Game 3: Dallas at Memphis (March 29)
Memphis jumped out to a 10-5 lead with 8:30 left as Dallas had shooting
woes in this game and Josh Howard picked up 2 early fouls and sat for the
rest of the quarter. Memphis led 14-11 with 4:35 remaining and the
Grizzlies went on a 9-2 run to go up 23-13 with a minute to go as Dallas
went through a 3 1/2 minute field goal drought. Dirk Nowitzki had a dunk
and 2 free throws to close the quarter. Memphis led 23-17 after 1 (and
Dallas had to be glad it was just a 6 point deficit). Eddie Jones and
Nowitzki had 9 points. Dallas shot just 5-18 FG in the quarter. Memphis
continued to hold a single-digit lead in the 2nd quarter. Consecutive
jumpers by Howard and a jumper by Devin Harris pulled Dallas within 33-34
with 4:30 to go, but Memphis then scored the next 7 points, capped by a
3-pointer by Chucky Atkins, to go up 41-33 with 3 minutes left. The
teams traded a series of misses before Dallas scored 4 straight points to
pull within 38-41 with 35 seconds to go. But Dallas laid an egg to close
the quarter as Eddie Jones hit 1-2 FT, Jerry Stackhouse was called for an
offensive foul, Atkins got a layup with 3 seconds left, Harris fumbled
away the inbounds pass and then committed the dumb foul, Hakim Warrick hit
2 free throws with a fraction of a second left, and Stackhouse was again
called for an offensive foul (but Memphis didn't get off a last shot
before the quarter buzzer). Memphis led 46-38 at the half. Memphis shot
7-14 FG and 8-10 FT in the 2nd quarter, but again had turnovers woes in
committing 7 turnovers in the quarter. Dallas' shooting still wasn't
great at 9-21 FG, but better than the 1st quarter. Jason Terry opened the
3rd quarter with a jumper, but Atkins answered with a 3-pointer. Memphis
led 51-42 with 10:25 remaining and Dallas rattled off the next 6 points to
pull within 48-51 with 8:31 to go. Then it got ugly as both teams scored
just 4 points each over the next 4:20 of game time. The teams did manage
to score 4 points each over the next minute and Memphis led 59-56 with
3:05 to go. A layup by Nowitzki pulled Dallas within 1 point with 2:35
remaining. Both teams only connected on 2 free throws each the rest of
the quarter. Memphis led 61-60 after 3. Terry and Nowitzki had 10 points
each in the quarter in scoring all but 2 of Dallas' 3rd quarter points.
Dallas out-scored Memphis 22-15 in the quarter as Memphis shot just 4-16
FG. The offensive drought for both teams continued in the 4th quarter as
a jumper by Shane Battier was the only points scored over almost the first
4 minutes of the quarter (and his jumper with 10:05 left ended an almost 7
1/2 minute field goal drought for Memphis). Adrian Griffin hit a short
jumper to pull Dallas within 62-63 with 8 minutes left (and ended Dallas'
6 1/2 minute field goal drought). The teams traded buckets and a layup by
Pau Gasol put Memphis up 67-64 with 6:55 remaining. On Dallas' 2nd
attempt Nowitzki hit a jumper, Memphis missed, and Nowitzki nailed a
3-pointer to give Dallas their first lead since early in the game at 69-67
with 5:40 left. The teams traded buckets and Dallas led 71-69 with 4:50
to go. Memphis scored the next 6 points to go up 75-71 with 2:15 left as
Dallas committed 3 turnovers and missed a shot. The teams traded misses,
Terry missed, but Stackhouse got the rebound and Howard was fouled inside
and hit 1-2 FT with 1:15 to go - Erick Dampier got the rebound off the
missed free throw, but Howard missed with a minute left. Memphis ran some
time off the clock and Atkins was fouled with 37 seconds remaining. He
hit 1-2 FT - and Nowitzki got the rebound. Terry drove and was fouled
with 28 seconds left. He 1-2 FT, but Dampier tapped the rebound out and
Terry got the ball and Dallas called timeout down by 3 points. Terry
drove and missed the runner, Dampier missed the putback attempt, and the
ball was tapped out (Dampier got a lot of credit for this tap out, but it
looked as if Battier was the one who actually tapped it out), and Nowitzki
