Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Dirk and ‘The Jet’ lead the Mavs to another wild fourth-quarter comeback

A game away from his first NBA title, Dirk Nowitzki knows that the Dallas Mavericks still have much work to do.

That’s why Nowitzki wasn’t in a particularly jovial mood after Dallas claimed a 112-103 victory over Miami that gave them a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series.

“There’s really nothing to celebrate,” Nowitzki told reporters after the Mavericks went ahead in the series for the first time. “We’re going in there Sunday swinging, like we did today, from the jump, and hopefully steal one Sunday.”

The Mavericks will have a chance to wrap up their first NBA title in franchise history Sunday night in Miami, where the series returns for the rest of the games.

Nowitzki tallied 29 points, including the go-ahead dunk with 2:45 left that was a part of a clinching 17-4 run to finish the game.

The main reason for the triumph was Dallas’ blistering shooting. The Mavericks hit 56.5 percent from the field, including 13 of 19 (68 percent) from 3-point range.

Nowitzki’s game was supported by a strong contribution from his supporting cast. Jason Terry came off the bench to score eight of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Five Dallas players  notched double-figure scoring efforts.

“It’s what I do. It’s my job,” Terry told reporters after the game. “All season long, ever since I’ve been a Maverick, I’ve been the guy in the fourth quarter they rely on to either make plays or make shots. Regardless of what’s going on throughout the three quarters of the game, in the fourth quarter I know I’m depended on to come through.”

Nowitzki chuckled when he heard  about Terry’s comments about his late-game exploits.

“We all know Jet is a confident young man,” Nowitzki said. “He always has a lot to say to us in the locker room. He’s always talking. He’s just an energetic guy. He loves to talk and he loves to hear himself talk.”

It pushes them closer than the Mavericks have ever been to a title, but they have to nail one down one more win to accomplish the ultimate goal.

“It’s not a best of five series; it’s a best of seven. So the first team to four wins,” Nowitzki said. “So we couldn’t celebrate tonight, even though it was a big win for us. The series is not over.”

STUDS

Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki: Went for 29 points, six rebounds, three assists and was plus-14 in the Mavericks’ 112-103 Game 5 victory over Miami.

Dallas G Jason Terry: Came off the bench to produce 21 points, four rebounds and six assists in the Mavericks’ comeback victory over the Heat.

Dallas G J.J. Barea: Tallied 17 points and five assists in the Mavericks’ triumph over Miami.

Dallas G Jason Kidd: Notched 13 points, six assists, three steals, two rebounds and was plus-13 in Dallas’ victory over Miami.

Dallas C Tyson Chandler: Produced 13 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and was plus-14 in the Mavericks’ victory over the Heat.

Dallas F Shawn Marion: Tallied eight points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and was a game-best plus-21 in the Mavericks’ victory over the Heat.

Miami G Dwyane Wade: Overcame a hip injury to produce a team-best 23 points, eight rebounds and two steals in Miami’s loss to Dallas.

Miami F Chris Bosh: Notched 19 points and 10 rebounds in the Heat’s loss to Dallas.

Miami G Mario Chalmers: Came off the bench to produce 15 points, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, in the Heat’s loss to the Mavericks.

DUDS

Miami F LeBron James: Might have produced the quietest triple-double in NBA Finals history after scoring only two points in the fourth quarter when his team needed him to close. James was 8-for-19 from the field, missing all four 3-pointers, with four turnovers and was minus-11 in the Heat’s loss to Dallas.

Draft prospect: Bojan Bogdanovic

The Spurs own the 29th pick in the June 23 draft, one of the lowest slots of the Tim Duncan era. This year’s draft pool is considered to be uncommonly shallow, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Spurs either deal the pick or select a future prospect to stash overseas. Over the next few weeks, the Courtside blog will profile selected players who could be wearing silver and black, should the Spurs elect to keep their pick.

The Spurs have famously had some luck with drafting foreign players at the back half of drafts. Tony Parker was selected 28th overall in 2001, two years after Manu Ginobili went 57th. Both became All-Stars.

While it is too early — far too early — to project Croatian prospect Bojan Bogdanovic into the same stratosphere, he does make for an intriguing prospect in the upcoming draft.

