Spurs Steal One at Home, Lead 2-1 over Mavs

The first two minutes were pure basketball gold, from the Dallas Mavericks' perspective. Two quick baskets and two unsuccessful possessions by the Spurs, and the Mavs broke out to a 4-0 lead at the AT&T Center on Friday night. And then the Spurs came to life, as did the crowd, and things started to head south for the Mavericks. Although they never got in a hole as large as the one they faced on Wednesday night, the Mavs were down by as many as nine points at one time. And even though at times it seemed they were playing 5 on 6 (lead official Dan Crawford may as well have been wearing silver and black rather than black and white), the boys in blue never gave up.

In the second quarter, the Mavs began chipping away at the Spurs' lead, a piece at a time, led by the most unlikely of heroes, the smallest man on the court: JJ Barea. But don't underestimate his impact because of his size; the possession immediately after Barea subbed into the game, he was able to get the ball to Dirk, who scored straightaway. With the additional attention the Spurs were paying to Jason Kidd, trying to take the ball out of his hands before he could make anything happen, having Barea on the floor gave the Mavs' an extra playmaker, not to mention an active scorer. With mere seconds left in the first half, Barea knocked down a deep three pointer which trimmed the Spurs lead to three, 47-44, at the half. Barea had eight first half points off the bench for Dallas and made a huge impact in the ebb and flow of the game, turning the tide in Dallas' favor.

Barea wasn't the only hero of the game for Dallas; former MVP and future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki again came up huge for his team. In the third quarter, Dallas went on a 19-2 run, fueled primarily by Nowitzki and Barea, to claim the lead from the Spurs. Barea drew a charge on the Spurs, followed by a Nowitzki block and a Barea dribble drive to the basket to cut the lead to one. The Mavs forced the Spurs into a three second call on the next trip down the court, and then Dirk came back and nailed a three to give the Mavs their first lead of the game, 61-59, with just over four minutes remaining in the third period. Nowitzki scored 16 of his team high 35 points in the third quarter, and Jason Kidd stole the ball on the final possession of the third to end the period with the Mavs in front, 70-66.

Nowitzki finished the game with 35 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Barea had 14 points and four assists, and Jason Terry added 17 points off the bench (including shooting 4-of-8 from behind the arc), but in the end, it was all for naught. Even a broken nose for Manu Ginobili, who caught an unintentional elbow to the face from Nowitzki, couldn't stop the Spurs. Dallas' last lead of the game was at 81-80, after Dirk hit a jumper, but the Mavs allowed Tony Parker to come back and score six straight points for the Spurs. In the end, the Mavs made too many mistakes, which the Spurs capitalized on, winning the game, 94-90, and taking the series lead, 2-1, moving into Sunday night's critical (at least from Dallas' standpoint) Game 4 matchup.

Or, if you're a conspiracy theorist like myself, Dan Crawford might have had a little something-something to do with the final outcome of Game 3. Just check out my next post and decide for yourself.

Either way, the Spurs are going to have one helluva fight on their hands come Sunday night. If there's one thing I can say about my Mavs, it's that they don't go down without a fight.