- What else can you say? They're winning on the road. They're getting production from both role players and star players. They're winning overtime games. They're getting top-level goaltending. The money players are delivering. There is just something about this team that you can't explain. There's a confidence, there's a swagger, a belief that they just will not lose.
- Sergei Zubov. What a talent. I severely underrated his return. I got so sick of hearing people talking about his return like Wayne Gretzky was coming back to the lineup. I recognized his greatness for sure, the guy is awesome, but I thought no way would he be able to return and have his stamina intact, and be able to give the Stars 25 minutes of effective ice time.
- Not only is he back, he's playing huge minutes, he's back to quarterbacking the power play, and he's racking up points. A huge power play goal to tie the game in the 3rd (a period in which the Stars now have outscored opponents 18-6).
- Marty continued to perform like a top 3 goalie in the NHL. If not for a breakaway goal, he'd have yet another shutout. His save in OT on CheeChoo no doubt turned the series. They score there, it's suddenly 2-1, with the biggest game of the season tomorrow night. Instead, he stoned him, and now it's 3-0 and the Stars can close this thing out tomorrow.
- Brendan Morrow is quickly building his legend as the Captain of the Dallas Stars. He is rising to every occasion. He is not disappearing from the spotlight. One night he's scoring the game winner (Game 1), then he's assisting on big goals (Game 2), and then he's leading the team in hits and being the inspirational leader on the ice (Game 3).
- He's a special player. A player who can combine top-notch leadership qualities with tangible production as well, (especially production in the playoffs), is about the most valuable player you can have on a hockey team outside of a kickass goalie. Brendan Morrow is a stud.
- What has to be killing San Jose is that it looked to me as though they gave their best shot tonight. That was probably their best effort of the series. Joe Thornton, CheeChoo, and Setagoochi (spelling?) were active and assaulting Turco all night. San Jose stayed out of the penalty box for the most part, played pretty good defense for about 2 periods. And got an absolutely superb performance from their goalie. And that was all they had.
- But in the end, the Stars just played just as well, if not better than San Jose. They owned the 3rd period like they have all during the playoffs. They severely outshot the Sharks in the 3rd, played the entire period in San Jose's end, and once again scored on the power play.
- The Stars seemed to win every loose puck battle, seemed to be the more aggressive team the whole game. They were flying all over the ice and looked like an insanely hungry team.
- Game 4 tomorrow night. End this thing. Get some rest. Let Colorado and Detroit beat each other up. Teams that want to make a long trip through the playoffs need at least 1 quick series at some point, preferably in Round 1 or Round 2. They need a sweep or a 5 gamer in order to rest up for a long series down the road. You can't make every series into a 6 or 7 gamer, it takes too much out of you. You'll have nothing left come Round 3 or Round 4. The Stars need this win tomorrow night.
- The Stars can effectively bury San Jose tonight with a win. A 3-0 series lead is 99% of the time Church. And the Mavs look like they are taking the sword from New Orleans and slicing their own jugular. They want no part of the playoffs anymore. They'll get beat by double digits tonight.
- The view from San Jose.
Sharks don't need any momentum
Ray Ratto Tuesday, April 29, 2008
(04-29) 04:00 PDT Dallas -- It is still too early to declare that the San Jose Sharks are the Atlanta Braves of shinny, and it is also too generous. Right now, backed against the ropes by a team that doesn't hit all that much, they aren't even Braves caliber. Truth be told, they actually look more like the Sacramento Kings of the Rick Adelman era - always in the playoffs, rarely for very long.
The Sharks made their annual plea for "desperate" hockey after being smothered again by the Dallas Stars in Game 2 on Sunday night. They said it as though it was an actual strategic plan, like the neutral-zone trap, rather than a "Well, what brilliant idea do you have, smart ass?" statement that betrays both the arrogance of talent and the fear of failure.
And therein lies the problem with Game 3 coming tonight. This isn't so much about whether the Sharks can skate with Dallas, because they can. This isn't even about tactical considerations, because they were doing the things they needed to do throughout most of the first two periods Sunday.
But as they seem to do far too often, they stopped doing it. They were caught surprised when Joe Pavelski hit the deck, lost the puck and surrendered Brad Richards' game-tying goal 32 seconds into the third period Sunday. They were gob-smacked when the underharassed Sergei Zubov spun at the right face-off dot and hit the even less bothered Mike Modano for a one-timer from the left face-off circle that provided the game-winner.
And they accepted their fate too easily thereafter. Not by quitting, which is too easy a buzzword, but deciding to no longer do the things that worked for them before - crowding Dallas goalie Marty Turco, blocking shots, taking care to keep tabs on Dallas' best players, Mike Ribeiro, Brenden Morrow, Brad Richards and, yes, Modano Emeritus.
The fact is, and you don't need stats to prove this although they are easily found, Dallas' best players have enjoyed too much free-range hockey, with the predictable result, and San Jose's best players have been harassed, smothered or simply failed on their own.
Ribeiro has been better than Joe Thornton. Richards has been better than Jonathan Cheechoo. Morrow has been better than Ryane Clowe. Zubov and Stephane Robidas have been better than Brian Campbell, and Turco has been better than Evgeni Nabokov. And San Jose's young players and support staff have done largely nothing.
Hockey is not played as a man-on-man exercise, but when your best lose to their best, you lose. And when your other guys don't dramatically outplay the other guy's other guys, you lose fast.
The Sharks' only hope, then, is not that they have such a swell road record, or that they do well in Dallas, or that they're really good when they're desperate. In fact, what ails the Sharks is that, though they do have some exploitable players, what they really have is a bad case of short attention span. They go good, but if the other team doesn't cave under the Sharks' collective throw-weight, the Sharks sometimes forget what got them there. Contemporary example: They have had one consistently strong game out of nine, and that was Game 7 against Calgary.
This Sharks team, then, is not a Cup winner, not with what it is showing this postseason. This isn't even the Braves.
So what, then, do they have going for them in Game 3 other than the template for winning that actually was working before they abandoned it for whatever Dallas wanted to do? The fact that momentum doesn't hold much water in hockey.
You see, Dallas is capable of playing less well in Game 3 than it did in Games 1 and 2, simply by forgetting to mind its trap well, or getting a squirrelly performance by Turco, or by thinking the job is done before it is done. And though San Jose's trip to the conference finals seems highly unlikely at this point, the Sharks still can win only the game in front of them, which is tonight's.
We are seeing that San Jose is in fact not as good as it persistently has been cracked up to be, and that's not a coaching issue but a talent and devotion issue. But the Sharks are surely better than going down in an uninspired heap, aren't they?
Well, aren't they?
- Turco proving his worth....
Turco has taken his duties, his team to a serious level
By JIM REEVESStar-Telegram Staff Writer
Hockey, by its nature, is a game of scars. The speed, the flashing blades, the violent collisions, inevitably see to that.
That most of Marty Turco's scars are on the inside, instead of the outside, doesn't mean that they have been any less painful.
On the contrary, I would argue that Turco has bled more than most in his NHL career. His hemorrhages have simply been internal. That's the lot of an NHL goaltender.
It's no coincidence that the Dallas Stars have advanced this deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in five years with Turco playing at a higher level.
We can talk about how Mike Modano owns San Jose, or Brad Richards' four third-period points in Game 2 Sunday night, or even the dramatic return of defenseman Sergei Zubov, but make no mistake about it, the Stars are where they are, leading the Sharks 2-games-to-none in this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series, because Turco has been, hands down, the best player on the ice.
As the Stars and Sharks line up tonight for Game 3 at the AAC, there's not a single player on either team who doesn't know that.
This is the new and different Turco, the one we actually saw emerging during last year's seven-game, first-round loss to Vancouver, when the Stars won three times only because he pitched shutouts.
This Turco, the father of two young daughters, doesn't laugh as much as he did when he was 27 and coming off a modern-day NHL record-setting season after replacing Eddie Belfour and posting an amazing 1.76 goals-against average in his first full year between the Stars' posts.
