Dirk's timing is off

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Dirk's timing is off
Slumping Mavs star needs to emulate Peja and raise his game

By GERRY FRALEY / The Dallas Morning News

The Mavericks have one chance to avoid a long and hot summer.

Their morose and shrinking top player must snap out of it as well as Sacramento's morose and shrinking top player did.

Dirk Nowitzki must answer Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic.

Appearances Tuesday suggested the Mavericks should prepare for what will be anything but a summer of love. They have not gone out in the opening round of the NBA playoffs during owner Mark Cuban's tenure.

On the morning after a 94-92 loss that gave Sacramento a 3-1 series lead, Nowitzki wore a hangdog look. He agreed with coach Don Nelson that it was a day of mourning.

Nowitzki had stayed up most of the night, replaying the loss and his failings. His shooting performance was the stuff of country-Western lyrics: 5-for-22 from the field, and two were dunks.

Nowitzki sounded crestfallen.

"In a big game like that, I never got it going offensively," Nowitzki said. "I was all out of synch. Games like that will happen. The sad part was it was one of the biggest games of our careers. The sad part is the timing."

Nowitzki has until Thursday, when the series resumes at Sacramento, to gather himself. The Mavericks cling to one tiny shred of hope.

Before redirecting the series to the Kings' favor, Stojakovic was in far worse shape than Nowitzki.

Stojakovic missed 10 consecutive shots in the first half of Game 4. That put him at 8-for-36 from the field for the previous 10 quarters.

It was not your ordinary 8-for-36.

Stojakovic, low on confidence, took only one shot in 10 minutes during the second half of Saturday's loss. Teammates worried he was about to slip into one of the deep and extended funks that have marked his career.

Sacramento, full of worn-out players, cannot win without Stojakovic's offense.

Center Vlade Divac told him that in a heart-to-heart talk at halftime Monday. The message was succinct: Let it fly.

"I'm not going to shoot," Divac said. "He has to shoot. He's not going to miss forever."

Stojakovic listened and did what elite players do during the playoffs.

He raised himself and his team.

Stojakovic made a jumper in the first minute of the third quarter. His next shot, nearly six minutes later, stands as the turning point of the series.

Stojakovic drove the baseline past a grabbing Michael Finley, scored on a layup and added a free throw for a conventional three-point play.

"That really got his confidence up," Nowitzki said. "He went back to his old self."

Stojakovic made his next three shots and had 12 in the game-changing quarter. The shots included a 3-pointer that put Sacramento ahead for the duration.

"I knew I had to play better," Stojakovic said. "There's no time for thinking about bad shots or bad games. This is the playoffs."

Stojakovic was 7-of-14 from the field in a 16-point second half. Nowitzki was only 1-of-10 from the field in the half.

In the Mavericks' losses, Nowitzki had made 12 of 31 shots in the second half and has only four field goals in the fourth quarter.

"Give him credit, because he took his shots," Nowitzki said. "I thought I kept my head and tried to get it going offensively. I took a lot of shots but didn't have that moment where it started clicking."

The intriguing part of Stojakovic's performance was his most significant score came not on a long-range jumper but a layup. Stojakovic understands when the shots are not falling, take it to the basket.

The Mavericks could learn from that.

Of their 98 shots in game four, 21 were 3-pointers. Guard Steve Nash, being outplayed by Mike Bibby, took more 3s (six) than 2s.

The Mavericks lived on the perimeter to the bitter end.

Their last chance ended when Nash missed an off-balance 17-foot springer. Nowitzki did not help Nash on the pick-and-go.

Rather than go hard to the basket to take advantage of a defensive mismatch against the shorter Bibby, Nowitzki loitered in no-man's land. Nash lobbed a miss over Stojakovic.

In a similar situation at the end of Game 2, Stojakovic hounded Finley into a turnover. Stojakovic is an underrated defender, but the Kings pay him for offense.

The Mavericks do the same for Nowitzki. If they do not get a big return soon, the season that promised much will end as a huge letdown.