Blazers @ Mavs Playoff Post Game Five Quotes "Who wants it more"

What the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers said 
after Game 5.

Quotes

Mavericks

Coach Rick Carlisle

(On the Game) "At the beginning of the game, both teams were so jacked, neither team could even run a play. Hey, when guys are playing that hard, it’s just playing basketball and making plays. Tyson was the recipient of some stuff, and it was great. That helped get his energy going on the boards and everything else."

(On Kidd) "Kidd played a great all-around game. His shot-making wasn’t what it’s been in other games, but his leadership, his presence gives other guys confidence. That’s really important to us

(On Chandler) "Chandler had great activity at both ends. His offensive rebounding was phenomenal [13] and contributed a lot to our second-chance points. Every time he tips one out and we get it back and the crowd gets into it, it makes a huge difference. He’s been giving us great energy, but he hadn’t been able to get his scoring going. Tonight he was able to do that."

(On Dirk) "He's deceptively good at getting by guys. When people converge, he has a knack of finding open players."

(On Terry) "Terry had a great game, and he was solid defensively. With him, again, it's the all-around game that we need."

(On the zone) "We obviously played a lot of zone tonight, and our activity in the zone was terrific."

Dirk Nowitzki

(On Tysons energy) "He's got to be active for us, and he knows that. Hyping the crowd, being vocal in the huddle. That's what he's been doing for us all year long. If he keeps playing like that, with energy, we'll be okay."

(On Chandler) "Tyson was phenomenal on both ends of the floor with his energy. He was all over the boards. He was trying to make Aldridge work for everything and protected our paint. I always said if Haywood and Chandler play big for us in the paint, we can play and beat anybody."

(On his third quarter) "I really haven’t shot the ball well this series and I was just trying to make something happen."

(On getting the lead) "We got the lead by playing defense. I thought we made them work for everything."

(On keeping the lead) "We talked about it heading into the fourth -- we had a little lead and we talked about not letting up and keep attacking, and I thought we did a pretty decent job."

(On the Series) "Obviously you want to close out when you have a chance. They got us twice up there. We've been a good road team all season long. We were a great road team last year. So we just gotta find a way, hopefully, to stay in the game up there and not give up a big lead and always stay within striking distance, and hopefully steal one at the end."

(On the outside perception of the team) "We can’t really worry about what other people say all of the time. We have a bunch of veterans that want to play off each other and win."

Jason Terry

(On the game) "We wanted to come out and set the tone early in our building. Again, disappointed in the way we ended Game 4, but tonight was no letdown at all."

(On physical play) "If we look at the stats at the end of the game tonight the thing that tells you what kind of a game it was is about physical play. The team that’s more physical in each one of these games has won the battle at the free throw line, has outrebounded the other team, has gotten more steals and has forced the team into more turnovers so tonight we won that game and we’ve got to continue to do that because this series is far from over."

(On lingering effects of Gm4) "The only residuals there was a motivating factor. Hey, we’re not letting that happen again. Keeping that in the back of your mind was good. It was a positive thing. I thought we fed off it. When we got the lead tonight, we closed them out."

(On the difference of the last 4th quarter and tonight) "It looked like you could drive a car through the lane and lay it up in Game 4. Tonight, those alleys weren’t there. A few minor adjustments -- not letting Brandon Roy embarrass us like he did in Game 4 was key. Other than that, it was who wants it more."

(On the next Game) "We’re on a mission. We’re very confident going into Portland."

Shawn Marion

(What's up?) "We took care of business on both ends of the floor. Now time to go back to Portland."

Jason Kidd

(On the GM4 Aftermath) "We had to sit there all day on Easter and think about it while we were egg hunting."

(Good game, 4 Points) "You can’t say that often, lol."

(On his Threes) "I just missed some shots."

(On the zone) "It was something we talked about. And we wanted to see how it looked tonight and I thought it slowed them down and got them against the shot clock. In the past two games, that's what happened to us, we were fighting the shot clock. So they had to take some tough shots and they're going to look at the zone and see what they can do to exploit it and it's a chess match now."

(On the Series) "The hardest thing in this league is to shut the door. We’re going to have our hands full up there in Portland."

