![]() ![]() In the third quarter, the Wolves rediscovered their offensive magic, outscoring the Mavericks 26-23 in the quarter. There were no easy buckets for either star in this game (or in this series). Each shot of Nowitzki’s, like Garnett’s, was met with a lot of contact. The Wolves’ defense did a good job keeping Nowitzki off the 3-point line and forcing him to cut and drive to the basket. Things weren’t much easier for Nowitzki, who had 20 points and seven rebounds at the half. However, this was no reason not to run the ball through Garnett as many times as possible. Even when he got single coverage, Najera, Lafrentz, or whoever the Mavs threw at KG did what they could to swipe the ball from him or alter his shot. Garnett saw double and even triple teams all game long. This was no easy task as Garnett was hounded every time he touched the ball. The Wolves were going to need even more from Garnett despite his 2-for-9 shooting and eight points and six rebounds. Minnesota scored just 16 points on 5-for-21 shooting in the second quarter. The Mavericks used a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game. After Anthony Peeler’s bucket at 10:36, the Wolves didn’t get another field goal until the five-minute mark. While the Wolves were opportunistic in the first quarter and were able to get Billups and Nesterovic going, the second quarter was an utter disaster. ![]() The Timberwolves did use this to their advantage, outscoring the Mavs 31-22 in the first quarter. While both of these teams could light up the scoreboard, the first few minutes involved both teams simply feeling each other out. In all likelihood, this helped avoid having Garnett chase Nowitzki around the perimeter for 45 minutes and take on the opponent’s best rebounder at the same time. When Gary Trent replaced Mitchell, Garnett did guard Nowitzki. Mitchell was in the starting lineup to match up with Nowitzki and Eduardo Najera for Dallas against Garnett. Wally Szczerbiak, Sam Mitchell, Garnett, and Rasho Nesterovic rounded out the starting five. Robert Pack was a capable backup point guard but you’d much rather have Brandon and Billups than Billups and Pack. At times, you can really see he’s a step slow, but being the star that he was, he eventually found ways to get up to speed.Īs for the Timberwolves, Chauncey Billups was starting in place of the injured Terrell Brandon, who was lost for the season due to injury. If you’ll remember, Nash discussed how fatigued he was entering certain playoff runs, including this one with the Mavs. Carlesimo discussed Nash’s health on the broadcast. This resulted in Dallas being able to play four ball-handlers at the same time, which became a real problem for the Wolves to defend. Nelson also utilized two point guard lineups with Nash and Van Exel, well before it was cool to do so. Coach Don Nelson knew how to deploy them, as the Mavericks shot the second-most 3-pointers per game (20.8) and were the third-most efficient. Just six weeks before this series, Dallas bolstered their roster by trading for Raef Lafrentz and Nick Van Exel. While the Wolves technically did have a shot, they were simply over-matched against a really strong Mavericks team.Īside from prime Dirk Nowitzki, the 2002 Mavericks had Steve Nash and Michael Finley. The first round series pitted the 4th and 5th seeds in the West, which was repeated several times throughout the TV broadcast (the announcers made it a priority to mention that the Wolves felt they had a real chance in this series, despite never advancing past the first round in franchise history). The Wolves even won a game in Dallas that season without Garnett. These two teams had become perennial playoff contenders in the West and split the season series. While the Wolves were quickly bounced in the first round after getting swept 3-0 by the higher-seeded Mavs, that doesn’t make the matchup between the Mavs and Wolves any less interesting. While this isn’t the most memorable playoff series in team history, it still presented an opportunity for two of the league’s premier bigs to square off as both were just beginning to enter their relative primes. Dirk Nowitzki.Īpril 12 will officially mark the 18th anniversary of when the Minnesota Timberwolves battled the Dallas Mavericks in the 2002 NBA playoffs. Yesterday, Derek looked a few of the best battles between The Big Ticket and another 2020 Hall of Fame inductee (Tim Duncan), and today the spotlight is on another premier battle of the bigs - KG vs. As we continue to celebrate Kevin Garnett this week after he was recently selected as part of the 2020 Naismith Hall of Fame class, our guy Derek James is flashing back to some of KG’s most memorable moments. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |