Tyson Chandler was named as the center for All-Defensive 2nd Team, which is voted on by position by the coaches. It was the 3rd time that a Mavs player was named to the All-Defensive 2nd Team (Derek Harper twice) and the first time for Chandler to be such honored. Friday morning the league announced that Phil Jackson had been fined $35,000 for his comments to the media claiming that Dallas players were illegally using their knees to dislodge Pau Gasol out of the post and that the refs were not making that call. Game 4: LA Lakers at Dallas (May 8) It was only appropriate that Dallas' first shot of the game was a 3-pointer as 3s would be the topic of the night. A 3-point play by Tyson Chandler gave Dallas an early 6-3 lead with 9:35 to go, but the Lakers scored the next 6 points to go up 9-6 with 7:45 left. The teams traded turnovers and buckets and Dallas then went on an 11-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Jason Kidd, to take a 19-13 lead with 4:15 remaining. But the Lakers scored the next 6, as Dallas missed their next 3 shots, to tie the game at 19-19 with 2:25 left. But the 3s were on display again as Terry hit a 3 and Peja Stojakovic nailed a 3 to give Dallas a 6 point lead with 1:40 left. Dallas led 27-23 after 1. Dallas shot 11-21 FG including 4-7 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 8-19 FG and missed all 5 3s they attempted. And it was a team game for Dallas as they had an assist on all but one of their shots while the Lakers just had 2 assists. And it just wasn't the 3s for Dallas as both teams had 12 points in the paint (where as in Game 3, Dallas only had 20 points in the paint for the game). The Lakers hung into the game thanks to the line where they shot 7-8 FT while Dallas hit their only attempt. Kobe Bryant had 13 points (but, strangely, the Lakers went away from for a couple of minutes later in the quarter). Terry opened the 2nd quarter with, what else, a 3-pointer and Stojakovic had a layup to give Dallas a 32-23 lead with 11:15 left. A 3-pointer by Terry gave Dallas their first double-digit lead at 37-27 with 9:30 remaining, but Steve Blake answered with a 3 10 seconds later. But Dallas then went on a 13-2 run, including 3 more Dallas 3s, to take a 50-32 lead with 6:45 to go - and Dallas was up by 18 on the Lakers with Dirk Nowitzki having just 6 points. Dallas led 53-38 with 3:40 left and, for a change for the 2nd quarter, Dallas closed the quarter strong by scoring the next 10 points, capped by Terry's 5th 3-pointer of the quarter. A free throw by Derek Fisher ended the quarter scoring. Dallas led 63-39 at the half. Dallas out-scored the Lakers 36-16 in the 3rd quarter, with Terry out-scoring the Lakers himself as he had 17 points in the quarter including an incredible 5-6 3-pointers. Add in Stojakovic hitting 2 3s, Dallas shot an unbelievable 7-8 3-pointers in the quarter - and the Mavs weren't bad from inside the arc either as they shot 7-13 2-pointers and had 10 points in the paint. The Lakers shot a mere 6-19 FG. From the line, Dallas shot 1-2 FT and LA shot 3-4 FT. For the half, Dallas shot 59.5% FG including 11-15 3-pointers (tying the NBA playoff record for 3-pointers made in a half) while LA shot 36.8% FG including 1-8 3-pointers. Besides Dallas' strong play, part of the Lakers' problems were that Bryant had just 2 points in the 2nd quarter after Bryant having such a strong 1st quarter. The Lakers made a push to open the 3rd quarter, but did not take full advantage of Dallas' miscues - Dallas shot just 1-7 FG and committed 4 turnovers in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the quarter, but the Lakers scored just 7 points during that span to pull within 65-46 with 7:45 left. Terry again stepped behind the arc and hit consecutive 3-pointers to put Dallas' lead back in to the 20s - his 2nd 3 was my favorite play of the game as the Mavs got the ball to Terry under the basket and he quick-passed to Stojakovic behind the arc on the elbow while Terry continued along the baseline to the corner where Stojakovic quick-passed it back to Terry and Terry drained the 3. Dallas' lead remained