Tyson Chandler

Sometimes

(On the win) "I think it says a lot about us. I think nobody slept well after that loss. It was tough. A long flight coming home from Portland and it was one of those bitter losses and I think everybody was in shock. But to come back and have a night like this really is huge for us to kind of pull together, and this is the type of basketball that we’ve got to play."

(On his impact) "I really just want to do whatever it takes to win at whatever time. In that last game, I was as in as much shock as everybody else. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't let it happen again. Coming out tonight I knew my team would need me because after such a bad loss, a lot of times it can roll over into the next night and I didn't want to go back to Portland behind the 8-ball.

(On the Mavs) "From start to finish tonight we played aggressive. We did the exact same thing in Game 4. Our problem was we let up in the fourth quarter. We played great for three quarters and then we let up in the fourth quarter. Tonight we did it for four quarters and that’s why we got the win."

(On his Game) "Really just wanted to get myself involved in the series. I told Coach today that I’ve been on the weak side the entire series, I haven’t been able to really get involved. So, I figured that was one of the ways that I could get involved, getting in transition, getting in the pick-and-roll, rolling and if I didn’t get it I’d be in position to get some boards."

(On 20 Rebounds) "I was just trying to be aggresive. Tonight was a big game for us and we didn't want to go back to their place down in the series. We wanted to go up there up in the series and try to finish the job. We did whatever it took to win this game and we were able to knock down shots when we needed to."

(On the Next Game) "We have to play the same we did tonight at home and be aggressive, and we've got to get them on their heels early and take the crowd out of the game and we have to finish the game."

JJ Barea

(On Chandler commanding the Defense) "Oh my God. He was so focused tonight. He was controlling everybody. He was on everyone's ass. He made sure we won this game. It's hard to beat us when Tyson Chandler plays like that. Impossible, I think."

Deshawn 'Abe' Stevenson

(On exchanging Pleasantries with Matthews after Cardinals Screen) "I’m not going to let anybody talk to my teammates like that. I said what I had to say. He walked away. And we walked away.''

(On the Situation really demanding it) "I look at it like we're up 13, 34 seconds to go, just play it out. And he [Mills] picked up our point guard like that. I got hit like that today. It's just part of basketball.''

Blazers

Coach Nate McMillan

(On Dallas' adjustments) "They didn't really make an adjustment other than the adjustment was a change in defense."

(On Mavs Zone) "We knew that they had the defense in their package. I thought for us most of the night, we're just not calm in getting to our spots offensively against the man and their zone. Basically, we've seen that, teams trying to mix in a zone."

(On FT and Rebounding discrepancy) "Big keys. Dallas basically just dominated the boards. Tyson Chandler [was] on the boards and Brendan Haywood was on the boards. Tyson with 13 offensive boards and really those boards leads to fouls and also allowing them to get into the penalty early."

(On FTs) "They just dominated the free throw line, 35 free throws to 19. I think we had one free throw at the half and that was for an illegal defense that we missed. So, they got to their tempo defensively when we missed shots. [And then] Tyson and Haywood were huge on the boards."

(On all Home-Wins this Series) "Let's hope that it stays that way for us."

Wesley Matthews

"Must kill Brian Cardinal... Cardinal with one or two Ls?"

(On Cardinal's Sin Screen on Mills with a few seconds left in the 4th) "I know it's the playoffs and everything, but come on. With four seconds left in the game? But that's cool. I'm not going to forget it, that's for sure.''

Patty Mills

(On the Cardinal Pick being a 'cheap' play) "I didn't see it, I didn't know anyone was there, but I was wondering why Barea was pushing the ball hard up the court. But I found out why. He set it up with Cardinal. He set it up.''

Brandon Roy

(On the Game) "It seems like they wanted it more. They played harder than we did. I thought they played a little tougher than in the first four games. They had more of a sense of urgency. Now it's our turn to show that same sense of urgency.""

Marcus Camby

(On the Series) "We're still feeling confident. The only thing they did was hold serve on their home court. Now we have to go out and do the same thing next ball game. But we can't rely on being home as being the cure-all. We know we have to play a whole lot better."