got the ball, took one dribble to the side, and drained the fade-away
3-pointer with 15.7 seconds remaining to tie the game at 76-76 - the
shot also ended Dallas' 4 1/2 minute field goal drought. Memphis brought
the ball up without a timeout and ran the clock down. Atkins drove and
his short runner missed with about a second left and Dampier got the
rebound and time expired (Dallas was out of timeouts). Overtime. Dallas
shot 6-19 FG and Memphis shot 6-17 FG in the 4th quarter, but Dallas
out-rebounded Memphis 15-8 including 9-3 in the last 4 minutes of the
quarter. Dallas "out-scored" Memphis 16-15 in the 4th quarter. Memphis
scored just 30 points in the 2nd half, setting the opponent playoff record
low for points in a 2nd half. Dampier stayed on the court to open
overtime and won the jumpball. Howard nailed a 3-pointer late in the shot
clock, but Battier answered with a 3 20 seconds later. Nowitzki hit a
15-foot fade-away late in the shot clock, Gasol missed inside, and
Nowitzki nailed a quick 3-pointer to put Dallas up 84-79 with 3:15
remaining. Gasol hit 1-2 FT and Stackhouse hit a short jumper late in the
shot clock to give Dallas a 6 point lead with 2:25 left. The teams traded
misses. Nowitzki fouled Gasol inside and got him on the head on the
follow-through and Nowitzki was called for a flagrant foul. Gasol hit 1-2
FT and then Mike Miller got a layup (his 1st field goal of the game) to
pull Memphis within 83-86 with 55 seconds to go. Again late in the shot
clock, Terry drove for a layup and was fouled. He hit the extra to give
Dallas a 6 point lead with 33 seconds left. Miller got a quick dunk and
Terry was intentionally fouled with 20 seconds left. He hit both free
throws. Atkins missed and Stackhouse was intentionally fouled. And he
hit both free throws to give Dallas a 93-85 lead with 15 seconds left.
Miller got a layup, Nowitzki hit 1-2 FT, and a layup by Atkins with a
couple of seconds left capped the scoring. Dallas won 94-89 in overtime.
Dallas leads the series 3-0.
Wow. Like most, I thought this was over midway through the 4th quarter.
Memphis was the much better team through 3 1/2 quarters. Dallas just
showed the guts and determination not to give up or fold and managed to
pull a rabbit out of the hat - or a 3-pointer off the elbow. The Mavs
were actually lucky that Jason Terry's layup didn't go and Erick Dampier's
putback also failed as Dirk Nowitzki's prayer was answered. They were
also lucky as Chucky Atkins got a very good luck at a shot at the end of
regulation. Once overtime came, you could tell that momentum had changed
and Memphis was left simply wondering how they lost this game. The Mavs
played poorly on both offense and defense in the 1st half, and were
thankful for Memphis' many 2nd quarter gifts that allowed them to hang
around. The defense picked up in the 2nd half and both teams struggled to
score in the 2nd half. Dallas out-scored Memphis 48-30 in the 2nd half as
Memphis shot just 10-33 FG in the half. Dallas out-scored Memphis 18-13
in overtime as Dallas hit their first 4 shots of the extra period. For
the game, Dallas shot 41.2% (35-85) FG including 5-20 3-pointers and
Memphis shot 40.8% (31-76) FG including 4-13 3-pointers. Dallas shot
19-22 FT (including 5-6 FT on intentional fouls) and Memphis shot 23-30
FT. Dallas out-rebounded Memphis 50-42 including 17-11 offensive. The
Mavs had 25 2nd chance points and Memphis had just 8 2nd chance points.
Overall both teams were fairly clean with the ball as Dallas had 12
turnovers and Memphis had 11 turnovers - but 7 of those came in the 2nd
quarter. Memphis has now lost 11 straight playoff games.
Dirk, Dirk, Dirk! No question that the star of the game was Dirk
Nowitzki. He had just 12 points in the 1st half, but had 10 points in the
3rd quarter, 8 points in the 4th quarter (including the game tying clutch
shot), and 6 points in overtime. He had a game high 36 points on 12-25
FG, 4-10 3-pointers, and 8-9 FT. And it wasn't just scoring: he tied for
a team high 9 rebounds and had a team high 5 assists in 48 minutes.
