SB Nation - Jose Barea

Game #28 - Cleveland Cavaliers at Dallas Mavericks

John Bena (aka CavsBlogger) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:54:10 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	VS
19-8		20-7
December 20, 2009
Quicken Loans Arena
7:30 PM et
Radio - WTAM 1100 / TV - FSOhio HD; ESPN
Probable starters:
Jason Kidd	PG	Mo Williams
Jose Barea	SG	Anthony Parker
Shawn Marion	SF	LeBron James
Tim Thomas	PF	J.J. Hickson
Erick Dampier	C	Shaquille O'Neal

No Dirk for Dallas so no problem for the Cavaliers? Hard to say, but what is certain is the necessity for the Cavaliers to start this tough road trip on a positive note.

Injury news - The Cavaliers are healthy

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Cavaliers vs Mavericks coverage; Cavaliers vs Mavericks preview; Mavs Moneyball

Mavericks Vs Hornets: Game 25 Preview

Phillip Baggett — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:04:51 -0000

At The Hive

Hornets vs Mavericks preview

Hornets vs Mavericks coverage

THE MATCH UPS:

If Kidd was in his prime this would be an unbelievable match up, but in 2009 this is not much match up. Kidd is simply just too slow for Chris Paul. Oh by the way, Chris Paul IS the Hornets and without him they are worse than the Nets.

Edge: Hornets

The Mavericks continue to mix and match pieces here at this spot until Josh Howard can return to a full time starter. So far what they have found that the coaches seem to like is JJ Barea. Now I am not a huge fan of Barea's but in the last few games he has filled the spot nicely, but he has been streaky, it all depends on which end of the streak he is on. As for the Hornets they have relied quite a bit on Devin Brown the 31 year old journeyman to fill this roll. If your looking for "PTPers" well don't look here, cause there is not anything special going on here.

Edge: Even

Shawn Marion showed us a glimpse of the explosiveness that we used to see frequently from him in years past, was that a sign of things to come? I sure hope so, but much like his counterpart in tonight's game age has changed their games. Peja Stojakovic still has the ability to score in bunches, but both time and many nights with porn stars has limited his successes this year.

Edge: Mavericks

Dirk continues his push to change the "soft" label that has been placed upon him. For the first time in his career he is in position to be voted a starting forward for the West in the All-Star game. David West on the other hand much like his teammate Chris Paul continues to drown in the misery that is the New Orleans Hornets. David West has struggled this year, every major stat line is down for him this year. The Hornets are going nowhere fast, and it's two top players are unhappy.

Edge: Mavericks

Erick Dampier continues to impress, in his last two games he has averaged 17 points and 17 rebounds, where the hell has this player been the last 5 years? This is the guy the Mavs thought they were getting before the 2004-05 seasons began, amazing what money will do. Emeka Okafor the former second overall pick of the Charlotte Bobcats continues to be nothing more than an average NBA center. The Hornets thought they would be upgrading significantly over Tyson Chandler, unfortunately for them it just has not worked out so far.

Edge: Mavericks

Injuries/Suspensions

New Orleans Hornets

OUT - Ike Diogu

Dallas Mavericks

OUT - None

Prediction: The Hornets rank in the bottom half of the league in both PPG and PPG against, while the Mavericks rank in the top 10 in both categories. This game will be close for about 2 ½ to 3 quarters then the Mavs bench will take control.

Final Score:

Dallas Mavericks: 110

New Orleans Hornets: 97

Looking at The Numbers: What is Wrong with the Mavericks

Phillip Baggett — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:00:26 -0000

Well I started to write a big long post about the Mavericks recent struggles, and how that those struggles are the direct effect of not having Josh Howard. However I must be honest, the more stats, graphs, and charts that I looked at the more confused I became.

zdgmans and I were having a discussion this morning about this ridiculous "3 guard" line up that Carlisle has fallen in love with. My early thoughts were that the coaches had actually snookered themselves with this line up. I just could not grasp the thought process of this thing. Carlisle seems to go to this (Kidd, Jason Terry, JJ Barea) exclusively against longer more athletic teams, and even more puzzling at the end of games.

