Mavs @ Blazers Playoff Post Game Three Quotes "Who cares?"

What the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers said 
after Game 3.

(wait for pics, call DocFunk 4 help in the meantime)

Quotes

Mavericks

Coach Rick Carlisle

(On High Heels the Game) "I thought at the beginning off the game we got off to a very poor start and their aggressiveness put us on our heels."

(On the Mavs) "I love the way we battled back. We fought hard and guys stayed into it. We battled extremely hard, but we just couldn't overcome our bad start. I don't fault the effort. I think it was a matter of their aggression and their fans really taking them to another level in the first six minutes and we're going to have to do a better job in that timeframe."

(On the reason for the Loss) "It was a series of things that didn't go well for us. And again, their level of aggression was the biggest thing that influenced the game tonight."

(On turnovers) "16-10 in turnovers and a differential of 5 points off TOs is significant in a series that's not a high-possession series."

(On Two Players in double figures) "Well, we'd like to get more guys involved and able to score a few more points, but if you're not gonna have a balanced game you've got to have a couple of guys that go for big numbers. So, there's no set formula for us. We don't say that Dirk's got to be the first guy and JET [Terry] has to be the second guy. It just doesn't seem to work that way for us."

(On Marion) "I think there are ways to get him more involved and we'll look to do that. His game is so predicated on our flow game and our movement that we have to do a better job of limiting the turnovers and getting into transition."

(On Tyson Chandler) "We need Tyson on the floor. His aggression is great for us, but there are some things we can correct there. He got a couple of fouls screening. Those are timing issues, and I think we can clean those up."

(On the 3-guard lineup) "We were in a deficit, so we needed play-making and attackers out there. When you do that, you have other things that come into play. Size is none of them. Neither is dribbling or shooting. Stop looking at me like i'm ... How is it my fault when the Refs don't call any charges whenever JJ gets shot fouled by the offensive player posting him up? I'm just an honest Coach in Love! "

(On Roy) "We continue to gameplan for Roy as an All-Star because he's capable of doing this any night. He’s done it to us, so I’m not surprised."

Dirk Nowitzki

/Nina Hagen

(On the early part of the game) "You’ve gotta be more ready for the hit."

(On the Game) "We kept weathering the storm. I think that we kept hanging in there and gave ourselves a chance to hang around and at the end be in position to strike, but just weren't sharp enough. I like the fight in us, we just didn't make enough plays down the stretch to win."

(On the Feeling of the Series) "We feel like we took their best blow and we were right there, so we get another opportunity Saturday. Obviously, we don't want to go home with a tied series, so we gotta come out and really go for it on Saturday, leave it all out there like we did tonight. They wanted it more. Sadly, it's gonna be a street fight, and let's see who wants it more on Saturday."

(On the difference between this fourth quarter vs game 1 and 2) "They got enough stops. We only scored 20 points."

(On the Offense) "It’s going to be tough to win if we have two guys in double figures."

(On his offensive Freethrow performance)"The free throws hurt. I missed three today, two one in the fourth quarter, and we had our opportunities. We had our opportunities."

(On the Big Worker) "Haywood played really well. He battled in there for us and made it tough on Aldridge. That's all you can ask, but we would definitely like to have our starting center in there for more than 15 minutes."

(On Chandler's importance and foultrouble) "He’s gotta be a little smarter. Some tough calls there, obviously, but on the road, that’s what happens. We just gotta be overall a little smarter. Yeah, he’s a factor for us all year long with his length and athleticism in the paint."

(On Matthews, Roy, Johnson) "Role players play a lot better when they’re at home. It’s just what it is."

Jason Kidd

(On Turnovers against POR) "They're long, so they got their hands on balls and we were trying to make the right play. I came out and turned the ball over a couple of times, but that happens and we're down two on the road at halftime, and it's anybody's ballgame."

(On Offense) "We wasted good performances by Dirk and Jet. Those guys had it going tonight. The other guys, we all had good looks. They just didn’t go in for us. We’ve got to look at that on tape and in Game 4 be ready to knock down those shots to help those guys out."

(On 8 Points on 9 Shots) "I was open. Again, I had the same great looks. If I have those in Game 4, I feel I can knock them down."

Tyson Chandler

(On the game) "I think we competed. We took their punch. It was within reach at the end of the game."

(On his six fouls) "I’m not going to go there. I think everyone who watched the game can make their own assessment of it. Obviously, I was frustrated because I was on the sideline because of it. To be honest, a lot of my fouls, I don't even know if I got one on-the-ball foul as far as making a defensive effort. I might have gotten one, and the other five­, I don't know how to avoid them."

(On the Series) "We gotta go get the next game. They won Game 3, we gotta go win Game 4."

Jason Terry

(On his scoring performance) "Who cares? Our only mindset was on the win."

(On the Home crowd) "You gotta expect them to be emotional at home, first playoff game in the series for them and we withstood their first punch. It was a heck of a run. I mean, that first quarter it seemed they could do no wrong. Their energy was up, we turned the ball over and they were hitting 3's."