Nowitzki sprained his ankle late in the 4th quarter, but was able to
continue playing. Jason Terry had 22 points (missed all 5 3-pointers he
attempted, but shot 9-17 inside the arc), 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. And
he didn't turn the ball over in 46 minutes on the court. But the boards
were the key and you have to look to Nowitzki, Erick Dampier, and Adrian
Griffin for those. Dampier only had 2 points on 1-3 FG, but had 9
rebounds including 4 offensive - and that's not including a couple of
tap-outs on rebounds. He also had 2 blocks. Griffin had is usual hustle
and was a monster on the boards - it's just effort for him. He had 4
points, 9 rebounds including 6 offensive, and 4 assists. Josh Howard was
plagued with foul trouble, but scored 16 points and had 6 rebounds
despite his 5 fouls. DeSagana Diop did have a little bit of foul
trouble, but his time was limited more due Dampier's good play. Diop
didn't attempt a shot and had 6 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse's shot
remains off as he shot just 4-12 FG in this game. But a couple of the
shots were timely as were a couple of his 5 rebounds. He was collecting
offensive fouls like crazy, though. Marquis Daniels and Devin Harris
didn't do much. Daniels missed his 2 shot attempts and had 1 rebound, 1
assist, and 2 turnovers in 13 minutes. Harris had 4 points including 1-4
FG, 1 rebound, and 1 turnover in 7 minutes.
Chucky Atkins had his best game of the series with 20 points. He also
had 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Pau Gasol continues not to ****ne. He did
have 16 points, but shot just 6-17 FG. Gasol also had 7 rebounds, 3
assists, and 4 turnovers in his 40 minutes. Eddie Jones had 14 points,
but shot just 4-11 FG. He also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Shane
Battier was quiet and steady with 10 points and 6 rebounds. Jake
Tsakalidis' strong 1st game is long forgotten as he played just 6 minutes
in this game and missed his only attempt and had 1 rebound, 2 turnovers,
and 3 fouls. Lorenzen Wright had a double-double off the bench with 10
points and 10 rebounds. He also had 3 blocks. The 6th man remained the
invisible man as all 6 of Mike Miller's points came with less than a
minute left in overtime. The rookie Hakim Warrick had 11 points including
2-7 FG in 13 minutes. Bobby Jackson had 2 points on 1-3 FG and 4
rebounds. Dahntay Jones didn't attempt a shot in 6 minutes.
Quotes [Johnson's, Nowitzki's, Fratello's, and Gasol's quotes transcribed
by me]
Avery Johnson: "It was a big win for us tonight. I'm really, really proud
of our guys with this gutsy performance. This is probably one of the most
special wins that I've been a part of here. Obviously we had some last
year in the playoffs also. Even when I was a player here, we've had some
special wins. But this was a gutsy performance. We had a reason, really,
to give up, but we didn't give up. They battled, Memphis battled. What a
great ball game - and I know it's easy for to say because we won. But I
just told everybody Memphis is one of the top teams in the NBA, one of the
top teams in our conference, and it's just a battle to play against them.
We know their fans were going to be in the game, we anticipated that. We
anticipated somethings not going our way. But what a gutsy performance.
All of the things that's said about us, you can put this one down as
gutsy by the coach, I'm saying that. I'm really proud of them tonight. I
don't care what our defensive rating is, I don't care what our offensive
efficiency is. I really wanted to see if we could win this game because I
think if you really want to have a special year, Game 3 is a big swing
game in a series. Obviously this series is not over. Obviously we're not
in total control. I think you're really not in total control until the
series is over. So I'm really proud of our guys. Gutsy performance by
the Grizzlies. But we're fortunate to win this tough game in this
environment on the road."
Johnson on offensive rebounds: "Yeah, that's been a big key for us. Griff
has been huge for us in that area. Josh got a big one for us. Again, we
think more possessions and more shots at the basket, it can be pretty
effective for us. We didn't shoot a great percentage, but that's okay.
We got in there and made some big shots when they counted. Adrian Griffin
made a big shot, Josh made a big shot. JET carried us there for a stretch
when Dirk was a little winded. Then the MVP comes out and scores a big 3
to send this game basically in to overtime. What a game from him. You
know, 48 minutes, 36 points, almost 10 rebounds. Man, what a performance
by a guy that's had an MVP season and we're glad he's on our team."