in the 20s the rest of the quarter and a 3-pointer by Stojakovic gave Dallas their largest lead of the quarter at 86-57 with 2 minutes to go. The Lakers did score the last 4 points of the quarter. Dallas led 86-62 after 3. Both teams scored 23 points in the 3rd quarter, but it was again the 3-point story for Dallas. Dallas shot 9-17 FG including 4-9 3-pointers and the Lakers shot 9-19 FG including 2-6 3-pointers. Dallas did have 8 turnovers in the quarter on which the Lakers scored 7 points. Terry had 12 points in the quarter including 3-3 3-pointers (and also hit his only 2-point attempt) - that's 8-9 on 3-pointers for Terry in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The other story was that Bryant didn't score in the 3rd in missing the 3 shots he attempted - that's just 2 points on 1-8 FG for Bryant in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Nowitzki thought it would be fun to join in the 3-point barrage and his 3-pointer with 10 minutes left gave Dallas a 91-64 lead. It started to get chippy in the 4th with the Lakers' frustration showing. As the Mavs had just brought the ball over half court, Lamar Odom gave an extra forearm shove to Nowitzki while setting a pick and the refs called a flagrant 2 (ejection) - they did review the foul and I thought they might actually down grade it to a flagrant 1, but they stayed with the 2 - either deciding that Odom's gave too much omph to the excessive contact for the ejection or that they were trying to keep things from getting out of hand. If it was the 2nd, it didn't work as less than a minute later J.J. Barea drove to the basket, elevated for the layup, and Andrew Bynum leveled an in-air Barea with a forearm to Barea's side - fortunately Barea was okay after landing hard - a completely dirty play by Bynum that will likely result in a multi-game suspension (at least 2 games, and a 5 game suspension would be warranted). Fortunately that was the end of the rough stuff and the teams played out the rest of the game. With the Lakers' continued poor shooting and Dallas' continued white hot shooting, LA had no opportunity to get back in the game - Dallas shot 10-14 FG including 5-8 3-pointers in the 4th while LA shot 8-25 FG including 2-10 3-pointers. The game, appropraitely ended with a final 3-pointer for Dallas (this one by Brian Cardinal) to give Dallas their largest lead of the game. Dallas won 122-86. Dallas sweeps the series 4-0. Wow. I haven't been this surprised with a game since Game 7 vs Houston, where people were expecting a tight game and got a 40 point blowout. Where as the first 3 games were close, there was no question as to which team was the better team for this day. Dallas was simply excellent in the game (with turnovers being the only flaw) - I doubt any team could have beaten the Mavs with they way they played in this game. And it wasn't just the 3s - which will deservably get all the talk. They mixed up their game and had 38 points in the paint (with the Lakers with a couple more with 44 (where as the Lakers out-scored Dallas 56-20 in the paint in Game 3)) and the Mavs had crisp passing with 32 assists on their 44 shot attempts (while the Lakers had just 16 assists). And Dallas' defense was also strong. Sure the Lakers simply missed some shots (Ron Artest purely blowing an easy layup on a break was indicative of the day they had), but Dallas played a part in why the Lakers shot less than 40% FG. But the 3s were the story. Dallas shot an incredible 20-32 3-pointers, tying the NBA playoff record for 3-pointers made. Most of the damage came from Jason Terry who shot 9-10 3-pointers and Peja Stojakovic who hit all _6_ 3s he attempted. 