This is so puzzling to me because as I see the line up, Carlisle sacrifices ~~shooting~~ scoring ability with quickness. Do not get me wrong speed in the NBA is a wonderful tool that not many teams have, however a fast team that shoots 30% from the field is far worse than a slow team that shoots 50%.

Maybe I am wrong but my thoughts on how this line up is designed to work are this:

Jason Kidd: The Facilitator

JJ Barea: The speedster, uses his speed to create open shots for others

Jason Terry: The lethal shooter

Unfortunately for the Mavericks and us what has ended up happening is teams have started focusing their coverage on Jet and Kidd, allowing Barea to screw things up on his own.

Barea can be very good in 2 to 4 minute stints, but he absolutely demoralizes this team when left in the game for extended minutes. Here is where the real problem arises for Carlisle and the Mavs. The Mavs do not have a true PG on the bench to back up Kidd, and outside of the youngster Roddy B they do not have a SG either.

In Carlisle's defense he is trying to cover up the Mavs deficiencies by forcing the tempo of the game, but he just does not have the right pieces to be able to do that effectively.

I like many of you want to see Rodrigue Beaubois in place of JJ Barea. The only problem with Beaubois is the unknown, but even in his limited minutes we have seen some very good things, but we have also seen some not so good, in the end he has been average.

So where do we go from here? If I had the answer to that question I would not be here writing to you for free. Yes I have my opinions, as I am sure you do as well.

There are a few things that will need to happen before this team can become more consistent. First and foremost stop shooting so many jump shots and begin to attack the basket. Secondly, end the "3 guard" experiment (surely there is another way to combat length). Last but certainly not least the healthy return of Josh Howard. Josh means more to this team than I ever gave him credit for, and we desperately need him back.

During my search I found some pretty interesting stats and factoids take a look and let me know what you think.

Clutch Statistics

(4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left,
neither team ahead by more than 5 points)

JJ Barea

Floor Time statistics

Min	Net Pts	Off	Def	Net48	W	L	Win%
59%	-16	98.6	124.9	-26.3	3	4	42.9%

Rodrigue Beaubois

Floor Time statistics

Min	Net Pts	Off	Def	Net48	W	L	Win%
10%	+2	105.6	86.4	19.2	1	0	100.0%

Jason Kidd

Floor Time statistics

Min	Net Pts	Off	Def	Net48	W	L	Win%
100%	-6	102.3	108.2	-5.9	5	4	55.6%

Jason Terry

Floor Time statistics

Min	Net Pts	Off	Def	Net48	W	L	Win%
100%	-6	102.3	108.2	-5.9	5	4	55.6%

Team shooting story:

Shooting Details

	Offense				Defense
Shot	Att.	eFG%	Ast	Pts	Att.	eFG%	Ast	Pts
Jump	69%	.465	63%	53.8	67%	.455	57%	50.5
Close	24%	.544	56%	22.1	28%	.513	47%	24.0
Dunk	4%	.900	79%	6.3	4%	.917	67%	5.5
Tips	3%	.451	0%	2.3	2%	.467	0%	1.4
All	100%	.502	60%	84.6	100%	.488	54%	81.3

Team shot selection rankings:

Game Recap: Mavs Ineffective in 98-82 Loss to the Grizzlies

zdgmans — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:25:49 -0000

More photos » by Nikki Boertman - AP

18 days ago: Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd, left, works against Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo in the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Dec. 4, 2009, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Nikki Boertman)

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Well, this is definitely not the post I imagined myself writing when I was asked to do the Game Recaps here at Mavs Moneyball. I will save the introductions for happier times (anyway you didn't come here to read about who I am, you came to find out what the heck happened with the Mavericks) but for the time being I will be following up every Mavericks game with a succinct recap. If you have a suggestion or want to see something I am not covering, let me know and I will make sure to grab it in the next recap.

Now, without further delay (still trying to figure out what happened in Memphis)...

Game as a Whole:

From the opening tip to the last shot of the fourth quarter, it didn't quite feel like the Mavericks showed up to play. Sure, Dirk had a really poor shooting night (7 of 22 for 16 points) but a good team should be able to overcome their star player having an off night every once in a while. Unfortunately, everybody on the team seemed content to follow Dirk's lead by chucking up contested shots and generally looking out of sync on the offensive end.

