| 28 April 2010
(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
Dallas Mavericks 103, San Antonio Spurs 81
So you’ve decided to lose home court advantage in the first round of your series? You’ve decided to go down three games to one with the unenviable task of trying to salvage your playoff prowess by needing an unlikely three-game sweep the rest of the round?
When you get to that Game Five at home and you see an opponent that is rolling through this matchup, what exactly do you do?
Most teams would probably fight to win the fifth game in order to head back into enemy territory with a 3-2 deficit and the hopes of not being embarrassed in an elimination game on the road. In that sixth game in which your playoff lives are at stake, you have to ignore the natural pressures of calculating how unlikely your three straight wins best-case scenario is and just concentrate on the cliché of taking it one game at a time.
But you have to get to that sixth game first. Before you can take it one contest per period of focus, you have to take care of business at home. The problem with this is the when you’re a Mavericks team that has struggled to play consistent, seeing this successful Spurs team staring at you in the face doesn’t exactly help you exude confidence in your ability to go out and win a damn game. You need a spark to pick your team up. In the movies, this would come from a much-maligned scapegoat or the least likely guy on your roster.
In Game Five for the Dallas Mavericks, it ended up being both.
First of all, DeShawn Stevenson shaved his beard. You may have thought he had previously attached a bird’s nest to his face and was trying to nurse yellow-rumped warblers back to health as a side hobby. Well, as safe of an assumption as that is/was, the truth is DeShawn hadn’t shaved his face in about 18 months. By shaving his beard before Game Five, he was shifting the balance of the cosmic powers, which had been plaguing this Mavericks team. The Mavericks had zero championships in the time he had a beard. Now, they still don’t have a title but at least they have one more day in their stay of execution.
Second, Caron Butler of all people showed up big in this game. He’s been so bad in this series that many Mavericks fans on the DDL ESPN.com chats have been imploring Rick Carlisle to not play him any more. And for the most part they were correct. He’s been bad defensively and an albatross offensively. However, in this game he was able to galvanize this Mavericks team behind his effort and 35-point, 11-rebound effort.
The Mavericks used this newfound weapon to ignite the defense and speed up the offense. They turned the Spurs’ turnovers into instant offense. San Antonio turned the ball over 18 times in this game and the Mavericks scored 24 points off of them. They also took the long rebounds and steals to get out and run. They finished with 23 fastbreak points in this game, which is by far their highest total in any game this series.
This was the exact type of blowout victory the Mavericks needed to get some confidence and rhythm back to this team. Now, they can concentrate on stealing a road game in San Antonio to bring the series back to Game Seven in Dallas.
Why The Mavericks Won This Game
The Mavs won this game because of defense. Everything was crisp with the way their rotations worked in this game. You didn’t see the constant open looks in the corners or the easy buckets inside for the Spurs. Instead, you saw the Mavericks shut down everybody not named Tony Parker. And even Tony Parker didn’t have a spectacular game (18 points on 15 shots). Dallas forced a lot of turnovers, challenged shots and dominated the boards.
Why The Spurs Lost This Game
You can’t score 81 points in a playoff game and expect to win. The Spurs had no spark in their game tonight. Outside of Tony Parker’s six assists off the bench, the rest of the team assisted each other on just five baskets. Manu Ginobili was shut down. George Hill was shut down and kept from being a playmaker. And the usual sparkplug in DeJuan Blair was in foul trouble very early into this game and never became a factor.
Looking Ahead To Game Six
Now you’ve got yourself a series. The Mavericks can trick themselves into thinking this next game has very little pressure. They can just treat it as any old road game. Win this one game and the series comes down to 48 minutes of battle on the basketball court. The Mavericks learned how to win easily without having Dirk go off in Game Five. Now they have to add a hot Nowitzki to this proper version of a supporting cast.
Prediction: Mavericks Even Up The Series; Head To Game Seven
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