(On FTs and TOs) "It's something we're gonna have to focus in a little bit more on. We missed 10 free throws, very uncharacteristic of us. Again, free throws, turnovers, we hang our hat in those areas. Those are little things, but those are the little things that can come back and bite you in the end."

(On the Loss) "We hang our hat on defense. We gave up 95 points to this team, which we hadn't done in the first two games. That's the reason why we lost.

Shawn Marion

(On obvious and not-so-obvious things) "They really came out and laid it all out on the line and we were right there. We still haven’t played like we should yet."

Blazers

Coach Nate McMillan

(On the Game) "Well, Dallas is a good team. The game was looking like the last two games. We won the first quarter, lost the second and we said look, we want to win the third and the fourth. We finally was able to do that. The fourth quarter we did a better job of not allowing them to get into the penalty early. Chris Johnson basically came out and did a real nice job defensively with Camby being in foul trouble and giving us some good minutes, six or seven minutes in that fourth quarter."

(On the importance of Mavs 16 TOs) "Big, because they don't turn the ball over. I thought our pressure was good. It started with Wesley picking the ball up. Our pick and roll defense was much better tonight. Our bigs were up and being much more aggressive and at times we mixed in some traps and Dallas does a good job of taking care of the ball. Tonight we were able to force those turnovers and convert them into points."

(On Roy) "He talked about wanting to play and he wanted to play the last game. I thought tonight he came out, he was focused even though the comments didn't both him, he came out and he played. This is the guy we know is capable of producing and tonight he did that. I thought he did a good job of getting us into our offense. We had some match-ups where he created and produced points for us. I said this to you guys before, and I will say it again, there's nobody in this state, not even Brandon Roy, who wants to see him on the floor as much as I do. He has meant a lot to this organization. I certainly have not forgotten about him."

LMA

(On the Series) "I think every game the team that's won it has had someone play really, really well. Tonight it was Wesley."

(On Matthews 3s opening up the floor for him) "They were clogging me early. His third three was me just giving it to him because I think in the first two games, they were just clogging, I couldn't get to the middle. Him making his shots just opened it up for everybody."

(On Roy) "[He's] playing with confidence. I thought he had his swag back tonight. He was a little bit more loose, going through his legs more, I thought that was big for us tonight."

Wesley Matthews

(On the importance of the Game) "It was a must-win for us and we took care of it."

(On the NBA STAR) "Barea is extremely quick off the pick and roll and they're using him to attack us and we have to use our size against him."

(On Roy'al Drama) "It's been emotional for everybody. You look at Brandon Roy and the first thing you think is All-Star. He has had to sacrifice more than anyone."

Brandon Roy

(On getting support and Love) "I've been around this organization for five years and the fans have been great. To see the support they showed tonight, nothing else mattered. Charles Barkley texted me on my way to the arena. He just said, 'Keep your head up, have fun out there, and stay positive.' I appreciate it so much to know that so many people care."

(On the Fans) "I wasn't nervous. The fans were really supportive. They were cheering for me before I went in the game. That's really big for me. We've been through a lot together and to know that they still have my back was great for me tonight."

(On his game) "I was playing tonight. I was in go mode. I didn't worry about nothing else. I didn't worry about playing time, I didn't worry about who was playing. When it was my time I was going."

Vids

2 or 3, his Toe is infamous

Game Recap

PRS Vids: Struggling to capture Dirk's words

Nate (notice the 10-finger-action)

LMA

Roy

TNT stable (at getting away from the Off. Fouls)

Links

MMB | CATcap

There is no shame in losing this game to Portland, in Portland, especially if the Mavericks can take care of business in Game 4. It would have been simply delightful to sweep Portland, but realistically, the best that should have been hoped for was one road win in the first two. The Mavericks have the ability to do just that.

But let's not get too far away from this game. What exactly went wrong? Well, there's a lot of reasons, some expected, others surprising, and maybe even one or two that shocked people.

Blazersedge, Recap | Media Row Report

The killer aggression at the outset of the first and fourth periods was nice to see. Still, the Blazers played pretty darn well and yet managed to leave this game in doubt. Part of that is Dallas being good but part of it is also Portland still not grasping the concept of "dominate 'til they're done". No matter how well the Blazers play Dallas is always there to knock on the door again. That's a serious disadvantage. One of these should-win home games for Portland is going to get pushed to an overtime coin flip and then all bets are off. When the season's on the line you want to avoid walking the precarious edge. They've found their aggression. Let's see if they can sustain it.

As Dallas started sloppy early, I made a point of punching his [Kevin Pelton of BP] right arm following every Mavericks turnover. As the game entered the second quarter, he became annoyed and a bit whiny, yelling things like "ow-wee" and "I've getting a boo boo on my arm arm", the types of things that sound totally normal in your head when you talk to your cats all day instead of real humans. As the turnovers continued throughout the second half, started to take a perverse pleasure in the new ritual, actually pointing to his arm and then begging to be punched after a late Jason Terry miscue.

