Posts Tagged ‘Dirk Nowitzki’

< Older Entries

Lakers Have No One Else To Blame But Themselves For Latest Playoff Ouster

May 22, 2012  ·  10:14AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Before anyone else in Los Angeles points another finger at Pau Gasol, Mike Brown, Ramon Sessions or any of the other convenient scapegoats in the wake of a second straight second-round playoff exit, look in the mirror.

Stare long and hard and ask yourself if you didn’t see this coming. Didn’t you realize last season, when Andrew Bynum was heading to visitor’s locker room in Dallas without his jersey, that this team was fatally flawed and had no chance of overcoming its own internal obstacles?

Like an aging heavyweight champ who gets K.O.’d in his last bout and then comes back into the ring the next time without truly understanding what went wrong, the Lakers got popped against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. This time, it came by believing in their ability to overcome any obstacle with sheer talent alone.

Avoiding the sweep this time around shouldn’t ease the sting for Lakers fans, either. They knew (better than most) what they saw from this group during last season’s semifinal flame-out against the Mavericks exposed the team’s flaws.

Why would anyone, Kobe Bryant included, be surprised at Gasol’s struggles against the Thunder when you saw him crumble against the Mavericks?

You replaced a living legend in Phil Jackson with a good coach in Brown, but if Jackson couldn’t get this team over the proverbial hump in his final season, why would anyone assume Brown would be capable of pulling it off now? And Sessions was supposed to be the anti-Derek Fisher — a younger, more athletically gifted point guard capable of matching up better against the league’s younger and more athletic guards. He proved to be just as ill-equipped to handle Russell Westbrook as Fisher would have been.

This is a mess of the Lakers’ own making, whether they admit it or not. They are the ones that tossed Jackson’s hand-picked successor, Brian Shaw, aside in favor of Brown. They saw the cracks in their foundation and opted for some instant sealant instead of legit fixes.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (217) /

Hungry Thunder Sweep Mavericks, Punch First Ticket To 2nd Round

May 5, 2012  ·  11:56PM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – A 13-point deficit in a hostile environment, with a close-out opportunity fading away with every empty possession, would have worried most teams heading into the fourth quarter.

But not the Oklahoma City Thunder. And certainly not James Harden, the Thunder’s mercurial sixth man who came to the rescue and delivered the Thunder’s 103-97 series-clinching Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night at American Airlines Center with a staggering 29-point performance that included virtuoso work in the crucial minutes of the fourth quarter.

The Thunder not only swept the defending champs out of the playoffs for the second straight year (the Mavericks got the Lakers in the Western Conference semis a year ago), they also became the first team in this postseason to punch their ticket to the second round, where they await the winner of the Lakers-Nuggets series.

Perhaps even more important in their own locker room, however, is that they vanquished the team that ended their dream run in the conference finals last year by schooling the young upstarts in the art of closing out playoff games.

“We learned a lot [from that series],” said Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, whose lockdown defense on Mavericks sixth man Jason Terry helped turn the series in his team’s favor. “We learned that we had to come back this season with a lot more toughness.”

And they did!

It’s far too early to crown the Thunder as anything but the first team to move on to the next round. But they showed resilience, some toughness and some maturity that many people wondered if they possessed after seeing the Mavericks take them apart in that five-game series last year.

“They’re a great young team,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “They have a certain look in their eye right now, not only that they belong but that this could be their time. I’m sure the addition of [Derek] Fisher has something to do with that. But they came at us like a buzzsaw in the fourth quarter … they’re going to be tough to beat.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (50) /

Mavericks’ Terry Playing Pressure Card With Season On The Line

May 5, 2012  ·  2:00PM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Mavericks guard Jason Terry tried the “Game 3 is Game 7″ card a few days ago and the effort fell woefully short for the home team.

So he’s changed up his tactics for tonight’s win-or-go-fishing Game 4 at American Airlines Center. Instead of the defending champion Mavericks having to deal with the pressure of staving off elimination at the hands of the Thunder, Terry is playing the “pressure’s all on them” card this time.

When you’re down 3-0 and in danger of being swept out of the playoffs before they really get going, why not throw all your cards out there?

“The pressure is on them all the way,” Terry told ESPNDallas.com. “They’re kind of young. They might not realize it, but it’s there, and hopefully they’ll feel it during the game because it’s hard to close a team out. And then if you do lose, then what? Now you start to think about it a little bit. Not a situation (down 3-0) we want to be in, but we’ll take it at this point.”

