Dirk's timing is off

[MavsFanFinley]

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.

[grndmstr_c]

More crap from Fraley. Here'a quick comparison of Dirk and Peja for the series:

.............................Dirk..........Peja
points.................(25.5)........(17)
true shooting%..(55.2%)...(48.3%)
rebounds............(11.3)........(8.5)
assists.................(1.8).........(1.5)
steals..................(1.5).........(1.25)
blocks.................(2.25).........(.5)
turnovers............(.75).........(1.25)

And he wants Dirk to start playing more like Peja does he? Thanks, but no thanks. We have absolutely no chance at getting back into this series if that happens.

[Rod1975]

Of all the players on the Mavericks team to write a derogatory article about, this rag tosser chooses Dirk.....I guess all the Finley and Walker bashing is old hat.

Great point g-master-c, however Dirk does need to make a better effort to punch in in the 4th quarter.

[dirno2000]

however Dirk does need to make a better effort to punch in in the 4th quarter.

I would agree with that up until game 4. Dirk did all he could to work himself out of the slump. He went to the hole, he tried posting up. He shot 10 FT's in the quarter so obviously he was being aggressive. Some nights the ball just won't go in. It would be nice if Nellie, in his infinite wisdom, could find a way to get the ball in his hands for the last shot...i'm sure he's working on it as I type.

[grndmstr_c]

No doubt, Rod. We needed more from somebody last night, and since Dirk played as poorly as anyone, he's as culpable as anyone for last night's loss. Here's a couple more morsels to chew on, though.

-As bad as Dirk shot the ball last night, and as heroic as Peja supposedly was, their true shooting percentages last night were virtually identically bad (37.3% and 38%, respectively); I'm all for bringing it late in the game, but lets not lose sight of the fact that baskets are worth just as much in the first half as they are in the second half.

-Dirk shot horribly in the second half last night, making only 1 of 10. But that means that for the preceeding two losses he had made 11 of 21 field goal attempts in the second half. Again, not excusing his poor play last night, but 11-21 is very solid efficiency, especially in a series that's been as (surprisingly) offensively inept as this one.

[ddh33]

Dirk shot horribly the other night, but he somehow willed himself to over 20 points. That's all I can ask for a guy struggling.

As others mentioned, he's consistently been the best player in the series.

[twelli]

I wouldn't be surprised if he drops 40 on Thursday. He has that fire burning inside.

[SeriousSummer]

Fraley is horrible. When Peja was off, he disappeared. When Dirk wasn't on, he took the ball to the hole, repeatedly, took the blow & stepped up and made the free throws. I think he made his last four free throws, scored 5 of our 7 last points and, in spite of his shooting woes, gave the Mavs a chance to send it to overtime at the buzzer.

That's a big time player. Someone who finds a way to give his team a chance even a on very bad night.

[jayC]

The other thing is that a lot of his shots just circled the rim and came out. He took good shots, just a ton rimed out on him. If we make 70 percent of our free throws we win by 7 or 10 points.

[PubaNWO]

In the playoffs the difference between a win and a loss usually comes down to the free throws and who takes care of the ball best.

I see the Mavs are tops in the league in both these categories but it just hasn't played out this way in the playoffs thus far......

[Five-ofan]

Fraley hates dirk. If anything bad happens to the mavs fraley thinks that it is dirk's fault. This is the same dumbass who wrote that NVE needed to yell at dirk after a game against the kings last year because they both had bad games so obviously nicks bad game was dirk's fault(Dirk still played a better game than nick in that particular game).
Ps. Their were several plays where dirk should have got the line and didn't specifically the one where Bibby knocked him down.
pps. The block against daniels was the easiest call to make that I have ever seen missed. I mean they both stood there for 2 seconds then bibby ran over him. How is that not a charge?

[Chiwas]

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

We can't rely on Dirk's being hot shooting, it can happen, it can not. But what surely can be done, is to guard Peja extremely well when he gets hot, and we still could have a chance.

[NBAFan7]

Pejas team has took 3 out of the 4 games, and that's what is most important. Stats mean nothing when you are losing, IMO.

[NBAFan7]

Pejas team has took 3 out of the 4 games, and that's what is most important. Stats mean nothing when you are losing, IMO. Peja has also came up 2 defensive stops to win the game for his team both times, that about makes up for anything Dirk has done.

[grndmstr_c]

Pejas team has took 3 out of the 4 games, and that's what is most important. Stats mean nothing when you are losing, IMO.

No doubt getting the win is what it's all about, but if that's your only criteria for evaluating players then I guess it makes sense to say that Dirk should aspire to the standard set by Gerald Wallace.[img]i/expressions/rolleye.gif[/img]

If you want to criticize the Mavs for not finding a way to get it done so far in the close games, be my guest. They deserve it. If you want to give the Kings credit for finding a way to get it done in the close games, be my guest. They deserve it. But if you're going to start tossing blame around amongst the Mavs players, Dirk is the last guy you should be pointing at; and if you want to criticize Dirk for not playing up to the standard set by some other player, you better pick somebody from another series entirely, because nobody in a Sacramento uniform has played better than Dirk in this series.

[mavsman55]

What a bunch of bull crap. Peja should be playing more like Dirk. If he were, they'd probably have won their 4th game on Monday and be preparing for the 2nd round right now.

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.

I believe Dirk was the one to take it to the basket when his shots were falling, not Peja. Gerry Fraley is deeply misguided with this article. My approval rating for him has gone from a 1/10 to 0/10.

[dude1394]

Agreed mavsman.. Unbelievably naive article.

[4cwebb]

As a Kings' fan I'd like to chime in right before tip off of Game 5: I'd imagine that this writer doesn't watch very many Kings' games (nor is he paid to), b/c if he did he would know that Peja's biggest weakness in his game is taking the ball to the basket. Peja has very poor ability to finish on drives due to his relative lack of athleticism, and it's not like he can just beat his guy off the dribble whenever he wants to get to the hole. He rarely (if ever) posts up his defender b/c he has not low-post game.

Not to take away from the fact that he is probably the best shooter in the league, but he has many facets of his game on which to improve. In my mind Dirk is a much more complete offensive player than Peja, so for this guy to say that Dirk needs to "step up" seems a bit ridiculous.

Also, I think his characterization of the last play of game 4 is a bit off. When Peja switched out on Nash, Dirk cut to the free throw line, and had Peja not gotten his hand on the ball for a split second, I'm sure Nash throws that pass to Dirk with Bibby on his back as Dirk approaches the lane. The timing just didn't work out, but it's not as if Dirk faded to 25 feet from the basket and just stood there with Bibby guarding him.

[PubaNWO]

Dirk's not the only one to have bad timing....

pretty much the rest of the Mavs offensive players haven't shown up in this series yet....(not counting game 3)