Give Rick Carlisle credit here as he tried a bunch of different things, giving Rodrigue Beaubois some extended burn this game (second most minutes he has played besides the Bucks), keeping his starters on the floor for major minutes, but in the end it felt like the Mavericks were doomed to lose this game as soon as the Grizzlies started having a career night from the 3 point line. For as much as was said about the Mavericks focusing on defense during training camp, it definitely seems like they are a long way off from having anything resembling a championship calibre defense.

By the Quarters:

1st Quarter:

Both teams come out like they don't know how to play defense. Shots are being thrown up on both sides with abandon and it feels like the game is going to be played at a pretty up-tempo pace.
O.J. Mayo starts out on fire. Definitely thought Jason Kidd should have been on Mike Conley and Rodrigue Beaubois should have been guarding Mayo.
It's a shoot out as both teams are over 50% from the floor.

2nd Quarter:

JJ Barea comes in and immediately gets a turnover (not what Jason Kidd wants to see when going to the bench).
Kris Humphries gets a full extension block on Sam Young who gathers the missed shot only to have it be denied by... the rim. When all else fails, the rim is a great help defender.
The last portion of the quarter sees Jason Terry trying to force the issue by taking the ball to the rim before seeing him settle into taking corner 3's.

3rd Quarter:

Beaubois proves to Memphis that he is a rookie by rushing two 3 point shots on consecutive possessions. The Mavericks should have been taking it to the rim.
Frustration sets in as all of the Mavericks start rushing shots. The offense looks disorganized and you can see that the guys are really having to work hard for even a glimpse at the basket.
Jason Terry makes a timely three close to the end of the quarter to make the game feel like it's close (notice I said "feel").

4th Quarter:

Grizzlies can't score in the first three minutes but the Mavericks don't take advantage. JJ Barrea ends up with another really bad turnover while trying to thread the needle to Drew Gooden under the basket.
Terry to this point has had the only consistent game. He finished with 18 points.
At 2:39 the game is over for the Mavericks as Rick Carlisle pulls all of his starters (except Beaubois) off the floor.

Closing Thoughts:

This is one I am sure that every Mavericks fan would have easily circled as a win on the schedule but no matter how bad a team is (hey the New Jersey Nets got their first win tonight!) you still have to show up and put the effort in to get the win. As Dirk goes, so do the Mavs; without Dirk putting up his usual numbers the team looked completely lost. Let's hope that we don't see another performance like this out of the Mavericks for a long time to come.

Some Choice Statistics:

Looking at the +/-, almost every Maverick was in the negative on the floor while almost all of the Grizzlies had positive nights.
Dirk Nowitzki has his streak of 14 straight games with 20 points or more snapped.
Hasheem Thabeet a 30% Free Throw shooter is fouled on his first shot attempt and makes both free throws (this is when you know you are having a bad game).
Dallas has the 4th best scoring bench in the country.
The Grizzlies shoot 52.9% from three even though they are not known as a three point shooting team (thanks in large part to O.J. Mayo's ridiculous night from behind the arc).
Mavericks shoot 0 foul shots in the second half.

Mavs Defeat Rockets 121 - 103: Postgame Quotes

Wes Cox — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:58:50 -0000

More photos » by Glenn James - NBAE/Getty Images

BEAST

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Erick Dampier

Why are you off to such a great start?

The guys are looking for me more around the basket. A lot of it is Jason Kidd. He has the ball in his hands a lot so the only thing I can do is present myself in an open area and try to score whenever I get it. When I get fouled I just take my time at the free throw line and knock down those shots.

We've talked a lot about the chemistry this season. Do you think that has a lot to do with Jason Kidd?

It's more of everybody being willing to make the extra pass. Our defense starts our offense. We've got to go out and defend and rebound consistently each and every night - and not really worry about the offensive end. We have guys who can put the ball in the basket and we give guys different looks every night. If somebody isn't going, then someone comes off the bench and gives us the extra pep we need. We are a team, and if we play hard together good things are going to happen for us.

What is the focus for tomorrow night?