At 6-foot-7 and 22 years old, Bogdanovic probably possesses more upside than the collegians in the draft pool. Playing for Cibona Zagreb last season, Bogdanovic averaged nearly 19 points per game in Adriatic League play. A lethal scorer, some have compared Bogdanovic’s shot-making ability to that of the late Drazen Petrovic, generally regarded as the greatest Croatian basketball player of all time.

That too is probably a stretch, but Bogdanovic could project as a rotation-ready NBA small forward, a spot where the Spurs have an obvious need for depth.

The biggest drag on Bogdanovic’s stock in the draft is his obligation in Europe. Bogdanovic is expected to sign with the Turkish team Fenerbahce, if he hasn’t already, basically ruling him out for NBA competition in 2011-12. Any team that drafts him must be willing to wait on him.

If the Spurs wind up targeting Bogdanovic, however, his uncertain availability could wind up working in their favor.

Currently, Bogdanovic is being projected as an early second-round pick. The Spurs would have to reach to take him at No. 29. There’s a chance Bogdanovic’s contract situation could push him to the bottom of the second round, where the Spurs could be poised to make another European steal.

Mike Monroe: NBA just posturing at this point

It’s Wednesday morning, and the owners and players are still talking to one another. Apparently, Tuesday was a very important day in the NBA’s collective bargaining process, but Friday is very, very important.

David Stern often resorts to hyperbole, so the massive magnitude the NBA commissioner had ascribed to Tuesday’s meeting caused some of us veteran reporters to roll our eyes.

Stern emerged on Tuesday to announce another negotiating session for Friday because the owners had made a new proposal that reflected their desire “to go as far as we can to avoid a lockout,” according to the Associated Press.

Perhaps his real goal was to make certain he can preside over the first round of Thursday’s draft without being booed off the stage or pelted with rotten tomatoes.

Thursday’s draftees may have to wait until 2012 to prove worthy of their spot in the annual selection, for there is little to suggest a collective bargaining breakthrough is imminent.

Negotiators don’t get more down-to-earth than Matt Bonner, the Spurs forward who is one of nine players on the union’s negotiating committee. But even the ever-upbeat Bonner is hard-pressed to see a way out of a process that has been complicated by major changes in the makeup of the league’s owners and a global recession that has affected nearly every business on the planet.

You can tell Bonner is discouraged when he fails to offer anything quirky or humorous in any conversation, and he was all business during a phone chat on Tuesday.

The problem with the owners’ negotiating position, Bonner said, is its very premise.

“There was movement,” he said of Tuesday’s meeting, “but the key to understanding it is that their starting position is based on the really extreme offer they made last year.

“They’re not starting from the current deal, which is our starting point, obviously. They’re starting from Candyland.”

The owners’ “Candyland” includes a hard salary cap, and Bonner and the other members of the union’s negotiating committee — president Derek Fisher and Bonner, Roger Mason Jr., Theo Ratliff, Mo Evans, Keyon Dooling, James Jones, Etan Thomas and Chris Paul — weren’t buying the latest iteration of that position, something Stern called a “flex cap.”

According to the Associated Press, Stern said the flex cap would ensure the players’ total compensation never would fall below $2 billion per year in a 10-year contract, a figure close to what the players’ total compensation was last season.

The tweak, according to Bonner, is just repackaging an old proposal in new language.

“It’s their attempt to spin something that is still essentially a hard cap,” he said.

Spurs owner Peter Holt, considered a moderate, is chairman of the owners’ labor relations committee, but it includes some relatively new owners who weren’t around when previous CBAs dictated the split of league revenues. The league insists 22 of 30 teams lost money last season and calls it proof the business model is broken and can be fixed only by the enormous changes they seek.

Frankly, some of the new owners paid too much for their teams — Phoenix’s Robert Sarver ($400 million in 2005) and Golden State’s Joe Lacob and Dan Gruber ($400 million in 2010) for example. Now they seek big givebacks from the union to prop up their bottom lines.

The players are disinclined to give up what took 40 years to gain.

This is Bonner’s first experience with collective bargaining, but he already understands the imperative that guides a negotiating committee that includes only one superstar.

“It’s humbling to be in a position where you can have an influence on a deal that’s going to affect the game that is so much bigger than you,” he said. “It will affect all the players in the game now and all the players that come in the league after you. It’s a big responsibility to do what’s right and fight for what’s right.”

The bell will ring on the next round on Friday — a very, very important day.

mikemonroe@express-news.net