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Double Trouble

Authored by Jonathan Wall - April 26, 2005 - 2:49 am

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It’s hard to fault the Mavericks after Monday nights game. The team out rebounded, shot an almost even percentage as the Rockets, and looked like a team that should have prevailed – and yet they didn’t. Times are tough right now for a Maverick team that came into the playoffs as an early contender for a finals berth. And now here they are only two games from elimination after losing two games at home. Home court advantage is critical in the playoffs, and the Mavericks just squandered any mental edge they could have gained by squaring the series at the American Airlines Center. It’s tough to win consistently in the regular season on the road, but winning on the road in the playoffs is something that even the most seasoned teams find difficult. Dallas now finds itself in a position most teams dread of being in. The Mavericks got down early from the start as the Rocket tandem of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady dominated the soft Maverick’s defense during the first half. Yao was unstoppable as he went 6/6 from the field for 17 points and looked as polished as anyone has seen him all season. Without a stop for Yao, Tracy McGrady was able to penetrate the middle at will and hit outside shooters Bob Sure and Jon Barry for wide open jumpers that Dallas never contested. As the first half ended, Tracy McGrady threw down a thunderous dunk on Shawn Bradley that seemed to set the tone for the Rockets strong play. “(The dunk) is going to be on a poster that I’m going to give to my kids,” said Tracy McGrady after the game. “We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now, and I think getting two wins at Dallas and heading home up two is something you can only dream of.” Dallas was able to get a couple of leads in the second half as the Mavericks, led by Josh Howard and Jason Terry tried to help the team pull away with some clutch shooting and key cuts to the basket. Terry and Howard were the catalysts for the Maverick offense that seemed to go away from Dirk Nowitzki at times, as he was again shutdown by Rockets guard Tracy McGrady in a shooting performance that was reminiscent of game one. But it was all for naught as Tracy McGrady drained a jumper in front of Maverick Keith Van Horn with 2.2 seconds to seal a 113-11 win. “It’s frustrating to lose this game,” said Dallas head coach Avery Johnson. “We didn’t execute the game plan and we paid for it. We’re going to have to go over the game tape and get ready for the next game.” The Rockets are 17-1 when winning the first game of a playoff series - only leading to the hard to swallow fact that this series could end on Saturday in Houston. If Dallas is going to get the best of Houston, they’re going to need to find a way to get the ball down low to Nowitzki who was again wide open down in post. McGrady is playing some of his best defense of the season; however, Nowitzki is one of the top players in the league and needs to find a way to take over the game Thursday if the Mavericks want any shot of sending this series back to Dallas. If the Mavericks can’t find a way to win, then we could be seeing the off-season sooner than anybody thought.