You're talking about a totally different defensive team. We know who the ball is going to go through there. Tim is going to get his touches, if he's back. If he's playing, we'll try to contest all of his shots and make him take contested shots at the basket -- keep those guys off the boards. We can't start the game the way we started tonight. We have to start the game better, so we're just going to go out there and give it a great team effort and play some great team defense -- hopefully come out victorious.

JJ Barea

You showed real commitment to stay in the game after being down 17.

They started on fire. They were making everything. They were playing harder. I think we made a good comeback in the second quarter. At halftime coach got mad, started kicking a couple things, and got us back together. We knew we were going to comeback, and we had a hell of a second half.

What was that message in the second half?

It was just to get us pumped. 'Come on we need energy, we need to hustle, they're playing harder than us...' It was just about that. It wasn't about basketball.

How do you become a more consistent team defensively?

Keep practicing, keep getting better. It's a team defense -- five guys have to be on the same page at the same time. On the pick-and-roll we have to defend a little bit better. Brooks and Lowry were getting into the paint tonight. Keep getting better. It's a long season.

Talk about Erick Dampier.

He's one of the best. I love him as a teammate. I love him as my big guy. If he can be my big guy forever, I'll take him. He sets screens. He never asks for the ball. He does the dirty work, and we love him for that.

Rick Carlisle

We were just getting our tails kicked and the guys got angry -- started playing a lot harder and with a lot more purpose. That started the turnaround. The play in the first half was really poor. We got scored on eleven straight times at one point. It was everybody. Everybody was involved. It was late first quarter to midway through the second. It's embarrassing how poorly we were playing. Give them credit, they were agressive, and making shots, and driving the ball, and persistent defensively. They had something to do with it. This kind of wild inconsistency is obviously something we've go to to work on.

Talk about Erick Dampier.

He was great He was not only a presence around the basket, he was a force. The numbers are monster numbers, so without him we would have been in real trouble tonight. but he's been playing big for us all seven games.

Defense on Brooks in the second half...

We just did a better job guarding him. And it wasn't just one guy left on an island, our whole team was reacting to what was going on. He played over 20 minutes in the first half, so maybe he wears down a little bit too. But we were a lot better. Our disposition was strong defensively, and we played better offensively. In the first quarter we turned it over eight times or something and just were disheveled. We're going to have to play a lot better.

Halftime in Dallas: Mavericks 47, Magic 45

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:05:54 -0000

The Orlando Magic jumped out to an early lead against the Dallas Mavericks in their first preseason game of the 2009/2010 NBA season, but trail at the half by a 47-45 score, as Dallas closed the half on an 8-0 scoring run.

Dwight Howard leads Orlando with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Jameer Nelson has 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting--all three-pointers--while Rashard Lewis has added 10 points as well. High-profile newcomer Vince Carter has contributed 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting. Notably, 5 of his shot attempts have come from long-range.

Jose Juan Barea leads all scorers with 13 points in 14 minutes off Dallas' bench, as he's had no trouble getting into the lane against the Magic's sluggish defense. Dirk Nowitzki has 11 points on just 2-of-7 shooting, but has converted 7 of his 9 free-throw attempts.

As far as the Magic's rotation is concerned, Jason Williams was the first man off the bench, replacing Nelson at point guard after he picked up his second foul in the game's first 90 seconds. We've also seen J.J. Redick come in for Carter, Matt Barnes spell Mickael Pietrus at small forward, Brandon Bass replace Lewis at power forward, and Marcin Gortat relieve Dwight Howard at center. Ryan Anderson is the only Magic newcomer on a guaranteed deal not to appear in the game.

The Magic's offense stagnated at times with the lineup of Nelson, Redick, Pietrus, Bass, and Howard on the floor. I'm curious to see if that lineup fares better with another creator--Carter, most likely--in it.

The second half is due to get underway at any moment.

Postgame Quotes: JJ Barea

Wes Cox — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:32:29 -0000

More photos » by Darren Abate - AP

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You are the first 6th seed to beat a 3 seed since 2006. How big was this?

"Oh, it's big. I've been hear for two years and it's been a little bad for us. To overcome this and beat a great team 4-1, its feels great. Our confidence is pretty high right now."

Your mentality approaching this team?