5 other Mavs players joined in the fun with a 3-pointer each, while the Lakers had just 5 3s total in shooting 5-24 3-pointers. For the game, Dallas shot a team playoff record high 60.3% (44-73) FG while the Lakers shot just 37.8% (31-82) FG. With those numbers, it is not surprising that the Lakers had an edge with 15-6 offensive rebounds, but Dallas had more defensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Lakers 40-39 overall. Dallas shot 14-19 FT and the Lakers shot 19-26 FT. Dallas did have a very high 20 turnovers, but the Lakers also had a number of turnovers with 16. Dallas' underrated defense held solid for the 4 games as the Lakers scored less than 95 points in all 4 games. It was the 3rd time Dallas swept a series (4-0 vs Memphis in 2006 and 3-0 vs Minnesota in 2002). It was also Dallas' 6 straight win (haven't lost since the meltdown in Game 4 vs Portland) and is the longest playoff winning streak in team history. The Mavs will face the winner of the Oklahoma City-Memphis series and Dallas will have homecourt in the next round - and Dallas will have some time off as they wait for the OKC-Mem series to end (Sunday is the earliest the next Dallas series would start). You would have thought that with such a dominating game by Dallas that Dirk Nowitzki must have had a crazy game. But that wasn't the case. The Lakers doubled Nowitzki a lot during the game and the Mavs took advantage by swinging the ball. Nowitzki did shot well at 7-11 FG and hit his only 3-point attempt (to up his 3-pointers to 8-11 for the 4 game series) and had 17 points, but 5 of his points came in the 4th quarter. Nowitzki also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 32 minutes. The stars of the game were Jason Terry, Peja Stojakovic, and J.J. Barea - and all 3 were bench players. Terry was incredible in shooting 9-10 3-pointers, tying the NBA playoff record for 3-pointers. He had a game high 32 points and also contributed 4 assists. Though he didn't set an NBA record, Stojakovic did set a team playoff record in hitting all 6 3-pointers he attempt, and he also hit the only 2-pointer he attempted for a perfect 7-7 FG (but did miss a free throw for 1-2 FT). Stojakovic had 21 points. Barea had 22 points including 9-14 FG and a team high 8 assists. He did play the entire 4th quarter (didn't get the rest at the end as Dallas wanted to keep a point guard on the court) where he scored 10 of his points. Shawn Marion chipped in 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists in 24 minutes. Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood had a hand in Andrew Bynum's poor performance (2-7 FG). Chandler had 5 points and 9 rebounds in 26 minutes (sitting the entire 4th) and Haywood had 4 points (including hitting 2-3 FT!) and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes. Dallas blewout the Lakers despite starters Jason Kidd and DeShawn Stevenson each having just 3 points on 1-6 FG and 1-5 3-pointers (both shot the same). Kidd did have 7 assists and 4 steals. Corey Brewer (2 points), Ian Mahinmi (2 points), and Brian Cardinal (3 points) got in for last 5 minutes of garbage time. After a strong 1st quarter where he scored 13 points including 6-8 FG, Kobe Bryant had just 4 points including 1-10 FG the rest of the game. And he did not get any help as Bryant's 17 points was the team high. Bryant missed all 5 3-pointers he attempted and had 5 turnovers to go with just 3 rebounds and 1 assist. Shannon Brown had the 2nd most points for LA with 15, but 8 of them came in the blowout 4th quarter. Pau Gasol had just 10 points, but did have a team high 8 rebounds and a team high 6 assists. Gasol averaged just 12.5 points in the 4 game series, while he avearaged 18.8 points during the regular season. Andrew Bynum did nothing in the game besides his nasty flagrant as he had just 6 points including 2-7 FG and 6 rebounds and also had 3 turnovers in 31 minutes. Lamar Odom had 10 points including 4-5 FG in 18 minutes before his ejection, but had just 2 rebounds (both offensive) and 1 assist to go with 3 turnovers and 5 fouls. Ron Artest returned from the 1 game suspension and had 11 points in 28 minutes. Derek Fisher struggled with his shot in shooting just 1-8 FG (but did hit 3-4 FT) and had 5 points. He did have 7 rebounds, but just 1 assist (but no turnovers). Matt Barnes actually produced in this game, but it was mostly in the 4th quarter where he scored 7 of his 9 points and had all 5 of his rebounds. Steve Blake had 3 points on 1-4 3-pointers (his only attempts), 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 