Mavericks 86 Blazers 74
Boxscore
There just ain't much to review tonight folks. What are you going to say? A game like this is as if you had bought tickets to see the Beatles and the on-stage quartet consisted of Ringo Starr, Shecky Gruberman, Sanjib Parcheesi, and some guy calling himself Lobsterdude...with guest vocals by Yoko Ono. You're going to review the Beatles based on that? Pshaw.
The team wrap-up can be summarized easily: we shot below 38% and got our butts royally kicked on the boards. They shot almost 51%. Game over. We did a nice job not falling apart and we appeared to fight pretty hard most of the game but our offense was shaky and our defense was downright pathetic. Of course Dallas' high-powered lineup had something to do with the appearance of the latter. We shot early in the clock much of the night and played right into their hands when we missed long, which sealed our doom. Frankly though we could have held it on most of those possessions and still not ended up with better shots. There just didn't seem to be a lot of continuity tonight. That's hardly surprising given the circumstances.
There are really three-and-a-half significant individual notes:
--Jarrett Jack came out aggressive and was hitting early, looking to fill the Roy role. Again I like him like that. He ended up with a team high 18 on 6-12 shooting and had 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 turnovers. His defense against their quicker guards was spotty though. Disappointingly so almost.
--Sergio acquitted himself pretty well in his first start. He wasn't a major factor but he didn't boot away the game for us either. He played 26 minutes, shot 3-6, and ended up with 7 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and only 3 turnovers, which is pretty low for him in that many minutes. He really needed to get back in transition better but with time that will (hopefully) come.
--Travis played a better offensive game tonight I thought. We were getting him the ball in better positions, meaning when he was open. And when he was open he shot and he hit. He had a few questionable shots but I really don't think he understands the difference right now and on nights like this you just have to accept that as part of his game. As long as he hits, I think we'll live with it. He was a good weapon tonight: 8 of 15 shooting, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block in 27 minutes.
--The half is Raef, who was again hitting his shots tonight. I can begin to see a little bit how they were hoping he'd help us. I don't know...I guess we'll have to see next year.
That's about it. The game was neither a masterpiece nor a disaster. It was what it was. San Antonio comes next and we'll see how high our heads are after we walk out Monday night.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)