Johnson on defense in the 2nd half: "Yeah, we just couldn't score for a
stretch. I was telling Mark Cuban, our owner, we got stuck on 61 for such
a long time. And I was telling him he probably wasn't paying the guys
enough money or something, man. We just got stuck there for a while. So
we were fortunate to get off 61. But our defense, again, something that
I've been trying to hammer here all year, when you can't score in a
playoff game, can you get 3 stops in a row or 5 stops in a row and hold a
team at bay - because they really could have got away from us during that
stretch where we were struggling to score. But again, we thought our
defense - they missed some shots - but we thought our defense was there.
And Damp and DeSagana's playing some really physical basketball and
battling Gasol as best as they can."
Johnson on Dallas' shooting: "But we hadn't really struggled from a
percentage basis this series, but we knew when you're playing against a
team that doesn't give you many points, you're not going to be able to
shot a high percentage all the time. I was just disappoint that our
execution was so bad in the 1st half. So again, I won't have a problem
getting their attention tomorrow in practice because now they see really
how Memphis is and hard it is to win in this building. So it's still a 7
game series."
Johnson on Nowitzki's less shot attempts in the 1st half: "Well, yeah, we
talked about it [at halftime], but we had other guys doing some different
things and they were double-teaming him, that's why you saw some of our
other guys sla****ng to the basket, getting some easy buckets, because
their whole team was concentrating on Dirk. We kind of knew that a little
bit, that they would pay him a lot more attention, especially with the way
he's been playing in this series. So then what needs to happen: Jason
Terry or Josh Howard or Stackhouse needs to come up and do something for
us. And Stack got 1 or 2 baskets for us during that stretch, which kept
them at bay. So again, we're just happy to have this win. And the way it
happened. You know, it's not like winning by a large margin. This was a
gutsy performance."
Johnson on defending Gasol: "Well, first of all, let's take the referees
out of it because I don't want nothing to get misconstrued in the media,
first of all. We want to be physical in nature. We historically haven't
been as physical as I want us to be. So we're not as much as a finesse
team. We're trying to be a little more physical, but again, you've got to
battle Gasol. I need our 5 men [centers] to battle him, meet him early as
much as possible, make it difficult on him. And if he makes a few shots
from the outside, we'll have to live with it. But he kills you on
penetration."
Dirk Nowitzki on his game tying 3-pointer: "Well, I think Damp did a great
job all night long keeping balls alive for us. And for some reason he
tipped it out and I was right there. And my 3-ball didn't really feel
great all night long, but at this point I felt - took a dribble to the
left and got rid of Gasol a little bit - and at that point I thought about
tying the game. When it left my hand, it didn't really feel great, but
obviously I'm glad it went in. They still had a great shot at it, Chucky
had a good look at a layup, and we were lucky to get it into overtime."
Nowitzki on overtime: "Well, they basically had the game won and obviously
it's always a heartbreaker if a team ties it at the end and sends it into
overtime, so we felt pretty good at our chances. But still, overtime is a
long time. It's 5 minutes and a lot of things can happen. But I thought
our defense was really outstanding in the 2nd half and in overtime we made
stuff hard on Pau. We tried to find their shooters and I think it was a
defensive battle for both teams all game long and we were just lucky to
make some shots at the end."
Nowitzki: on the shooting problems: "I think it's a little bit of both.
But we have to give both defenses credit. I think it was a physical game.
Everybody got in each other's faces and made stuff hard. Obviously when
you play a team 3 times in a couple of days, everybody knows what you're
going to do and you can kind of sit on what the other guy's going to do.
So it was hard to score out there for both teams. And like I said, we
really didn't execute our offensive great, but at least our defense was
there. Our approach this year is defense first and it won us a lot of
games. 60 games is another great year for us. A lot of those games we
won with our defense down the stretch and that was another today."
Nowitzki: "Obviously today was a big game. If it would have been 2-1,
they would have been even more fired up on Monday to tie the series and go
back to Dallas. This was great to get it and be up 3-0. But I always use
the example a couple of years ago when we went to the Western Conference
Finals we were up against ****tland 3-nothing and they ended up giving the
series and we had to win in game 7 at home. Obviously in this league
there are so many competitors that you can never relax. They have a lot
of pride and they'll come ready to play on Monday. So we have to be ready
for another battle. It's a fun atmosphere in this arena so hopefully we
can come out with another win."