Subsequent playoff failures, when the fickle finger of blame found itself, more often than not, wagging in Turco's direction changed his outlook, changed his approach, even changed his persona.
Like most of us, he simply didn't know then what he knows now.
"For me, the complete understanding of what I need to do for this hockey club has come to me," Turco said in San Jose, where the Sharks threw everything they had in his direction and it still wasn't enough. "I've always known that stopping the puck and moving it and giving these guys confidence is what I've wanted to do, but I'm just at a better place now.
"You always wish you'd known more things when you were younger, but there's nothing I would change now that got me to this point."
He understands and appreciates the first-round losses now as learning experiences, a process that he needed to go through and absorb to become the goaltender and person he is today.
"Experience is a huge thing for anybody, experiences you can draw on to keep you calm," Turco said. "My game has developed with a lot of confidence to trust my instincts and abilities, to remain in position and to remain patient and to be strong for the whole game.
"Every facet of being a professional athlete has been tremendously better. It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrificing, but that's exactly what I wanted."
Stars' play-by-play TV and radio announcer Ralph Strangis has had a front seat for Turco's metamorphosis from cocky playoff failure to quiet, efficient brilliance.
"Losing humbles you. It slaps you in the face," Strangis said. "I imagine life had always been pretty easy for Marty Turco. He'd won at every level, played on two national [collegiate] championship teams.
"Then he had to wait behind Belfour, and I'm sure he thought he would step right in and [win Stanley Cups], too, and he didn't."
At least not yet. But this Turco, who owns a 1.99 goals against-average for the first eight games of the 2008 playoffs, has the talent, and now the maturity, to do exactly that.
"What you're seeing is the maturity of becoming a veteran goaltender, accepting his role on the team," coach Dave Tippett said. "His leadership has evolved and his leadership is essential for our team.
"That's his personality. The combination of recognizing that he's one of our best players, of doing the job, has a big impact on him being a leader. Those are all situations and processes you go through."
If that means he doesn't joke around quite as much as he once did, or that the smiles are fewer because of how seriously he takes his responsibility now, it's a small price to pay.
"It's not just me out there that's out there working and thinking," Turco said. "It's for my guys.
"It's about winning, and that's all that I want. It's always been about getting better in order to win and give these guys confidence."
Turco is so confident in his own ability now, he's almost surprised on those rare occasions when the puck winds up in the net behind him.
"There's not too many goals, and I mean probably less than you'd think, that I shouldn't have had," he insisted. "There's something inside me that thinks I actually should stop all of them.
"But you have to know that mistakes are going to happen, never mind just goals and bounces, whatever. My job is about kind of forgetting and moving on. I've played enough, in big games and in overtime, to know that it's all about the next play, the next save and that my teammates look at their goalie as a wall. It's something I cherish dearly."
He has been that mighty wall throughout these playoffs, the Stars' last and most formidable line of defense.
"To say that I trust myself, it's true," he said. "But it's been a long road.
"I'm not perfect. I'm not the best ever. But I think I can help this team win."
Five years after his first foray into the postseason, a wiser, stronger Turco is all about proving he can do just that.
- You knew it was coming.....the bandwagon Dallas sports fan is tearing ass down the tracks trying to hop back on to the Stars train.
Hockey hot again in Dallas
04:50 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News ccarlton@dallasnews.com
As the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs progressed, people sitting near stressed Stars fan Linda Rich at American Airlines Center fretted.
She was so tense and uncharacteristically quiet that they wondered if she was sick or facing a personal crisis.
Not to worry, Ms. Rich said. It was just the tension of the playoffs.
Ms. Rich might be in rare form tonight. The Stars will make their first AAC appearance of the second round, having taken a surprising 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series against the higher-seeded San Jose Sharks.
The Stars might have made some of their fans anxious by going five years without a playoff series victory before defeating defending champion Anaheim last week in six games. Their six wins in these playoffs are more than they have achieved in the last three postseasons combined.
Perhaps this postseason run will improve their standing in the local big league sports scene, where they have fallen greatly since winning the Stanley Cup in 1999 and reaching the Finals again in 2000.
"I'm beyond belief excited," said Ms. Rich, a dog groomer from Wylie and a Stars season ticket holder since 1995.
She isn't alone. A sellout crowd made the clinching victory against Anaheim sound like the Stars' halcyon days at Reunion Arena.
"The fans have been as eager as we've been to get out of the first round," said center Mike Modano, the face of the franchise. "It seems like they're waiting to erupt, and they're waiting for us to give them something to cheer about.
"I think they were missing it as much as we were."
Team owner Tom Hicks admits to a soft spot for the Stars, his first pro team in a sports empire that includes the baseball Rangers and Liverpool FC, the renowned English soccer team.
"We're getting our season-ticket base back, and that's what it is all about," Mr. Hicks said. "Dallas is a city that loves winners. Whether it's the Stars or the Mavs or the Cowboys – and hopefully someday it's going to be the Rangers again – there's a lot more interest when they feel like you're going to win."
Consider where the Stars' local pro neighbors stood when they held their championship parade in June 1999. The Rangers actually were their closest competition, having won division titles in 1996, '98 and '99 – but having gone 1-9 in Division Series play following those title runs. New Cowboys coach Chan Gailey got the 1998 team back into the playoffs, but it lost at home to Arizona. The Mavericks had just completed their 10th consecutive losing season.
When the Stars franchise moved from Minnesota in 1993, it was a novelty. Team executives like Jim Lites and Jeff Cogen sold the experience as football on ice.
Ms. Rich, an Oklahoma transplant, was smitten after watching her first Stars game during that 1993-94 season. She told her husband, Wayne: "I don't care if we go to another football, basketball or baseball game. I want season tickets."
She wasn't alone. In 2000-01, the Stars had 16,500 season ticket holders. The total now: 12,500.
The 2000 Finals finale, a loss to the New Jersey Devils at Reunion, drew a 28.7 TV rating and a 47 percent share in the local market. During the 2007-08 regular season, the Stars averaged an 0.8 rating on local over-the-air broadcasts vs. a 4.8 for the NBA Mavericks.
The Stars' decline in popularity wasn't totally tied to playoff shortcomings. The move from Reunion to AAC in 2001 alienated some fans who feel the new arena is too impersonal. And there was the unique loss of an entire season because of the NHL lockout of 2004-05.
Ms. Rich kept her season tickets, but she noted other familiar faces who quit attending games as first-round eliminations negated successful regular seasons.
"That's about the worst situation that you can imagine," said Daniel Howard, chairman of SMU's marketing department. "Good enough to raise hopes – not good enough to win."
Mr. Cogen replaced Mr. Lites as team president last fall and likens the current situation to what he faced in the mid-'90s during his first tour with the Stars, with some advantages. He credits Mr. Hicks for building the eight Dr Pepper StarsCenters, which Mr. Cogen said function as "fan factories."
The Stars have already announced lower ticket prices for most upper-bowl seats next season, in hopes of luring back fans and gaining new ones.
"Would they come back at a price? Probably," Mr. Cogen said. "Would they come back at a price and with some success? More probable."
- Whoever doesn't think this team has tuned Avery out, I present this.....
Dallas Mavericks practice for Game 5 without coaches
03:58 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News esefko@dallasnews.com
NEW ORLEANS – After Game 4 confirmed suspicions that this season just isn't meant to be, it seemed clear that the only thing left for the Mavericks was to close ranks and pull together.
Instead, they might be pulling apart as the season's end lurks as early as tonight.
The players stepped out on their own Monday afternoon. After coach Avery Johnson spoke briefly with the team at American Airlines Center, he canceled practice and said he would see everybody at the team plane for the flight to New Orleans.
But several players said that they wanted to practice. So they did, without the coaching staff.
