Dallas Mavericks Blog – Page 87 – NBA Blog

Roy has 24 in Blazers 84-82 Game 4 win over Mavs

The AP reports:

Brandon Roy’s season had been fraught with uncertainty, first over the stability of his knees, then over his diminished role with the team.

All those doubts melted away on Saturday when he led the Portland Trail Blazers to one of the greatest comebacks in NBA playoff history.

With 39.2 seconds left, Roy made a go-ahead bank shot that gave the Trail Blazers a stunning 84-82 comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks—and evened their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

Roy finished with 24 points—18 in the fourth quarter alone—as the Blazers erased a 23-point deficit. Portland became the third NBA team in the shot clock era to win a playoff game when trailing by 18 points or more heading into the fourth quarter…

Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points to lead the Mavericks. Terry finished with 13 off the bench.

Aldridge finished with 18 points for the Blazers, while Gerald Wallace had 10 points and 11 rebounds…

Wesley Matthews led the Blazers with 25 points in Portland’s 97-92 victory in Game 3 on Thursday night, which drew the Blazers within 2-1 into best-of-7 series.

Projectile at Blazers-Mavs Game 3 in Portland struck Mark Cuban in face

Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas reports:

An object thrown from the Rose Garden stands hit Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban in the face during Thursday night’s Game 3 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The incident occurred midway through the fourth quarter after Cuban had been interacting with the fans in the section behind the Mavericks’ bench. Cuban was not injured.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Uh, that’s not cool. Don’t do stuff like that, fans.

Matthews scores 25 as Blazers beat Mavs 97-92 in Game 3

The AP reports:

Matthews scores 25 and Blazers beat Mavs 97-92 in Game 3

Wesley Matthews had 25 points and the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Mavericks 97-92 on Thursday night to narrow Dallas’ lead in the first-round playoff series to 2-1.

Jason Terry had 29 points coming off the bench early for the Mavericks, including five 3-pointers.

The Blazers led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but Dirk Nowitzki hit consecutive jumpers to make it 87-81 midway through the period…

Aldridge finished with 20 points for the sixth-seeded Blazers, while Brandon Roy had 16 off the bench.

Nowitzki had 25 points and nine rebounds for the third-seeded Mavs…

Portland went ahead 85-74 in the fourth after consecutive 3-pointers from Batum and Gerald Wallace.

InsideHoops.com notes: The Mavs shot 51.5%, the Blazers 48.0%. Portland nailed 8-of-14 from three-point range, while Dallas hit 9-of-22. Rebounding was even, and assists were pretty close, but the Mavs had 16 turnovers, the Blazers just nine.

Dirk scores 33, Mavs beat Blazers 101-89 in Game 2

The AP reports:

Peja Stojakovic tied his career playoff best with five 3-pointers and had 21 points, and Jason Kidd continued his surprising scoring surge with 18 points, powering the Mavericks to a 101-89 victory on Tuesday night in Game 2 of their first-round series.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 33 points, but was practically a complementary player. He was at his best after the 30-something, former All-Stars built the lead, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter—including the team’s final 11— to help the Mavericks keep the Trail Blazers from ever making a serious push. He scored 18 in the fourth quarter of Game 1…

Portland had a lot of things go right, from LaMarcus Aldridge scoring 24 to Gerald Wallace and Wesley Matthews regaining their scoring touch after struggling in the opener. But the Trail Blazers got only 11 points from their bench, none in the second half. And while they were limiting Nowitzki to 5 of 15 shooting through three quarters, former All-Stars Kidd and Stojakovic were lighting them up…

Wallace and Andre Miller each scored 18 points for Portland. Matthews added 13. But Nicolas Batum’s 10 points and a free throw by Rudy Fernandez were all the points by reserves. Brandon Roy played 8 minutes and missed the only shot he took. The five backups who got into the game were a combined 4 for 11.

Looking ahead to Mavs-Blazers Game 2

By Scott Spangler

A thing of beauty, it was not. The Dallas Mavericks suffered through an 11-minute second-half drought only to emerge an eight-point winner over the Portland Trail Blazers. For a stretch there, we could have been watching Butler hurl tire irons in the National Championship Game.

Then came the Maverick parade to the foul line, and a couple timely yet unlikely Jason Kidd jumpers – off the dribble. This is not to suggest Kidd cannot knock down an open look, but usually those are of the set-shot variety.

There was some mention today out of the Portland camp that the wide-open opportunities by Kidd must be eliminated.

Yeah, okay.

Believe what you like, but Blazers guard Andre Miller will not be playing the Maverick PG straight up. No one does. Nate McMillan will do what Gregg Popovich did last year against Dallas. Cut Kidd lose and live with the consequences.

Portland will look for Wesley Matthews and Gerald Wallace to get on track. Wallace logged 39 minutes and was little more than a warm body on the floor. Matthews took only three shots, made one, and never looked comfortable.

Andre Miller did enjoy a solid shooting night, but Dallas was all too happy to watch him launch 20-footers against the shot clock late Saturday.

