Mavs v. Gasholes Post Game Thread - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

aexchange · 02-01-2006, 10:29 PM

- Damp was a beast today. He a had monster fourth quarter and the late game pass from Dirk to Damp for the easy dunk was a significant moment. He shut Gasol down in the 4th. Meanwhile Gasol was doing his best impersonation of himself from the last game when he choked it away.

- Chucky Atkins actually won the award for acting like Gasol by missing not one but two FT's late in the game. what a joke.

- Diop had a decent night stat wise, but he got completely abused by Gasol in the 1st half. i don't think the stats tell the entire story here.

- dirk struggled and looked lethargic for much of the game.

- didn't really understand the rotations tonight. thought daniels should have played more and when he did play, played fairly well.

- stackhouse acted like the crackhouse of last year. forcing too many shots and not letting the game come to him. stackhouse was absolutely terrible.

- thought howard put together a nice game. didn't force too many things and let his buckets come within the flow of the offense.

- despite terry's late game heroics, the man still cannot run an NBA offense. we looked completely lost for most of the game on O, however i'm willing to give him a pass since the gashole's are pretty stout on D. terry was a monster in the 4th though.

Drbio · 02-01-2006, 10:42 PM

Agreee about Damp....what a great game.

Atkins choked hard at the end. It was so delicious after he did that gay little dance after hitting the three. Think someone should tell Atkins when the game ends?

Diop was really good on the boards but defensively wasn't as good.

Dirk. Ugh....he can do much better.

What rotations? Avery is driving us nuts.

Stack = bad tonight.

Why didn't Quis see the floor until the fourth? That's pretty unbelievable. Especially as bad as some of the guys were playing tonight.

JHo was solid.

JET got hot at the end fortunately, because he sucked the rest of the game.

LOL @ Gashole.

Why is there always an Elvis impersonator at the Memphis games?

The Spurts are in second!

ddh33 · 02-01-2006, 10:48 PM

What a great, gutty win!

I actually didn't get to see the first half, but I took a quick glance at the stats and was surprised to see that Dirk and Josh seemed to be the only guys who showed up to play. I was surprised that Dallas had the lead. Unfortunately, the didn't keep the lead as Memphis played a great third quarter and completely shut down the Mavericks offense. With time running out in the fourth, and Memphis having built a nine point lead, I thought the winning streak was over. Thankfully, the good guys played great in crunch time and worked their way to the win.

As mentioned, Dirk and Josh really seemed to lead Dallas in the first half, but Terry and Dampier get the game balls tonight. I thought they were the difference in the game.

Diop had a decent night statistically. He got nine boards, and he's been much more comfortable on the line lately.

Dampier stat line may not look as impressive in some ways, but he was huge tonight. 6 points, 6 boards, and 2 blocks in 20 minutes. i was very impressed with his defense though. He did a great job of contesting Pau Gasol late in the game, forcing him into a lot of big misses. During that stretch he had a big block on Pau, made two free throws that helped get the team rolling, and got a dunk off a nice pass by Dirk that kept the team in a position to win the game. I can't say enough for how much he meant to the team tonight.

Dirk was solid. It's pretty amazing when you consider that 18 and 12 isn't anything special. I do think that Dirk should get a ton of credit for stepping up to the line and drilling the tying and go ahead free throws with seven seconds. There are a lot of people who would not want to be on the line in that situation. A lot of guys choke there. Dirk drilled them with complete confidence.

Keith Van Horn continues to be a nice weapon off the bench. he didn't score as much tonight, but he did grab 6 boards in 16 minutes.

Josh Howard apparently played a very good first half. he was pretty quiet in the second half though. He did finish with a very efficient 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals night.

Adrian Griffin was not as noticeable to me tonight as usual. A lot of times he does things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but tonight I didn't see too much of anything. What I did notice, I really appreciated. Guess who was guarding Mike Miller on the last possession when the Grizzlies were trying to win the game? Miller lost the ball on the way up, but Griff did a good job of forcing him to catch the ball a little farther than he wanted and did a good job of riding him to the basket, where Josh Howard did a nice job of stepping over to make the shot even more difficult.