(On Chandler) "He had it going for them. I think he had like 14 offensive rebounds or something unheard of. He had a good game going today."

Gerald Wallace

(On Dallas Off. Rebounding) "It's exhausting. The first two or three offensive rebounds really don't bother you, but when it gets up to 15 and 20 and it's a reoccurring fact, it kind of drains the life out of you. That's what it was doing tonight. It seemed like every time we got it going and got a great defensive stop they got an offensive rebound and it sucked the air out of us."

Vids

The Cardinal Pick

Game Recap

Postgame Podium

Links

MMB | Rottcap

After Brandon Roy was knocked over with no foul called, Nate McMillan was called for a technical foul and the Mavericks went on a 12-4 run. The Blazers couldn’t seem to hit anything from beyond the arc, and as a result the Mavericks could clog the paint and play tight defense inside. At one point, the Blazers went 1 of 13 from the field and the Mavericks, for once, took advantage of poor shooting and built themselves a big lead. They walked off the court winners, despite having hung their heads a mere two nights prior. That ability to rebound (double entendre) could be the thing that gets them out of this series alive.

Blazersedge, Recap | Media Row Report (prob. not) |

The only clear lessons drawn from the opening two quarters were that both teams came to fight hard and nothing was decided yet. The third quarter would certainly be pivotal. And so it was, sadly for all the wrong reasons from the Portland perspective.

As always, folks will want to point to the refs. There were probably fewer missed calls in this game than in a couple of the others (Games 1 and 4 come to mind). It's worth noting that at the times the free throw disparity was most imbalanced--the first half wherein Dallas shot 13 free throws while the Blazers shot 1--Portland hung within a single point. The whistles blowing for Portland as well as the Mavs in the second half, particularly in that third quarter, didn't help a bit. The Blazers got owned, pure and simple. In contrast to Dallas, Portland was unable to bring out any of the best facets of its game.

Hoopdata Boxscore (none in 3 4 5 days) | Notes

Dallas takes a 3-2 lead back to Portland, knowing they've been pretty dominant in this series outside of the fourth quarter collapse over the weekend. In fact, if you take that quarter out of the series, Dallas is up 442-398 over 19 quarters, which pro-rates to a 93-84 standardized win. That's just a bucket off tonight's 93-82 final. What you saw tonight was a fair representation of the series to date outside of the outlier quarter.

Oh, Brandon Roy was 2 of 7 tonight in 26 minutes. Nobody else is stepping up when he's not Superman. Can he find the cape two more times?

An advanced Boxscore at Arturo

The inevitable letdown game goes to the Mavs as they all show up to play and only Gerald Wallace does for the Blazers. Still glad I have the Mavs in seven.

Portland Roundball Society Zoned Out

For Dallas, Tyson Chandler was phenomenal. More than just iron clamps on LaMarcus Aldridge, the fiery center scooped up an astounding 13 offensive rebounds, good for a franchise playoff record. Chandler finished with 14 points to go along with his game-high 20 boards.

I could go on with numbers—like Dallas’ whopping trips to the line, Jason Kidd’s 14 assists, Marcus Camby’s fouls to name a few—but what Monday’s loss in Dallas really hinged on was the Blazers inability to execute their offense and make shots against the Mavericks’ zone.

BDL BTB

Because while Dallas had Portland at arm's length for most of the night (the Blazers staged a mini-rally in the final three minutes to make the score look closer than the game was), it's still fun to run your best George Peppard impersonation and watch a plan come together.

Basketballprospectus Opp. Lost

at Dallas 93, Portland 82 (Dallas leads 3-2)
Pace: 83.9
Offensive Ratings: Dallas 112.1, Portland 96.7

Had Portland gone down 3-1 with two of the three remaining games on the road, rallying would have been nearly impossible. The comeback made it a best-of-three series, but what it couldn't do was solve the problems that caused the Blazers to fall behind in the first place.

The most troubling issue for Portland is the team's collective inability to shoot the basketball, which happens to be a key factor in NBA games.[...]Yet the team's troubles go beyond long-range jumpers. On two-point shots outside the paint, the Blazers were 6 of 22 (27.3 percent). Shoot like that and eventually the opposing defense will simply sit in the paint and dare you to make shots. Increasingly in this series, that's exactly what the Mavericks have done. [....]