At this point, the Mavericks have to win just to save a little face. Even after coming in as the No. 7 seed, Terry and the Mavericks talked and walked with the swagger you’d expect from the defending champs.

They presented themselves as contenders, even if their regular season work suggested otherwise. They played like a team ready for a fight in Games 1 and 2, losing both games by a combined four points. But the bottom fell out in that Game 3 rout Thursday night.

Now they’ll have to hold off a hungry Thunder team that understands the importance of handling the business at hand, regardless of the location.

To their credit, the Thunder haven’t shown anything but the utmost respect when speaking about the Mavericks and their predicament. They expect a team led by veterans like Dirk Nowitzki, Terry, Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd to fight until the very end.

“I don’t think we’ve dominated them at all,” Kevin Durant said. “We’ve won a few games here and there, a last second shot one. After playing this team so much last year and the start of this year, we kind of knew what we were coming into in this series. We were able to learn from our past mistakes and apply them here.”

And now they have a chance to seize the moment, pressure packed as Terry or anyone else believes it might be, and finish the Mavericks in a sweep in a series most folks (yours truly included) predicted would go at least six games.

“It’s very important, anytime you have a chance to close a team out you need to do it,” Kendrick Perkins said. “But one thing I know about close out games is that it’s the hardest one to win. And then you’re on the road, against the defending champs … you have to expect them to come out and give it their all. Their team has too much pride, the organization has too much pride not to go down fighting.”

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comment (1) /

Thunder Roll, Put Mavericks On Notice

May 4, 2012  ·  9:48AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Don’t let the designer Poindexter glasses fool you. Thunder stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook see just fine.

They can see through the playoff matrix already, just three trips into the postseason in their young careers.

Clearly, the Thunder do not plan on waiting their turn. They also won’t be deferring to their elders, as their 95-79 Game 3 destruction of the defending champion Mavericks Thursday night at American Airlines Center serves as proof.

Durant’s shooting touch came back — he had 15 points 12 minutes in — was 8-for-10 and had 21 points by halftime and finished with a game-high 31 points. Westbrook did as he pleased and the Mavericks still do not have anyone on the roster capable of shutting him down. And the Thunder, from Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison up front to James Harden, Derek Fisher and Thabo Sefolosha in the backcourt, are proving that they are the deeper, stronger, more resilient and a just plain better team.

“We wanted to focus on being solid, keeping it simple, hit singles and not home runs and I thought we did that,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “That’s important, because sometimes we get a little excited. And that’s good, because they are very excitable. But when we talk about playing our basketball and improving everyday, we have to think simple. Sometimes it’s challenging to coach simple with our guys but it’s important to focus on that.”

A 3-0 hole in a playoff series is the ticket for any team to get off the postseason ride, even the defending champs. The Mavericks know this better than anyone, having handed the same ticket to the Lakers last year in the Western Conference semifinals.

Now here they are, 48 minutes away from the same fate.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (45) /

Venue Changes Nothing For Thunder

May 3, 2012  ·  4:37PM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – The change of venue from Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena to the American Airlines Center in Dallas means little to Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

Sure, the blue or white shirts the crowd will be wearing tonight won’t have one of the Thunder’s marketing slogans splashed across the front. And there will more boos than cheers coming from the partisan crowd than his team has experienced in those first two home games.

But the basketball, the action on the court, will be more of the same.

Brooks expects two league heavyweights, the defending champion Mavericks and the aspiring champion Thunder, to continue matching blows from start to finish … the same way they have since last season.

“It’s always been our approach, that every game is a new game and you don’t worry about the last game,” Brooks said. “You learn from it but you move on quickly. We’ve had a couple of good days of practice and preparation. But we expect the Mavericks to come out with a lot of force and they expect us to come out the same way. Both teams play hard, both teams are really good basketball teams and it’s not going to change overnight. We’re both going to keep fighting each other, keep pushing each other and play tough-minded basketball.”

There is a distinction in the way they go about their business, though. While the Mavericks are more than willing to bleed the shot clock down to its final seconds to find the right shot, or at least the shot coach Rick Carlisle is comfortable with, the Thunder freelances quite a bit more.

It helps to have the likes of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden to lean on when you operate the way Thunder does. All three of those guys have the freedom within the Thunder’s system to create in the ways they see fit. All three of them have found ways to be effective in this series so far, as well, even with Durant struggling with his shooting touch through the first two games (he’s shooting just 34 percent from the floor and just 3-for-12 from beyond the 3-point line).

Durant won’t be deterred by that or anything else. And Brooks insists he will not change his plans and play through anyone other than the three-time scoring champ, whose also had to contend with intense defensive pressure from Mavericks swingman Shawn Marion.