"I think that our coach did a great job, getting us ready in practice, getting our heads ready , and it worked out for us."

Talk about a great job. Adjustments he made with you were very interesting -- starting you in game three.

"I think he started me in the second half of game one, and then started me in game three, four, and five. Hey, it worked out for us. That's an adjustment he made and Antoine Wright did a great job coming off the bench so it worked out."

It was kind of the role players that got you the in this series.

"Well, they are always going to get a lot of attention -- Dirk, Terry, Howard. We just have to be ready to make shots and plays for others."

The play of Dirk tonight...

"They tried to play him straight up, and they can't play him straight up. They have to trap him and stuff or he's going to do what he did tonight."

You guys came out big the first quarter.

"Oh yeah. That's what I had in my mind -- coming out strong. And we came out blazing. It think it was 24-10 or something like that. It was great for us."

You guys were scoring early in the shot clock on your way to that 14 point lead.

"Yeah, coach kept telling us let's push it. Kidd and Howard did a great job of pushing it and running early pick-and-rolls. It was great for us."

You play the winner of Nuggets/Hornets. You were 0-4 against the Nuggets this year.

"That's fine. We haven't been healthy anytime that we've played them, but we matchup really good against them."

Mavs Drop Game Two: Notes and Quotes

Wes Cox — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:38:44 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

"I don't know Lloyd. The french are assholes."

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Ugh. It was always a bit of wishful thinking to expect Dallas to leave San Antonio up two games, but that really sucked. There is a part of me though that wonders if we should have seen a loss like that coming.

All season long Dallas has seemed to play up or down depending on the situation. At OKC without Durant and Green - don't have to show up for that game. At home to Phoenix to all but clinch the postseason -- definitely ready for that one. On the road to Memphis -- go ahead and sit Howard, don't need him for them. Playing Houston for the sixth seed - that's a win for sure.

They have fallen victim to the easy games and the "trap games" the entire year, and that's sort of how this game was set up. Gregg Popovich said after the game that "[Dallas] did their job. They came in here and won a game. They're in great shape. They did what they wanted to do."

You'll only hear quotes to the contrary from the Mavs, but given this teams recent track record you have to wonder if that's exactly the mentality Dallas came into the game with.

-----------------

+ Wright started on Parker again. Same result.

+ Barea started the second half again. Different result.

+ Dallas had their first offensive rebound of the game with 4:33 left in the second quarter.

+ Two times Dallas committed a shot clock violation and had no idea it was coming. First it was Wright and then Howard.

+ Mavs offensive efficiency in game one: 127.41. Game Two: 96.52

+ Mavs defensive efficiency in game one: 116.54. Game Two: 116.14.

+ Player of the game: Jason Kidd? I don't know, help me out here...

+ Dirk made one jump shot tonight. A 17 footer four minutes into the game.

+ The Mavs 28 rebounds were the fewest they had in a game all season. In fact, Dallas hasn't had fewer rebounds in a game since they had 26 in a regular season loss to Utah on April 13th, 2007.

+ Behind Enemy Lines: "We aren't going to shoot 53% every game, and Tony especially isn't going to go 16-22 every game. Dallas isn't going to shoot 40% for the whole series either. And Dirk isn't going to be 3-14 every game - in fact, he's due for one of his typical badass scoring games. So, even when we play great defense, they still might beat us."

Tons of postgame quotes after the jump...

Rick Carlise

Disappointing game from our perspective obviously. San Antonio really brought up their level of aggression at the defensive end, and they were very good offensively. We're going to have to do better job at both ends ourselves. The first and third quarters were our undoing. In the third we got it down to nine, and then they got it back to 16 or 17 and we just couldn't get a handle on the game at that point. We've got to regroup, and we've got to do a lot of things better.

What kept the bench from being as effective as they were in game one?

Our whole team wasn't as effective. I wouldn't point to the bench. We struggled, and I though it was their aggressive posture that had more to do with it than anything. We're going to have to be better at both ends. I thought we were playing hard, but they were really just super aggressive.

Barea was kind of the x-factor in game one and Pop put Bruce on him. What do you do to counter that?

