"To tell the truth, I don’t think his performance tonight was worse than mine, it’s just that I have teammates like Jason (Terry), JJ (Baria), and it was us who defeated them."
"Following the win in Game 1, will the Mavericks sweep the Grizzlies just as they did against the Lakers?" the reporter seized the opportunity to ask.
"No no no, that’s obviously not the same," Nowitzki shook his head immediately,
"They are a team on our level; we have to give our all every night to win the games, and that’s exactly what we will do."
Two days later, Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Grizzlies and Mavericks continued in Dallas.
The Grizzlies made a lineup change for this game, starting Allen instead of Battier.
The purpose of this was to have Hansen match up against Nowitzki at the beginning of the game.
Hansen gave it his all, and it indeed had an effect.
In Nowitzki’s peak years, how to defend against him was a key research topic for all teams.
A big man who could shoot inside and out, handle the ball, move without the ball, and play-make; footwork and shooting skills both maxed out, at that time, he was like a bug on the offensive end.
The answer to this was found in the playoffs of that year between the Rockets and Mavericks.
Although the Rockets were ultimately eliminated, McGrady’s defense on Nowitzki was very successful.
Nowitzki’s biggest weakness is strength, so forwards with sizable dimensions and confrontational ability do make him uncomfortable.
With Nowitzki unable to perform, the Mavericks’ offense was obviously stifled in the first five minutes.
As a star, Randolph showcased his adaptability in Game 2, utilizing his shooting and footwork to challenge Chandler, markedly improving his efficiency.
The Grizzlies also took advantage at the start.
However, when the Mavericks brought in Terry, the situation on the court changed.
In the "history" Hansen knew, many fans exaggerated Nowitzki’s role by claiming the Mavericks’ 2011 championship was a "single-core championship," which wasn’t accurate.
Because during that playoff run, Terry was contributing an average of 17.5 points and 3.2 assists per game, which increased to 18 points and 3.2 assists per game in the finals.
Meanwhile, Nowitzki averaged 27.7 points and 8.1 rebounds during the playoffs, and 26 points and 9.7 rebounds in the finals.
If that’s considered single-core, then who knows how many championships Jordan has won alone.
Actually, Terry played the role of second leader, particularly when Nowitzki underperformed in the first three quarters of the finals, keeping the team within striking distance.
But just as in the Lakers’ 4-1 finals victory over the Magic known to Hansen, the League needed a focal point for promotion, so naturally, Terry was overlooked.
Nowitzki also showed his superstar adaptability at that moment by using pick-and-rolls and off-ball movements to create opportunities and support Terry.
This allowed the Mavericks to again reach a stalemate with the Grizzlies during the starting period.
Entering the bench linking phase, the Grizzlies quickly found the score gap widening.
This time Crawford failed to step up; one could expect a player with "Super Six" genes to become a surprise factor on a given night, but it’s unrealistic to expect a rookie to perform the same night after night.
Actually, judging from the starting phase of both games, the Grizzlies’ starting lineup wasn’t worse than the Mavericks’, but their bench was far inferior.
This was apparent during their series against the Thunders, where even if the Grizzlies established a lead in the first quarter, the Thunders would catch up during the bench linking phase.
The Mavericks had a more rational roster composition, and with better core performance, the Grizzlies couldn’t establish an advantage during the starting period, naturally making the situation different.
This fatal issue led to the Grizzlies losing the game with a score of 87 to 96.
Nowitzki, limited by Hansen, only scored 18 points in the game, a significant drop from his previous performance and could even be considered his worst playoff performance to date.
From this, fans can ascertain that the so-called best lineup is a joke, because even two James wouldn’t achieve this effect.
But Terry scored 18 points, Marion 13, Jide 13, Baria 11—the Mavericks had five players scoring in double figures.
Nowitzki’s post-game comments from the last game were not just pleasantries; like the Grizzlies, the Mavericks fundamentally played team basketball. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝙣𝙚𝙩
Moreover, Hansen, in his effort to defend against Nowitzki, put a lot of energy into his defense and only scored 15 points for the whole game.
At most, he had a stand-off with Nowitzki in Game 2.
Apart from him and Randolph, the Grizzlies only had Conley in double figures, which obviously wasn’t enough for them to win the game.
to 2, this was the first time the Grizzlies had faced such a situation since entering the playoffs.
Just like when they faced the San Antonio Spurs, with another loss they would be down 0 to 3, they were pushed to the brink.