"After the conversation, the players decided to have more of a players-only practice, and from what I heard, it went pretty good," Johnson said at the team's New Orleans hotel. "Somebody amongst the players decided that they thought they needed some sort of practice."
It was not disobeying a direct order. But it was clear the players felt they needed to organize themselves away from authority figures. Though no players were made available to the media Monday, Johnson's commentary on his team spoke volumes.
He sounded like a coach who was not excited that his team would go beyond simply having a players-only meeting by actually doing court work. Players-only meetings happen all the time. But a players-only practice before a possible playoff elimination game?
"We're in a situation where I don't know if we need another drill," Johnson said. "We've been having drills and scrimmages since the first day of training camp and if you don't have it by now, I don't know if you're going to have a CliffsNotes session and get it.
"I was just thinking about keeping the legs fresh and meeting on the plane. But they decided they needed to go down on the court and do something. We'll see what type of carryover it has."
The Mavericks are down 3-1 to the New Orleans Hornets. Game 5 could end their season tonight at New Orleans Arena. Eight teams in NBA history have come back to win a series after falling behind 3-1, the most recent being the 2006 Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Lakers.
There already has been talk about the future of the Mavericks if they lose this series. Everything from the security of Johnson's job to the roster spots of pretty much every player not named Dirk Nowitzki are open to question.
Johnson talked openly Monday about whether the players are still in his corner. He said he will continue to run his team the way he believes it should be run. He said that since the trade for Jason Kidd, the transition has been rocky.
"Overall, these men have been very loyal to me," he said. "It's a tough spot for us. Sometimes, we haven't played our best basketball. Maybe another team at that particular time was just a better team. But it's not because the men don't listen or don't try.
"This is a team that hasn't been together for a while. We've tried to incorporate a very tough situation. And we just haven't had the type of carryover like we want.
"But we're still alive. We're playing this game [today], and we have every reason in the world to think we can win it."
The Mavericks have had trouble on the road all season. In Game 4, at home, they had trouble with so many of the same things that made them a No. 7 seed in the eight-team playoff bracket.
Nowitzki said Game 4 was a microcosm of everything that has gone wrong.
"All season long we've lost leads way too quick," Nowitzki said. "We gave up fast-break points, way too many. We left some of their shooters wide-open and just didn't have the composure you need there when things got tight."
None of the Mavericks had it. That's another reflection on the coaching staff.
As for his job security, Johnson said he knows what people have said and written, adding that it hasn't bothered him and he hopes it doesn't distract his players.
"I don't think what we've done, we have to be ashamed of," he said. "We try to lay it on the line and get the team in the best shape as we can to go out and perform. From there, obviously, you need some of the guys to really step up and play well."
- Hollinger on Josh Howard. I was seeing this 3 years ago. Why was everyone so blind? I guess they needed to see absolute rock-bottom before everyone started to see what I saw as far back as 2005.
The disappearance of Josh Howard When I looked at these teams before the series, it seemed as close as you could get to a dead-even matchup, and the Hornets' home-court advantage was the main reason I picked them in seven.
It hasn't worked out that way, even though Dirk Nowitzki has had a very strong series. But he isn't getting enough help, thanks mainly to Josh Howard's complete and total implosion at the offensive end. Forget this week's controversy about his confession that he smoked marijuana in the offseason -- it's his game that's gone to pot.
In the series, he's mustered just 12.8 points and 6.5 boards while shooting a dismal 15-for-58 (25.9 percent). By Sunday night's Game 4, the Hornets were leaving him wide open for jumpers throughout the second half, but he clanked all of them.
It's not like he's got Michael Cooper on him either. His primary defenders have been Peja Stojakovic and Bonzi Wells, neither of whom is known for putting the clamps on opponents. While Peja's D probably is a little underrated, Howard faced plenty of good defenders this season and averaged 19.9 points and 7.0 boards on 45.5 percent shooting.
As a result of his struggles, a position where Dallas expected to have a sizable advantage has become a surprising plus for the Hornets. And not surprisingly, the unexpected minus at the small forward spot also has put the Mavs at a minus in the games department, 3-1.
- The analysis and obituaries are coming from everywhere. Here's the New York Times....
Mavericks’ Only Certainty Is a Cloudy Future
By HOWARD BECK Published: April 29, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — The itinerary Monday called for the Dallas Mavericks to hold a brief practice, then fly to New Orleans. But the practice was decidedly unconventional and the Mavericks’ ultimate destination is anything but clear.
The team landed here in the Crescent City in midafternoon, with considerable baggage in tow: a former All-Star who has lost his way, a future Hall of Famer who has lost his touch and a coach who may soon lose his job.
The Mavericks play the Hornets on Tuesday night, with their season and just about everything else at stake. The Hornets lead the first-round series, three games to one.
Despite the stakes, Coach Avery Johnson initially canceled practice in Dallas. His players decided to practice anyway, without the coaches. The unofficial workout allowed the Mavericks to skirt league rules on news media availability, and thus avoid many nagging questions.
Chief among them: How is a team that was supposed to contend for the title facing first-round elimination for the second year in a row? Wrapped up in the answer is Johnson’s future.
He guided the Mavericks to the Western Conference title two years ago, but since then they have produced mostly disappointment. Dallas had a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat in the 2006 finals, but lost the next four games. The Mavericks won a league-best 67 games last season, but were bounced by the Golden State Warriors.
Despite trading for Jason Kidd, a future Hall of Famer, at midseason, the Mavericks struggled to make the playoffs and finished as the seventh seed. Now they are fizzling again, against a New Orleans team that is younger, grittier and more confident.
The Mavericks are 3-11 in their last 14 playoff games under Johnson, including 0-8 on the road.
These are not the marks of a contender, which is why speculation is growing daily that the owner Mark Cuban will fire Johnson when the season ends. If Cuban’s anger runs deep enough, he might just jettison everyone but Dirk Nowitzki, last season’s most valuable player.
When Johnson met with reporters at the team hotel early Monday evening, he acknowledged, albeit indirectly, that his job could be at stake.
“Whatever decisions that were made, it will have to be discussed at a later time,” he said. “Right now, we’re still alive.”
Johnson added, “We have to let it run its course, and then we’ll have to adjourn after, whenever that is, and we’ll take a look at it, put everything on the board and see at that point.”
A year ago, the heat fell mostly on Nowitzki. But Nowitzki has been more than solid against the Hornets, averaging 28 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists, while shooting 50 percent in the series. It is the rest of the roster that is failing.
Josh Howard, an All-Star in 2007 and the Mavericks’ No. 2 scorer this season, has been an unmitigated mess in the playoffs. He is shooting 26 percent from the field and averaging 12.8 points. He has been alternately tentative and overeager with his jump shot and has failed to attack the basket consistently.
Kidd was supposed to be the missing piece of a championship team but instead has been a disappointment. He is averaging 7.3 points and 6.3 assists, and he has hardly made an imprint in the last three games. He has also failed to do the one thing he did best in Phoenix and New Jersey — make his teammates better.
Kidd’s most noteworthy moment in the series came in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 97-84 loss, when he was ejected for a flagrant foul on Jannero Pargo. The N.B.A. reviewed the play Monday but determined that it did not warrant a suspension.
As it stands now, the bold trade for Kidd — which cost the Mavericks the young point guard Devin Harris — looks like a mistake.
“Whenever you do something or make a decision, I think there are going to be ramifications of that decision,” Johnson said.
It was yet another subtle admission that the Mavericks are more of a work in progress than a polished product. The trade was clearly the primary reason. The Mavericks still feature five of their top six scorers from the 2006 finals (Nowitzki, Howard, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier), but they lack cohesion.
With everything up in the air, Johnson seemed to be asking for understanding — from fans, from the news media and perhaps from Cuban.