We're going to have to play better overall. We give up 39% three point shooting and 53% from the floor. You can talk about individual matchups, but overall our team is going to have to play better defensively. That will help our offense, and we'll have to put the ball in the hole when we get opportunities. Bowen is a guy that they're going to put on the best perimeter player, or the guy causing the most problems at that particular time. He does a great job, and we're just going to have to do better.

Were you guys just content to get out of town with the split?

Well I didn't think so. I thought we were playing hard and they just took it to another level tonight. That was the difference. We were never able to meet their level of intensity. It wasn't that we weren't playing hard, they just ramped it up higher.

They said they wanted to stop Dirk and he was 3-14 tonight...

Again, I think we're going to have to be better defensively. We're going to always get better shots and get our better players shots when we are getting stops. It's much harder when you are taking the ball out of the other teams baskets. We're going to have to work to get Dirk and JET more good looks. They're obviously a priority defensively for them, so that's going to be on the coaching staff's to-do. And we'll have to do that in the next couple of days obviously.

When a team is shooting 53% what do you to stop them when they're hitting everything?

You have to be better with your coverages. I think when we go look at the film we're going to see that there are areas we can improve on, obviously. It's tough with a guy like Parker who has great quickness. It's a tough guy to deal with, but it's a five man responsibility. And we're going to have to keep throwing a bunch of different guys at them. He's tough, but we're going to have to do better.

Dirk Nowitzki

They really executed their game plan a lot better than they did the other night. We didn't really have much going offensively, and then defensively we never really got a hold of Parker. He had nineteen points in the first quarter. It was a layup drill out there. He was shooting the ball well when we went under the screen and rolls, so he was fantastic tonight.

Talk about your night. 3-14, was it an off night or were they doing something in particular?

Well they did the same as the other night and I don't think that's going to change the rest of the series. Wherever I have the ball, they are going to come so... I had some good looks there in the second half and basically just missed a couple of shots. Got to the foul line early in the first half, made some good moves. Then in the second half you're down 20 so you shoot some three's and they just didn't go in tonight.

Is there anything you can do to get separation when they crowd you like that?

Not really. That's their game plan. Maybe catch the ball a little more on the move, but that's their game plan. They can give up layups behind me as long as I don't really get the ball. Even in transition when I run someone is running at me. That's their game plan. Those shots that I gotta take, have to be good shots, and I've got to make them.

Is there consolation that you're going back to Dallas with a split?

Yeah, I mean I guess a split in San Antonio, a tough building, is not bad. But when you win the first one you always want to get the second one. You're not happy with a split after you get the first one. Now we've got two days to go over our coverages because obviously our pick-and-roll coverage was... they really exploited it tonight. We've got some stuff to work on and a big game Thursday. You don't want to give that advantage right back. We've been a great home team all season long. Our fans will be crazy just like here in this building. Hopefully we can use that to our advantage.

Do you feel like defensive adjustments are the main thing you guys need to work on?

Well, like I said Parker was phenomenal, but he did get to the basket way too easy a bunch of times. So if we can cut away a couple layups that he had that might help. But he's one of the best in the business at getting to the basket and finishing around the big guys. There were a lot of layups out there, so we have to make sure we get our pick-and-roll coverage right.

Came off a little gingerly on your ankle. Is there any sort of long term injury there?

I was just a little banged up tonight. Banged my thumb, rolled my ankle on that one foul. That's what the playoffs are all about. Stuff happens. We've got two days off and I'll be fresh on Thursday.

Thumb is okay?

Yeah, I jammed that a long time ago this season, a couple of months ago. In this league stuff happens all the time. It's a physical game. I got hit on it today, and it was just a little sore. I got it taped and was able to finish the game.

Jason Terry

Talk about the job they did defensively.

It was the same thing they did in game one. I thought we just executed a lot better. But it wasn't the offense. Don't kid ourselves. We gave like 23 first quarter points to Tony Parker. It's unacceptable. We're going to have to adjust our game plan and really hone in on him. He's the head of the snake, so we've got to make somebody else beat us.

Why was he able to have so much success tonight?

Well first of all, you have to meet the challenge. We had four or five different guys on him. Me personally, gave up three or four quick baskets, so you have to look at yourself first. This is a guy that makes a living in the paint. Somehow we have to corral him and keep him out of the paint.

