Mavs-Nuggets Game One: Nuggets Fast Breakers Crash The Mavs

The Denver Nuggets attacked in waves during their Game One 109-95 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

While Dallas weathered the first breakers, like a rock cliff facing the sea, the Mavs were eventually eroded away and pummeled to gravel by the sheer relentlessness of Denver’s attack.

Like most playoff attacks, the onslaught began on the defensive end.

In the initial quarter, the Nuggets put little resistance on Dirk Nowitzki, allowing him to face and shoot without putting the ball down, or by switching on to him with a smaller, weaker defender. Because of this, Dirk hit his first six shots.

Also, as is his custom, Josh Howard was able to light up the scoreboard early, torching the inadequate defense of Carmelo Anthony.

With Dirk and Howard rolling, the Mavs cruised to a nine-point first-quarter lead.

And then the Nuggets turned to their bench.

Almost as if the first quarter was an ordinary shoot around and the second quarter marked the onset of the second-round series, Denver ratcheted up their defensive pressure tenfold.

Dirk was bodied and banged by a multitude of different defenders and had his left hand overplayed. The signifier of Denver’s increased defensive energies came when Chris Andersen got up in Nowitzki’s chest, overplayed Dirk’s left hand, and then forced him to shoot a twisting fallaway off his wrong foot that sailed six feet wide and three feet short of the hoop.

Dirk was rarely double-teamed, making an alert crosscourt pass to beat a trap, leading to a Jason Kidd three on the lone occasion Denver sent an extra man. And while he did manage to shoot 6-for-16 for the rest of the game, Dirk labored for every single point he produced after the first quarter and wasn’t a major factor for the rest of the game.

Also, with the Nuggets pressuring every catch and every pass, Dallas began committing turnovers in droves, fueling Denver’s fast break, fueling a faster pace, fueling helter-skelter basketball, fueling more turnovers and breakaways in a vicious cycle of mistakes begetting more mistakes.

How effective was Denver’s pressure? Not only did they produce 20 turnovers, but they came up with 15 steals and 29 fast break points!

Shockingly, Jason Kidd was the prime culprit of this with eight turnovers as the constant buzzing of Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter got into Kidd’s head coaxing him into decisions he regretted soon after.

It appeared as if there were multiple Chris Andersens on the court at any given time, but there weren’t. The Birdman only seemed to be everywhere at once. But whenever Dallas attempted to challenge at the rim, attack in transition, or make a sloppy pass anywhere in his vicinity, Birdman would take to the skies, with six blocks, six boards, a steal, countless alterations, and the ability to stay up on Dirk and Brandon Bass and contest both their jump shots and their drives.

Offensively, with Carmelo Anthony struggling early with foul trouble, the Nuggets rode their fast break for the majority of their points. While Carmelo did record 23 points, most came when the game was well decided. Billups also struggled, only shooting 2-for-8 from the field.

With the Nuggets’ big guns struggling, they were required to trust their bench and share the ball, which they did with aplomb, registering 28 assists on 40 made field goals.

Their secondary players dominated Dallas with J.R. Smith tantalizing from the wing, Anderson terrorizing the baseline, Anthony Carter plugging his jumpers and making good decisions with the ball, and Nene blasting to the hoop in transition and screen rolls for a flurry of thunderous dunks which ignited the crowd and his teammates.

The Nuggets shut down Dallas’ baseline drives leading to corner threes. Kudos to Denver’s scouting and George Karl’s coaching.

They attacked J.J. Barea’s diminutive stature with Dahntay Jones blasting him in the post for a short jumper, and by mugging him for his lunch money whenever he wandered too close to the basket for a rebound.

They rotated perfectly to counteract Dallas’ baseline drives and isolations.

Most importantly, they played with passion, excitement, and a raw emotion which turned the Mavs hides yellow.

Feeling like aliens in Denver’s bird nest, Dallas put up precious little resistance in the second half as the Nuggets began pulling away. Their interior rotations, solid in the opening period, were late or non-existent as the game wore on.

Josh Howard was the Invisible Man after a torrid start.

Jason Terry was the only Mavs bench player who showed up, but his defense was atrocious and he committed four turnovers.

Dirk decided to rotate with his hands instead of his feet, meaning he was also one step away looking up at a Nuggets player dunking to his side. Gutless defense by a gutless defender.

Ryan Hollins and Antoine Wright were beyond useless.

The Mavs got sucked into playing at Denver’s pace and didn’t have the physicality or the smarts to handle Denver’s pressure, or even better, use it against them.

If Dallas calms down, they have the talent to capitalize on the many mistakes the Nuggets themselves made and turn the series into a series.

But if they can’t slow down, if they can’t get anything out of their bench, and if their big men get thoroughly outplayed by Denver’s motley crew, they’ll get blitzed right out of the postseason in the same manner the Hornets were.