“I think over all these men have been very loyal to me,” Johnson said. “It’s just a tough spot for us. Maybe another team at that particular time was just a better team. But it’s not because the men don’t listen or don’t try. But again, this is a team that hasn’t been together for a while. We’ve tried to incorporate a very tough situation. And we just haven’t had the type of carryover like we want. But we’re still alive.”
- This party is over. The Avery era is over. The post-Nash/Finley era is over. It's time to strip this thing down.
- It's time to strip it down to Dirk, Bass, Terry, and Dampier. Avery gone. Howard gone. Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Devean George gone. Jason Kidd can stay as long as a new coach comes in.
- A core of Dirk, Bass, and Terry can be more successful than this current mix. The bench/role players have maxed out. Josh Howard has regressed so severely that I'm not even sure what you could get for him anymore. They need more youth, different basketball IQ's, and a new voice leading them.
- Get some youthful and hungry young players, get an athletic wing (trade Howard and trash and cash for Jason Richardson), an athletic big man (re-sign Diop), get Kidd a less Hitler-like coach, get Dirk healthy, get Bass 35 minutes a game, and insert Terry back into the starting lineup full time, and I think we can get back to watching good basketball.
- Josh Howard - 3-16, 6 points. 25% shooting for the series.
- If the game can ever be won in the 2nd quarter, it happened last night. The Mavericks are up 32-23, momentum is there, and New Orleans has its 2nd unit in the game.
- So what does Avery do? Reacting to Scott's substitutions for some reason (you're up 9 and are at home, why are you reacting to his moves?), he inserts Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, and JJ BAREA. Instead of laying the hammer down with CP3 and the rest of the starters out of the game, he inserts probably the least effective lineup of any playoff team ever. Within 3 minutes, the Hornets have the lead and the game is officially over.
- Just like in Game 1 when he put George, Stack, and JUWAN HOWARD in the game when Scott put in his 2nd unit. The game was officially over at that point as well.
- How many more times can a person out-coach himself, out-think himself, and just get dominated by the opposing coach? Byron Scott is not Red Auerbach, but he's sure looking like it this series.
- When you go into a series, your coach should be about #3 or #4 on the list of reasons why you will lose. Avery's coaching decisions consistently rank #1 or #2 on expert's lists on why Dallas will lose a series. He cannot be here anymore. That's unacceptable.
- He's had 4 seasons in the league. Opposing coaches have figured him out. And he's not good enough to win a chess match, adjustments-type game. The book is out on Avery.
- What a pitiful team this is. On a night where CP3 just looked like an average point guard, and the rest of the team looked pretty average, the Mavericks looked like a team that has mailed this season in. They looked like a beaten, get this damn thing over with type of team. I really do hate this team.
- Marc Stein's column says it all.
Mavs Fall In A Tough Hole
By Marc Stein ESPN.com
DALLAS -- Chris Paul required some extra in-game stretching to stay loose Sunday night, took most of the second quarter off and looked closer to mortal than he has for months.
None of which helped the Dallas Mavericks one iota.
The surging New Orleans Hornets didn't need Paul at his peak to deliver a Game 4 blow to the Mavs -- and Avery Johnson's tenure coaching them -- that looked and sounded unmistakably fatal. The Hornets erased Dallas' biggest lead with Paul on the bench, kept piling on from there and progressively drained away the Mavs' spirit, emptying the building earlier than any playoff game here in recent memory and ultimately cruising to a 97-84 triumph that will be recorded as the franchise's first win in this town since 1998.
"You want to see if hopefully you can take their life away," Hornets coach Byron Scott said, summarizing the message he plans to transmit to his players before Tuesday's Game 5 back home.
Honestly? It looks like they already have.
Judging by the clear-cut lack of swagger, bounce, intensity and belief coming from the Mavs -- all of which began to fritter away on this night when New Orleans uncorked a 15-2 run in the second quarter with Paul spectating -- you'd give Phoenix more of a chance to overturn its 3-1 deficit to mighty San Antonio faster than you'd suggest Dallas can come back from 3-1 down in this series.
Jason Kidd looked more out of sorts in Johnson's offense than ever before, managing just three points, three assists and four rebounds while attempting just six shots from the field. Josh Howard responded to the scrutiny his untimely comments about marijuana use have invited by trying to shoot his way out of it and hitting a new low by missing 15 of 18 attempts from the field. No surprise, then, that New Orleans responded by swarming Dirk Nowitzki throughout, trying to force the ball out of Nowitzki's hands by packing the paint and attacking him almost every time he dared to dribble. Although he still managed 22 points and 13 rebounds, Nowitzki's production and Jason Terry's 20 points weren't nearly enough to compensate for the struggles of Kidd and Howard and a bench that provided virtually nil.
Even Nowitzki was guilty of uncharacteristically missing three free throws … as well as an accidental slip into the past tense.
After Dallas absorbed its 11th loss in 14 playoff games since taking a 2-0 lead over Miami in the 2006 NBA Finals, Nowitzki said: "This sport is still about scoring points. And we just didn't have a great offensive series, I guess."
The series, of course, is not quite over. But the Mavs will need some benevolence from the league office just so Kidd -- whom Dallas chased so hard in Feburary because he "knows how to finish games," in Johnson's words -- can play in the expected finale.
He's facing a possible suspension after being ejected with 7:16 to play after a hard one-handed takedown of Jannero Pargo. It was a flagrant foul on a fast break, with New Orleans up 16, that would have been a lot uglier if not for Pargo's deft landing.
Pargo was heading for the floor headfirst when he managed to get his hands down to break the fall. The sight of the Hornets' bench spark plug bouncing back up quickly, however, doesn't change the fact that every Type 2 flagrant foul is automatically reviewed by the league office for additional penalties. Kidd denied later that it was a frustration foul, but it might regrettably wind up being the signature play of his 2008 postseason if he's forced to sit out Game 5, which would only add to the sense of doom rapidly enveloping the Mavs after they were widely picked to upset the No. 2 seed.
"The league is going to do what they do," Nowitzki said. "You never know what's going to happen with them anyway and what they're going to make up."
Said Paul: "I don't think there's [any] reason for him to be suspended for the next game."
The bad news there is that Paul might also be saying that the Hornets wouldn't mind seeing Kidd in Game 5, fond as he is of Kidd after their time together on Team USA.
You certainly can't hang the fact that Howard has become totally undependable (15-for-58 from the field for the series) on his coach. The Hornets likewise never imagined that Jerry Stackhouse's contribution would be so negligible … or that Johnson, getting nothing from his reserves apart from Brandon Bass, would gamble on playing little-used guard J.J. Barea and then pay the price during New Orleans' second-quarter burst without Paul.
Yet there have been whispers coming from the Hornets' camp, going back before the series even started, that they looked forward to playing Dallas because they were convinced that Kidd couldn't hurt them in his current role, given Johnson's penchant for slowing the game whenever it gets close and an offense not exactly known for ball or player movement, which so often turns Kidd into a weakside shooter.
And …
After backing off to let David West (24 points) carry the offense in the third quarter and finishing with a tame (for him) 16 points, eight assists and seven boards, Paul did say that the Hornets believed they could win this comfortably, even though he had never won a game at American Airlines Center in six previous tries.
Asked if the ease of the victory surprised him in any way, Paul said: "Not really, to tell you the truth."
He's only that confident with good reason. It would be an immeasurable surprise, after this dour display, if Dallas goes to Avery's hometown and finds a way to drag Paul back here for a Game 6.
- At least one team is playing inspired, clutch, and raising their game in the playoffs.
- Any questions as to why the Stars paid such a high price for Brad Richards should be answered by now. The guy is a gamer. He looked lost and out of sorts during those 20 or so game in the regular season. But he has found his way on this team, is comfortable, and is now kicking ass. In sports, you pay a premium for players who step up their games when it matters most. Regular seasons are nice, but legends are born when the lights shine the brightest. Richards is just as advertised.
- Wow did Sergei Zubov look good last night. That spinning, backhand assist on Modano's goal was just unreal. There's maybe a handful of defenseman in this league who can make that pass.