Jerry Stackhouse struggled a little with his shot again. He had a nice three point play that i thought was big at the time, but for the most part he was pretty quiet too.

Marquis Daniels made a nice contribution in his very limited court time. the stats show 3 minutes, a missed shot, a rebound, a steal, and a foul. I swear he got his hands on the ball several times though.

Devin Harris won't mind forgetting about this game. He was in foul trouble the whole game. It really seemed to bother his game. When the game felt like it was slipping away, i couldn't help but think about the last time the Mavs and Grizzlies played each other. Devin played a very good game and seemed to make things easier on his teammates. With that pressure defense we were seeing from Memphis tonight, I thought Devin's skills were needed.

Jason Terry was just huge in the fourth quarter. He hadn't done much the entire game, but when Dallas started to lose their footing, Jet put them right back into the game. He got much more aggressive and started to attack. He hit some mid range jumpers and really got everyone else involved again. he and Dirk did a good job of running their two man game when it mattered and getting some scoring chances. What he did tonight is precisely why he's so important to this team.

Now, I know the tendency is to make sure that all is forgiven when the Mavs win the game, but I'm sure a lot of us saw things that were concerning. I'm still interested to see how the rotation sorts itself out. But the last two nights we have seen some ugly offense at times. Maybe it's a compliment that the team is learning how to win ugly, but it does make one wonder if this team does need a more reliable scorer sometimes. Of course, it could be that roles simply need to be re-established a little bit. But it is a little worrisome to see the team struggle so much against, what you would presume to be, the kind of defense they will be seeing in the playoffs.

Regardless of the negative, I think it is great to cheer for a team that just won back to back games against two pretty good teams after traveling. the team really does show a ton of character, and they refuse to quit. I can't help myself, despite the things that concern me, I really do get the feeling at times that we are watching something special in Dallas.

MFFL · 02-01-2006, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddh33

I actually didn't get to see the first half

Dude - you need TIVO!

Drbio · 02-01-2006, 10:50 PM

This should have gone in the other analysis thread.

aexchange · 02-01-2006, 10:51 PM

Threads merged.

Drbio · 02-01-2006, 10:53 PM

Some good points guys.....

Quote:

Marquis Daniels made a nice contribution in his very limited court time. the stats show 3 minutes, a missed shot, a rebound, a steal, and a foul. I swear he got his hands on the ball several times though.

Seems like he had at least 3 rebounds. Is this correct?

ddh33 · 02-01-2006, 10:55 PM

I didn't see the other thread.

Apparently, Terry played the whole first half the way he played the third quarter. Was Devin in foul trouble immediately in the first half? DId he look any better running the team?

Drbio · 02-01-2006, 10:56 PM

Devin was awful tonight.

aexchange · 02-01-2006, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddh33

I didn't see the other thread.

Apparently, Terry played the whole first half the way he played the third quarter. Was Devin in foul trouble immediately in the first half? DId he look any better running the team?

he had 3 fouls in 5 minutes. devin and stackhouse were pretty bad tonight.

Murphy3 · 02-01-2006, 10:59 PM

Stack's play made the work done in an abortion clinic look appealing.

dude1394 · 02-01-2006, 10:59 PM

I actually think jason pulled that bandage off his wrist and he started shooting better. Last night he had it and stunk it up as well. He also had it early this game.

Thespiralgoeson · 02-01-2006, 11:01 PM

Mavs are 1st in the west! WOO HOO!!!!! Well, at least for a couple of hours anyway...

Agreed with all about Damp tonight. In fact, I don't even remember seeing Gasol score in the fourth. Not saying he didnt, but that's just how much he was taken out of the game. Mad props to Damp.

Of course, Jet stepped up and delivered the daggers as he frequently does.

