NBA Playoffs 2010 : Dallas Mavericks 89 @ 92San Antonio Spurs (3 - 1 for San Antonio Spurs)

Hill the unlikely hero as Spurs go up 3-1 on Mavericks

Posted Sunday April 25, 2010 11:17PM

SAN ANTONIO (NBA.com exclusive) -- After three games of the same-old, same-old Spurs playoff basketball, a collection of players not named Duncan, Parker and Ginobili filled their roles on Sunday. It was such a development, it appeared to even rattle the Mavericks for awhile.

Trailing by 15 late in the first half in Game 4, the Spurs unleashed the likes of George Hill, Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and DeJuan Blair. That foursome went 9-for-11 from the floor in the third quarter and scored 22 of the team's 29 points while the Mavs failed to make a shot from the floor for the final 7:46.

The unlikely turn gave San Antonio a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, and the Spurs had enough to check out with a 92-89 victory and push the Mavericks to the edge with a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Tim Duncan, playing on his 34th birthday, unwrapped a booby gift with 4 points on 1-for-9 shooting. But Hill made the best of his invite to the party with 11-for-16 shooting (5-for-6 on 3-pointers), 29 points, two steals and no turnovers.

"He played a great game tonight," Mavs center Brendan Haywood said. "You always tip your hat to someone who beats you, but I think tonight was more about what we didn't do as a team. We didn't have composure down the stretch."

It's a problem that plagued Dallas in both games in San Antonio, as the Mavericks blew a lead of nine in Game 3 and 15 this time at AT&T Center.

After Duncan's line on the box score, Manu Ginobili went 4-for-16 and Tony Parker finished 4-for-9. That's a combined 9-for-34 and not even 27 percent - so how did Dallas let this one get away?

"Well, when you get another guy (Hill) going 11-for-16, it could very easily happen," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "If you additionally get your ass kicked on five to seven loose balls, that certainly contributed to losing.

"We played hard, but there's a set of plays in the last couple of games where you've got to get down and dirty. We have to come up with balls that are 50-50 balls. That's where the game is being won and lost, in the trenches."

While Hill supercharged the third-quarter rally with 11 points, the Mavericks made one more shot in the quarter than there were flagrant fouls called in the game. Dallas went 4-for-17 in the third and looked totally unlike the group of players that was supposed to give Dirk Nowitzki his best shot at a championship.

Nowitzki and his fellow starters -- Shawn Marion, Erick Dampier, Caron Butler and Jason Kidd -- played all but nine of the available 60 minutes in the quarter, and they still could not stare down the Spurs role players.

It appeared to frustrate the Mavs to the point that Nowitzki was called for a technical foul in the third quarter when he shoved the rookie Blair. Three flagrant fouls were called after that, including a flagrant 2 when Eduardo Najera clotheslined Manu Ginobili just 47 seconds after he checked into the game for the first time early in the final quarter.

San Antonio, the seventh seed to the Mavs' No. 2 spot in the West, now have won consecutive games when failing to make a 3-pointer in Game 3 and then getting off nights from their three most proven players in Game 4.

"I don't know how improbable (those wins) are, but people win and lose in different ways," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

But they did play defense, particularly on Nowitzki. He had only one shot in that third quarter and finished with 10 for the game (17 points).

"It wasn't the defense," McDyess said. "He just wasn't taking (shots). It looked like he was a little reluctant because we were shifting on him a lot. I don't think he ever really knew when to take his shot. He had some open shots, but he wasn't taking them."

Shawn Marion was the boost for the Mavericks when they built that 15-point lead in the first half. He was 6-for-10 before halftime, but he made 1-of-3 in the second half.

Dallas Mavericks (55-27)
field goalsrebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
S. Marion	F	27:33	7-13	0-1	0-0	+7	3	4	7	1	0	0	2	1	1	14
D. Nowitzki	F	43:13	4-10	0-1	9-9	-2	1	10	11	4	2	0	3	0	0	17
E. Dampier	C	19:03	0-2	0-0	0-0	-11	4	1	5	2	5	0	2	0	0	0
C. Butler	F	34:32	7-18	1-3	2-2	-15	0	6	6	3	5	1	3	0	0	17
J. Kidd	G	41:42	3-10	2-7	2-2	+1	1	6	7	5	1	2	2	1	0	10
J. Barea		16:29	3-7	1-2	1-2	-6	0	2	2	1	2	1	1	0	1	8
J. Terry		31:26	5-11	3-5	0-2	+2	0	6	6	1	3	0	1	0	1	13
B. Haywood		25:15	3-6	0-0	4-6	+9	3	1	4	0	3	1	0	3	1	10
E. Najera		00:47	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
R. Beaubois		00:00	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M. Carroll	DNP - Coach's Decision
D. Stevenson	DNP - Coach's Decision
Total		240	32-77	7-19	18-23		12	36	48	17	22	5	14	5	4	89
			41.6%	36.8%	78.3%		team rebs: 6			total to: 15

San Antonio Spurs (50-32)
field goalsrebounds
	pos	min	fgm-a	3pm-a	ftm-a	+/-	off	def	tot	ast	pf	st	to	bs	ba	pts
R. Jefferson	F	36:47	6-9	0-1	3-5	+4	1	3	4	0	2	0	2	1	0	15
T. Duncan	F	36:21	1-9	0-0	2-4	+2	2	9	11	3	1	0	2	0	1	4
A. McDyess	C-F	35:20	5-9	0-0	0-0	+2	1	7	8	3	5	0	2	1	0	10
M. Ginobili	G	33:54	4-16	1-7	8-9	-12	0	4	4	7	4	4	1	0	2	17
G. Hill	G	44:37	11-16	5-6	2-2	+9	0	4	4	0	0	2	0	1	1	29
M. Bonner		08:21	0-2	0-2	0-0	-1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
T. Parker		27:05	4-9	0-0	2-4	+7	0	3	3	5	3	0	5	0	1	10
K. Bogans		05:56	0-1	0-1	0-0	+3	1	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
D. Blair		11:39	3-4	0-0	1-4	+1	5	2	7	1	2	1	0	1	0	7
I. Mahinmi	DNP - Coach's Decision
R. Mason	DNP - Coach's Decision
G. Temple	DNP - Coach's Decision
Total		240	34-75	6-17	18-28		10	33	43	19	20	8	12	4	5	92
			45.3%	35.3%	64.3%		team rebs: 4			total to: 12

inactive

• Mavericks: Thomas
• Spurs: Gee, Hairston, Jerrells

technical fouls

• Mavericks: Nowitzki
• Spurs: --

scoring

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 4

arena stats

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #26 Bob Delaney, #36 David Jones, #48 Scott Foster
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:38