- Marty continues to play some of the best hockey of his career. He has continued his top-level play from last year's playoffs and has really locked it down this year.
- His passing and elimination of the opponent's dumping and chasing has really pushed his game to the next level. You can see teams getting frustrated when they try to dump it in and start an offensive attack, and there's Marty to grab the puck and shoot it back out quickly to one of his teammates. This is a part of his game that is so underrated and is something that no other goalie can do. He's like a 3rd defenseman back there with how he can pass and handle the puck.
- Mikey Modano has found the fountain. He's in a groove right now. He always loves playing San Jose, but he has raised his game. He looks as effective as he has in a while right now.
- Bottom line, the Stars are getting big time production from their money players. Richards, Ribeiro, Modano, Turco, Morrow, and Zubov.
- Like last round, the Stars sweep the 1st 2 road games of the series, and have a chance to come home and really shut the door on a team. Sure is fun to watch a team excel and raise their level of play in the playoffs.
Dallas Stars beat San Jose, 5-2, in Game 2
02:19 AM CDT on Monday, April 28, 2008 By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News mheika@dallasnews.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. – This is exactly why the Stars got Brad Richards.
The 27-year-old center simply has a way of making the big play at the biggest of times.
He did it again Sunday. With the Stars trailing San Jose in the third period, Richards came up with a goal and three assists, breaking a Stars playoff record and leading Dallas to a 5-2 victory in Game 2.
Richards scored the tying goal 32 seconds into the period when he converted a Joe Pavelski turnover into a beautiful wrister that beat Evgeni Nabokov on the stick side. He then added assists on goals by Mike Modano and Niklas Hagman, who scored twice, including an empty-netter.
"He just has a knack for making the right play at the right time," Modano said. "I mean, you look at the play he scored on, and Pavelski falls down. But when you get a play like that, it takes someone special to turn it into a goal. He's just done that his whole life.
The victory gives the Stars a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 second-round series that heads to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dallas continued its trend of leaping on teams at the most opportune moments. The Stars have outscored opponents 16-5 in third periods during the playoffs.
"It's hard to explain," Richards said. "I know last game we didn't have a good third period, and we didn't want to repeat that. We didn't want to sit back when we got a lead. When you sit back, good things don't happen, so we really tried to push the pace."
Dallas was trailing 2-1 thanks to solid play from the Sharks. Pavelski made a deft redirection of a Craig Rivet pass on a first-period power-play goal, and then Milan Michalek split defensemen Trevor Daley and Sergei Zubov for a second-period breakaway. Those two goals were sandwiched around Mike Ribeiro's third goal of the playoffs, and they gave the Sharks and their rabid fans at HP Pavilion reason to get excited.
But Richards sapped that excitement in no time at all. With Hagman applying pressure on the forecheck, Pavelski had to make a hard cut to receive a pass and fell down. Richards grabbed the loose puck, took a couple of steps and whistled a hard wrister past Nabokov to tie the score.
"I probably should have waited longer, but I just wanted to get a shot off," Richards said.
The Stars were happy with that decision, and they rallied behind it. Steve Ott drew a holding call on Christian Ehrhoff minutes later, and Modano scored on the power play. Zubov, who was returning to play for the first time since Jan. 17, whipped a spinning, backhand pass from circle to circle to Modano, who picked the top corner for the 14th playoff game-winning goal of his career. Richards got the puck to Zubov on that play.
But the Stars weren't content to sit on that one-goal lead. Inspired by its newfound energy, the Richards line scored twice more. Richards carried the puck into the offensive zone, circled behind the net and fed out front to Hagman, who flipped in his first goal of the playoffs to give Dallas a 4-2 lead. Richards then fed Hagman for an empty-netter to finish the scoring.
It was a strong statement about a team that has struggled in third periods in playoffs past.
"Scary, eh?" Modano said with a raised eyebrow. "It's just a different team. We're really confident playing from behind. We're really confident playing in pressure situations. It's just who we are right now."
- Tonight you saw everything I've been preaching. Dirk had 44 minutes, 32 pts and 19 rebounds. JET had 40 minutes, 22 pts and 6 assists. I want Dirk and JET playing together. Bottom line. This team was most successful (2006) with Dirk and JET being the #1 and #2 scoring options.
- And what about the spares trying to play in front of JET? Stackhouse had 7 minutes, Devean George had 12 minutes, and Eddie Jones had ZERO minutes. That's a total of 5 points, by the way.
- Tonight you saw the perfect lineup for the Mavs. Kidd and JET at the guards. Dirk and Howard at the forwards. And Damp at the center position. And you saw the result. A Win.
- I'd really like to see this lineup ride out the rest of the playoffs. If I'm going down, I'm going down with guys I can bleed with. That's guys like JET, Dirk, and Kidd.
- Dallas wins Game 3, keeps a 2006 theme alive (Dirk and JET scoring), stays alive.......
Dallas duo of Terry, Nowitzki lift Mavs to first win of series
DALLAS (AP) -- Even with Jason Terry guarding him, the crowd booing him and Dirk Nowitzki setting the tone for a renewed intensity among the Dallas Mavericks, Chris Paul insisted being on the road in the playoffs wasn't much different than being at home.
Well, except for that whole thing about him and his New Orleans Hornets teammates putting the ball in the basket with ease.
"I think we got a lot of shots we wanted," Paul said. "We just missed them."
With 13 of Paul's first 16 shots falling out instead of in, and fellow All-Star David West clanging 11 of his first 14, the Hornets couldn't get into a groove until it was too late. Nowitzki and Terry came up big on both ends of the court, pulling Dallas right back into this first-round series with a 97-87 victory in Game 3 on Friday night.
Nowitzki had 32 points, 19 rebounds and six assists to get the Mavericks within 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday night in Dallas, where the Hornets haven't won since January 1998.
"We wanted to make sure we made it a series and win this first one," Nowitzki said. "They're going to keep coming. It's going to take the same effort, the same intensity."
And, very likely, the same new lineup.
Terry replaced Jerry Stackhouse as a starter and replaced Jason Kidd as Paul's primary defender. The MVP candidate went from ringing up consecutive games with at least 30 points and 10 assists -- something nobody had ever done in his first two playoff games -- to having 16 points and 10 assists.
Terry cut off Paul's first step early and the speedster seemed a lot more content running the offense from the 3-point line. He kept getting the ball to West in hopes he would find his touch, but that didn't work either.
"Jet had a lot of energy. It takes lot energy to guard Paul," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said.
Paul finished 4-of-18 and West was 6-of-20 for 14 points. His late surge helped New Orleans cut a 17-point deficit to 90-83 with 2 minutes left, but the Hornets couldn't close the gap.
"We can't have the type of stretches I had to start the game off," West said. "That really put us in a hole."
New Orleans' only consistent scorer was Jannero Pargo, who had 30 points, his most of the season and most ever in a playoff game. Peja Stojakovic was the only other double-digit scorer with 13. The Hornets shot just 38 percent.
"They came out with a Game 7 mentality, we came out with a Game 3 mentality," New Orleans coach Byron Scott said. "From the start, they outworked us. They were more physical, more aggressive."
Terry gave the offense a lift, too, with 22 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:39 left to help hold off the Hornets' final surge. He had six assists. Kidd had eight points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Josh Howard scored 18 points for Dallas, but was only 5-of-16. His performance drew extra scrutiny because hours before tipoff he went on local radio and admitted to using marijuana in the offseason. Team owner Mark Cuban said Howard will be disciplined.
"I'm sorry things have gone the way they are," Howard said. "I never meant to hurt nobody's feelings. ... It's over with now. I'm trying to talk about basketball."
With all their playoff experience, the Mavs opened the series with two strong quarters. Then came six poor ones, which happened to coincide with the six best for the Hornets. Dallas players insisted they'd be better simply by being home -- and they were right.
