| Mavericks Back In The Saddle Again With 106-102 Win Authored by Jonathan Wall - April 29, 2005 - 1:06 pm
The season was all but over with nine minutes remaining in the game Thursday night, as the Mavericks continued to make the chances of a Mark Cuban off-season fire sale a serious reality.
But something happened in the final eight and a half minutes of the game – the Mavericks decided to wake up and play.
It was a turnaround that nobody saw coming, as the Mavericks turned on the jets that everyone knew they had and busted the Rockets in the mouth with a 20-0 run that all but sealed the series momentum and game three win.
Scoring drives can be the difference between wins and losses, but 20-0 runs are usually runs that leave more than a lasting impression for the remainder of the series.
Tracy McGrady knows all too familiarly about jumping the gun into the next round of the playoffs. Just a couple seasons ago, McGrady made a comment that the series against Detroit was all but over with his Magic up 3-1.
After Thursday nights implosion by the Rockets, you can't help but wonder if the ghosts of playoffs past are paying McGrady another visit as his team blew their first fourth quarter lead of the series, and allowed the Mavericks to jump right back into the mix.
Things were different in the fourth quarter Thursday night as Dirk Nowitzki put the Mavericks on his back – leading the team with twenty-eight points, six rebounds and three assists in a workman like effort that impressed head coach Avery Johnson.
"What can you say about the man, he really put us on his shoulders tonight and led the team," Dallas head coach Avery Johnson said. "A lot of other guys stepped up tonight like Michael (Finley), but I think Dirk realized his role and took over tonight when he needed to."
For the first two games of the series, Dirk Nowitzki was hounded by Rockets guard Tracy McGrady in a defensive effort not seen from the wiry player since his early days in Toronto.
But things changed Thursday night.
Nowitzki was able to break off screens with ease and roll towards the basket; he also continually got McGrady to jump on his ball fakes – keeping the Rockets star honest all night long.
Nowitzki caused mismatch after mismatch for the entire forty four minutes he was on the floor, and for the first time this series Nowitzki looked genuinely comfortable on the court.
The win against the Rockets didn't come easy, as Dallas took a 5-point lead into halftime, only to watch it disappear into a 10 point deficit mid-way through the third quarter. But thing again were different Thursday night.
Instead of rolling over and playing dead, the team decided to fight fire with fire and play the same scrappy defense the Rockets played down the stretch in games one and two.
It was a good thing for Dallas that the Rockets didn't feel like playing along, as Dallas dominated Houston in every aspect in the fourth quarter in their most impressive performance thus far.
The knocks have been flowing in on the Mavericks for their current soft play, but Avery Johnson just knows that's part of the game description of being one of the hottest teams to end the regular season. Johnson hopes now that Thursday night's win will be the sign of things to come entering Saturday's game four.
"We're 16-2 (ending the regular season). I was supposedly one of the hottest young coaches and had it all going and everybody was excited. Dirk was MVP and Finley was the old wily veteran. But you lose one or two games and everybody's dumb. Nobody knows anything. So that's what you sign up for. This isn't over, we're going to come out here on Saturday and let our presence be known again." |