Give Dallas credit for coming out aggressively at home and taking the action to the Blazers. Because of the Mavericks' history of opening-round losses, the Dallas media wondered how the team would bounce back from the epic Game Four collapse. That never proved to be a factor. Portland will need the same kind of urgency now that Thursday's Game Six has become a must win. The Blazers must also get some answers to how to combat their matchup issues. I would consider getting Patty Mills into the rotation if the Portland offense continues to stagnate. While Mills is limited, he matches up well with Jose Barea defensively, provides energy and is one of the Blazers' best outside shooters. Mills making a difference is a long shot, but what does McMillan have to lose?

Roy probably has to have a slightly shorter leash in Game Six. He was effective in the early going as a playmaker, but shot just 2-of-7 from the field and saw Portland outscored by 18 points while he was on the floor. Relying on the Roy we saw late in Game Four is an act of faith rather than a real strategy, and McMillan must manage him accordingly.

NBAPlaybook - nothing yet, but bet (not on it)

PTB No Comeback

Dallas has basically won seven of the last eight quarters against Portland.

The series is 3-2 and headed back to Portland because of Brandon Roy’s epic fourth quarter Saturday (which John Hollinger of ESPN said so well was not Roy’s best quarter it was anyone’s best quarter).

Tyson Chandler was a beast, with 20 rebounds — 13 offensive — and 14 points, plus helping hold Aldridge in check. He came out with energy from the opening tip and when he does that Dallas is so difficult to stop. When Chandler plays like this you think Dallas could be a contender.

In particularl Dallas really smoked Portland’s small-ball lineup, which Nate McMillan tried in the second half and stuck with even as Dallas took control of the game. The lack of rebounding realy did in Portland.

Oregonlive.com about Marion's Defense

Marion has always been a highly regarded defender -- he's a two-time All-NBA Third Team selection -- and he was a defensive force on the Phoenix Suns teams that reached two Western Conference Finals teams in the mid-2000s. But even at the twilight of his career, Marion holds defensive cache. Monday night, he had four steals and two blocks.

He downplayed his role after Game 5, saying there's nothing fancy to what he has done. He's merely tried to take easy baskets away from Wallace, deny him the ball and "make it hard for him when he does get the ball." Apparently, the easy equation has no solution.

"I've been watching Gerald," Marion said. "I know Gerald. He's a competitor. But you can make it hard for them. You take away easy buckets and you make them take contested shots. You can make them have a rough night.

"The one thing I've learned about the NBA game is you can't just have a guy have free range at you. Because if not, he's going to have a big night."

2MG's Difference

Let this game be known henceforth as the “Oh, the Mavs have Tyson Chandler” Game.

Stats

FT-Watch

Haywood bricked 2 of [three] from the line. He is now 3-15 on FTs in five games. Celebration for our third-best Center, Beaches! [nsfw]

Dirk missed 2 FTs, Chandler 4, Peja 1.

20-20-4 Watch

Chandler 14-20-0, Haywood 3-5-2. Mahinmi DNP-Playoffs/French-WAIT A SECOND: you get 18 Seconds of Garbage Time worth 0.3 Trillion aka a Mario

Field Goals

Mavs 32, Blazers 32.

PIP-Boys

POR 46 DAL 40. Portland doesn't give many free layups.

Bonus or Malus (your whistle)

Hand=Ball. Advantage Dirk? He played Handball growing up.

Disclaimer: If you couldn't tell by now, all italic sentences are made up thoughts, not actual quotes. Also, props to Bryan for tweeting [a lot of] these quotes. No Props to Mavs.com for not bundling them.

Finally....KneeJerk Recap (TM) Jonthefon v2.05

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 ason Kidd/Tyson Chandler². Especially useless was Shawn Marion/Jose Barea/Jason Terry/Peja Stojakovic/Brendan Haywood's FTshooting/'/DeShawn Stevenson³ and it is (GUESS WHAT) THEY’RE ALMOST NOT ALL USELESS!

¹ Inserted Opponent

² Only one of them, mind you. 0-5 on Threes?

³ Two at the minimum, up to all six seven of them.