No Dirk, No Problem...For Now

After their Saturday afternoon victory, the Mavericks took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Spurs.  Two straight home wins have put the Mavs in the driver's seat to reaching the western conference semi-finals, however, that has not been because of the play of former MVP Dirk Nowitzki.  In Game 1, Dirk was plagued with foul trouble and managed only 19 points.  In Game 2, the Spurs defensively dominated Dirk holding him to 3-14 shooting and only 14 points.  Nowitzki appeared to have regained his regular season shooting touch going 8-12 from the floor and ended with 20 points in the Mavs Game 3 route of the Spurs.  But game 4 may have been Dirk's worst game of the series.  Nowitzki finished the game with 12 points on 4-9 shooting (although he did lead the team with 13 rebounds).

The thing I can't get past is how the Mavericks managed to put the Spurs in a 3-1 hole with Dirk converting on only 4 field goals.  Even more incredible is the fact that the face of the Mavericks for the past decade only shot 9 times in Dallas' most important game of the season.  How does Dirk win NBA player of the month for April, and than lose the ability to score 20 points in 3 of his first 4 playoff games?  I refuse to believe the answer to that question cannot be the "suffocating" defense of Matt Bonner.  Sure, the Spurs play great team defense and they consistently double and even triple team Dirk whenever he catches the ball at the top of the key, but that still should not shut down the NBA's 4th best scorer.  The Mavs may be able to get past an aging and injured Spurs team in round 1 on the backs of Howard, J.J. Barea, Kidd, and Dampier; but to win a 7 game series against either the Nuggets or Hornets, Dirk needs to get back to his regular season form (and for the record, so does JET).

Instead of accepting the double teams and deferring to his teammates, Nowitzki needs to make a scoring move to basket before the double team arrives.  Despite his poor shooting performance in Game 4, Dirk may have scored the biggest field goal of the season by doing just that.  With the Mavs only up 5 with a few minutes left, Dirk received the pass, spun, and drove to the basket finishing with a strong lay-up.  He didn't rely on his fade-away or attempt to shoot over 3 defenders.  For the remainder of this series, and if the Mavs march on to face Denver of New Orleans, Nowitzki needs to stay aggressive and not settle for the jumpers.  Double teams may slow down Dirk, but they should never stop him.  If the Mavericks want to get beyond the first round, Dirk needs to step it up.