Ten years ago, the Spurs survived a first round scare from the 8th seed Mavericks

03/05/2024 21:00

The Spurs 2014 championship got out to a difficult start, but they survived.

My last post was written the day before the tenth anniversary of the Spurs' 2014 playoff run began on April 20, 2014. Today's post is the day before the tenth anniversary of the end of the first round of those playoffs — May 4, 2014.

The 2014 Western Conference was a beast. Seven teams won 50 or more games, The Spurs first round opponent, the eighth place Dallas Mavericks, won 49 and had won the NBA championship only three years earlier. Not surprisingly, the first round of the Western Conference playoffs produced four battles between evenly matched, excellent teams. Three of the four series went to seven games, and the other went six games. Even though each series was close, the higher seeded team prevailed in each.

In the series we care most about, the Dallas Mavericks gave the Spurs all they could handle, and more. As previously mentioned in my last post, the teams split the first two games in San Antonio, meaning the teams headed to Dallas for Game Three:

"In the second game, the Mavs blew out the Spurs 113-92, tying the series at one game apiece. This defeat meant that the Spurs, who had spent the season working to garner home-court advantage in the playoffs, lost that advantage after only two games. The Spurs' road to an NBA Championship for 2014 was anything but inevitable, especially in April of 2024, as the team climbed onto their bus to travel to Dallas for Game Three of the opening round, unsure of what was in store."

If they had known what was in store in Game Three, the Spurs may have not gotten on that bus. Game Three was the "Vince Carter Game". The 37-year old Carter, who no longer started for the Mavs, drilled a corner jumper at the buzzer for a 109-108 Mavs win. The shot came off an in-bounds play with only 1.7 seconds left. For those of you brave enough to re-live that moment — and I don't blame you if you want to skip it — here is Carter's shot:

That shot put the Mavs up 2-1 in the series, and Pounding the Rock writers were NOT pleased. Michael Erler's summary included these nuggets:

"Diaw has been a disaster defensively. He gives up too much room to Nowitzki on jumpers, like he's afraid he's gonna get blown by on drives. He doesn't have nearly Splitter's length. He doesn't rebound or contest anything at the rim."

"The defense as a whole was atrocious all game, allowing 53 percent shooting and 39 percent from three. The Spurs came away with a stop and a board just four times in the whole quarter."

"But my single biggest concern is with Tony Parker, who was a flat out disaster in the second half. The offense simply went into a dark cave and hid while he was in there."

"If anything is gonna derail the Spurs season, it's Parker. I wonder if he has the stamina to put two good halves together, let alone two good games. He just can't be healthy — or he's turned the corner in age where he just can't be what we want him to be anymore."

As a reminder, Parker led the Spurs in scoring and assists during the season, the defense was sixth best in the league, and (spoiler alert) Boris Diaw wound up playing a key role later in the playoffs.

Game Four was also in Dallas, with the Spurs in danger of going down 3-1. Thankfully, the Spurs pulled out the win in another defensive game, prevailing 93-89. That win was keyed by a 32-13 second quarter. The defense was much better, as the Spurs held the Mavs to 38% shooting overall, 29% from three — and crucially, 18-28 on free throws. There must have been a lot of coughing and burping by the Spurs "defenders" on those Dallas free throws. Put another way, if the Mavs had missed only 5 free throws instead of 10, I might not be writing this piece today.

Game Five was another Spurs win, 109-103, with five Spurs in double-figures, led by Parker with 23. Carter had an incredible game for the Mavs, scoring 28 points on 7 for 9 from three. Tiago Splitter had a double-double for the Spurs with 17 points and 12 boards.

With the win, the Spurs recovered home-court advantage, and all seemed right with the world — until Game Six in Dallas, which the Mavs won 113-111 in another close game. Monta Ellis led the Mavs with 29 points, and ex-Spur DeJuan Blair hurt the Spurs with 10 points and 14 rebounds, including 5 offensive boards. For the game, the Mavs had 13 offensive boards to the Spurs 6, probably the key to the win.

With the Spurs on the brink of elimination, they played their best game of the series in Game Seven. The Spurs essentially ended the game in the first half, going up 68-46 at halftime, shooting a stunning 68% for the half. The game never got closer than 14 points in the second half, with the Spurs ultimately winning 119-96. Parker did not derail the Spurs season, scoring 32 points. DannyGreen!! played like 2013 Finals DG, going 5 for 7 from three, while My Man Manu Ginobili had a great all-around game, well summarized by PtR writer Fred Silva:

"Manu Ginobili had arguably his best game in years. He scored 20 points on just seven shots, had six steals, five assists and two rebounds in 24 minutes. So, per 48 minutes, he was on pace for 40 points, 12 steals and 10 assists, just to put his performance in perspective."

With the win, the Spurs advanced to play the LaMarcus Aldridge/ Damian Lillard Trail Blazers in round two. The Blazers prevailed in their 4-5 match-up over the Houston Rockets in six games — the only first round series in the Western Conference that did not go to seven games. Portland's wins were all close — by 2 points, 5 points, 3 points and 1 point. For those of you, like me, who forget how good Dwight Howard was in his prime, he averaged 26 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks per game for the Rockets. For the Blazers, Aldridge averaged 29.8 points and 11 boards in the series, while Dame averaged 25.5 points and almost 7 assists.

By winning in six games, the Blazers had the advantage of more rest than the Spurs, who would have to play Game One against the Blazers with only one day off after finishing off the Mavs. It looked like round two of the 2014 NBA Playoffs would be yet another tough match-up for the Spurs. Stay tuned.