2011 Playoffs - First Round
Game 1: Portland at Dallas
Going with the change made in game 82 of the regular season, DeShawn
Stevenson resumed his starting role (plus Roddy Beaubois was out with a
sprained left foot, though he probably would not have started even if he
could play as he has been struggling). Portland held an early 4-2 lead
with 10:15 left and Dallas went on an 8-1 run, capped by consecutive
3-pointers, to take a 10-5 lead with 8:30 remaining. But 5 points would
be the largest lead of the quarter as the game stayed close. Consecutive
buckets by LaMarcus Aldridge gave Portland a 15-14 lead with 4:40
remaining, but Jason Kidd answered with a 3-pointer and neither team led
by more than 3 points the rest of the quarter. Portland led 22-21 after
1. Portland shot 9-16 FG and 4-6 FT and Dallas shot 9-20 FG including 3-7
3-pointers and 0-2 FT. Aldridge had 11 points including 5-6 FG.
A 3-pointer by Rudy Fernandez gave Portland a 25-23 lead with 11:25 to go,
but consecutive 3-pointers by Peja Stojakovic and jumper by Dirk Nowitzki
put Dallas up 31-25 with 9:45 left. Jason Terry found Tyson Chandler for
a dunk and Terry hit 1-2 FT to give Dallas a 42-33 lead with 3:15 to go.
After an alley-oop dunk from Andre Miller to Aldridge, Kidd hit a
3-pointer to give Dallas a 45-35 lead with 2 minutes remaining. The teams
scored just 2 points each the rest of the quarter and Dallas led 47-37
at the half. Dallas out-scored Portland 26-15 in the 2nd quarter as
Dallas shot 9-18 FG, 3-3 3-pointers, and 5-6 FT while Portland shot 6-16
FG, 1-4 3-pointers, and 2-3 FT. After a strong 1st quarter, Aldridge only
had 2 points in the 2nd quarter. Nowitzki was struggling with 8 points on
4-12 FG in the half.
Dallas opened the 3rd quarter struggling and Portland was only slightly
better as Portland scored 6 points over the first 3 minutes of the quarter
while Dallas went scoreless and Portland pulled within 43-47 with 9
minutes left. A 3-pointer by Kidd finally put Dallas on the board in the
quarter with 8:40 remaining and Kidd followed with another 3-pointer to
again give Dallas a 10 point lead with 7:55 left. Dallas' lead stayed
between 10 and 6 points over the next 4 minutes. Dallas led 59-51 with
4:40 to go and Portland scored the next 6 points to pull within 57-59 with
1:45 remaining as Dallas missed 4 straight shots. 2 free throws by J.J.
Barea capped the quarter scoring. Dallas led 61-57 after 3. Portland
out-scored Dallas 20-14 in the 3rd quarter as Portland shot 9-21 FG and
2-2 FT while Dallas shot just 5-18 FG and 2-2 FT.
Dallas led 63-61 with 10 minutes remaining and Portland scored the next 7
points to take a 68-63 lead with 8:30 to go, Portland's first lead since
early in the 2nd quarter. A dunk by Nicolas Batum gave Portland their
largest lead at 72-66 with 6:10 left, but Dallas then went on an 11-2 run,
including 9 straight Dallas points by Nowitzki, to go up 77-74 with 3:15
to go. Aldridge hit a jumper and Nowitzki converted a 3-point play and
Dallas led 80-76 with 2:35 left, capping 12 straight Dallas points by
Nowitzki. Batum missed a 3-point attempt. After Kidd missed a wide open
layup attempt (with Portland focusing on Nowitzki), Miller drove for the
quick 2. Terry was fouled driving and hit both free throws to give Dallas
an 82-78 lead with 1:30 remaining. After a timeout, Shawn Marion was
called for a foul before the ball was inbounded, which resulted in a free
throw attempt by Portland and retaining possession of the ball - but
Brandon Roy missed the free throw. Portland missed on 2 attempts and
Nowitzki missed, but Chandler swatted the rebound out to Terry with 47
seconds left. Dallas ran some time off the clock and Kidd drained a
3-pointer with 25.5 seconds to go to give Dallas an 85-78 lead. After a
timeout, Batum nailed a quick 3-pointer with 23 seconds left. Terry was
intentionally fouled and hit both free throws with 21.5 seconds remaining
to give Dallas a 6 point lead. After Portland's final timeout, Batum
missed a 3-point attempt and 2 free throws by Nowitzki capped the scoring.
Dallas won 89-81. Dallas leads the series 1-0.
