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DTL · 05-28-2003, 05:50 AM

Washington Post

Whoa Nellie! What a Comeback

By Michael Wilbon
Wednesday, May 28, 2003; Page D01
SAN ANTONIO

It started with Don Nelson going to a most aggravating tactic: employing Hack-a-Shaq on Bruce Bowen before halftime. It was a desperate strategy, to be sure. Nelson's Mavericks had trailed by 19 points and it was about to get out of hand. The Spurs were letter perfect on everything the first 20 minutes -- on getting the ball to Tim Duncan, on him firing out to open shooters, on defending the perimeter. David Robinson was blocking shots like it was 1990. It was turning into a coronation, San Antonio's march to the NBA Finals.

And then Nellie changed it all. With four minutes still to play in the second quarter, he had his players foul the Spurs' Bowen, a 49 percent free throw shooter in these playoffs. Bowen made 4 of 6 free throws, which doesn't sound too bad for the Spurs. But the game had changed and it was Nellie who changed it, by himself. He junked it up.

Nelson interrupted, then disrupted, the Spurs' flow, their dribbling and passing and shooting rhythm. Nellie had annoyed the Spurs the way he annoyed those of us watching. He'd done something you don't see often; an NBA coach took over the game. Even though it lasted only a couple of minutes, pretty much just three possessions, Nellie altered the course of the game, changed its momentum. He bought his players a few minutes, and while going to a trick up his sleeve, demonstrated to them he was willing to do whatever he could within the rules to help his team win.

"It gave us a chance to catch our breath, Nellie putting Bruce on the free throw line like that," Dallas veteran Walt Williams said. "You could see the expression on their players' faces. It was like, 'Damn, here they go with that Hack-a-Bruce crap again.' "

Truth be told, not all the Mavericks were so hot on it either. It's a gimmick, a trick. Some coaches, notably Larry Brown, wouldn't hack Shaq in the waning minutes of fourth quarters with his 76ers playing the Lakers in the 2000 NBA Finals.

"It's kind of crazy," Nick Van Exel said, briefly empathizing with Bowen. "It's kind of crazy to be put on the free throw line like that."

But it worked, which when your team is down to its last game of the season, is all that matters. "It slowed them down," Van Exel said. "And it shows our coach is saying, 'We're not going to lay down.' We started pushing the ball, and it changed the momentum of the game. . . . Nellie . . . I'm surprised he hasn't come up with more stuff like that."

Well, this one trick was enough for Game 5, too much for the San Antonio Spurs who now may have to face a Dallas lineup with Dirk Nowitzki in Game 6 Thursday night. After taking that standing eight count in the first 20 minutes, the Mavericks got to their feet and turned into Rocky. It's not often you see shocking results in the NBA playoffs because the best teams usually win, especially at home when there's something like a clinch game being contested. It was a stunner, a game that seemed ordained on some level.

The Mavericks were forced to play again without their best player, Nowitzki. And while any depiction of this game has to emphasize the guts the Mavericks demonstrated, the Spurs gagged like you wouldn't believe. They choked worse than they did a couple of weeks ago when Robert Horry rimmed that three-pointer at the buzzer of Game 5 of the semifinals, because at least the Spurs won that game. Asked about the Spurs' penchant for blowing huge leads, even at home, Van Exel hinted that the Mavericks were reminding themselves about that when he said, "I don't want to say too much. . . . We've seen it before from them."

But this time, the Spurs lost. They became a prop for a brassy Mavericks team that turned a 19-point deficit into one of the most spirited road playoff victories you'll ever see. Former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, calling the game for TNT, said toward the end of the broadcast that in his 13 years coaching in the NBA he's never seen such a comeback, given the circumstances. It ranks right up there with the Phoenix Suns' "Save The City" game during the 1993 NBA Finals, when Chicago's shop keepers boarded up the city in anticipation of a riotous celebration following a Bulls championship victory in Game 6. Instead, Phoenix won Game 6, and, according to Charles Barkley, "saved the city of Chicago from burning."

