| Total Domination Authored by Jonathan Wall - May 8, 2005 - 2:56 am
Question: What do the St. Louis Bombers of 1948 and the current Dallas Mavericks have in common?
They both totally destroyed and embarrassed their opponents by 39 and 40 points respectively in game seven's of their playoffs series – but it just so happens Dallas now owns the record for most lopsided win in NBA history as the Mavericks trashed the Houston Rockets at home 116-76.
"This series stretched us, we were bending but we didn't break," coach Avery Johnson said. "Defensively, this was the performance I was looking for this whole series. It was right on time."
Johnson couldn't have been happier about his teams' performance as Jason Terry scored a team-high 31 points, and Josh Howard chipped in with 21 to give Johnson his first playoff series victory in his head coach career.
If someone would have told you that Dirk Nowitzki would've ended Saturday nights game going 5-14 for only 14 points, you probably would have though that Dallas got crushed, but things are different in Dallas .
Saturday night's game showed one thing to the Phoenix Suns and to the rest of the NBA – that Dallas doesn't need their star to always be on to win a series. The bench play of Jerry Stackhouse, and the first half bench play of Darrell Armstrong allowed the Mavericks to build a 15 point halftime lead and coast from there.
Terry might have been the lead-point man in the game, but Johnson and the entire Mavericks squad was left gushing about guard Darrell Armstrong – who only got three hours of sleep prior to Saturday night's game in order to watch as much game footage of Rockets guard Mike James as possible – the sleepless night paid off.
Armstrong physically frustrated James, who has been a thorn in the Maveicks side all season. Armstrong made his point made to James late in the third quarter when he blocked a streaking James layup. In frustration, James came unglued and was eventually tossed from the game after arguing what he thought was a foul from Armstrong.
The tossing of James, and the despair on the face of Tracy McGrady said it all, Dallas finally found the key to beating Houston at their own game, as the Mavericks went to the hole early and often, while attempting ten more free throws than the Rockets on the night.
After a tough hard fought series, it was hardly the game that anyone expected, but sometimes these games are needed – especially for the Mavericks, who needed a serious
mental boost before facing the Phoenix Suns.
"We came out too flat," McGrady said. "We couldn't defend anybody. They were driving right by us. Guys were knocking down shots. I don't think we were ready for that."
The playoff win against the Rockets is enormous as the series showed the Mavericks that they can come out of a two game hole against even the best teams in the league. While the team did win the series, they will need Dirk Nowitzki to be on their game against the Phoneix Suns, the top scoring team in the league. |