The Mavericks led by 11 points in the first quarter and were up by seven at halftime. Then came a third quarter that might get NBA conspiracy theorists going.
Dallas took 22 free throws in the period, compared to just seven for New Orleans. Yes, the Mavericks went to the rim harder than the Hornets. They also were aided by getting into the bonus just 3:17 into the quarter.
"They shot more in one quarter than we did for the game," Paul said -- accurately. The Hornets took only 13 free throws, making them all. Dallas made 15 in the third quarter alone.
The game, and series, nearly turned midway through the third quarter. With Dallas up 62-54, Nowitzki was conked from behind by Tyson Chandler, then run into by Pargo. He was sprawled on the court, the crowd silenced.
Then last season's MVP got up and hit four straight free throws, then a jumper.
"You could tell from the start he was really into it," Scott said.
So, how did Paul's first road game and his first playoff loss change his mind-set?
"Now we're trying to win it in five games," he said. "This is fun. I love this. We lost tonight, but we get to see them again Sunday. This isn't the end of the road."
- I hate this team. I really do. I'm sick of them. Sick of watching them. Sick of putting hope into them. They've run their course. They peaked in 2006 and gave us false hope going forward from that year. They've tuned out Avery. I'm done with this collection of spares.
- This team is NOTHING outside of Dirk. They can't defend, they can't score baskets when they absolutely need them (when the other team keys on Dirk), and they have the lowest collective Basketball IQ in the league.
- Avery gone. Howard gone. Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Devean George, gone. I want this thing overhauled. This current mix has reached its tipping point with me. They have maxed out.
- What a pitiful showing, and what a sickening team to watch.
- I hate this team, and want this series and this era to end in 4 games. Get on with it already.
Right now, it looks bad for Dallas Mavericks ... and Avery
01:32 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
NEW ORLEANS – If the Mavericks lose this series to New Orleans – and they're well on their way to doing so – Mark Cuban must decide whether Avery Johnson can lead his team to a championship.
A few months ago, the question would've been laughable. These days, it's legitimate.
After New Orleans spent the final few minutes Tuesday of a 127-103 win clowning the Mavs and attempting dunks usually reserved for practice, Cuban must wonder whether the players still respond to Avery.
After all, Avery wore his glittering black-and-gold championship ring from 1999 to Game 2. Each of his assistant coaches who have earned championship rings also wore their jewelry.
"It's just a form of camaraderie, and hopefully, a sense of motivation," Avery said with a chuckle. "but I guess it didn't motivate tonight."
Nope.
Nothing else he tried worked, either.
As usual, Chris Paul shredded the Mavs defense, finishing with 32 points and 17 assists. David West and Peja Stojakovic each scored more than 20 points for New Orleans, so it should come as no surprise the Mavs, as mentally fragile as they come, return home facing an 0-2 series deficit.
The series isn't over, it just seems that way. Any basketball aficionado will tell you the series doesn't start until the home team loses, especially since Dallas has won both of its home games against New Orleans this season.
But how could anyone possibly have any confidence that the team you've seen blown out in each of the series' first two games can win four of the next five games?
Two years ago, Avery's team choked in the NBA Finals, blowing a 2-0 series lead. Last year, Avery's team became the first No. 1 seed to lose a best-of-7 series to a No. 8 seed.
Now, Avery's team can't win as underdogs. Don't forget, this team was supposed to thrive as a seventh seed because it wouldn't have any pressure to perform.
Guess not.
Unfortunately, losing in the playoffs isn't a new trend for the Mavericks. Avery is 2-10 in his last 12 playoff games. Six of those losses have been by double-digits.
Two of the four worst playoff losses in franchise history have occurred in the Mavs' last four games. Did we mention, Avery has lost eight straight road games?
Ridiculous.
On Tuesday, Dallas trailed by 10 after one quarter, 16 at halftime and 20 after the third quarter. Avery is supposed to be a defensive guru, but you certainly couldn't tell after the Mavs yielded their third consecutive 60-point half.
If Avery can't figure out how to get his team to respond and win this series, then none of us should be surprised if Cuban fires him.
Remember, Avery finally has the point guard – Jason Kidd – he's craved since he became the Mavs coach. No matter what you hear, he was 100 percent behind the deal because he never believed Devin Harris would lead Dallas to a title.
At 35, Kidd won't be one of the league's best players for much longer. If Cuban thinks Avery can't get the best out of Kidd, for whatever reason, then he must a make a move.
Cuban must also consider whether the players have tuned Avery out. Teams are supposed to take on their coach's personality, but the Little General's team wilts when confronted.
"We don't play with a lot of emotion," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Collectively, we have to have more fire. We have to get after them more. We have to just go for it and compete on both ends of the floor. We have to let it loose."
Unless they're sick of Avery. If that's the case, they just need to continue playing the same way.
- Wow, what a game last night at the AAC. Was able to watch about 20 rows up from center ice. Had a great view to an absolute electric atmosphere.
- For once, the much-criticized Stars fan came through. The noise level, the standing at all times, the intensity level of the fans matched the play on the ice. It was loud, there was towel waving by the entire crowd, there was loud cheering and standing for big defensive plays and just generic plays in general (with the fans on their feet for the entire 3rd period).
- It was truly a playoff atmosphere. That 3rd period it got loud, and it didn't stop. It felt like a huge scoring run by a basketball team with the crowd behind them, and the opposing team can't do a thing, just a complete snowball effect on them. Those 2 goals had the AAC into a frenzy for all 20 minutes.
- A night like last night would sway anyone into being a Stars fan. I'm sure it's not the craziness of the Canadian crowds, but I'll tell you, for our little Hockey city, it was pure greatness.
- And when Razor and the players comment on it, you know it was good.
- Marty stood on his head last night. He had about half a dozen "reaction" saves. Saves on shots that got redirected or got on him out of nowhere. He was right there on every one of them. Take out that BS goal with 7 seconds left, and you're now looking at 5 shutouts in his last 11 playoff games. You kidding me????
- Trevor Daley had his best game of the postseason. He was aggressive early, was attacking, set the tone for the whole team, had a goal nullified on a BS goalie interference call, and was physical as hell.
- Steve Ott had another good game. He's really elevated himself in these playoffs. He's been the smart-instigator, has scored some goals and shown great offensive ability, and has been a rock. He's in line for a big payday if this keeps up.
- If Marty saved the day on defense, then Stu Barnes was the #1 Star on offense. The old man was everywhere. Playing great on the checking line, and contributing a breakaway game winning goal, and then a steal and assist on the back-breaking goal by Steve Ott late in the 3rd.
- Wrap this bitch up tonight. Don't give these guys a chance, the boot is squarely on the neck, step down and twist on that SOB. They're on the ropes, staggering. End it tonight.
Dallas Stars win Game 4; Ducks almost cooked
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News mheika@dallasnews.com
Everything that Stars fans have been seeking for the last five seasons was laid before them Thursday night on American Airlines Center ice in a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Marty Turco was spectacular in goal, making 27 saves.
Several veteran players stepped up and carried the play late in the game, when the Stars were clinging to a 1-0 lead.
And a bunch of youngsters took over in the biggest game of the season and provided Dallas with the difference it needed to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The result is the Stars have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 first-round Stanley Cup playoff series and can close things out tonight at the Honda Center in Anaheim in Game 5.
"It's a huge win, a huge game, and I thought we really came together and earned it as a team," forward Steve Ott said. "From Marty to the younger players, we came together. That was the key for us."
The Stars were facing all sorts of demons heading into the game. They had lost seven of eight games on home ice. They had let Anaheim grab momentum in Game 3, and they found out before the game that defenseman Philippe Boucher will be lost for at least a week with a lower body injury.
With Sergei Zubov injured, and no return in sight, the Stars had to play three rookie defensemen against one of the more veteran teams in the league.
But instead of panicking, the Stars pulled in tighter and fell back on the "pack" mentality they have preached.
