Spurs-Mavs Game One: Jefferson Disappears, Dirk Makes Spurs Vanish

Throughout the years, the San Antonio Spurs have never had an answer for Dirk Nowitzki—nor did they in Game One’s 100-94 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Dirk usually set up on either elbow, planted himself, caught the ball and either hit rise-and-fire jumpers, one-dribble pull-ups, and got to the line whenever he drove to the basket.

Antonio McDyess offered minimal resistance on Dirk‘s jumpers, the landlocked Matt Bonner offered no resistance, and smaller Spurs were taken to the woodshed.

Because San Antonio’s only recourse was to crowd Dirk and hope for the best, he was repeatedly fouled on his jumpers and granted three-point plays.

And when two-timed, Dirk made accurate passes that usually led to assists.

San Antonio’s only alternatives were to deny Dirk the ball by fronting him, but Dallas does a great job of using high sets to clear the basket area—meaning the Spurs either can’t offer backside protection against over-the-top passes—or Dallas’ set will open up wide-open shots for other Mavs who did a good enough job of hitting their shots to keep San Antonio honest.

San Antonio was ultimately reduced to playing Hack-A-Dampier, with minimal results.

Credit Dirk for an MVP-worthy performance—12-14 FG, 12-12 FT, 7 REB, 1 AST, 1 TO, 36 PTS—that the Spurs were helpless to stop.

Not only was Dirk great, but he carried a bunch of uneven performances from his teammates.

Caron Butler hit enough of his baseline fallaways to be a threat—8-19 FG, 5-6 FT, 22 PTS—but also made some questionable decisions with the ball—5 TO.

Jason Kidd overcame a sloppy third quarter by knocking down his open shots and making all the simple, but proper passes—3-6 3FG, 11 AST, 8 REB, 4 TO, 4 STL, 13 PTS.

With San Antonio prerotating to Dirk after fronting him, Dallas ran a pair of plays that allowed Shawn Marion to curl into the paint and hit two floaters, the offensive highlights of his 4-10 FG, 1-2 FT, 9 PTS.

If Erick Dampier couldn’t score with a map—0-3 FG, 5-12 FT, Brendan Haywood finished strong at the basket—4-5 FG, 10 PTS.

Jason Terry was abysmal until garbage time—2-9 FG, and J.J. Barea was too small to make anything happen.

If Dirk’s supporting cast didn’t shoot well, they crashed the offensive glass with vigor—13 offensive rebounds compared to just 21 San Antonio defensive rebounds—and could rely on Dirk to make a critical basket.

Therefore, the onus was on the Spurs to attack Dallas on the defensive end, where they could take advantage of Dirk’s faulty back-line defense and try to simply outscore the Mavs in a shootout.

Manu Ginobili was a wizard with the basketball, Tim Duncan was reliable in the post after a slow start, and Tony Parker peppered in enough long jump shots (3-8) with his assaults on the rim to keep the Mavs from simply sagging into the paint when he had the ball.

However, Parker frequently overpenetrated, Duncan displayed surprisingly leaden hands trying to reel in relatively simple passes, and Ginobili’s bold passing yielded more risk than reward.

This is why, despite the trio’s combined excellent numbers—29-52 FG, 71 PTS—their production was offset by their turnovers—13 TO.

If the Spurs trio battled Dirk to a near draw, San Antonio’s supporting cast was abysmal.

Richard Jefferson’s body made the trip to Dallas, but his soul is somewhere in New Jersey—1-4 FG, 2 AST, 2 TO, 4 PTS.

Jefferson was brought in to provide more offense against teams loading up to stop San Antonio’s big three, but he’s a step slow, completely passive, and totally uninvolved in San Antonio’s offense.

George Hill is still feeling the effects of a bum ankle and lacked any explosion against the Mavs, before sitting out all but in the opening minute of the second half.

Antonio McDyess by default was San Antonio‘s best bet at defending Dirk—even picking up a steal when denying an entry pass—and he plugged his long-range jumpers—5-9 FG. He was San Antonio’s only supporting cast member who played adequate.

Keith Bogans is a stopper who stopped no one with his defense, while Roger Mason is a shooter who shot blanks—0-2 FG.

DeJuan Blair couldn’t keep pace with Haywood’s size on the defensive end.

Matt Bonner missed two floaters, and only connected on one of his two triples. Since Bonner hasn’t a prayer at containing Dirk, and offers little on the glass, he has to shoot lights out to justify his playing time.

San Antonio could win the series if it gets major production from Jefferson (which it hasn’t gotten all year), and Hill (who is playing gimpy), and if San Antonio’s “Big Three” continues to score while limiting their turnovers.

Otherwise, they have no answer for Dirk and no chance at advancing to the second round.