The first part is keeping him out of the lane. Once a guy gets in the lane repetitively he's in rhythm. It was his night tonight. Take your hat off to him, he played well. He stepped up for his team.

Jason Kidd

Any concern with the way you guys played tonight. More of a blowout loss than a competitive loss.

Well, I think we got off to a bad start. One of their best players had a big game. We all understand that they're a veteran ball club and were going to come out with their best game, and they did. We can't take away that we came and got one, so now we have to protect home court.

Tony Parker had 19 points in the first. You guys had nineteen as a team.

He got going early and he kept going. We've got to look at tape and see what we can do to make it tough on him. See if we can get somebody else to shoot the ball because he didn't miss tonight.

Outrebounded 44-28.

That shows that we weren't in the game at all tonight. When we rebound it gives us a chance to win, but tonight we never got any rebounds or any steals. We have to learn form our mistakes and get ready for game three.

They key in on the main guys like Dirk and Terry, so game one was about the role players stepping up. Tonight was different in that regard.

We just have to be patient. We can't start to stress out and take bad shots. We have to learn from game one that when people were touching the ball, we were moving it and getting open looks. We have to look at what we did right in game one and what we did wrong in game two.

Game three, you have to feel confident knowing you can beat this team.

Well, it's 1-1. It's a series now. We have to protect home. We've been playing well at home. We have to have that confidence and get our crowd involved, get two wins, and come back to San Antonio.

JJ Barea

We've got to do a better job on Thursday of starting the game. We can't let them get going like that.

How big was that? That huge start.

That's what did it. They finally got that confidence going. They got the crowd into the game, and that's what did it for them.

You guys cut it to nine.

Yeah, we kept fighting, but they weren't losing tonight. They did what they had to and played great. Give them all the credit.

They killed you on the boards tonight.

They killed us on everything tongiht. We just have to have couple of good practices and get ready for Thursday -- come out hard on Thursday.

Sunday Evening Donut Holes

Jakedfw — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:51:09 -0000

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While I’m as excited as anyone about the Mavs win over the Spurs on Saturday, I certainly don’t think there is any justification for thinking this series is over or that the Spurs will be easily handled. That said, I should note that my comments from Friday are still in effect: The Mavs offense is so deadly, the team could realistically get to the Conference Finals while playing mediocre defense.

With that in mind, I thought I’d bring a much needed reality check to the proceedings by providing a short ~~theft of~~ homage to Mike Fisher over at Dallasbasketball.com with my Sunday Donut Holes:

Donut Hole 1: The Spurs dictated the pace of the game. The Spurs entered the playoffs as the fourth-slowest team in the league, and a big part of their game plan is working within those confines. This provides a real comfort level for San Antonio when they can make the other team play their game, and that was exactly the case on Saturday. The Mavs are an average-paced team but look like the roadrunner when compared to the Spurs. In terms of specifics, the Mavs average 91.6 possessions per game, and the pace of Saturday’s game was a glacial 82.4 possessions, which as Wes mentioned was the second slowest game of the season for Dallas. The Mavs only had 4 fast break points, as well.

It would be foolish to say that being forced to play slow is a fatal problem for the Mavs, but make no mistake about it—the Mavericks would much prefer to be playing a faster game with more fast break points.

Donut Hole 2: The Mavs defense stunk. Sure, the Mavs played some great defense during stretches of the game, but that can’t hide the fact that we gave up nearly 100 points in a game played at a snail’s pace. To put this game in perspective, the Mavs had a defensive efficiency of 119.8. This is very similar to the defensive efficiency they had in the Utah game on February 5, which was actually a slightly better 118.6. The result of that game where the Mavs played better defense? Well, you may remember it—the Mavs lost by 28, 115-87.

And this, in a nutshell, is the scary part of the Mavs this post-season: Their offense has become so spectacularly good that they can play worse defense than in a game they lost by 28 earlier in the season and still win.

The frustrating part is that if the Mavs defense improved just slightly, this game would have been a double digit blowout. In terms of efficiency, the Spurs were helped a lot by some good offensive rebounding and a tremendous night beyond the arc. Think of it this way, if the Mavs perimeter defense had led to just two more missed threes, the Mavs win this game by 14 points. And even then the Spurs would have shot lights out from three point range.