steal in 18 minutes. Joe Smith (0-1 FG), Trey Johnson (0-3 FG), and Luke Walton (0-2 FG) got in at the end of the blowout. The games was probably Phil Jackson's last coaching game as he had announced earlier in the season that this would be his last season. That lead to funny moments during both coaches' post-game press conferences. When asked about Jackson's retirement, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle questioned if Jackson would stay retired after a couple of years of "meditation and smoking peyote" and getting bored. When told about Carlisle's comments, Jackson responded, "Well, you don't smoke peyote." If Jackson stays retired, he finished with a regular season record of 1155-485 (70.4%) and a playoff record of 229-104 (68.8%) including coaching 11 NBA championships with the Lakers and Chicago. Quotes Rick Carlisle: "We had a lot of guys played great. JET's shot making was breathtaking, really. He went 9-10 from 3. And then Stojakovic went 6 out of 6. The 3-point shot is a big part of the game now. It's been a big part of the success that we've been able to have. But more importantly, we guarded them. You hold this team under 40%, you're moving your feet, you're guarding, and you're rebounding, and that fueled a lot of the good things that happened for us offensively." Carlisle on what sweeping the Lakers means: "It means we get some rest, which is good for us." Carlisle: "We were resourceful and opportunistic in this series and that's how you've got to play when you're playing against a champion. I give our guys a lot of credit. We kept the game plan simple. It was basically be more persistent, play harder, move the ball, and defending, and rebounding. That's as simple as it comes." Carlisle: "Deep down, we felt if you're going to beat LA, the best chance to do it is in the 2nd round. Once you get to the conference finals and they have had a chance to get their rhythm and beat people up, they become tougher and tougher." Carlisle: "We're halfway to where we want to be." Dirk Nowitzki on how he will celebrate: "We got a long way to go. Still a lot of tough teams playing. I just got to stay focused, enjoy this for a day. I'm probably going to have some pizza and cheat on my diet and just go at it again in a couple of days." Nowitzki: "Our bench has been our trademark all season long, or for the last couple of years." Nowitzki on Barea: "When he came in, I think we ran like 10, 11 possessions straight only pick-and-roll because they had trouble guarding him and he was getting in the lane." Nowitzki: "We've been doing it by committee all season long. ... There are a lot of guys who can make plays and make big shots when it counts." Jason Terry: "For the magnitude of this game - to close those guys out - yes, it was a great game. ... I'm very thankful that I had the hot hand tonight." Terry on Dallas' defense: "This game tonight was all about defense. We say the hot shooting was great, but we wouldn't have been able to get that shooting without those defensive stops." Terry: "The way they play defense - they suck in - you've got to be ready to spot up and shoot the shot, and that's when I'm at my best. Catch-and-shoot is part of my daily routine. And tonight, again, without the penetration of J.J. and JKidd, those looks wouldn't have been there. I just had my feet set, ready to shoot." Terry: "We're excited to get this win, don't get me wrong. But it's more to come." Terry on his shooting: "On a couple of those shots, I didn't even see the rim. I was just letting it fly. [And Nowitzki, also at the podium, put his hand over his eyes.] I know Dirk doesn't want to hear that - he probably was open on a couple of them. Again, when you got it going like that and the ball is moving the way it was, it's hard for the defense to catch up. At that rate, I just kept going." Terry on the time off before the next round starts: "It's good for me. How old are you, Dirk? I know it's good for JKidd." Jason Kidd on defending Bryant: "It was a team effort. We threw a lot of bodies at him and forced him to take tough shots. We saw when