2011 Playoffs, Round One -- #3 DAL v #6 POR

A quick, stats-heavy, very thumbnail history of the 2010-2011 season series:

Series tied at 2-2

Splits:
Dallas against Portland: 51.0 FG% -- 34.9 3P% -- 83.6 FT% -- 7.0 ORB -- 37.0 TRB -- 23.3 APG -- 5.0 SPG -- 3.0 BPG -- 96.0 PPG
Portland against Dallas: 47.8 FG% -- 30.5 3P% -- 73.5 FT% -- 11.3 ORB -- 37.3 TRB -- 20.5 APG 7.0 SPG -- 2.2 BPG -- 96.8 PPG
*the home team won both their games
*average margin of victory 4.75 points


Game One -- December 15, 2010, Portland at Dallas
103-98 W

Stats:
Portland: 42-85 FG -- .494 FG% -- 3-14 3P -- .214 3P% -- 11-18 FT -- .611 FT% -- 12 ORB -- 37 TRB -- 26 AST -- 5 STL -- 1 BLK -- 8 TOV -- 17 PF
Dallas: 40-74 FG -- .541 FG% -- 3-16 3P -- .188 3P% -- 20-21 FT -- .952 FT% -- 5 ORB -- 36 TRB -- 20 AST -- 7 STL -- 11 TOV -- 4 BLK -- 16 PF

The game in brief:
After falling behind by 17 in the third, the Trailblazers rallied to tie it 93-all with 2:07 left. The Mavs finished by outscoring the 'Blazers 10-5, thanks mostly to Dirk's shots finally finding their way home after three subpar quarters.

Quotes:
“We had a big lead there again, and just hit a bad stretch again. “We just couldn’t get any stops.” -Dirk Nowitzki

"Dirk made two really tough shots, that’s what he does. We did our best to make the shots tough, but he still made them.” -LaMarcus Aldridge

Video:
http://www.nba.com/video/games/mavericks/2010/12/15/0021000377_por_dal_recap.nba


Game Two -- Jaunary 4, 2011, Portland at Dallas
84-81 W

Stats:
Portland: 33-79 FG -- 41.8 FG% -- 4-16 3P -- 25.0 3P% -- 11-17 FT -- 64.7 FT% -- 14 ORB -- 46 TRB -- 17 AST -- 5 STL -- 3 BLK -- 8 TOV -- 17 PF
Dallas: 33-77 FG -- 42.9 FG% -- 8-22 3P -- 36.4 3P% -- 10-13 FT -- 76.9 FT% -- 12 ORB -- 46 TRB -- 22 AST -- 3 STL -- 13 TOV -- 2 BLK -- 16 PF

The game in brief:
Injuries -- Caron Butler, out for season after surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon, Dirk Nowitzki, sprained knee, Brandon Roy, injured knee. Dallas's defense kept Portland at bay and a late scoring surge from Jason Terry put the Mavs over the top. This game was one of only two games -- and the only one over a winning team -- the Mavs won without Dirk.

Quotes:
"The fourth quarter is Jet's show. He's done it over and over. He's so clutch, so much fun to watch. He was huge for us and I was happy for him to get his rhythm back. When he makes shots like that, we're deadly. It was great to see him in the fourth quarter back to his usual self." -Tyson Chandler

"Defensively, we've been a top team in the league all year long and we can't let up now because we're missing two of our main pieces. We have to really, really concentrate on defense now. We shut them down in the half-court defense in the final quarter, so that was big." -Jason Terry

Video:
http://www.nba.com/video/games/mavericks/2011/01/04/0021000509_por_dal_recap.nba


Game 3 -- March 15, 2011, Dallas at Portland
104-101 L

Stats:
Portland: 40-85 FG -- 47.1 FG% -- 6-14 3P -- 42.9 3P% -- 18-23 FT -- 78.3 FT% -- 15 ORB -- 34 TRB -- 19 AST -- 8 STL -- 7 TOV -- 5 BLK -- 15 PF
Dallas: 40-67 FG -- 59.7 FG% -- 9-21 3P -- 42.9 3P% -- 12-13 FT -- 92.3 FT% -- 6 ORB -- 33 TRB -- 30 AST -- 5 STL -- 15 TOV -- 4 BLK -- 17 PF

The game in brief:
Though Dallas shot the ball extremely well, Portland crashed the offensive glass and forced turnovers, resulting in 18 more shots and 10 more free throw attempts. The Trailblazers also got a throwback performance from Brandon Roy, who scored 21. Dirk had a chance to force overtime, but missed the shot.

