NBA Blog – 2011 NBA Playoffs
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– Jeff Van Gundy last night during the 4th quarter of the Mavs 15-point comeback that put Dallas up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals and essentially stamped their passport to the NBA Finals
Dirk has scored 135 points on 73 shots so far in this series. That’s 1.85 points per shot.
That is all.
(image by Aykis for GetBangedOn.com)
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You would have thought that Jason Terry could have found a way to hit one more three-pointer in a 122-86 victory to make the NBA Playoffs record all his own. Instead his nine treys tied Rex Chapman, Vince Carter and Ray Allen for the most ever in a postseason game. So he will have to settle for hitting 9-for-10 from behind the arc while setting the “times running down the court pretending to be an airplane” record. As JA Adande cleverly put it, the “Lakers are letting Jason Terry turn this place into DFW airport today.” Pretty good consolation prize, I suppose.
Nevertheless, below is video evidence of all nine of Jason’s treys.
The kick-out pass that Dirk makes on the first one might be the most perfect pass I’ve ever seen. Perfect parabola into Terry’s shooting pocket.
This is a highly underrated aspect of setting up teammates. People concentrate on assists and fancy-pants dishes, but in many instances, a shooter will have to, even if ever so slightly, adjust to the pass and regather himself before letting it fly. These guys are pros so, when open, they still often hit the shot. But when a guy like Dirk makes a pass like this to a shooter like Terry, we may as well give Dirk two of the three points. Everyone in the building knew this one was about to become the FourSquare mayor of twine-ville before Terry even started his release. That’s all Dirk. Very Steve Nashian work by the big German.
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My man Sekou Smith (@sekousmith01) reached out recently to invite me onto his NBA.com Hang Time podcast. We recorded Monday (I think) so I’m linking a little late (was away for work), but most of our 20-minute talk centers on topics with enough shelf life to make it worth a listen even a few days after the fact.
We talk NBA nicknames, NBA hip hop lyrics and try to decide what NBA player most reminds us of the late, great Guru of Gang Starr — which leads to a heavy debate on Dirk’s legacy. (BTW, I should have murdered Vince Thomas, co-host of Hang Time, for saying CL Smooth is better lyrically than Guru, but I let it go. My all-time comparison for Guru would without question be Scottie Pippen: another always-reliable Hall of Famer to run alongside the best that ever did it.)
I jump in at the 11-minute mark and serve as an opening band of sorts for Mike Fratello, so you’ve also got that look forward to. I’m sure The Czar is just as honored as I am to be included in this Episode 6 description: “The Czar, Mike Fratello and blogger Jared Wade join Sekou and Vince to break down the playoffs so far.”
Maybe someday Fratello will not only get the chance to have his name near mine in a sentence, but actually get to join me for real on my Talking About Practice podcast. Hey, he can dream.
Head on over to listen to Episode 6 of the NBA.com’s Hang Time Podcast.
And be sure to subscribe on iTunes.
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