Punch him I did for the 16th and final time, one last, enthusiastic thump as an exclamation point on a stressful night at the Rose Garden. Playoff tension is just so awesome.

Hoopdata Boxscore (later) | Notes

- wait

Portland Roundball Society Roy finds himself

But the Blazers’ first win in the series is not so much as a blueprint as it is simply a start. Portland’s bench must continue to hold their own, and still need to score more. Rudy Fernandez needs to make shots, but moreover, not be afraid to take them. Nicolas Batum must continue putting his head down and driving to the basket, forgoing all but the most wide-open threes. And Chris Johnson must continue using his length to disrupt Dallas’ attempts in the paint.

Overall, the Blazers must continue making shots from deep—they made 57% of their three-point attempts to Dallas’ 41%. Portland also needs to tighten up their pick and roll defense, which was better Thursday, but still needs work. There were a number of occasions the Blazers found themselves with bad match-ups down low, with guards trying to cover Nowitzki on the block, or having Aldridge chasing around JJ Barea.

But most of all, Brandon Roy must continue to produce. It’s going to make all the difference.

BDL BtB

Later, you know.

Basketballprospectus Rise of Roy

at Portland 97, Dallas 92 (Dallas leads 2-1)
Pace: 83.7
Offensive Ratings: Portland 115.8, Dallas 110.0

Rick Carlisle's rotation changed dramatically in Game Three for a variety of reasons. Carlisle had no choice but to play Brendan Haywood for extended minutes because starting center Tyson Chandler spent most of the night in foul trouble before picking up his sixth personal after just 15:24. Haywood did a fine job marking Aldridge, but his poor free throw shooting (2-of-6) is a major issue when he gets the ball in the paint. In need of offense, Carlisle benched DeShawn Stevenson (who played only the first 4:20 of the game) and rode a three-guard attack of Barea, Kidd and Terry down the stretch. Barea was less effective getting in the paint off the dribble and the officiating crew would have nothing of his attempt to draw charges against the bigger Blazers guards.

NBAPlaybook - nothing yet, but bet

PTB Agressive

Whatever it was Portland came out far more intense and aggressive — we saw it defensively on the pick-and-roll (hedging out rather than laying back). We saw it when Portland came out trying to run. We saw it in just a seemingly more confident shooting stroke from three for their shooters. All that together meant Portland came away with a 97-92 win that makes the series 2-1 — a series that is still completely up in the air.

2MG's Difference

The Mavs’ defense was stifled by the Blazers’ impressive shot-making (as was the case with the Blazers’ D and the Mavs’ shot-making as well), but Brendan Haywood and Tyson Chandler did incredible individual defensive work against LaMarcus Aldridge. LMA still managed to get his, and several of his buckets were quite timely. That said, a few big baskets don’t erase Aldridge’s less efficient overall line; he may have scored a bit and even kept Chandler off the court by putting him in foul trouble, but his presence was significantly less taxing on the Dallas defense than it has been in games past. 30 minutes of Haywood typically isn’t conducive to effective play, but he filled in for Chandler admirably.

Stats

FT-Watch

Haywood bricked 4 of [six] from the line. He is now 2-12 on FTs in three games. Celebration for our third-best Center, Beaches! [nsfw]

Dirk missed 3 FTs. Barea two and Terry one. What do they say about 10 Missed Freethrows in a 5 Point Game?....

20-20-4 Watch

Chandler 2-4-0 in 15 Minutes till the Foulout, Haywood 6-6-1 in 30 Minutes. Mahinmi DNP-Playoffs/French. Chandler must have used some french odor.

Field Goals

Mavs 35, Blazers 36 'JJT's favorite word' even match

PIP-Boys

POR 34 DAL 32 . Another even Story.

Bonus or Malus (your whistle)

Disclaimer: If you couldn't tell by now, all italic sentences are made up thoughts, not actual quotes. Also, Care-free-day [Karfreitag].

Finally....KneeJerk Recap (TM) Jonthefon v2.03

The Mavs (beat/lost to) [the Portland Trail Blazers]¹ tonight (thanks to/despite) totol reliance on Dirk’s Awesomeness. The (cloud in the silver lining/major culprit) once more as usual was the (reliabilty/lack) of support from his team-mates, with the exception of Jason Terry/BrenDan HaywooD². Especially useless was Jason Kidd/Jose Barea/Peja Stojakovic/Tyson Chandler/Shawn Marion/DeShawn Stevenson/³ and it is (GUESS WHAT) THEY’RE ALMOST NOT ALL USELESS!

¹ Inserted Opponent

² Only one of them, mind you. This exception was decided at the Line. The Big Worker won in a Landslide.

³ Two at the minimum, up to all six seven of them. Carlisle shortened the rotation, so...