Trevor Daley became a veteran defenseman and asserted his aggression with one of the most confident games of his career. Second-year players Joel Lundqvist and Loui Eriksson were thrown out with linemate Brad Richards against Ducks All-Star defensemen Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer and won that battle.
And the line of Ott, Mike Modano and Stu Barnes scored two third-period goals that gave the Stars breathing room and allowed Turco the space to make his only mistake in the closing seconds.
"It was a big game for us, and I thought everybody did a great job," Turco said. "I felt really good and saw most of the shots. But the ones I didn't see, somebody blocked for me. It's great to see everybody get the job done."
Lundqvist scored the first goal of the game when Eriksson stole a pass from Sean O'Donnell and fed Lundqvist in front of the net at the 16:39 mark of the first period. The score stayed that way until the third period, when Barnes was sprung on a breakaway by Modano and slipped the puck between the pads of Jean-Sebastien Giguere for a 2-0 lead at the 9:01 mark.
Ott scored off a Barnes steal to put the game away before Mathieu Schneider broke up Turco's shutout bid with fewer than eight seconds left.
Still, the team said it knows a 3-1 lead does not clinch the series. The players had to jump on a plane and fly to California for Game 5 tonight and said they had to hold the momentum they had finally built.
"That's why Mr. [Tom] Hicks got us that nice jet. We'll put it to good use," Brenden Morrow said. "Hopefully, we get some rest and get out there early. There's going to be a lot of adrenaline. I don't think fatigue is going to be a factor."
- The 2nd season starts tomorrow night. Everyone picking Dallas scares the crap out of me.
Lack of playoff experience doesn't bug Hornets
10:44 PM CDT on Thursday, April 17, 2008
New Orleans reminds me of the neighborhood kid who learns to ride a bike.
He does great for 6 ½ months and blows by almost every other kid on the block. When he finally does fall, everyone nods and declares it was only a matter of time.
An admission: this didn't happen on my block. But it's going on in the NBA right now.
The Hornets own a winning record against the seven teams that join them in the Western Conference playoffs. New Orleans came within an eyelash of landing the No. 1 seed.
Yet outside of the organization, everyone sits around and waits for them to fail.
"I mean, we won 56 games, and right now, we're probably looked at to be eliminated from the playoffs in a four-game sweep," Hornets guard Chris Paul said.
No one is predicting a Mavericks sweep. At least, no one should.
But New Orleans did itself no favors by ending the regular season with a 111-98 loss to the team it will face in the first round.
"After tonight, it's almost guaranteed we'll be picked to lose," Hornets forward David West said. "We've been put in that scenario just about every big game we've had this year, every single situation we've been in, and we've been able to relish that role and be successful and productive.
"We've heard all of that stuff all year."
The Los Angeles Lakers were the only team in the conference to win more games than New Orleans. The Hornets won 37 games by 10 or more points, forged the second-best road record in the West and won their last 19 home games by an average of 16.5 points. Skeptics grudgingly gave the Hornets their due.
So what banana peel do critics place in front of the Hornets now?
Playoff experience.
Paul will make his post-season debut in this series. West and Tyson Chandler will make the first postseason starts of their careers.
The Mavericks? Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard have 224 playoff starts between them.
Paul acknowledges the gap. But as he points out, the only way to get the experience is to play in the postseason. He figures it's better to start now than next season.
"To tell you the truth, everyone in our starting five has played in the playoffs except for me," Paul said. "So I'm the only one who doesn't know what it's like. If we've got to go to battle like that, I'm comfortable with those guys knowing what it's like and I'm the only one who doesn't.
"I like our chances."
It didn't seem to hurt Utah's Deron Williams. The other brilliant point guard from Paul's rookie class led his team to the Western Conference finals in his postseason debut.
"Yeah, D-Will went out there and killed last year," Paul said. "If I can do half as good as D-Will did, we'll be all right.
"We still understand we've got the No. 2 seed and the series starts in New Orleans."
Spoken like someone who has yet to fall off his bike.
- Rangers sweep on the road, beat a Cy Young winner, and continue to look decent away from Arlington.
Learning curve: Texas Rangers apply lessons in sweep of Jays
01:21 AM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008 By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News egrant@dallasnews.com
TORONTO – There are two ways the Rangers could look at the horrid five-game stretch that ended the season's first homestand.
They could regard it as a nightmare and try to wipe it from their minds. Or they could consider it a lesson about what needs to be done if they intend to break their eight-year stretch of third-or-worse finishes in the AL West.
They appear to be ready to go for the latter.
A day after breaking their five-game losing streak, the Rangers finished a two-game sweep of Toronto with a 4-1 win in a game that was a near duplicate of one they lost last weekend.
For the second time in a week, Roy Halladay pitched a complete game against them and didn't allow more than one run in an inning or a homer.
The difference this time: Vicente Padilla outpitched Halladay, the fielders worked with precision and the hitters delivered four hits in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. That's four more than they delivered last week in the same number of at-bats.
"I think this was the best game we've played this season," said David Murphy, whose three doubles gave him a hand in three of the Rangers' runs. "It started with Padilla. He kept the ball in the zone and kept them off balance. And that was huge."
Padilla took the mound knowing the majority of the bullpen was shot for the night after Wednesday's 14-inning victory. Whether he won or lost wasn't as important as Padilla eating up innings so the bullpen could fall back in line.
Padilla did just that. He went seven innings. He kept to a simple game plan heavy on sinking fastballs, with just enough hard curves to keep Toronto off balance.
When he needed to, he pitched around Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, the two Blue Jays who hurt him most last week. When he got into seventh-inning trouble, he gutted it out so the Rangers didn't have to go to any of the more exhausted relievers.
Holding a 3-0 lead in the seventh, he allowed a one-out double to Gregg Zaun, but got Joe Inglett to bounce out. Padilla nearly got out of the inning with the shutout intact, but Zaun scored as David Eckstein beat out a throw from fill-in shortstop Ramon Vazquez, who had gone deep into the hole to field a bouncer.
After Aaron Hill nearly homered on a long foul drive to right to tie the score, Padilla coaxed him into a lazier fly ball to right for the final out.
"I knew I had over 100 pitches," Padilla said through a translator. "I knew I wasn't going to be coming back for the eighth, so I had to give everything I had on those last few pitches in the seventh."
Murphy also showed he grasped learning. He had doubled in his first at-bat against Halladay last week, then struck out looking and bounced a couple of balls to the right side.
He went into Thursday with the idea he wouldn't try to pull Halladay's sinker. He ended up with three doubles. The first drove in the Rangers' first run. He scored after both the second and third.
- Great power play. Shutout by Turco. Huge win in game 1 against the defending champs.
- The Stars made the self-proclaimed toughest team in the league pay for their ignorance. Anaheim is really just a bunch of arrogant goons. One of the dirtiest teams in the league. Late hits, bad penalties, after the whistle antics. And the Stars nailed them for it.
- Stars shut them out, look for the road sweep Saturday night.
Dallas Stars dominate Ducks in Game 1, 4-0
04:14 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008 By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News mheika@dallasnews.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Dallas Stars may have surprised even themselves Thursday night by playing a game that has been missing for almost a month and shutting down the defending Stanley Cup champions on their home ice in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Not only did Dallas put together the kind of team effort that was a hallmark of this squad earlier in the season, it laid a huge amount of doubt onto the table for the Anaheim Ducks and their fans.
The Stars went 4-for-7 on the power play and took a 4-0 victory against a team that touted the best home record in the NHL. It also set up a big challenge for the Ducks, who must rebound in Game 2 on Saturday or face the prospect of going down 2-0 in the series with Game 3 and Game 4 in Dallas next week.
"It’s a good start, but we can’t get too high," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We need to get some rest and then get ramped up again. You have to respond because you know they’re going to answer the bell."