Dirk was good on the boards but he was just nowhere near agressive enough. That's three games in a row now where he hasn't taken enough shots. He really needs to look for his shot more. And I've already heard plenty of comments about those FT's he hit at the end of the game, but honestly people, shouldn't we expect that from him? OTOH, that last rebound he got off of Miller's missed shot was HUGE, might've saved us the game. As was that sweet pass to Damp for the easy dunk.

I think Griff deserves some props for that clutch stop on Miller; kept right his face without fouling.

Overall, not a pretty win, but an impressive one nonetheless considering it was a fourth quarter comeback and our tenth in a row.

dude1394 · 02-01-2006, 11:09 PM

Pretty impressive win to me. Grizzlies desperately wanted this one and the mavs were on a b2b and in their house.

Grizzlies are NOT a slouch team. They may be pretty demoralized since I heard they are going on a 6 game road trip and I think they wanted this one.

They are not as good as they were with stoudamire it seems, but they aren't slouches.

Thespiralgoeson · 02-01-2006, 11:22 PM

I think by far and away the most impressive thing about the win was the way the way the defense stepped up in the fourth quarter. It was awful in the 3rd, but the Mavs really locked down about midway through the fourth.

Speaking of defense, why is Memphis so good defensively? I really don't get it. Except for Battier and maybe Miller, there isn't really anyone on that team who's a standout defensively. Yet they're one of the best defensive teams in the league. Does Fratello have some kind of secret, or am I just missing something?

dude1394 · 02-01-2006, 11:26 PM

So would this be the time for the idiot donut eater and kenny to say..

"The mavs win by outscoring you, the spurs by stopping you". Probably...knuckleheads.

WraithXx · 02-01-2006, 11:32 PM

guys, I made my avatar picture in Photoshop earlier today... took about all of 3 minutes..

but doesn't that shot of Terry just make him look like a COMPLETE badass?

chumdawg · 02-01-2006, 11:35 PM

I think it deserves mention how clutch those free throws by Damp were, to bring us within three I think it was. I completely agree with Spiral about the throws by Dirk. Not that they weren't super-clutch or anything, but hey, that's Dirk freakin' Nowitzki on the line there. That's like Rolando Blackman with time expired in the All-Star game. Those balls are going in. But Damp in that situation? Those were big shots. Nice that he could add those, and the little dunk, to the yeoman's effort he was providing on the defensive end.

Memphis is really, really good at certain things. They test us, no question about it. This was a sweet win. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that this was the 16th biggest win in Mavs franchise history.

Agree with Spiral, again, that what Griff did so well was keep his man in front of him. Honestly, team defense goes out in the window in a situation like that, and with that much time left on the clock any defender is sortof up against it. But Griff stayed where he needed to be and at least made Miller earn the shot. Which he didn't.

And Dirk grabs that big rebound (there were still at least a couple seconds left), and the game was over.

Yeah, Miller's shot could pretty easily have gone in and we'd be stinging from an L tonight. But it sure looked like the Mavs played it as well as they could play it, and that's what matters. That's what wins in the long run.

Thespiralgoeson · 02-01-2006, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

So would this be the time for the idiot donut eater and kenny to say..

"The mavs win by outscoring you, the spurs by stopping you". Probably...knuckleheads.

I've heard Barkley say some stupid things about the Mavs, but the most recent comment I heard from him has to be one of the dumbest. It was a few nights ago, and Chuck was talking about the Spurs coping with Ginobili's injuries, and he started talking about other teams potentially catching the Spurs. He started listing teams and he said something like "Phoenix has got a shot, Denver, and maybe even Dallas..."

Good lord... maybe even Dallas? His ignorance was further emphasized by the fact that when he said that the Mavs were tied with the Spurs. I mean, honestly, Denver?

kriD · 02-02-2006, 06:42 AM

At this clip, Mavs streaking

By DWAIN PRICE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- For the second time in four games, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson inadvertently whacked point guard Jason Terry on his right thumb with a clipboard in the fourth quarter.

Both times, Terry responded with a terrific performance down the stretch.

Terry scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth period Wednesday as the Mavs rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 81-80, earning their 10th consecutive victory and sixth straight on the road.

