The script had been written before. Twice.
The ending never changed.
And the final ending has come.
The Mavericks finally put the ball in the hands of its best player with a game on the line, but Dirk Nowitzki found himself in the same position as those that came before him. With the Mavs needing a basket to extend their playoff lives, Nowitzki's turnaround jumper at the buzzer found front iron, and the Mavs found summer vacation much earlier than they could have expected.
The Sacramento Kings claimed the first-round best-of-seven series four games to one by holding on to win Thursday night's Game 5 119-118 at Arco Arena.
"We got exactly what we wanted," Mavs coach Don Nelson said.
That was a final possession, down one point with 6.2 seconds remaining. Nowitzki working and bumping against Kings forward Peja Stojakovic couldn't get a clean look at the basket. Stojakovic, who also guarded Michael Finley and Steve Nash in game-ending situations earlier in the series, appeared to hit Nowitzki across the arm but no foul was called.
"It's too bad," Nelson said, "It was such a great game. We deserved to go to the foul line on that last play. He was fouled twice."
Added Finley: "The refs didn't have the guts to call it at the end."
The Mavericks were determined to do it the hard way. Whether it was a roster shakeup a week before the season started or player-coach-owner dramas along the way or a small-ball switch with 10 games left or a 3-1 series deficit, the Mavs faced adversity head on.
"You ever cornered a badger?" Mavs center Shawn Bradley asked before the most important game of the season. "They won't mess with you until you corner them. That's kind of how we are. This team tends to respond best when we've been backed into a corner, whether it's of our own doing or the situation it is."
The badger finally ran out of moves.
The off-season questions, speculated on for what it seems like the entire season, can officially begin. The futures of personnel and coaches are foremost. The Mavs undoubtedly will have a different look for 2004-2005. How much so is anyone guess.
"These days in the NBA," Finley said, "waiting for improvement is not common."
But answers weren't going to be available Thursday night, as solemn faces and filed onto the team bus for the last time. A season that began with championship aspirations came to an end in the first round on the road. The Mavs' road woes were there all season, but this series was essentially lost when the Kings stole Game 4 at American Airlines Center.
The Mavs had the NBA's best home record.
Much as each of the previous three losses in the series, the Mavs once again had their chances. The final ones came in the last 30 seconds. But the Mavs didn't lose this one through poor play. They shot 46 percent, didn't miss a free throw in 18 tries and hit half of their 3-point attempts.
"It's a disappointing closing to a disappointing series," Finley said. "We did everything good defensively and offensively. Again, the theme of this series is they made shots at the end and we didn't."
Nelson promised to simplify the offense, taking out many of the sets to allow the players more freedom. It resulted in the type of game expected between the league's two highest-scoring teams.
Other than Nowitzki conceding the opening tip, the Mavs didn't give up much in the opening quarter. The Kings were down double digits (12-2) before the game was three minutes old. Steve Nash's second 3-pointer of the game pushed the edge to 15-2, and breakaway layup from Marquis Daniels made it 17-3.
RSS