NBA Playoffs 2011: 5 Keys for the Portland Trailblazers vs. the Dallas Mavericks
Now that the regular season is over and the NBA Playoffs have begun, basketball fans everywhere are tuning in to see how the first round plays out.
No matter the matchups, playoff basketball is always a little bit different than the regular season. The game slows down, defense is a much more important point of emphasis, and there's always the added intrigue of seeing who gets sent home early.
Many experts picked the Trail Blazers as the most likely team to send a higher seeded team (in this case, the Dallas Mavericks) home early.
After Game 1 in Dallas on Saturday, many of those experts are beginning to second guess their pick.
Here are five reasons that the experts, and, more importantly, the fans, shouldn't be second guessing so early in the series.
No. 5. Hit from Downtown
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The Blazers were once a purely jump shooting team. They'd drive to the hole only to toss it out to an open player on the wing who would take a long jumper.
The problem with that play style was that everyone knew that was going to happen. Not anymore. The Blazers have one of the best post players in the league in LaMarcus Aldridge and they showed off his abilities in Game 1.
The problem in Game 1 was that nobody could hit the long ball, still a staple of the Rip City offense. Everyone watching stared on in disbelief as wide open shot after wide open shot was missed by Portland's sharpshooters: Wesley Matthews, Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez et al could not buy a basket from behind the three-point line.
They combined to make just one three point attempt the entire game, while Dallas connected on ten, six of them coming from Jason Kidd.
The Blazers have got to make the shots they're given.
No. 4. Force Dallas to Play the Way Portland Wants
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The photo above is something that Blazers fans don't want to see very often as this playoff series continue.
Dallas wants to force LaMarcus Aldridge into low percentage jump shots, keeping him out of the paint where he can do the most damage.
Portland, on the other hand, would love nothing more than for Aldridge to post up on every possession and either go to the bucket for a high percentage shot, increasing the likelihood that he gets fouled, or pass out to a wide open shooter on the wing when the help defense comes to double team him.
If Dallas is successful at forcing Aldridge out of the paint to take contested jumpers all night (which is something the Mavericks haven't been able to do all season so I find it unlikely that they will be able to do it in the postseason) it would be a loss in the strategy department for Portland.
Make no mistake, Aldridge can make mid-range jump shots all night long, but he's better when he's banging down low, causing the Mavs to get into foul trouble.
Portland also needs to control the tempo of the game. They need to be deliberate, and not be in such a hurry that they turn the ball over as many times as they did in Game 1.
#3. Bench Scoring
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The Blazers bench was outplayed in Game 1, to put it simply.
That isn't something that the Blazers can allow to happen for the rest of the series. Gerald "Crash" Wallace needs to live up to his nickname.
During Game 1, Wallace seemed hesitant, jittery even, and he didn't play his game. He needs to take control when he has the ball and not be afraid to drive the lane and crash into the basket. It's his signature play style, and that's why the Blazers traded for him. He's a high energy player who can come off the bench and spark the second unit, and his defense is something that the Blazers cannot survive without.
As goes Wallace and the rest of the bench, so go the Blazers.
#2. Overcome the Officiating
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Even the most hardcore Mavericks fan is forced to admit that the disparity in free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 1 wasn't simply due to the Mavs playing better. Dirk Nowitzki was able to get to the line for 13 free throw shots (all of which he made) in the 4th quarter. The Blazers? They had 13 the entire game.
A lot of people (Mavericks fans) have said that this was because the Blazers stopped going to the bucket in the second half, and more importantly in the 4th quarter. The problem with that line of thinking is that the Blazers scored more points in the paint after halftime than the Mavs did all game.
The officiating was poor for both teams, but the 4th quarter officiating clearly favored the Mavericks.
Regardless, the Blazers need to overcome the officials and keep playing their game.
Side note: If the Blazers had made even half of their 3PA they would have won this game by a decent margin.
#1 Don't Double Team J-Kidd
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After Jason Kidd went off in Game 1 to the tune of 24 points with six made threes, the temptation is to double Kidd so that he can't hurt you. The Blazers need to ignore this temptation and know that, at age 38, Jason Kidd is very unlikely to duplicate that performance.
This is a 38-year-old player who averaged all of eight PPG in 2010-11. The Blazers don't need to game plan for J-Kidd. They need to keep their focus on Nowitzki and Jason Terry, the only legitimate scoring threats the Mavericks have.
If the Blazers can force Nowitzki and Terry into bad shots, thereby limiting the damage they can do, then the Blazers will be in good shape in this series. If they focus on keeping Jason Kidd from scoring, they're going to be in trouble.
