Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/281/story/1360113.html ********************************************************************* Dirk's heroics aren't enough to save Mavericks against Nuggets Posted on Wed, May. 06, 2009 / By Jim Reeves ********************************************************************* DENVER -- Dirk Nowitzki may be Superman, but not even he can stop the speeding train known as the Denver Nuggets all by himself. But then, Nuggets’ coach George Karl had already figured that out, hadn’t he. The question is whether or not the rest of the Dallas Mavericks will. At this point, it may well be too late anyway. Karl’s strategy of letting Dirk roam under single coverage, of allowing him to do whatever damage he can, continued to pay off Tuesday night. Despite Nowitzki’s inspired 35-point performance, the Nuggets again pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 117-105 victory at the Pepsi Center. That gives Denver a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 3 is scheduled at the AAC back in Dallas Saturday night and the Mavericks face the daunting prospect of having to beat the Nuggets, who have won six of seven playoff games, four out of the next five to advance to the second round. I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Dirk’s cape just isn’t big enough to carry the entire Mavs’ team, as much as he might like to do it. “He’s a marvelous player,” Karl said of Nowitzki. “It seemed like they took him down in the low block a little bit more to try to get the whistle a bit more. I thought in the fourth quarter we got a little control of him. “I’m not saying he was fatigued. I don’t know that he was tired. He’s an incredibly gifted offensive player.” But Karl knew that going in and elected to reject the strategy most teams employ on Dirk. He’s rarely seeing double-teams. Instead, Nowitzki is getting a steady diet of the Nuggets’ three big men coming at him in waves. “ He’s going to see Kenyon (Martin), Melo (Carmelo Anthony) and Chris (Andersen),” Karl promised. “I don’t think you’re going to see us double him. The tapes we have, he kills the double teams.” In other words, Karl is daring the rest of the Mavs to step up and beat the Nuggets if they can. No one in a Dallas uniform has yet to meet that challenge. Oh, Jason Terry pitched in 21 points in a supporting role after a lackluster 15 in Game 1, but other than 10 points from Antoine Wright, who started in place of J.J. Barea, no other Maverick reached double figures. With Josh Howard departing in the second quarter, never to return after tweaking his right ankle again, the Mavs were missing a key offensive contributor and it showed. “We needed him in the second half, his ability to slash and get to the basket, to score for us,” Nowitzki said. “We had to play the small lineup a bunch with J.J. (Barea), Jet and (Jason) Kidd, but (the Nuggets) are so big and athletic, they had mismatches all over the place. “In the fourth quarter, we just didn’t have anything left in the tank. If we ’d had Josh in there, he could have taken some of the pressure off myself and Jet scoring-wise.” For the second straight game, the Nuggets turned on the after-burners once the fourth quarter arrived and left the Mavs in their dust. This time it was a 16-2 run that effectively buried the Mavs before they knew what hit them. The Mavs trailed 86-83 at the beginning of the fourth quarter and it was still anyone’s game. Five and a half minutes later, it was 100-85 Nuggets. “We were right there again, like we were the other night, but things can just get out of hand quick,” Nowitzki said. “They’re just so explosive. “We had two or three costly turnovers and made a couple of bad shots when they made their run and suddenly we’re down 14. That’s how explosive that team is.” The Nuggets seem to have this playoff blowout thing down pat and they own the fourth quarter. “I thought for close to three quarters Dallas was the better basketball team tonight,” Karl said. “But for some reason, we seem to get tough in the fourth and we seem to make threes in the fourth.” It’s something the Nuggets have come to expect. All six of their playoff wins have been double-digit victories. “We’re just an explosive team in that way,” point guard Chauncey Billups said. “The game can be close but when we make a run, we tend to maximize the run. We could have had some bigger runs but Rick (Carlisle) does a good job of calling timeouts.” It was a Kidd turnover late in the third quarter that the Nuggets pointed to as the turning point in the game. Kidd drove inside, passed up what looked like an easy floater, and tried instead to pass outside for Terry. It was a bad pass and the ball zipped back over the half-court line. Terry looked like he could have touched it for an over-and-back, allowing the Mavs to at least set their defense, but Billups raced to pick up the loose ball and then whipped it inside to J.R. Smith for an uncontested layup and a 77-76 Nuggets’ lead. “That play, in a strange kind of way, kind of turned the game around,” Billups said. “It told us that was the kind of game it was going to be. I thought we wore them down a little bit. “I’m not too worried about what they’re doing. I’m worried us being aggressive in the fourth quarter, attacking the basket, getting into the bonus in the first three or four minutes. That’s what I’m thinking about, not why they’re falling apart.” That’s was a recurring theme in the fourth quarters of both games. The Nuggets picked up their intensity and the Mavs crumbled. Maybe it’s the altitude. Or maybe the Nuggets are just playing harder, like Karl claims. “They just make you work,” Dirk said. “I had to work hard for every point I got. They get you so quick with their ability to run and shoot the ball They have so many weapons out there.” Funny, I can remember when we used to say that about the Mavs. Right now, all they seem to have is Superman. He’s obviously giving it all he has. It’s the rest of the Mavs who seem to be succumbing to the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter kryptonite. Karl is betting that Dirk can’t win this by himself. It’s looking more and more like he’s right. ********************************************************************* -- Only the strong survive- Iverson ⊕ ═█┘ ⊕ ●╱ 　　　 Ｗ ● ●︵ ● ●)) ３╯ <３\ /３⊕ ／３﹚ ３ \\ />⊕ >/ ⊕ ╲> >> ========= http://www.wretch.cc/blog/AWEI3 ========= --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 58.114.81.191