Nowitzki: "Like I said, they have a solid team. They're coming so I'm
expecting more of the same on Monday. But, like I said, this was a tough
one for them to swallow. They were right there and should have won the
game. But like I said, they'll be ready to play. They're a great coached
team and they'll come ready to roll on Monday."
Nowitzki: "Like I said, we were great on the offensive boards. I don't
even know - we had 25 2nd chance points to their 8. That's great. Damp's
been big for us on the glass. Adrian Griffin had 6 offensive rebounds. I
think all night we got 2nd chance points and that's big, especially if
you're not shooting the ball that well, to go back in there and get some
rebounds, get us some 2nd chances, and to score. You know we have a lot
of shooters out there so once we get a 2nd look at it, obviously it helps.
So that was a big possession, I'm glad we got it."
Josh Howard: "They came out and played real, real hard and actually had a
chance to win the game, but Dirk hit that big 3-pointer for us."
Howard: "Just as you think things are starting to go wrong, our All-Star
comes through to hit the big 3 that sends us into overtime."
Howard on if he thought at any point that Memphis was going to win its
first playoff game: "Shoot, yeah. The entire game."
Jason Terry: "We just have to go out and execute our game plan and come
out aggressive in [game 4]. I thought tonight they came out and they were
the aggressor in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half we came out, answered
the bell, and came out fighting."
Terry: "Sheer will and determination. It's the fight in us that we've had
consistently all year long. They came out and set the tone - give them a
lot of credit. But in that 2nd half, we came out ready to play and they
were going to have to knock us out."
Terry: "In the 1st half, they were getting the rebounds. In the 2nd half
and in overtime, we win the rebounding and we win the game."
Terry: "The loose rebounds have been an emphasis for us. We knew that
Memphis is a team that likes to tip the ball out a lot."
Terry on Nowitzki: "He was sheerly amazing, sheerly amazing."
Terry on Nowitzki: "He's being doing it all year. Awards are given out in
the regular season, but legends are made in the post season."
Jerry Stackhouse: "We've had games like this one, in particular 1 game
like that here. You have to look at it when shots aren't falling and go
to some defensive stops and offensive rebounds. They were beating us on
hustle in the 1st half."
Stackhouse: "We weren't scoring, but we were rebounding the heck out of
it."
Stackhouse: "They were beating us on hustle in the 1st half."
Stackhouse: "It's great to have #41 [Nowitzki] to take and make that shot.
But what #25 [Dampier] did was just as big. Without him tipping that
rebound out, we don't win."
Stackhouse: "Everybody contributed. And it's good to have #41, don't get
me wrong. But #25 was big."
Erick Dampier: "I'm sure they are going to come out and play hard the next
game. We hit a couple of big shots tonight; Dirk hit some that sent us
into overtime. We were able to capitalize on that. They couldn't score,
but we had to do a good job at rebounding."
Dampier: "The offensive rebounds I got were big for us. I tried to tip it
in, but it didn't go go in the first time so I just tried to tip it out.
Fortunately it went to Dirk and he hit a big 3 for us to send it to
overtime."
Dampier: "Go ask any one of the guys in this locker room, and they know
that without that tip and either of those 2 rebounds after missed free
throws, we lose this game."
Dampier on Nowitzki's 3-pointer: "Dirk just happened to be in the right
place at the right time. It just as easily could have been one of their
players."
Adrian Griffin: "At halftime, the coaches really stressed rebounding."
Griffin: "You give your team a 2nd shot and it kind of takes away from
their team's overall momentum. They tried to get going and we'd get an
offensive rebound, and it's like they have to start over again. You keep
doing that over and over again and it kind of wears them down."
Griffin on Nowitzki: "Dirty is my MVP. He proved tonight that he's
capable of taking over a game."
Mike Fratello: "All the hard work and effort we put in to get to that
point unfortunately was wasted then because of the most im****tant time in
the game when we have to zero in and get done what needs to be done, we
didn't do that. They have to be commended. They made all the big plays
they had to make. Dirk was outstanding once again. We showed a lot of
improvement from the way we played the first 2 games. And unfortunately
we didn't have enough to hang on there. The 7 turnovers in the 2nd were
big for us because we had built a little lead, a little momentum, and the
7 turnovers just brought them right back in the thing again, where as
maybe we could have open it up a little further. Could of, should of,
would of, you don't know. But I'm just saying that's one of the things I
remember thinking about at that particular time. Any questions? [Very
short pause] Good. Have a good day." [And left]
Pau Gasol: "It's jut a loss that's very, very frustrating. No matter how
it happened, the way it's frustrating enough. We had it again, we just
couldn't come up with the rebounds at the end and loose ball at the end
that would have gave us the victory here."