"We couldn't have drawn it up any better," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow, who scored the final goal. "We stayed smart. We stayed disciplined. And we took advantage on the power play."
The power play had been in a slump, but it was missing Mike Ribeiro, Jere Lehtinen and Brad Richards, who each have been battling soreness and illness. The Stars got their roster back intact (minus Sergei Zubov) Thursday and seemed to have a ton of energy. That allowed Stars coach Dave Tippett to put Morrow with Ribeiro and Lehtinen, and put Richards with Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist. The Ribeiro line continued to be the top scoring line for the Stars, as Morrow had a goal and two assists, Lehtinen scored a goal and had an assist, and Ribeiro earned two assists.
The Stars ran the majority of the power play with Modano and Stephane Robidas, and they made the Ducks pay for their mistakes.
"There were a lot of things that weren’t as good as they should have been,’’ said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer. "We did take some bad penalties, but they seemed to find a way to score at will."
Steve Ott tipped a Robidas shot for the first goal. Eriksson was wide open on the second. Lehtinen and Morrow found space in the slot for the last two, thanks in large part to Ribeiro’s smart play. But when the Stars weren’t on the power play, they had to make smart plays, as well. Rookie Matt Niskanen drew the first penalty, Trevor Daley the second, Philippe Boucher the third, and Mattias Norstrom the fourth. The Stars defense did the right thing in a lot of different situations while playing under heavy pressure.
Marty Turco finished with 23 saves and recorded his fourth career playoff shutout – the fourth in his last seven playoff games.
"I don’t want to single any part of it out, because I thought Turco had some great saves, I thought our defense did a great job in front of the net, and I thought our forwards did a great job in defending," Tippett said.
Mix in strong playoff debuts for Niskanen (22:07 in ice time) and Niklas Grossman (15:39), and you have an impressive performance down the line.
"What was great about this win is that we did it as a team," Robidas said. "Honestly, we used everybody. Everybody was important in this game. When we do that, that's when we really are a good team."
That team feeling was important, especially with the team’s playoff history. The Stars had lost five straight Game 1s with Tippett as their coach and Turco in goal. They were 1-4 in those series. To put the pressure on the opposition was definitely a nice change.
"I can’t remember the last time we won a Game 1," Morrow said. "It was huge."
That said, it was just one game, players reminded.
"We have to be ready for Saturday, because we know they’re going to be ready, and we know it’s going to be twice as hard as tonight was,’’ Boucher said. "And tonight was not easy."
It just looked that way.
- I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm not sure what else I can write about Dirk.
Dirk's dagger gets Dallas Mavericks in playoffs
04:32 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008 By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News esefko@dallasnews.com
The playoffs became more than a rumor Thursday night for the Mavericks.
And the Mavericks became much more than an afterthought for anybody gauging their chances in the postseason.
In one of the most entertaining games of this or any regular season, the Mavericks made the last of many huge plays – Dirk Nowitzki's 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left – to outlast the Utah Jazz, 97-94, at American Airlines Center.
The win, coupled with Denver's win at Golden State, clinched a playoff berth for the Mavericks.
The way they won it clinched far more than a spot in the bracket. The Jazz had won four in a row, including the last two against San Antonio and New Orleans, who managed an average of 65 points against the Jazz.
The Mavs passed that by the end of the third quarter. Then, they bowed up to make some gutsy plays down the stretch for their third win in a row and fifth in six games.
"Out of all the games when we started this run, this is one game I really was keeping my eyes on and seeing how far we've come in the physicality department," coach Avery Johnson said. "If we'd have lost this game, obviously, I wouldn't have felt great. But I thought we battled."
The Mavericks, who reached 50 wins for the eighth straight season, had made a season out of losing games just like this. They now have pulled a couple of them out in the last week and their attitude heading toward the playoffs is as positive as it's been all season.
The last, frantic minute made the difference. The lead had flip-flopped 10 times in the fourth quarter alone. The Mavs went up 94-91 on two Jason Terry free throws with 9.4 seconds to go. Terry had 21 points, all after halftime.
But Utah's Deron Williams banked in a 3-pointer with 5.8 ticks left to tie the score.
The Mavericks had no timeouts left and it was a good thing. They inbounded quickly, with Jason Kidd shoveling the ball to Eddie Jones, who found Nowitzki on the left wing, just outside the arc. His 3-pointer made it eight points in the final 9.4 seconds and delivered the Mavericks an emotional, gut-checking win.
"No lead in this league is comfortable anymore, and we know Utah keeps on playing," Nowitzki said. "Over the last three or four weeks, we lost those close games. We were able to pull it out."
They did so without Josh Howard for most of the second half. He played just three minutes after halftime after bruising his right knee, aggravating an injury he suffered Sunday in Phoenix. Howard said he doesn't think the injury is serious.
It was a heartbreaker for Utah, which reacted after Williams' 3-pointer like it was expecting the Mavericks to call a timeout.
"I think it was the excitement of, 'Wow, that shot just banked in,'" said Kyle Korver, who found himself trying to guard two Mavericks in the quick trip downcourt. "We just didn't get back, and he hit a big, big shot."
Nowitzki finished with 32 points. But he got loads of help from Jones, Eddie George and Brandon Bass, all of whom played key roles off the bench.
"We wanted to get progressively better," Johnson said of the Mavericks finally nailing down a playoff spot. "We had a major setback in terms of trying to get our team together once we made this trade, and now we seem to have it moving in the right direction."
- Doubleheader sweep??? Great starting pitching? Great bullpen work?? Over .500 for the first time since 2006?
Win-win situation: Texas Rangers above .500 after DH sweep
12:57 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008 By TODD WILLS / The Dallas Morning News twills@dallasnews.com
ARLINGTON – The Rangers are over .500 for the first time in the Ron Washington era.
But that was the last thing the second-year manager wanted to talk about after the Rangers swept Thursday's doubleheader from Baltimore, previously the hottest team in the American League.
The topics of interest to Washington after the 3-1 and 5-4 victories were the Rangers' surprising starting pitching, timely and aggressive hitting and the bookend saves by first-year closer C.J. Wilson.
To Washington, those were a much bigger deal than improving to 5-4, even if it's the first time the Rangers have been above .500 since Sept, 23, 2006, when they were 78-77.
"We've played only nine ballgames," Washington said. "We're playing very well. Ask me when we're 15 or 20 games over .500, then yeah, maybe I'll be excited about it."
Washington had plenty to be excited about Thursday. Some of the highlights:
•The starting pitching continues to shine. Kevin Millwood and Kason Gabbard combined to allow four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings. That gives the Rangers' rotation a 2.88 ERA entering today's series against Toronto.
Millwood has been the staff's ringleader, even if his win Thursday was only his first in three starts. He left with a 1.29 ERA.
The Rangers gave Millwood a five-year contract to be the leader of the pitching staff, and in his third season, he may be doing just that.
"My whole deal was to get off to a good start," Millwood said. "I think I've done that."
•The offense finally produced in the clutch after sleeping through Tuesday's home opener, an 8-1 loss. It took awhile Thursday, as the Rangers were hitless in their first six chances with runners in scoring position in Game 1.
"Up until the seventh, there wasn't much we could do," Washington said.
Ian Kinsler had a one-out single and stole second on his own. He scored the go-ahead run on Michael Young's line drive to center.
Young was then given the green light from Washington. He stole second and scored on an aggressive decision by third-base coach Matt Walbeck on Josh Hamilton's shallow fly ball to right field.
Young and Kinsler had the key hits in Game 2. Young had a home run to get the offense going in the first inning, and Kinsler snapped a 4-4 tie in Game 2 with a run-scoring single.
Wilson retired all six batters he faced in the two games. He was so effective in the first game, throwing 10 pitches, that he was available to come back in the second.
Wilson credited Joaquin Benoit and Jamey Wright, who produced quality efforts in front of him.
"It helps when guys are setting you up," Wilson said.