"We're 2-0 when he throws the clipboard at me," said Terry, who added that the same thing happened Thursday in Seattle. "It's the heat of the battle. I felt his intensity. We were all trying to get a spark, and that sparked us."

The incident occurred with 5:49 left and the Mavs trailing 73-66. A short time later, Terry buried back-to-back jumpers, drilled a 13-footer, and added a 3-point basket to tie the score at 77.

Dirk Nowitzki then provided the game-winning points when he made two free throws with 7.2 seconds left.

"When your coach is into the game like he's out there with a uniform on, you can't help but to get wound up," Terry said. "That's what we needed at the time, and it worked. I love it."

After Chuck Atkins hit a 3-pointer for an 80-77 Grizzlies lead, Nowitzki fed Erick Dampier for a dunk. Atkins then missed two free throws, opening the door for Nowitzki.

The Grizzlies' Mike Miller misfired on a driving layup with three seconds left.

"This was a battle of two division foes that really laid it all out on the line tonight," Johnson said. "It was a gutsy performance by both teams."

Pau Gasol scored a game-high 26 points for Memphis but was 1-of-7 from the field with only two points in the fourth period. One of those missed shots came as a result of a block by Dampier.

"We don't win this game tonight without Erick Dampier," Johnson said. "The way he played defense on Gasol ... was phenomenal."

Dampier said Gasol often tips his hand as a play develops.

"We know he drives right-handed a lot, so we pretty much know what he's going to do," said Dampier, who finished with six points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Mavs led by 11 points in the first half but were outscored 22-12 in the third period. Terry -- or Johnson's clipboard -- then woke them up.

"I think, if the coach stops hitting his thumb when he's being demonstrative during timeouts, maybe his shooting hand will heal some," Johnson said. "I'm going to try to talk to the team standing on the court so I can keep some distance.

"I whacked him on the right thumb. Not a smart thing to do. It shows I'm a rookie coach."

V2M · 02-02-2006, 11:08 AM

Phenomenal is a bit too strong but Damp's been playing quite well off the bench and in limited minutes. Last night, we wouldn't have won the game without his efforts.

He's, of course, playing no where near the early hype of a 6yr-$60m guy (I believe, that 7th year is a team option and the odds of Cuban picking it up is zero!), but for what's needed for this team, he's quite adequate if he can be as consistent as he's been the last 10 games.

Also, coming off the bench, he can just focus on his game and not worry about the quick fouls, which he is so much more inclined to get than any other starting center out there.

jayC · 02-02-2006, 11:37 AM

Considering Raef got like 65 million dollar deal and never played down the stretch. When is the last time you rember Raef ever winning a game. I remember one good game for Raef 26 points against the Lakers a few years back. Dampier sets screens for players, opens lanes for other players to grab rebounds and blocks shots. Gasol seemingly scored at will against the mavs in the first half. When they put Damp on Gasol, Damp was agile and quick. When he doesn't pick up quick fouls he is just what the doctor ordered. Yes phenomenal is a strong word, but in the nba where one of the weakest positions is center he was almost phenomenal.

sike · 02-02-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MFFL

Dude - you need TIVO!

amen....it changes everything...well....at least how I watch tv.

what a great game...

alby · 02-03-2006, 08:38 PM

Why criticize JET's play, when he more than makes up for it during the fourth quarters of games =D

dude1394 · 02-03-2006, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by V2M

Phenomenal is a bit too strong but Damp's been playing quite well off the bench and in limited minutes. Last night, we wouldn't have won the game without his efforts.

He's, of course, playing no where near the early hype of a 6yr-$60m guy (I believe, that 7th year is a team option and the odds of Cuban picking it up is zero!), but for what's needed for this team, he's quite adequate if he can be as consistent as he's been the last 10 games.

Also, coming off the bench, he can just focus on his game and not worry about the quick fouls, which he is so much more inclined to get than any other starting center out there.

Damps defense on gasol down the stretch was phenomenal. He went 1-7 man and they were all in the post.