Mavs News: Portland Game 4
Patricia Bender
Game 4: Dallas at Portland (April 23)
Welcome to ugly ball. Dallas scored the first 5 points of the game, but
it took them 3 minutes to do so as the team missed 4 straight shots
between their two made shots. But Portland struggled more in missing
their first 4 shots and having 2 turnovers and not getting on the board
until Andre Miller hit a jumper with 7:50 remaining. With such an ugly
game and few points scored, the game stayed close. A 3-pointer by DeShawn
Stevenson (his 2nd of the game) gave Dallas an 8-4 lead with 6:30 left,
but Wesley Matthews answered with a 3-pointer and Miller hit a jumper to
give Portland their first lead of the game at 9-8 with 5:30 to go - but
their lead would not last long as Jason Kidd nailed a 3-pointer as the
shot clock was running out (but Kidd picked up his 2nd foul on the next
possession and sat the rest of the quarter). After Dirk Nowitzki hit a
3-pointer to give Dallas a 14-11 lead with 3:50 remaining, both teams went
scoreless over the next almost 3 minutes before J.J. Barea drove for a
layup with 40 seconds remaining - and that was it for the quarter scoring.
Dallas led 16-11 after 1. Dallas shot 6-19 FG (but 4-7 3-pointers) and
0-0 FT and Portland shot 4-16 FG and 2-2 FT.
After Nicolas Batum had a layup to open the 2nd quarter, Dallas scored the
next 6 points to take a 22-13 lead with 10:15 to go and Dallas would hold
a single-digit lead over the next 5 minutes. A 3-pointer by Kidd followed
by a layup by Tyson Chandler off a nice feed from Kidd gave Dallas a 33-23
lead with 5:15 left. Dallas led 37-29 with 3 minutes to go and Portland
finally found a little bit of offense and scored the last 6 points of the
quarter as Dallas missed their last 5 shots. Dallas led 37-35 at the half
(yes, half). Portland out-scored Dallas 24-21 in the 2nd quarter, thanks
in large part to the free throw line where they shot 10-10 FT (while that
was as many as Dallas had for the game). Portland shot 7-15 FG and Dallas
shot 10-23 FG. Dallas did not attempt a free throw in the 1st half.
It was back to ugly ball for Portland as they couldn't buy a bucket until
the end of the quarter - it would have been a shutout if it wasn't for
free throws as Portland only made 3 field goals in the quarter and they
all came in the last 1:30 of the quarter. Dallas did take advantage of
Portland's struggles and jumped out to a 57-41 lead with 5:20 left. A
3-pointer by Peja Stojakovic gave Dallas their largest lead at 64-41 with
2:45 remaining. After Brandon Roy connected on 1-2 FT, LaMarcus Aldridge
hit a short shot for Portland's first field goal of the quarter to pull
Portland within 64-44 with 1:30 to go, but Stojakovic drained another
3-pointer on Dallas' next possession. Roy found Aldridge for an alley-oop
and then Roy's 3-pointer with 2 seconds left hung around the rim before
finally (grumble) rolling in. Dallas led 67-49 after 3. Dallas
out-scored Portland 30-14 in the 3rd quarter as Portland shot just 3-18 FG
(but did shoot 7-8 FT. Dallas shot 10-17 FG and 6-6 FT.
The game should have been over, but as much as went wrong for Portland in
the 3rd quarter went right in the 4th quarter and Dallas fell to pieces.
Portland finally found their shooting touch and was white hot in the 4th
(thanks in large part to Roy). Dallas led 73-56 with 9:50 remaining and
Portland went on a 10-2 run to cut Dallas' lead down to single-digits at
75-66 with 5:40 left. A 3-pointer by Jason Terry gave Dallas false hope
that the day had been saved with an 80-70 lead with 3:30 to go, as
Portland then rattled off the next 8 points to pull within 78-80 with 1:35
left. Shawn Marion hit a short shot on Dallas' next possession, but Roy
nailed a 3-pointer and was fouled. He converted the rare 4-point play to
tie the game at 82-82 with 1:05 remaining. Terry missed a 3-pointer with
51 seconds to go and the hero of the night again came through when Roy
banked in a pullup jumper with 39 seconds left - only Portland's 2nd lead
of the game (the first being 9-8). Dallas used their last timeout. Kidd
missed badly on a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left. Dallas opted not to
intentionally foul and Portland ran the clock down before Roy missed a
3-pointer with 4 seconds remaining. Despite such little time left, Terry
actually got a good look at a shot, but his 3-pointer bounced off the back
of the rim to end the game. Portland won 84-82. The series is tied 2-2.