Quote:
“In that situation you’ve love to get a completely unmolested shot, but it’s difficult. I thought Dirk did a good job of creating a look and we just didn’t get it down." -Coach Rick Carlisle

“Man, this is a tough one. You shoot 60 percent on the road and lose, that’s tough. Turnovers killed us down the stretch . . . We doubled them in turnovers and that really hurt us. Really, it was offensive rebounds in the first half and turnovers down the stretch.” -Dirk Nowitzki

Video:
http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2011/03/15/0021001002_dal_por_recap.nba


Game 4 -- April 3, 2011, Dallas at Portland
104-96 L

Stats:
Portland: 39-73 FG -- 53.4 FG% -- 5-15 3P -- 33.3 3P% -- 21-25 FT -- 84.0 FT% -- 4 ORB -- 32 TRB -- 20 AST -- 10 STL -- 11 TOV -- 0 BLK -- 20 PF
Dallas: 34-70 FG -- 48.6% FG% -- 9-24 3P -- 37.5 3P% -- 19-26 FT -- 73.1 FT% -- 5 ORB -- 33 TRB -- 21 AST -- 5 STL -- 13 TOV -- 2 BLK -- 21 PF

The game in brief:
The final game of the Last Epic Road Trip -- three straight back-to-backs, six games in nine nights. Playing even worse than one might expect given that, Dallas got steamrollered. Portland led by 21 points at one point -- the 29-19 fourth quarter was all garbage time.

Quotes:
“No excuses, we’re not gonna make excuses. Our first half was poor, we knew that, we battled back in the second half, but they were better tonight.” -Coach Rick Carlisle

“You go through ups and downs in a season. Obviously, it’s a little late in the season to go through a down. That’s a little disappointing. But it could be worse. It could be in the playoffs." -Dirk Nowitzki

Video:
http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2011/04/03/0021001148_dal_por_recap.nba

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I could've wished for an easier first-rounder, if I'm honest. The Mavs do well just on shooting, but Portland crashes the hell out of the glass and tends to make brick walls for the good guys to run into. One can throw out the second and fourth games of the series, because of injuries -- see how fair I'm being? Portland was the only winning team we beat while Dirk was out with a bad knee -- and the resulting stat pool shows the teams are on a very even keel.

Quite honestly, I don't know what's gonna happen here. I think the result is a coin-toss at best, and I'm trying very hard not to think about what's coming if Dallas gets past the first round. Beaubois has not become the game-changer we had all counted on and, well, I'm sorry, but the basketball gods just played dirty when they took out Caron. For the record, he's not coming back. Not for this series and probably not until a new season starts (God knows when that'll be). None of those things are an issue of fault, really. Nobody chose to have Rodrigue break his foot twice or to have Caron pop a kneecap. But the net effect is Rodrigue is a year behind where we'd all thought he'd be and Caron . . . you don't not miss 16 and 4 and defensive ornereyness. With Coach's reliance on known qualities -- Fish calls it the Devean George effect, in that coaches prefer predictability in their roleplayers -- I don't think Corey Brewer's earned enough of his trust to crack the rotation, and DeShawn regression to the mean has been devestating. The Jasons have had a bad habit of disappearing in the playoffs and JJ's too easy to stop.

From Dirk, nothing is to be feared. At this point, the only things that might break his focus is a death in the family, God forbid, or a broken leg. Tyson is our king card -- the chance we have in this series is in how well Tyson can keep LaMarcus Aldridge bottled up, and if whatever's wrong with Jason Kidd's passing was just due to fatigue and a solid week off's fixed it.

Operating on the assumption that homecourt advantage will matter in this series, I think Dallas simply out-skills Portland. Mavericks in seven.
-BJ