He’s going to continue to respect the defending champs and make sure his team goes after them accordingly.

“We’re looking at them as a very good team, the defending champions,” Brooks said. “I don’t know how many guys they have from their championship team, but I know they’ve got their top four or five guys — you have Dirk (Nowitzki), you have Jason (Kidd), (Jason) Terry, Shawn Marion, (Brendan) Haywood — and that’s a good basketball team. I don’t look at them as a seventh seed, I look at them as the defending champs that are going to continue to fight.  Every game has been down to the last couple of minutes and I expect that to happen the rest of the series.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comment (1) /

Brooks: “Dirk Most Amazing I’ve Seen”

May 1, 2012  ·  1:15PM





OKLAHOMA CITY – Whatever terse words have been exchanged on the Thunder and Mavericks so far, the mood changes dramatically when cameras and microphones are involved.

Despite a growing tension between the two teams, there remains a healthy dose of mutual admiration between the two camps. Neither Dirk Nowitzki nor Kendrick Perkins unloaded on each other after their little skirmish in Game 2. Not even Shawn Marion, the Mavericks’ and one of the league’s most polished trash talkers, has taken any direct shots at the opposition.

At least not publicly.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks continues to lavish praise upon the Mavericks’ biggest star, who has been chewing up his team’s defense since the 2011 Western Conference finals.

It’s easy to appreciate Nowitzki’s game after you watch him work the Thunder over for 31 points on 10-for-19 shooting, and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line, as he did in Game 2 Monday night.

“I keep saying this, it’s like a broken record, but the guy is the most amazing player I’ve seen,” Brooks said. “Just his ability to score … he’s just an amazing player.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (29) /

Thunder Squeeze Out Another Close One

May 1, 2012  ·  2:20AM





OKLAHOMA CITY – Four or five more like this and the winner of this Thunder-Mavericks series might need help getting out of the bed for Western Conference semifinals.

Their budding rivalry has suddenly turned physical, nasty even, with shoulder shrugs and forearms from Dirk Nowitzki and Kendrick Perkins early (see above), marking their latest episode.

The Thunder emerged from the rubble to claim their second straight narrow win over the Mavericks Tuesday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, surviving 102-99 on free throws in the final minute from Kevin Durant and James Harden. Durant made two with 50.4 seconds left and Harden hit four more foul shots to close it out for the Thunder, who had to rally for the win after leading by as many as 16 points early.

Russell Westbrook, who torched the Mavericks for the second straight game, finished with a team-high 29 points to carry the Thunder. Durant finished with 26 and 10 rebounds, but is just 15-for-44 from the floor in these first two games.

“We knew these guys were going to play physical, they are a physical team,” Durant said. “The refs did a great job of letting us play. We just have to continue to take that punch from them and do a great job of sticking together. Games like these in the playoffs are going to get chippy.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (77) /

Game 2 Games Have Already Begun

April 30, 2012  ·  3:15PM

OKLAHOMA CITY – Tip off for Game 2 of this Thunder-Mavericks series is still a few hours away. But the gamesmanship and rhetoric that cranked up in this series over the weekend was dialed back this afternoon by the man who started it all.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who raised the issue of the Thunder’s aggressive defense and physical play on Dirk Nowitzki late Saturday night, did his best to clarify his comments at his team’s shootaround practice at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Well, sort of.

“This is a physical series, a physical series,” Carlisle said. “And look, if there’s been a memo issued saying that if you elbow a guy in the throat it’s legal, I would appreciate that memo being passed along. And I will say this, and I sincerely mean this, if one of our guys elbows [Kevin] Durant or [Russell] Westbrook or Reggie Jackson or Cole Aldrich in the neck, that’s a foul. You know, it just happened to be a play that was missed.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks reacted in kind Sunday.

“Just go back to your quotes in 2011,” Brooks said. “He said the same thing … If you’re going to get into that, you’re taking away what NBA basketball’s about. Play your game, do it as hard as you can, and live with the results.”

Carlisle said he was just answering a question with the truth, according to the Mavericks.

“I was asked about my opinion, and I made two statements of fact,” Carlisle said. “It’s not posturing or positioning. They were two statements of fact. You’re talking about a guy who has been very difficult to officiate because of his unusual skill set, and he gets played very physically, and we’ve seen it for four years. That’s a fact. That’s not an attempt to lobby the league. That’s a fact of life we have to deal with, and Dirk does a great job with it.  But hey, look, it’s physical. We don’t expect it not to be. We’re going to have to be a little bit more physical tonight. That’s a part of the game where we feel we can pick it up a little bit.”