he came out aggressive. We knew the ball was going to be in his hands and it was going to be a fight. That is the kind of player he is. He never gives up. We tried to make it as tough as a possible." Kidd on Terry: "For some reason, they were leaving him open. He was doing what he does best - catch-and-shoot." Tyson Chandler: "It felt good tonight, but we know we're only halfway home. We've got 8 wins, but we need 8 more. That's our ultimate goal." Chandler: "This was an incredible day. Not only did we play great defense, we played great offense. We shot the ball amazingly. I don't know how many records we set 3-point wise, and it was a great show tonight." Chandler on the flagrants: "You hate to see that kind of stuff. It's one thing to play rough and play tough out there - I'm all for that. But the cheap shots are just uncalled for. A lot of frustration was built up and it came out in those last 7 minutes or so." J.J. Barea: "We were shooting the ball great tonight and we were getting stops. And that's why you play basketball for days like this." Barea: "It was awesome and I wanted to give it all for my teammates to get a win tonight. So I came off the bench with a lot of energy and the pick-and-roll was really working for us tonight. We were running them a lot, and it was just awesome." Barea on Bynum's flagrant on him: "They were losing control. It happens to every team when you're down like that. You're going to lose your head a little." Peja Stojakovic on Terry: "JET was amazing. 9-10, you don't see that often." DeShawn Stevenson: "I think we kind of took their heart, especially winning on their court the first 2 games and then coming in here playing the way we [did]. It made them frustrated. I don't think anybody ever played them like that. When people get frustrated, people show their real character." Stevenson on Terry: "That was crazy. I never seen nothing like that in my life. 9-10 on 3s? He's a special player." Phil Jackson: "Well, I don't think I've ever seen a team play to that level in a series in a game like they played this afternoon. They were terrific. I didn't think we played bad to start the ballgame, but that 2nd quarter there was like the roof fell in on us. I wasn't happy with the way our players exited the game, on Lamar and Andrew's part - it was unnecessary, but I know they were frustrated. And Barea was one of the guys that did really frustrate us tonight. Other than that, you know, the Lakers will have to go back and put it together again to have a team that comes back and challenges next year." Jackson: "I think I told you guys all along that Dallas is a very good team - we had the same record that they had during the season. They played better as a team than we did." Jackson: "We ran into a buzz saw today. Sometimes you can't get a win. You'd like to have an opportunity to challenge, but we didn't." Jackson: "I felt there was a couple of players who felt daunted by the energy of the game, just their game was depressed. I don't know if they were personally, but I really felt there were a couple of players didn't step into the performance that I'd like to see them step into." Kobe Bryant: "Today they played better than us. They made 20 3-pointers. Just played lights out." Bryant on the flagrants: "You don't want to see that happen, definitely don't want to see that happen. You don't want any of their players getting hurt. You know, they played better than we did. To make a game ugly like that, where players could potentially get hurt, you don't want to see that happen ever." Bryant: "Start of the game, I thought we were okay. Then they jumped out on us in the 2nd quarter. Then they just made 3 after 3 after 3, and we could never get back in it." Bryant on Dallas' 3-point shooting: "They just did a great job with their spacing. They put their players in position to be successful, and they maximized it." Bryant: "Put the credit where it belongs, in the Mavs locker room. They had great depth. It was another player for them stepping up every game. The credit belongs with them." Bryant: "Losing is losing. There are degrees to