It was the second straight surreal effort put forth by the Mavericks. They played with the same sense of urgency Sunday, but lost Game 4 in Dallas to fall behind 3-1 in the series. And there was no reason for anyone outside the Mavericks' little family to think this series was going to extend beyond Game 5.

So now we've got the Mavericks, a team thought to be long on talent but short on toughness and heart, boldly taking an elimination game by sheer will and resourcefulness. A defensively challenged team found a way to come up with stops. A team without its leading scorer had guys make up for his absence. Michael Finley scored 31. Van Exel scored 21. Everybody else in a Dallas uniform chipped in wherever he could.

"It didn't look good for a long, long time," Nellie said. "We just hung around and hung around and hung around. We got great games out of Eddie Najera . . . who was so exhausted he was begging to come out a couple of times, and I acted like I just didn't see him. They were shooting 60 percent and we were shooting in the thirties. I told them, 'We don't have to get it back all at once.' We were down 19. I asked them to get it to 10. They got it to 11. I was a happy guy that we were that close."

Of the strategy to foul Bowen, Nellie first tried to play down its significance, but knew how important it was to his team's reversal. "It was a ploy," Nellie said, "that I thought was useful at the time. We were down 16 at the time. Anything was better than what was happening. I was going to do it again if I needed to down the stretch. For whatever reason after that, they didn't seem to get into the same flow. I was just searching for something that seemed to work."

The Mavericks didn't celebrate, in part because they were exhausted. But there was spirit in the room. "We're a great defensive team without Dirk," Van Exel said, hoping Nowitzki would hear the jab as he left the locker room. Turning serious, Van Exel added, "Imagine how good we'd have been with him playing in Game 4."

And what about Nowitzki, who was bouncing up and down off the bench to cheer on his teammates? "Legitimately," Nellie said, "I think he's doubtful."

The same can no longer be said about the Mavericks.