By the way, Jackson, the Thunder’s rookie guard, was in street clothes for Game 1.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (4) /

Durant, Thunder Steal The Opener

April 29, 2012  ·  1:05AM

OKLAHOMA CITY – Kevin Durant was still shaking his head as he walked off the floor at Chesapeake Energy Arena Saturday night.

It was hard to tell if his expression was one of disgust or disbelief. He’d endured a horrible shooting night in Game 1 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, a rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals.

He was just 9-for-26 when he lofted his last shot, a one-handed floater in the lane, over the outstretched hand of Shawn Marion. Time was running out, the Thunder was in danger of dropping a third straight Game 1 in a playoff series, dating back to last year’s conference semifinals matchup against the Grizzlies.

So if his shot didn’t bounce off the front of the rim and in with 1.5 seconds left for the final margin in an exhausting 99-98 Thunder comeback win, the look of disgust would have made plenty of sense.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Marion’s a good defender.”

A great defender, really. But Durant made a better shot.

One even he couldn’t believe went down on a night when it seemed like nothing else would.

The look of disbelief was well-earned. It was also the same look 18,000 other people in the building had when the buzzer sounded, not that it could be heard by anyone in the vicinity.

They’d watched the Mavericks handle the Thunder all night, leading by no more than eight points all night, but controlling the action for all but those final precious seconds. Dirk Nowitzki’s drained the free throws to put the mavericks up a point with nine seconds left. He was just 8-for-18 himself, but an absolute terror down the stretch, same as he was against the Thunder last year.

But this game was a tight one, just like all four these two teams played during the regular season. And it ended the same way their first matchup of the season did. Durant nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the Thunder’s 104-102 win over the Mavericks on this same floor.

The fans from both sides wouldn’t complain if there are six more of these games in this series between the reigning world champion Mavericks and their young rivals from up the highway. The coaches and players from both sides seem resigned to their being no other way to end this budding feud.

“We’re going to keep coming at this team,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Trust me.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (25) /

Something’s Missing In This Rematch

April 28, 2012  ·  3:13PM





OKLAHOMA CITY – Much will be made of the Thunder and Mavericks adding another layer to the playoff rivalry that began last season in the Western Conference finals, where the Mavericks cemented their supremacy on the way the franchise’s first Larry O’Brien trophy.

But there is on glaring omission from the festivities this time around. When the Mavericks take the floor tonight at Chesapeake Arena tonight they’ll do so without the defensive anchor that championship team leaned on considerably in the postseason, especially against the Thunder.

Knicks center Tyson Chandler is the Miami Heat’s problem this time around. Brendan Haywood is working in his place now. And no matter how much the Thunder try to convince themselves that Haywood brings the same sort of rim-protecting ferocity to the party, it’s just not true.

“There’s no question Tyson is one of the best defensive bigs in the league and has obviously done a great job in New York, but Haywood is also a very unique player, he’s a very strong low-post player and protects the basket in different ways,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “But we still have to look forward to getting good shots and be very intelligent in our drives and know when to pull up and when to pass out of it. We have to take good shots, because Dallas plays zone and we have to be able to attack that.”

Chandler’s inside work in the middle of Rick Carlisle‘s’ zone scheme is what allowed the Mavericks to play shut down defense on the perimeter. The Thunder collapsed down the stretch offensively in Games 4 and 5 of the conference finals last season, blowing big leads in both games as they ran out of fight in a series that up until then looked like it might go the distance.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, as good as they are, were unable to shoot and score the Thunder out of that hole once Chandler and the Mavericks’ defense locked on. None of the Thunder’s bigs — Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, Nazr Mohammed or Nick Collison — was able to neutralize Chandler, who did battle foul trouble throughout the series.

Thunder guard Derek Fisher got a taste of the Mavericks with Chandler last season as well, the Mavericks swept the Lakers in the conference semifinals. So he knows just how difficult a team the Mavericks were to attack with Dirk Nowitzki shredding your defense on one end and Chandler manning the middle on the other. And he doesn’t see a significant drop off in what they do now.

“I think they have figured out a way, even without Chandler’s protection at the basket, to be a really solid defensive teams,” he said. “They have a lot of smart, veteran players, so they know how to defend the floor and take things away from teams. They’ve still been able to do that this season.”

We’ll find out tonight if the Thunder have come up with a solution to that problem tonight. They’ve had roughly 10 months to think about it. It should be an easier task without Chandler around, at least on paper.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (6) /

< Older Entries