it, but the results are the same. You lose like this, lose in Game 7 - it sucks just the same." Bryant on Jackson retiring: "I grew up under him. The way I approach things, the way I think about things - not only basketball, but about life in general - a lot of it comes from him, because I've been around him so much. So it's a little weird for me to think of what next year is going to be like." Pau Gasol: "I understand people having different opinions and being critical and judgmental at this point. Whether we deserve some of that or not, I don't think they were fair to this team. We hate going down like this as a team. We couldn't keep up. We couldn't be consistent enough in our game. It's not the way we want to go out of a game and a series. ... We didn't start it right, and we didn't finish it right either." Lamar Odom: "Obviously, something wasn't there. We couldn't overcome a lot of things we usually overcome. It makes no difference now. It could have happened next round or the Finals." Odom: "It's a humbling experience. Coach always says basketball is a humbling game. When you play on this level and you win and people expect you to win, everything is great. When you get beat like the way we got beat, you realize this is a part of life." Odom: "I was embarrassed. It was a humbling experience, I'll tell you that." Odom on his flagrant: "We were losing by 30. What the [bleep] do you expect? That's what happens sometimes when you're a little embarrassed. You act out." Andrew Bynum on his flagrant: "They were breaking us down. So I just fouled somebody. I was just kind of salty about being embarrassed. It was embarrassing to have the smallest guy on the court [Barea] keep running down the lane and making shots." Ron Artest: "It's going to be a l-o-o-o-ng summer." Artest: "The Lakers fans have had their hearts broke. And all those people who aren't Lakers fans are now laughing at the Lakers fans." 2011 Playoffs - Second Round: Game 4 Dallas Mavericks 122, Los Angeles Lakers 86 at Dallas (May 8) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 27 36 23 36 - 122 .585 .625 .603 .737 LA Lakers 23 16 23 24 - 86 .448 .208 .378 .731 Halftime: Dallas 63-39 3rd Q: Dallas 86-62 Technicals: none Flagrant Fouls: Lamar Odom (LAL) (level 2, ejected) 9:06 4th, Andrew Bynum (LAL)(level 2, ejected) 8:21 4th Refs: Ron Garretson, Jason Phillips, Scott Foster Attendance: 21,087 (sellout) IL: Dallas - Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, Rodrigue Beaubois LA Lakers - Derrick Caracter, Devin Ebanks, Theo Ratliff Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Shawn Marion 24 3-7 0-0 2-2 8 1-6 3 4 4 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 32 7-11 1-1 2-2 17 0-7 4 1 2 1 0 Tyson Chandler 26 2-4 0-0 1-1 5 2-9 0 1 2 0 0 DeShawn Stevenson 18 1-6 1-5 0-0 3 0-1 2 1 4 0 0 Jason Kidd 26 1-6 1-5 0-0 3 0-2 7 2 4 4 0 Peja Stojakovic 30 7-7 6-6 1-2 21 0-3 2 1 2 3 0 Jason Terry 25 11-14 9-10 1-2 32 0-1 4 3 2 0 1 J.J. Barea 27 9-14 1-4 3-3 22 0-1 8 2 0 0 0 Brendan Haywood 17 1-1 0-0 2-3 4 3-8 1 3 2 0 1 Corey Brewer 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 0 2 0 Ian Mahinmi 5 0-0 0-0 2-4 2 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Brian Cardinal 5 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 44-73 20-32 14-19 122 6-40 32 20 23 11 2 Los Angeles Lakers REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Ron Artest 28 3-7 1-3 4-5 11 0-2 2 2 4 2 0 Pau Gasol 34 4-10 0-0 2-2 10 6-8 6 0 3 1 1 Andrew Bynum 31 2-7 0-0 2-2 6 1-6 1 3 2 1 1 Kobe Bryant 37 7-18 0-5 3-4 17 1-3 1 5 1 0 0 Derek Fisher 25 1-8 0-2 3-4 5 0-7 1 0 1 2 0 Lamar Odom 18 4-5 0-0 2-5 10 2-2 1 3 5 0 0 Shannon Brown 23 5-10 3-5 2-3 15 1-2 2 0 2 3 0 Steve Blake 18 1-4 1-4 0-0 3 0-1 1 0 0 1 0 Matt Barnes 13 4-7 0-2 1-1 9 3-5 1 1 2 1 0 Joe Smith 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Trey Johnson 5 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0 0 Luke Walton 4 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0-1 0 2 0 0 0 Totals 48 31-82 5-24 19-26 86 15-39 16 16 21 11 2 Go Mavs! patricia ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html