What a choke job by Dallas. Definitely give Portland (and Brandon Roy)
credit for such a strong 4th quarter after such dismal 3 quarters, but a
team simply does not lose a 23 point lead with less than 14 minutes left
in the game without choking. It is as disgusted as I've felt after a Mavs
game in 6 years - even now 2 days later (after a nice mostly
non-basketball Easter), I'm grinding my teeth while writing this with deep
disgusted breaths. Portland out-scored Dallas 35-15 in the 4th quarter
while shooting 15-20 FG while Dallas shot just 5-17 FG - and Portland
out-rebounded Dallas 8-3 in the 4th (with Dallas not having a single
offensive board despite their many misses). Dallas had 4 turnovers in the
4th while Portland did not have a turnover. For the game, Portland shot
42% (29-69) FG including 4-19 3-pointers and Dallas shot 40.8% (31-76) FG
including 10-26 3-pointers. Portland shot 22-23 FT and Dallas shot 10-10
FT - in case you didn't notice, the teams combined for just 1 missed free
throw - the combined 97% FT shooting set the NBA playoff record for
highest FT% in the playoffs (old 95.7%). Dallas out-rebounded Portland
37-34 including 9-6 offensive. Dallas had 19 assists and Portland had 13
assists - but 7 of them came in the 4th quarter. Dallas had 15 turnovers
on which Portland scored 18 points. Portland had 10 turnovers on which
Dallas scored a mere 4 points. Though it doesn't feel like, it was just
one loss and homecourt still holds true. We'll see if the stinging loss
lingers and leads to Dallas' downfall or if Dallas puts the game behind
them and continues to hold homecourt.
All hail Brandon Roy. After hardly playing in the first 2 games (and
complaining about it after Game 2), Roy had a good Game 3 with 16 points
and was outstanding in Game 4 with 18 of his 24 points coming in the 4th
quarter - that's more than Dallas' 15 points in the quarter. Roy shot
8-10 FG in the 4th (and 9-13 overall). LaMarcus Aldridge had a quieter
outing and I was surprised to see that he had scored 18 points (6 in the
4th) to go with 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. Gerald Wallace had a
double-double with 10 points including 3-9 FG and 11 rebounds. Wesley
Matthews had 11 points and Andre Miller had 14 points. After a strong
Game 1, Marcus Camby has been almost invisible and missed his only shot
and had 5 rebounds in this game - though he did have 3 blocks. Nicolas
Batum had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 25 minutes. Rudy Fernandez had 2
points including 0-5 FG in 16 minutes. Chris Johnson didn't have a stat
in 2 minutes (all in the 1st quarter).
I'm not writing about the Mavs players for this game as my disgust is too
much.
Quotes
Nate McMillan on the 3rd quarter: "I thought we started to feel sorry for
ourselves because we couldn't make shots. I saw a lot of our heads drop
at one of the timeouts."
Brandon Roy: "I've been in some pretty good zones before, but nothing like
tonight."
Roy on the celebration after the game: "When they were grabbing me, I just
needed to embrace someone. Just one of those feelings where I was happy
to have their support. It still just doesn't feel real yet. It was just
an unbelievable game. To come back, with everything I've been through
this season, it just all kind of came into that moment right there on the
court with guys grabbing me and just cheering me on. It was real
special."
Gerald Wallace: "When people ask me what did I do in the 4th quarter, I'll
tell them I stood in the corner and watched The Brandon Roy Show."
Andre Miller: "I told Brandon Roy he woke up. He hit some tough shots,
some big shots, and we just rode him."
