The Mavs are one win from putting away the Spurs
The Dallas Mavericks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in game four of their first-round playoff series by a score of 99-90. As important as the victory is the way they won. They showed toughness, key defensive stops and what has become the custom, a solid performance from their bench. In game four, it wasn't Brandon Bass nor James Singleton, the energy boost was provided by Ryan Hollins.
The Spurs kept in the game with an amazing performance by Tony Parker, who had 43 points, and Tim Duncan, with 25 points. But the rest of Spurs did not do much to help their team.
Parker was running all over the floor during the 41 minutes he played and admitted in the press conference that he felt tired in the last quarter. "Pop wanted me to be agressive," said Parker.
Barea was solid for the Mavs and started once again. Josh Howard seemed lost with several turnovers in the second quarter, but Coach Carlisle gave him credit, "Josh gave us a huge half. We were fortunate today."
Spurs coach Popovich admitted, "They made three's, we didn't. They made free throws, we didn't. That's the game."
Parker added that the key to the game was the Mavs weapons, "They have a lot more weapons than we do." The Spurs plan was to limit and defend Dirk and Jet Terry. They followed the game plan, limiting both of them to just 22 points, but Josh and the rest of the guys made them pay for it.
Some Mavs fans and reporters argued that Dirk had a night-off. Carlisle and Jason Kidd disagreed.
"Other guys have picked up for Dirk as much as we leaned on him all season," Kidd said. "People can say Dirk isn't scoring enough, but I think he's playing the game the right way. I don't think he has to score 30 for us to win, and you see that in this series."
"His (Dirk's) all around game was good," said Coach Carlisle, "he's been a great communicator offensively during this series."
"Dirk is playing the game the right way," added Kidd, "he's not taking bad shots."
The Mavs now travel to San Antonio for game 5 hoping to put the Spurs away.
"The old cliche is that the elimination game is the toughest, always," Carlisle said. "Both teams have been down this road before. Nobody's taking anything for granted, I can assure you of that."
Josh Howard ended up with highest point total for the Mavs with 28 points. Jason Kidd hit some big three's and totaled 17 points with 7 assists. Barea had 9 points, 4 assists.
