Mavs Win Big 106-93 With MVP Performance by Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Celebrates in the 4th Quarter of the Mavs Blowout win.

(Thought I published this last night. Blogspot Blows!)

Well it appears as though I was wrong for the first time this series on my prediction (I'm normally awesome on 50-50 chance guesses) but I can't say I'm too disappointed about it as the Mavericks crushed the Spurs 106-93.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, and had 3 assists for good measure; outplaying Spurs PF Tim Duncan in the battle of the former MVP's who had 30, 8, and 1 assist. Nowitzki missed only 6 of the 17 shots he took from the floor and also went to the foul line 8 times making all of them in 43 minutes. This was the first game Dirk played like Dirk and it made this Mavericks victory that much easier for the rest of the team.

Jason Terry finally showed up and played big with 19 points on 50% shooting (3 of 5 from behind the arc) while also dishing out 4 assists. JET was guarded by Tony Parker the majority of the game as the Spurs concentrated their defense heavily on Josh Howard (as noted in my preview of the game), who was consistently double-teamed. The added pressure on J-Ho made it easier on Dirk and JET as they combined to score 50 points while shooting 58% and going 4 of 6 from long distance. Josh Howard (17 points 8 rebounds 3 steals 1 block) still played outstanding on both ends of the floor but Dirk scoring 30 and Terry getting 20 was an element (the main element) of the offense that Mavericks fans were accustomed to during the regular season, but had not seen thus far in the playoffs. With Josh Howard playing like he was along with the Mavs defense playing with aggressiveness and toughness; Dallas really didn't need their 2 best scorers to play out of their mind just to win a game, or for that matter a series. This is not only a change from this regular season, but a change from playoffs in the past.

The defense of the Dallas Mavericks did allow the Spurs to shoot 52% from the field but made the Spurs work for the majority of the open looks they got. The Mavs also ran out on 3-point shooters as evidenced by the Spurs going 3 of 16 from three. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan got theirs', scoring 56 points and shooting almost 60% combined. The rest of the Spurs, on the other hand, weren't so hot again as they (7 players) only scored 37 points combined while shooting 42%. On the bright side, this was a huge step up from game 4. Watching the game I did notice some uncontested shots, though. The Mavericks got a little lazy with this team aside from Timmeh and Frenchey and I assume it was because of how ice cold the rest of that Spurs team was. That's got to stop going into next series against (most likely) a Denver team with an outstanding group of offensive players; oh and that just beat New Orleans in New Orleans by 58 points in game 4.

The Mavericks took to the boards again and it shows how much more they wanted this game for the Spurs. Dallas out rebounded San Antonio 40-33, led by Erick Dampier's 2nd dub dub of the series with 12 rebounds and 11 points. On most occasions during a scuffle for the ball, in this series, the Mavs have won. Exhibit A: One play in the third quarter of this game saw a bad pass from JET that J-Kidd dove onto the floor for, then all in one motion, kept the ball away from Parker while zipping a pass (on his back) to Jason Terry in the front court. Jason Kidd has shown his high basketball smarts and veteran instincts all series long and I think he motivated the players around him immensely, this led to a 4-1 first round playoff win.

The Dallas Mavericks intensity, effort, and skill could not be matched in this series. San Antonio will now have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get rid of Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, Kurt Thomas, and Matt Bonner; and replace them with some players who can actually play some basketball.