moved the ball well tonight. They were fronting us. They were in the passing lanes. We really didn't change sides of the court enough to attack them. Their scheme worked because of our impatience really. We posted up and they were fronting and we just held on to it. We didn't attack them on the other side and it's something we got to work on. I don't think we went away from anything. I think you give Dallas credit for taking some things away. We didn't adjust well enough on the court." Adelman: "This team we have said all along, we have to make them defend us. I don't think we did a good enough job tonight of getting quality shots. We have to get back and get a game in Dallas. We've won there this year before. We've won on the road. That's what the task is - to go win one on the road. We know that they are very capable of winning here and their 2 guards really had great games." Chris Webber: "I think we didn't execute down the stretch. I remember being down 3 it seemed like forever without them even scoring. I think that was really the biggest key, that we couldn't make shots down the stretch and they could." Webber: "The tough problem with playing Dallas is that you have to respect everything they do, but you still have to believe you can do it better. So, it scares you when a team can score 10 in a minute. If they can score 10 in a minute, we feel like we can score 20 in a minute. You definitely have to watch out for them with their quick pace of scoring, but we feel like you have to watch out for us even more. But they were successful and we have to give all those guys in the locker room the credit because they came out and they took one in ARCO Arena and that's damn hard to do." Webber on Dallas going small: "It really isn't as much as a pressure as maybe it seems. It just looks out of whack with me and Vlade checking Buckner. But basically, when he's in, he's not a shooter and he's not a scorer. He's more of a post up guy. So when we're checking him, it's the same as checking Najera or someone like that cause they're not really a scorer. We just have to watch how you walk in the paint when a little guy is checking you." Webber on playing on the perimeter: "I just think that's they way play calling goes and the flow of the game goes." Webber: "A lot of games you can lose confidence. A lot of games you can second guess. A lot of games you can't wait to watch tape. This game, I just give the competitors, I give them all the credit. They were crisper tonight. They made their plays. Nick Van Exel is the heart and soul of that team. I don't care. I've played against him. I know what's going on and he's the heart and soul of that team. You have to do a little bit better job on the 2 guards because they're incredible." Predrag Stojakovic: "We knew that Dallas was going to come stronger in the 2nd game. Their guys played extremely well. I think they made a lot of tough shots tonight. We didn't shoot the ball well in the 4th quarter, especially from the 3-point line. This is a long series. We still have to go to Dallas and play there. We just have to be aggressive and go into Dallas and get a win." Vlade Divac: "Home court advantage doesn't mean anything to us right now. I hope that we can go to Dallas and win, and I think we are able to do that. Tonight we made a lot of turnovers, and in the 2nd half, we didn't capitalize like we could have. I was not in position this game to get the rebounds. This game was a total opposite from Game 1; we made shots in Game 1, they made shots in Game 2. That's the bottom line." Divac: "Nash was incredible. He never stopped pushing. He was always running at us. Just putting the pressure on us." Divac said: "Home court doesn't mean anything to us right now. I hope that we can go to Dallas and win." Mike Bibby: "I think we fought hard throughout the whole game. They hit some big shots, and we had some lapses on defense. That's what hurt us, but we hung in there to the end. I don't think we used Vlade as much as we did last game. We had a lot of open jump shots that we missed. We played well, but we didn't win it." Bibby: "I don't know if we were tired, we got tight, or what, but we missed a lot of open shots, a lot of layups." Bibby: "Our offense didn't go the way we thought it would be. But you have to have a short memory. We knew that Dallas was going to come out stronger in the 2nd game. This is a long series. We just have to keep shooting and play our game." Bobby Jackson on Nash: "Steve is just so creative. It's so hard to stop him. I tried to stick with him, but we just didn't do a very good job. He kept pushing the ball and attacking. If we're going to win this series, we definitely have to do a better job containing him." Dallas Mavericks 110, Sacramento Kings 102 at Sacramento (May 6) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 36 22 29 - 110 .515 .368 .483 .792 Sacramento 36 24 20 22 - 102 .431 .333 .409 .760 Halftime: Sacramento 60-59 3rd Q: Dallas 81-80 Technicals: Donn Nelson 0:37 1st, Sacramento defensive 3 seconds 2:20 2nd, Greg Buckner 8:48 4th, Vlade Divac 8:48 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Hue Hollins, Steve Javie Attendance: 17,317 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Mateen Cleaves (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Johnny Newman 10 1-4 1-3 0-0 3 0-0 2 0 2 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 46 7-15 2-2 6-6 22 2-15 3 3 3 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 28 7-10 0-1 0-0 14 2-10 0 1 4 1 5 Michael Finley 44 2-10 0-3 7-8 11 3-10 1 1 2 1 1 Steve Nash 41 12-18 4-6 2-3 30 0-0 8 3 3 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 35 8-18 0-4 3-5 19 0-3 2 3 4 0 0 Eduardo Najera 4 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 0 0 1 0 0 Greg Buckner 22 4-8 0-0 0-0 8 3-8 0 2 3 1 0 Adrian Griffin 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 1 0 1 0 Shawn Bradley 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 1 0 0 Wang Zhizhi 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 42-87 7-19 19-24 110 11-48 17 16 23 5 7 Sacramento Kings REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Predrag Stojakovic 44 5-19 1-5 3-3 14 3-12 1 3 3 1 0 Chris Webber 44 10-23 0-0 2-6 22 6-12 4 1 2 0 1 Vlade Divac 28 5-8 0-1 5-7 15 1-1 2 1 3 0 0 Doug Christie 37 3-6 0-1 0-0 6 1-5 6 4 6 2 1 Mike Bibby 39 8-20 4-8 2-2 22 0-2 7 1 2 1 1 Hidayet Turkoglu 21 5-10 2-3 3-3 15 2-8 1 1 4 0 0 Bobby Jackson 27 2-7 0-3 4-4 8 2-7 5 2 2 2 1 Totals 48 38-93 7-21 19-25 102 15-47 26 13 22 6 4 patricia Go Mavs!