Richard Jefferson rebounded from a rough start to the playoffs, scoring 19 points and it seemed as though he had some extra motivation after his coach's "played like dogs" comment after game-one. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)Love him or hate him, you have to give Spurs' Coach Gregg Propovich credit for this one, he certainly pushed the right buttons. Tim Duncan (25 points), Manu Ginobili (23 points), and Tony Parker (16 points and eight assists off the bench) certainly did their job, but the resurgent play of Richard Jefferson put San Antonio over the top. Jefferson made 7-12 baskets for 19 points after scoring only four points total in game-one as he provided another consistent scorer for an already potent Spurs' lineup.
"Richard was huge for us tonight," Popovich said. "He didn't have a great game in game-one obviously. But tonight he was in attack mode. He looked for his jump-shot, he drove it, he rebounded, he worked hard on [defense].
"He was really important."
The fire that Jefferson showed in his play, fighting for a loose ball or diving on the ground trying to get the basketball, was also prevalent among his teammates - especially early-on. Unfortunately for the Dallas Mavericks, they didn't show much competitive fire to start the game. The Spurs jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game as the Mavericks dealt with blown defensive assignments that led to easy baskets and Dirk Nowitzki taking a seat on the bench thanks to two quick fouls.
"We blew three coverages on the first three plays of the game," Coach Rick Carlisle said. "Those are mental mistakes. They score, Dirk has two fouls, and we're digging ourselves out of a hole from there. In the playoff's you've got the be very precise."
Dallas compounded their defensive miscues by missing their first five shots from the field ans the Mavs didn't make their first basket, a Caron Butler 3-pointer, until 7:45 left in the first quarter. The Mavericks did make a run to end the first down by only four, but the next quarter brought about more miscues on the defensive side of the floor. San Antonio scored 34 points in the second quarter, making 15 of 22 shots from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
"The second-quarter we gave up 30-something points," Jason Kidd said. "Against a team like San Antonio, you can't do that if you want to win."
The Spurs took a 12 point lead (58-46) into halftime and led by as many as 20 points in the third (80-60) before the Mavericks made one final push. Back-to-back Kidd and Jason Terry 3's capped a 12-2 run that saw the Mavericks claw their way back to within eight (80-72) going into the fourth. Dallas got as close as 89-84 in the final quarter, but the Spurs pulled away thanks to four-straight buckets inside from Duncan that basically sealed the game for San Antonio.
"We made a heck of a comeback," Nowitzki said. "We were right there in the fourth quarter. We had the crowd involved but just couldn't come up with the big plays at the end.
"Everybody tried to put it on their own shoulders instead of playing together and executing."
Nowitzki finished the game with 24 points but it took him 27 shots to get there. He also brought down 10 rebounds and dished out four assists but, even though Popovich still refused to double-team him for the majority of the game, Nowitzki wasn't able to get into a rhythm offensively. Combine that with the fact that Duncan was able to put the Spurs on his shoulder's late - making four shots in a row down the stretch, scoring 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second-half, and pulling down 17 rebounds. And this series is tied 1-1 going to San Antonio.
"They were definitely ready," Nowitzki said. "We just forced a couple of things."
In the end Popovich had his team ready to go, while Dallas got off to a slow start and didn't get going until the second-half. Carlisle acknowledged after the game that he has a veteran team that knew the Spurs were going to play desperate in game-two, so there was no reason for such an energy let-down to start the game. But lets not overlook the fact that Dallas, for the second straight game, allowed San Antonio to shoot around 50 percent from the floor (48.2) and this time saw the Spurs make a whopping 8 of 15 attempts from 3. Defense that this is going to get you beat no matter what but especially as this Mavs team finished the game at 36.5 percent. It was just a bad night all the way around for the Dallas Mavericks, but it's obviously no time to panic.
"People come back from losses," Popovich said. "And [Dallas] will too. I expect Dallas will come out and be quite sharp on Friday night and we'll have our hands full."
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