Nicolas Batum: "We got this game. I don't know how we got this game, but
we got it."
Rick Carlisle: "Did we let up? I think we let up, yeah. There isn't any
question."
Carlisle on Roy: "We've been saying all series that we've been game
planning for him like he's an All-Star. He's had 2 of those nights now,
so we'll continue to do that. He got on a roll in the 4th and made some
things happen. I'm going to take the blame for a lot of that. There are
different things defensively we could have done."
Carlisle: "It's not easy, but for us, we've got to get back on the plane,
back home, and study some of the things that went wrong. The turnaround
time is not real great, so we're going to have to get back and get ready
to play on Monday night."
Dirk Nowitzki: "Really started at the end of the 3rd. We had a 20 point
lead, and we didn't run back in transition and just gradually, we couldn't
get any stops."
Nowitzki: "You can always, after the fact, talk about what you could have
done or should have done. You can go a million ways about it, and
afterward you're a lot smarter, but that doesn't help anybody right now.
We all have to take it and stay positive."
Jason Terry: "What they did to us in the 4th quarter was iso left, iso
right, iso middle, iso whichever way you want to call it with Brandon Roy.
We definitely got to make an adjustment in that area."
Jason Kidd on Roy: "We just tried to make him take tough contested shots.
You have to give him credit."
Tyson Chandler: "As great as our defense was every period before that, we
didn't put them away. We let them back in the game. It's not to
discredit what they did or discredit what Brandon Roy did. We should have
put them away."
2011 Playoffs - First Round: Game 4
Portland Trailblazers 84, Dallas Mavericks 82 at Portland (April 23)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Portland 11 24 14 35 - 84 .500 .211 .420 .957
Dallas 16 21 30 15 - 82 .420 .385 .408 1.000
Halftime: Dallas 37-35
3rd Q: Dallas 67-49
Technicals: Tyson Chandler 3:21 2nd, LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 3:21 2nd
Refs: Tony Brothers, Steve Javie, Bill Kennedy
Attendance: 20,357 (sellout)
IL:
Dallas - Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, Rodrigue Beaubois
Portland - Greg Oden, Elliot Williams, Luke Babbitt
Portland Trailblazers REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Gerald Wallace 40 3-9 0-3 4-4 10 1-11 3 3 1 0 0
LaMarcus Aldridge 47 6-16 0-0 6-6 18 1-6 1 1 3 4 3
Marcus Camby 19 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-5 0 0 4 1 3
Wesley Matthews 36 4-10 1-3 2-2 11 1-1 2 0 3 1 0
Andre Miller 30 5-10 0-1 4-4 14 0-3 1 3 0 1 0
Nicolas Batum 25 2-5 1-4 0-0 5 0-3 0 1 4 1 2
Rudy Fernandez 16 0-5 0-3 2-2 2 0-1 1 0 0 0 0
Brandon Roy 25 9-13 2-5 4-5 24 2-4 5 2 0 0 0
Chris Johnson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 29-69 4-19 22-23 84 6-34 13 10 15 8 8
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Shawn Marion 33 6-11 0-1 0-0 12 1-11 2 2 3 0 0
Dirk Nowitzki 38 7-17 2-4 4-4 20 0-2 3 4 1 0 0
Tyson Chandler 30 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 4-7 1 1 5 0 0
DeShawn Stevenson 16 2-4 2-4 2-2 8 0-2 3 1 1 0 0
Jason Kidd 29 3-6 3-5 0-0 9 0-5 4 1 4 2 0
Jason Terry 32 5-16 1-5 2-2 13 0-3 3 2 2 0 0
J.J. Barea 19 2-7 0-2 0-0 4 1-2 3 3 2 0 0
Peja Stojakovic 25 3-7 2-5 0-0 8 0-0 0 0 1 2 0
Brendan Haywood 18 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 3-5 0 0 2 0 2
Totals 48 31-76 10-26 10-10 82 9-37 19 15 21 4 2
Go mavs!
patricia
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Patricia Bender pbe...@eskimo.com
For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com
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For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html
--
Patricia Bender pbe...@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