Gasol: "Without question, it is one of the toughest losses and just very
disappointing right now. I think we played really hard. We played our
hearts out tonight and it was just too unfortunate that we couldn't come
up with the necessary things in the last minute or 2 to close the deal.
It's just too bad."
Gasol: "Right now it's extremely painful. It's hard to describe. We're
sorry that things didn't turn out the way we wanted it to tonight. Like I
said, I think we played pretty good basketball for almost a game. Little
things in the playoffs make a big difference, especially down the stretch
when things are close. It's just a painful loss. But we're going to have
to regroup and try to get it together because we're not going to want to
finish our year with another loss on Monday. It's just would be totally
unacceptable. We're too good of a team to end up like that and I think
it's all about pride and getting that win. I think that once we get that,
it's just that would be totally different right now if we would have won
this game. So hopefully we're going to start with one on Monday and go
from there and build up our momentum. And that's what we're going to do.
We've got to do what it takes right now and find a way to win."
Gasol on no playoff wins: "It's very unfortunate. We're in a tough
situation. We're trying to fight for ourselves and fight for respect
here. And we can't seem to get it in the playoffs. I think it is the
next level that we have to be successful at to be a team that everybody
should be afraid of. And it's just not happening for us right now. Like
I said, hopefully we're going to turn it around a leave this behind
because the more you think about it, the more you're going to get down on
yourselves because of the op****tunity it just passed on you like that. So
we just got to regroup and, like I said, and do it like Terry [a re****ter]
said, do it all over again and come with the same intensity that we did
tonight and playing the defense we know how to play. We held them to 76
points in the whole game [regulation] and I think that's pretty hard to do
against the Mavericks. And making a couple of more shots and we'll be
fine - I hope."
Gasol on the defense on him: "When they have a couple of big centers
there, I should be more able to take advantage of my quickness, that I'm
not really doing a good job on that. I'm not going quick enough, I'm not
going fast enough on them. I'm letting the defense settle on me and then
they make the rotations that they have to make so that I'll get rid of the
ball. They're 2 big physical defenders, but I should be able to do a
better job and be able to score with more facility."
Gasol on the locker room after the team: "Obviously it's a very, very
tough loss and nobody in the locker room was happy about it obviously
because we worked so hard for it all night long and we don't have anything
to show for it. Obviously the feeling in the locker room is
disappointment right now. Like I said, we got to come out to the next
game and really step it up and get a good lead and get that confidence,
take it step by step. The series is not over and we just got to take it
one at a time, but known the im****tance of this game 4. So I think we can
beat this team. We know how to do it. We know all the plays, every
wrinkle, every thing. We just got to go out there and do the little
things, take care of the rebounds again, and come up with every loose ball
we can because that's what gives you extra possessions, extra shots, and
at the end of the game, that's what makes it go one way or the other."
Shane Battier: "We had our chances. We just didn't produce the last 5
minutes. That's the time of the game when you have to make winning
basketball plays. They did, and we didn't. It's that simple. If you
don't concentrate the last 5 minutes, you're not going to win."
Battier: "We didn't deserve to win. We have to rebound the ball better at
the end of the game. We allowed way too many offensive rebounds on some
missed free throws and that was one of the reasons why we're down 0-3. We
just have to come out Monday and fight hard and hope to send the series
back to Dallas."
Battier: "If you don't concentrate in the last 5 minutes, you're not going
to win. We didn't deserve to win. We have to rebound the ball better at
the end of the game. We allowed way too many offensive rebounds on some
missed free throws and that was one of the reasons why we're down 0-3."
Battier on Dallas' hustle and rebounds: "That's what separates the good
teams from the not-so-good teams."
Battier: "You've got to make winning basketball plays to win the game.
Bottom line: they did and we didn't."
Battier on Nowitzki: "That's why he's Dirk. That's why he's an All-Star."
