Dirk Nowitzki was outflanked, hemmed in by a defender on either side, and Jason Terry wasn't much freer. Every time he turned, he found another white jersey, so when the Dallas Mavericks needed big shots in the first game of the playoffs Saturday, they turned to Brandon Bass, and to Erick Dampier, and to J.J. Barea.
The Spurs, of course, were delighted. "That was our whole strategy," forward Matt Bonner said.
"We did what we were supposed to do," added Drew Gooden.
"If they were going to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, "we wanted those people to do it.
"And they did it."
In the end, the Spurs' 105-97 defeat in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals was not a matter of their failure to carry out a game plan, but rather an example of the Mavs following Popovich's orders even better than his own team did.
So, Popovich wanted Brandon Bass to take a bunch of 15-foot jumpers? Bass obliged, and hit 7 of 9 shots.
So, Popovich wanted his defenders to hound Nowitzki and let Dampier run unfettered? Dampier did exactly that, making 5 of 6 field-goal attempts and grabbing 11 rebounds.
So, Popovich wanted the ball away from Terry and in the hands of Barea, the shortest, least-experienced guy on the floor? Barea gladly took it, and spearheaded the fourth-quarter run that put Dallas in control for good.
"Frankly," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, "the way they were playing (Nowitzki) allowed us to get offense in other ways."
Shortly after Nowitzki picked up his third foul early in the second quarter, the Spurs led by 13 points. Then the onslaught of the Mavs' role players began. Bass hit a shot from the free-throw line. Then a 13-footer from the baseline. Then, on the next possession, Barea swished a 19-footer from the wing.
And before the Spurs could catch their breath, the Mavs were back in the game.
"When I got out there," said Bass, whose 14 points helped Dallas' reserves outscore the Spurs' bench 39-14, "we needed some type of spark."
The Mavs received that and more, particularly from Barea. Not only did he score nine of his 13 points in the second half, he hounded Tony Parker and drew two charging fouls ("Just staying on his you-know-what," as Josh Howard put it).
"I just tried to bother him," Barea said.
He bothered more than only Parker. During a 21-6 run to start the fourth quarter, Barea made play after play, whether it was dumping a perfect pass to Bass for a dunk, pulling up for a jumper or driving to the basket and drawing contact for a 3-point play.
"We were putting him in positions he had to make decisions," Spurs guard Michael Finley said, "and he made good decisions."