Whew. Like all of the Game 1s from the weekend, it was a tight game the
whole way. It wasn't that pretty of a game and the style was more to
Portland's liking than Dallas' liking, but the Mavs managed to pull out a
win - thanks to solid play throughout by Jason Kidd and a stellar 4th
quarter performance by Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas out-scored Portland 28-24 in
the 4th quarter, thanks in large part to a huge free throw difference
where Dallas shot 18-19 FT (including 4 off of intentional fouls at the
end) (with 13 of them by Nowitzki) while Portland shot just 1-2 FT. Only
Nowitzki (18 points), Kidd (5 points), and Terry (5 points) scored for
Dallas in the 4th - and only those 3 were in double-digit scoring for the
game for Dallas. For the game, Dallas shot just 40.9% (27-66) FG but did
shot 10-19 3-pointers. Portland shot 46.1% (35-76) FG including just 2-16
3-pointers. Dallas shot 25-29 FT and Portland shot 9-13 FT. Portland had
a slight edge on the boards in out-rebounding Dallas 40-39 including 11-10
offensive. The passing numbers were low as Dallas had just 14 assists to
go with 13 turnovers. Portland had 22 assists and 14 turnovers. It is
really amazing that Dallas won since Portland had 46 points in the paint
and Dallas had just 18. The largest lead in the game was just 10 points.
Neither team played that great of a game and both will find a number of
things that they will try to improve or change for Game 2.
As I said, Jason Kidd was solid throughout and Dirk Nowitzki came through
in the 4th quarter. Kidd had 24 points on 9-14 FG and 6-10 3-pointers -
his high during the regular season was 21 points. He also had 5 rebounds
and 4 assists. Nowitzki only shot 5-16 FG and 0-0 FT through 3 quarters,
but had 18 points on 2-4 FG and 13-13 FT in the 4th quarter. For the
game, he had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Terry had 10 points. J.J.
Barea's string of strong games ended as Portland's big men disrupted the
short Barea's drives and his shot just wasn't falling. Barea had 4 points
including 1-7 FG in 19 minutes. Dallas' big men did not have strong
numbers, but their focus was more on the defensive end in trying to
prevent LaMarcus Aldridge from going nuts against Dallas - it was a
mixture of success and failure as Aldridge did have a good game, but he
also scored when strong defense was played on him. Tyson Chandler had 4
points on 1-1 FG and 2-2 FT, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks and Brendan Haywood
had 4 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes. Starters Shawn Marion had 6
points including 2-6 FG, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 35 minutes and
DeShawn Stevenson had 5 points on 2-4 FG in 19 minutes - but, once again,
their focus was more on the defensive end. Marion had a strong hand in
containing Gerald Wallace to just 8 points. Peja Stojakovic's 2
3-pointers came back-to-back early in the 2nd quarter, but those were his
only points as he missed his other 5 shots. And it was a 9-man rotation
as Brian Cardinal got in for just 12 seconds near the end of the 2nd
quarter.
LaMarcus Aldridge was the man for Portland with 27 points including 12-20
FG and 6 rebounds. Andre Miller played well, as he usually does against
Dallas, and had 18 points (including 12 in the 1st half) and a game high 6
assists. Portland also only had 3 players in double-digit scoring as
Nicolas Batum had 14 points, but he shot just 1-7 3-pointers. Marcus
Camby was a rebounding monster with 18 boards to go with 4 points on 2-3
FG and 5 assists in 29 minutes - but he only played a minute in the 4th
quarter as Nate McMillan elected to go with a smaller lineup. Gerald
Wallace had a poor outing with just 8 points on 4-13 FG. He did have 5
rebounds and 3 steals in 39 minutes. Starter Wesley Matthews made little
impact with just 2 points (his regular season average was 16 points), 1
rebound, 0 assists, and 3 turnovers in 19 minutes. Brandon Roy struggled
in shooting 1-7 FG for 2 points in 26 minutes. Portland went with an
8-man rotation as Rudy Fernandez was the only other Blazer who played.
He had 6 points in 18 minutes.
Quotes
Rick Carlisle: "This game tonight is typical of how they're going to
down, 6 with however much time left. We had to go on a significant run
to win the game, which was significant for us and great. But it's 2 good
teams that are experienced, and the games are going to be very
competitive."
Carlisle: "This game is typical of how they're going to be. It was very
tough. The 10-point lead at halftime was deceiving because it just
didn't seem like that much because of the way the game was being played.
It's just a really, really competitive series."
Carlisle on Kidd: "Spectacular. We had some guys that didn't play their
best games, but Jason Kidd played the game of the year to this point.
Every shot he made, every play he made was absolutely essential for us.
His leadership is something you can't quantify."