Donut Hole 3: Tony Parker doesn’t need to solve J.J. Barea, he simply needs to remember this is a team game. This was a game of two halves for Parker, and the tale of the second half was Parker’s misguided attempt to single-handedly win the game by finishing at the rim. As a result, he turned the ball over and missed layups. Certainly some of that was due to Barea, but a bigger part was simply Parker’s pig-headedness. What makes this especially mind-boggling is how well his guards were shooting from the perimeter.

Don’t expect this to go unnoticed. In fact, I expect Popovich to look for more mid-range solutions to exploit the openings that Parker creates. My guess is that Finley’s minutes get dramatically reduced and Ime Udoka gets much more burn. Udoka is badly needed on the defensive side of the ball, and he can knock down a mid-range jumper if he’s wide open—which he will presumably be if his man is helping contain Parker. Also, I expect Duncan to have at least one or more 30+ point games.

Game 1 Quick Cap: We Have Them Right Where We Wanted Them

LatinD — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:57:43 -0000

Lookin' bleak

It's great that I get to write this Quick Cap. There's nothing quite like sitting in front of a keyboard right after a hard loss to a bitter rival in the first game of the postseason. Still, I feel it's my duty as the resident optimistic rube to try and find a positive outlook about this debacle. Thankfully, Spurredon posted this on the game thread:

We lost game one at home in round 1 in 2003, ‘05, and ’07. The latter two were just as uninspiring and poorly executed as this game. We’ll bounce back.

There you go, guys - for those of you unable to understand why we lost tonight, it's basically all part of a big plan to secretly mirror previous successful season. Look for Mason to start using his left hand to dribble and start driving to the basket in game 2.

So, what went right for the Spurs last night? Basically, Finley and Mason played at the level we wanted from them. They were absolutely outstanding from beyond the arc, and shot 9-10 from deep while the game was still a game. Finley in particular was incredibly effective, and even had some nice defense in the first half.

Duncan looked better than he has for many games, and played what would be considered a pretty good game by most standards: 27 points and 9 rebounds in 13-24 shooting are nothing to sneeze at. Timmy played good enough for us to win.

Parker looked great in spurts last night. He had a couple of miscues at the start and then simply dominated Wright. The Mavericks had no answer for them for a quarter. Unfortunately, Wright picked up three fouls and Barea was subbed in.

Gooden looked active when he was in. His shooting wasn't as accurate as it's been lately, but he hustled and defended Dirk as well as any Spur in recent history for a couple of plays in the second half. He looked especially good when compared to the other complimentary Spurs bigs.

What went wrong? Just about everything else. Most glaring of all was Bonner's plays. You could practically see the Mavs score climb by the second every time the ball went to Dirk and Matt was on him. It was pathetic. If Bonner doesn't shoot triples, he's useless in this series. I expect him to be hidden in the unfathomable depths of JV's edge of the bench if we are to have any chances in this series.

Parker's second half had everything to do with our loss. His inexplicable obsession with driving against Barea proved to be our undoing, and the offense got stagnant when he insisted on playing one-on-one ball and exploiting the supposed speed/skill difference against the Mavs upstart. Memo to Tony: Barea is quick. He can keep up with you.

There was one play in which Parker performed a vicious crossover and destroyed Barea's ankles. I wish that hadn't happened. Maybe it gave Parker the confidence to constantly challenge Barea, but the kid sure came back with a vengeance. Parker's ability to penetrate should've resulted in more perimeter shots, but I doubt the majority of his 8 assists came in that second half.

Tony's The Man right now, and while he wasn't chopped liver, we really need him to play at a higher level.

Last but not least, Dampier abused us on many ocassions, and Bonner has a pathetic flop against him that resulted on a fierce dunk over his prone body. Shameful.

What now? Stay calm, make changes, sub Bonner, focus and come back on Monday. It's our first true must-win game of the season, and I can't wait to see how our guys react.

What did you guys think?

(Go to Spurs.com's page for highlights and the postgame conference.)

EDIT: Added video of postgame reaction and comments.