Battier: "The crowd was awesome and gave us a boost. I feel most for
them."
Eddie Jones: "They're one of those teams that have been in that position
before. When you've been in that position down the stretch in big games,
it makes it a lot easier to win those types of games. We have got to get
tougher, both mentally and physically, down the stretch. Our mistakes in
defensive rebounding ended up being what did us in."
Jones: "In the 1st half, we did a great job of pu****ng the ball up the
floor and attacking. In the 2nd half, we didn't do it. We totally
stopped pu****ng the basketball. It became a half court game. Their team
has a lot better half court game than we have."
Jones: "But down the stretch, we let them get whatever they wanted. When
you're down 0-2, it's all about scrapping. We just didn't do it in the
last 2 minutes."
Jones: "We gave over-the-top effort for 44 minutes."
Jones: "We know we're a better team than what we're showing right now. I
don't care what anybody says. And I hate to say it, but we're getting
out-worked."
Chucky Atkins: "We took it right to them. We know we can beat them, and I
felt we played real well for 45 minutes. Unfortunately we didn't play
well for 48 minutes. Those last 3 minutes we didn't play as well as we're
capable. Now we're playing for pride. We can either lie down or we can
come out Monday and be a lot tougher and play a full game and send the
series back to Dallas."
Atkins on his shot at the end of regulation: "I had a good look. I missed
it. That's part of the game."
Atkins: "It seems like their will was a lot bigger than ours."
Lorenzen Wright: "It's about pride now. We can't let this team sweep us."
Harik Warrick: "I wanted to be aggressive and attack the rim. I'm going
to always be ready when my number is called. When I got out there, I just
knew I had to be active."
Game 3: Dallas Mavericks 94, Memphis Grizzlies 89 OT at Memphis (April
29)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 17 21 22 16 18 - 94 .462 .250 .412 .864
Memphis 23 23 15 15 13 - 89 .429 .308 .408 .767
Halftime: Memphis 46-38
3rd Q: Memphis 61-60
4th Q: 76-76
Technicals: Dirk Nowitzki 0:57 1st, Hakim Warrick 0:57 1st
Flagrant fouls: Dirk Nowitzki (level 1) 0:59 OT
Refs: Tony Brothers, Joey Crawford, Derrick Stafford
Attendance: 17,871 (cap 18,119)
IL: Keith Van Horn (Dal), Anthony Roberson (Mem)
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL
BLK
Jason Terry 46 9-22 0-5 4-5 22 1-4 4 0 3 1
0
Adrian Griffin 31 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 6-9 4 0 4 1
0
Dirk Nowitzki 48 12-25 4-10 8-9 36 2-9 5 1 2 0
1
Josh Howard 34 6-13 1-3 3-4 16 2-6 1 3 5 1
0
DeSagana Diop 24 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-6 0 0 3 0
1
Jerry Stackhouse 34 4-12 0-2 2-2 10 2-5 1 3 5 0
0
Erick Dampier 29 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 4-9 1 0 4 1
2
Marquis Daniels 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 1 2 1 0
0
Devin Harris 7 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 0-1 0 1 1 0
0
Totals 53 35-85 5-20 19-22 94 17-50 17 12 28 4
4
Memphis Grizzlies REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL
BLK
Eddie Jones 48 4-11 0-2 6-7 14 2-6 5 0 3 2
1
Chucky Atkins 36 8-16 3-5 1-2 20 0-2 3 1 5 1
0
Shane Battier 43 4-8 1-3 1-3 10 1-6 1 0 4 1
0
Pau Gasol 40 6-17 0-0 4-6 16 1-7 3 4 5 0
1
Jake Tsakalidis 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 2 3 0
0
Lorenzen Wright 40 3-6 0-0 4-4 10 5-10 2 0 2 0
3
Bobby Jackson 17 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-4 0 2 0 0
0
Mike Miller 17 3-7 0-2 0-0 6 1-4 2 1 4 0
0
Hakim Warrick 13 2-7 0-0 7-8 11 1-1 0 1 1 1
0
Dahntay Jones 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 1 0
0
Totals 53 31-76 4-13 23-30 89 11-42 16 11 28 5
5
patricia
Go Mavs!
--
Patricia Bender pbender@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
For NBA stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/index.html
For Mavs stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/mavs.html
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