Carlisle on Nowitzki's 3-pointer that gave Dallas a 1 point lead: "I
thought the most important shot of the game was the 3 he hit in the right
corner that took us from down 2 to up 1. That really energized our
building and energized our team, and from that point we started to really
get some stops and consistently. He stayed with it, and when we talk
about the importance of persistence on our team, he was a great example of
that tonight, because it wasn't going great necessarily the whole game.
These games are going to test you that way."
Dirk Nowitzki: "Just really kept on plugging. I've got to keep going.
The team told me to keep attacking and things will start happening."
Jason Kidd: "They want me to be aggressive. We all know that Dirk and JET
are offensive guys and they put the ball up. But in the playoffs you have
to have other guys step up and score and I know that our opponents are
going to give me that jump shot and I have to be able to knock it down."
Kidd: "What the playoffs is all about is pressure. And there's always
going to be somebody that steps up as the X-factor or somebody unknown.
And, as Dirk would say in the locker room, he told me that they didn't
have me on the board for scoring 24 points tonight. So, I guess I was the
X-factor in the game, but in the playoffs there's always going to be
somebody that makes a shot or gets hot that isn't looked upon or in the
scouting report. So, I'm just happy that it was somebody on our team that
did that tonight."
Kidd: "[Aldridge] got a lot of easy baskets in that 1st half, especially
that 1st quarter. But we've got to make it tough. I mean, he touches the
ball for a reason. We just have to make it a little bit tougher and make
other guys score."
Kidd on the many 4th quarter free throws: "All those fouls were in the
paint. Dirk goes backdoor twice and gets fouled. It wasn't like we were
shooting jump shots and they were fouling us. A lot of that was going to
the basket."
Jason Terry: "Any time you get in the playoffs, you must protect home
court. This was a good start for us, but, again, there's still areas to
improve."
Nate McMillan: "We were aggressive, but we didn't get some of the calls.
We didn't get to the free throw line."
LaMarcus Aldridge: "We just had to stay solid down the stretch and we
didn't. But when you have a chance to win it always makes you feel
better."
Aldridge: "We had control of the game and had a change to win. We just
have to bounce back and try to be better next game."
Aldridge: "Down the stretch, when I got going again, they double-teamed.
They wanted to make me pass the ball, try to take the ball out of my
hands. It was nothing new."
Marcus Camby: "Dirk came alive. We know we let one get away, but we can't
let this one linger."
2011 Playoffs - First Round: Game 1
Dallas Mavericks 89, Portland Trailblazers 81 at Dallas (April 16)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 21 26 14 28 - 89 .362 .526 .409 .862
Portland 22 15 20 24 - 81 .550 .125 .461 .862
Halftime: Dallas 47-37
3rd Q: Dallas 61-57
Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 7:06 2nd
Refs: Mike Callahan, David Jones, Ken Mauer
Attendance: 20,541 (sellout)
IL:
Dallas - Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, Rodrigue Beaubois
Portland - Greg Oden, Elliot Williams, Luke Babbitt
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Shawn Marion 35 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 1-5 3 1 3 1 2
Dirk Nowitzki 39 7-20 1-1 13-13 28 0-10 2 6 3 0 0
Tyson Chandler 32 1-1 0-0 2-2 4 4-9 0 1 2 0 2
DeShawn Stevenson 19 2-4 1-2 0-0 5 0-1 1 1 1 0 0
Jason Kidd 34 9-14 6-10 0-0 24 1-5 4 1 0 2 1
Jason Terry 27 2-5 0-1 6-8 10 0-1 3 1 3 2 0
Peja Stojakovic 19 2-7 2-4 0-0 6 0-2 0 0 2 0 1
J.J. Barea 19 1-7 0-1 2-2 4 0-0 1 1 1 0 0
Brendan Haywood 16 1-2 0-0 0-2 2 4-6 0 1 1 0 1
Brian Cardinal 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 27-66 10-19 25-29 89 10-39 14 13 16 5 7
Portland Trailblazers REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Gerald Wallace 39 4-13 0-2 0-0 8 1-5 1 3 4 3 0
LaMarcus Aldridge 41 12-20 0-0 3-4 27 3-6 2 4 5 1 1
Marcus Camby 29 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 4-18 5 0 3 0 2
Wesley Matthews 19 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 0 3 2 1 0
Andre Miller 34 7-13 0-2 4-5 18 1-4 6 2 5 1 0
Nicolas Batum 34 6-14 1-7 1-2 14 0-2 4 1 1 0 0
Brandon Roy 26 1-7 0-2 0-1 2 0-2 3 0 4 0 0
Rudy Fernandez 18 2-3 1-2 1-1 6 2-2 1 0 2 1 0
Totals 48 35-76 2-16 9-13 81 11-40 22 14 26 7 3
patricia
Go Mavs!
----
Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com
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