As the announcers choked out longwinded praise for Denver’s defense in the late stages of Sunday afternoon’s Game One match-up, a major facet of the game was lost; perhaps, in fact, the deciding facet.
To be certain, it would be shortsighted to overlook the fact that Denver did play good defense, throughout. But it wasn’t even nearly as good as it looked.
This was a façade of oppressive and impressive defense propped up significantly by the ugliest second-half Mavericks performance since Game Two against San Antonio.
Losing the battle in the paint isn’t necessarily something you can help; abandoning the idea altogether to take half-convinced shots from midrange certainly is.
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Being harangued by quick defenders isn’t necessarily something you can help; losing focus and watching passes, however ill-advised as they were, bounce out of bounds helplessly, is.
After the opening round win against San Antonio, Dallas began to look like a viable option for a dark-horse sleeper in these 2009 playoffs.
After Game One in Denver, though, they look every bit like the unmotivated team who was destined for a sloppy-playoff berth and not much else before they went on a hot-streak to end the season.
Of course, this could turn out to be an aberrance.
Even the ugliest loss shouldn’t erase from fans’ memories the very impressive, very promising, basketball that Dallas played in round one.
Granted, Denver is a better team than San Antonio. They are not only playing at full strength, unlike the Spurs in round one, but they are playing exponentially better with each new series.
This isn’t to say, by any means, that Dallas is out of luck; but, if they wish to move on, they will have to play near their best, maybe even their best.
Therein lies, perhaps, the only encouraging facet of Game One; the fact that Dallas didn’t play their best--not even close to their best. Disregarding Game Two in San Antonio, I would venture to say that the second half was the worst half of basketball Dallas has played in the last month and a half. It bordered on unwatchable.
And it wasn’t a case of being overmatched. Whether that is good or bad, no one can be sure. If Dallas does shock Denver in Game Two, if Sunday afternoon does prove to be an aberrance, it will become a benign and forgettable footnote.
But if this is a preview of things to come, for whatever reason, we may be in store for an unthinkably ugly 144 minutes of basketball; no less and, certainly, no more.
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