05-28-2003, 05:50 AM	#10
DTL Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,550	Washington Post Whoa Nellie! What a Comeback By Michael Wilbon Wednesday, May 28, 2003; Page D01 SAN ANTONIO It started with Don Nelson going to a most aggravating tactic: employing Hack-a-Shaq on Bruce Bowen before halftime. It was a desperate strategy, to be sure. Nelson's Mavericks had trailed by 19 points and it was about to get out of hand. The Spurs were letter perfect on everything the first 20 minutes -- on getting the ball to Tim Duncan, on him firing out to open shooters, on defending the perimeter. David Robinson was blocking shots like it was 1990. It was turning into a coronation, San Antonio's march to the NBA Finals. And then Nellie changed it all. With four minutes still to play in the second quarter, he had his players foul the Spurs' Bowen, a 49 percent free throw shooter in these playoffs. Bowen made 4 of 6 free throws, which doesn't sound too bad for the Spurs. But the game had changed and it was Nellie who changed it, by himself. He junked it up. Nelson interrupted, then disrupted, the Spurs' flow, their dribbling and passing and shooting rhythm. Nellie had annoyed the Spurs the way he annoyed those of us watching. He'd done something you don't see often; an NBA coach took over the game. Even though it lasted only a couple of minutes, pretty much just three possessions, Nellie altered the course of the game, changed its momentum. He bought his players a few minutes, and while going to a trick up his sleeve, demonstrated to them he was willing to do whatever he could within the rules to help his team win. "It gave us a chance to catch our breath, Nellie putting Bruce on the free throw line like that," Dallas veteran Walt Williams said. "You could see the expression on their players' faces. It was like, 'Damn, here they go with that Hack-a-Bruce crap again.' " Truth be told, not all the Mavericks were so hot on it either. It's a gimmick, a trick. Some coaches, notably Larry Brown, wouldn't hack Shaq in the waning minutes of fourth quarters with his 76ers playing the Lakers in the 2000 NBA Finals. "It's kind of crazy," Nick Van Exel said, briefly empathizing with Bowen. "It's kind of crazy to be put on the free throw line like that." But it worked, which when your team is down to its last game of the season, is all that matters. "It slowed them down," Van Exel said. "And it shows our coach is saying, 'We're not going to lay down.' We started pushing the ball, and it changed the momentum of the game. . . . Nellie . . . I'm surprised he hasn't come up with more stuff like that." Well, this one trick was enough for Game 5, too much for the San Antonio Spurs who now may have to face a Dallas lineup with Dirk Nowitzki in Game 6 Thursday night. After taking that standing eight count in the first 20 minutes, the Mavericks got to their feet and turned into Rocky. It's not often you see shocking results in the NBA playoffs because the best teams usually win, especially at home when there's something like a clinch game being contested. It was a stunner, a game that seemed ordained on some level. The Mavericks were forced to play again without their best player, Nowitzki. And while any depiction of this game has to emphasize the guts the Mavericks demonstrated, the Spurs gagged like you wouldn't believe. They choked worse than they did a couple of weeks ago when Robert Horry rimmed that three-pointer at the buzzer of Game 5 of the semifinals, because at least the Spurs won that game. Asked about the Spurs' penchant for blowing huge leads, even at home, Van Exel hinted that the Mavericks were reminding themselves about that when he said, "I don't want to say too much. . . . We've seen it before from them." But this time, the Spurs lost. They became a prop for a brassy Mavericks team that turned a 19-point deficit into one of the most spirited road playoff victories you'll ever see. Former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, calling the game for TNT, said toward the end of the broadcast that in his 13 years coaching in the NBA he's never seen such a comeback, given the circumstances. It ranks right up there with the Phoenix Suns' "Save The City" game during the 1993 NBA Finals, when Chicago's shop keepers boarded up the city in anticipation of a riotous celebration following a Bulls championship victory in Game 6. Instead, Phoenix won Game 6, and, according to Charles Barkley, "saved the city of Chicago from burning." It was the second straight surreal effort put forth by the Mavericks. They played with the same sense of urgency Sunday, but lost Game 4 in Dallas to fall behind 3-1 in the series. And there was no reason for anyone outside the Mavericks' little family to think this series was going to extend beyond Game 5. So now we've got the Mavericks, a team thought to be long on talent but short on toughness and heart, boldly taking an elimination game by sheer will and resourcefulness. A defensively challenged team found a way to come up with stops. A team without its leading scorer had guys make up for his absence. Michael Finley scored 31. Van Exel scored 21. Everybody else in a Dallas uniform chipped in wherever he could. "It didn't look good for a long, long time," Nellie said. "We just hung around and hung around and hung around. We got great games out of Eddie Najera . . . who was so exhausted he was begging to come out a couple of times, and I acted like I just didn't see him. They were shooting 60 percent and we were shooting in the thirties. I told them, 'We don't have to get it back all at once.' We were down 19. I asked them to get it to 10. They got it to 11. I was a happy guy that we were that close." Of the strategy to foul Bowen, Nellie first tried to play down its significance, but knew how important it was to his team's reversal. "It was a ploy," Nellie said, "that I thought was useful at the time. We were down 16 at the time. Anything was better than what was happening. I was going to do it again if I needed to down the stretch. For whatever reason after that, they didn't seem to get into the same flow. I was just searching for something that seemed to work." The Mavericks didn't celebrate, in part because they were exhausted. But there was spirit in the room. "We're a great defensive team without Dirk," Van Exel said, hoping Nowitzki would hear the jab as he left the locker room. Turning serious, Van Exel added, "Imagine how good we'd have been with him playing in Game 4." And what about Nowitzki, who was bouncing up and down off the bench to cheer on his teammates? "Legitimately," Nellie said, "I think he's doubtful." The same can no longer be said about the Mavericks.