Barea Starts, Mavs Roll Early
Apr 24, 2009
By: Tropics Staff
Barea's Start Puts Stop to Parker's Domination
By: Tim Cowlishaw / Dallas News
01:20 AM CDT on Friday, April 24, 2009
What comes next in this sequence: Dallas wins by 8, San Antonio wins by 21...
The answer turned out to be Dallas by 21, although early in the fourth quarter the Mavericks' lead was an astounding 36.
The Mavericks grabbed a 2-1 lead in their first-round series with the Spurs with a stunningly dominant performance in an 88-67 victory at American Airlines Center.
Their lead after one quarter was 11. At the half it was 16. And barely four minutes into the third quarter, the lead was 26 and Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich pulled the plug.
He called timeout, sent Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to the bench and began thinking about an early Game 4 Saturday at 3 p.m.
"They kicked our [expletive] every which was but loose," Popovich said.
And just as he had been in Game 1, J.J. Barea was a very important player for the Mavericks.
Coach Rick Carlisle made the perfect Game 3 adjustment, choosing to start Barea over Antoine Wright to get the offense going.
And when the game was fundamentally over at 62-36 early in the third when Popovich benched his starters, Barea had 13 points on a fine 5-for-7 performance and four assists. He had even outscored Parker, the Game 2 wildman who ripped Dallas for 38 points in 32 minutes, 13-12.
Barea picked up three more assists in garbage time before retiring to the bench to a nice ovation.
"It was everything that we wanted," Barea said. "We had energy from the get-go. We made
In the Mavericks' Game 1 win in San Antonio, Barea came off the bench to produce 13 points and three assists and at times wore Parker down at the defensive end.
He wasn't a big factor for Dallas in Game 2, but then who was in a game Parker owned from the opening tip.
In Game 3, Barea challenged Parker early and won his share of battles. At the end of the first quarter, Barea had nine points to Parker's 10. But Barea had not missed a shot and Parker already had missed six.
"We were all playing together on defense tonight," Barea said.
The Mavericks, after allowing the Spurs to hit 50 percent of their shots in San Antonio, held the Spurs to 32 percent shooting in what has to be one of their best playoff defensive performances ever. The 67 points were the lowest ever for a Dallas playoff opponent.
"It was all about protecting the paint, not just the big men but our guards, too," Jason Terry said. "I think we communicated a lot better defensively in this game."
Carlisle said he started Barea simply because it's a lineup that has worked well at times during the regular season. Terry said Barea's arrival as an offensive weapon makes him think of how the Mavericks got to the NBA Finals three years ago.
"It gives us a second ball-handler, it gives us more options," Terry said. "It's like in 2006 when Devin [Harris] and I could both handle the ball, could both break down a defense. That's important for us."
And with Jason Kidd being a point guard who is challenged to produce points, it's important for Barea to be getting his. In two out of three games he has, and that's one big reason the Mavericks are up 2-1.
"It was less about who was out there tonight than it was about this team's disposition," Carlisle said. "In the third quarter, [the Spurs] started pointing to Saturday. It's a great effort tonight, but it's just one step in a long series."
If the Mavericks' 21-point victory can come on the heels of a Spurs' 21-point victory, clearly anything is possible for Game 4. But the Spurs have to be wondering exactly how they are going to win games in which Parker doesn't dominate.
Barea was a big factor in making sure that didn't happen Thursday night.
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