More on the Dallas debacle
Wow. I had to change my quick, online-only story for Tuesday’s game against the Mavericks – and fast.
The original lede (or first paragraph) read: “Back away from big buildings and bridges, Jazz fans. Utah’s season isn’t over just yet ….”
Who knew before the story even ran that Dirk Nowitzki was going to come along and shove Jazz fans from behind off the ledge, where they’d been since losing to a no-name Houston squad in devastating fashion.
The original morphed into this quick rewrite: “Forget the lightbulb question. How many men does it take to screw up a much-needed Utah Jazz win and single-handedly overcome a 16-point deficit? One German, that’s all.”
Tim Buckley was in Dallas, and he wrote a good game article about the “Texas Massacre Part II: Two Days, Two Longhorn State Opponents, Two Painful Meltdowns.” (That wasn’t the headline, by the way.)
Though it was the fifth-worst fourth-quarter blown-tire incident in franchise history, there was one positive about Tuesday’s amazing Jazz loss. Technically, it was Utah’s best defensive game of the season, as Dallas’ 96 points were the fewest allowed this season. The Los Angeles Clippers scored 98 in their loss to Utah on Friday.
Just blot out the fact that Nowitzki had 29 final-period points and Utah was outscored 36-9 in the final eight minutes vs. Dallas, coming a day after Houston outscored the Jazz 33-16 in the final 10 minutes. That’s a 69-25 advantage for the opponents in the final 18 minutes of the last two games for those not counting at home.
Before sharing what ESPN’s John Hollinger had to say about the late-game wackiness, here’s one last question – one I asked 1280′s John Lund and Hans Olsen this morning on the “Manly Morning Show:”
Who had the most painful trip to Texas: Sam Bradford, Ginobili’s bat or the Jazz?
Ouch.
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From Hollinger on ESPN.com:
“Time to break down Dallas’ remarkable win over Utah on Tuesday night. The Mavs, who scored 52 points through three quarters, exploded for 44 in the fourth. Over the final 8:16, they outscored Utah 36-9 to turn a 16-point deficit into an 11-point win.
The Mavs scored on 15 of their final 16 trips, producing 34 points, for a surreal offensive efficiency rating of 226.7. Nowitzki had 25 of those points, including 14 in a row on six straight trips, and assisted the only field goal he didn’t score himself.
Utah, meanwhile, inexplicably chose to single-cover Nowitzki throughout this stretch with plodder Mehmet Okur. Carlos Boozer, who had guarded him for much of the game, had five fouls, but this would be a tough matchup for Okur in the best of circumstances, and he was just coming off an ankle injury. In 20-20 hindsight, putting Andrei Kirilenko on Nowitzki — or just straight double-teaming him, given that Jason Terry was the only dangerous Dallas shooter on the floor — would have been a far better option.
Which takes us back to the point I made in the lead item above. Utah is basically the last of the Mohicans as far as playing a power game with two traditional big men. While Okur is a 3-point shooter, neither he nor Boozer is terribly effective guarding the perimeter (nor guarding the paint, for that matter), and it makes me wonder whether the Jazz have to adjust by making the long-rumored deal of Boozer for a perimeter player. It would seem they’d have no choice if they can’t shake the doldrums of their 1-3 start. Who would want to pay luxury tax to finish in the lottery?
The big beneficiary of such a move would be Kirilenko, a classic small-ball 4 whose game has atrophied as a wing player the past three seasons. Putting him at the 4 while acquiring a more traditional wing player who could make shots might be the elixir Utah needs to shake its rough start & not to mention shaking off the tax man.”