All that said, the Trail Blazers plan to force the issue in Game Two. Nate McMillan talked Monday about Dallas packing the paint and daring his club to take perimeter shots.

Portland wants to make Dallas pay for playing straight up. To do that, Matthews has to bring more to the party than 1 for 3 shooting.

Nate McMillan not a happy camper

By Scott Spangler

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan was visibly upset after his team dropped Game 1 in Dallas to the Mavericks Saturday night. After seeing the Mavericks shoot six more free throws in the fourth quarter than the Blazers did the entire contest, McMillan voiced his displeasure.

“The free throws, I just don’t get that,” McMillan said. “It’s hard for our guys to know how to play out there when it’s called a little different. And I felt like we were attacking and guys really didn’t know how to play with the fouls that we’re being called.”

Look, this is what a coach is supposed to do. Despite the rumblings out of that locker room or Portland, Nate would not be doing his job if he failed to lay into officiating fresh off this loss. Basically, this is Phil Jackson 101.

After watching the game last night, it was apparent the Mavericks had to change things up after going nearly 11 minutes without scoring. This is a team well-known for “settling” late in games. Dallas is a perimeter-oriented bunch, and they were playing right into Portland’s hands.

Dirk Nowitzki proceeded to force the issue. He drove the ball from the right baseline, got a call. Then another. When it was all over, Dirk ended up attempting (and hitting) 13 free throws.

Nate McMillan’s club would shoot only twice from the line in the fourth quarter compared to 19 for the Mavs. Whether you are of the opinion the calls were questionable or not, the discrepancy certainly affected the outcome.

“A lot of touch fouls and I thought that turned momentum and pretty much gave them control of the game in the fourth quarter,” McMillan said. “This game was pretty much decided at the line in the fourth quarter.”

Again, this is the game coaches must play in the playoffs. Was Nate legitimately irritated with the fouls? No doubt, he was. But this is a series. And any coach worth his salt realizes the media is a tool to campaign, to plant a seed. He realizes it might be the difference in a pivotal call late Tuesday night.

Expect a softening of his stance between now and then, but not too much. The message is out there and it lingers. NBA officials are human and while they may think to themselves, this sort of talk will not affect how a game should be called, more often than not it seems there is overcompensation the other way. Call me crazy, but that’s how I see it.

Should Dallas be be outshot by 15 attempts in Game Two, I would expect to hear some of the same out of Rick Carlisle.

Dirk scores 28, Mavs beat Blazers 89-81 in Game 1

The AP reports:

Dirk Nowitzki knows how to take over a game when the Dallas Mavericks need him the most, and Jason Kidd can still make some big shots.

Nowitzki scored 18 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and the 38-year-old Kidd had a playoff career-best six 3-pointers among his 24 points as Dallas defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 89-81 Saturday night in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series…

Nowitzki scored 12 consecutive points in the game-turning spurt in the closing minutes when Dallas tied the game and eventually went ahead to stay. In the opener of his 11th consecutive postseason appearance with the Mavs, the perennial All-Star made all 13 of his free throws—all in the fourth quarter…

LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points for Portland and Andre Miller had 18.

Jason Terry freaks out on Mavs bench

Jeff Caplan of ESPN.com reports:

It was a drama-filled second quarter with Jason Terry getting in the face of teammate J.J. Barea during a timeout and then coach Rick Carlisle emphatically pointing at Terry seated on the bench before tossing Terry out of the huddle.

Terry angrily removed himself to a seat at the end of the bench where owner Mark Cuban quickly met him and began trying to cool him down. Cuban again spoke with Cuban on the court during the next timeout. This all transpired at the 9:54 mark of the second quarter with the Mavs trailing the Los Angeles Clippers, 39-25. Terry remained planted at the end of the bench the rest of the way while his teammates clawed back from an embarrassing first quarter in which L.A. scored 35 points and led by 16.

Bryant scores 28 to lead Lakers over Mavs

The AP reports:

Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, Andrew Bynum had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 110-82 in a testy affair in which four players were ejected Thursday night.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Lakers’ Matt Barnes and the Mavericks’ Jason Terry and Brendan Haywood were thrown out following an altercation under the basket. Los Angeles’ Shannon Brown was later ejected in a separate incident.

InsideHoops.com notes: The Lakers shot 44.7 percent from the field; the Mavs only hit 36.1 percent. The Lakers hit 28-of-39 free throws; the Mavs 16-of-23. For Dallas in the loss, Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points and 13 rebounds, but no other starter scored more than nine points. Off the Dallas bench, Peja Stojakovic scored 13 while Jose Barea had 10.

Mavs reach 11th straight 50-win season

The AP reports:

Dirk Nowitzki had 30 points and 11 rebounds, Jason Terry added 18 points and the Mavericks rallied in the fourth quarter for a 104-96 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, giving Dallas 50 wins for the 11th straight season.

Shawn Marion added 17 points and Peja Stojakovic had 16 to help the Mavericks win for the third time in four games.

Anthony Randolph had a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who’ve lost their last five games and are without injured All-Star forward Kevin Love.