May 12, 2009
Playoff Prospectus
8-0

by Kevin Pelton

Cleveland 84, Atlanta 74 (Cleveland wins series 4-0)
Pace: 81.4
Offensive Ratings: Cleveland 103.6, Atlanta 90.5

Eight up, eight down. The Cleveland Cavaliers got their stiffest test of this postseason in Game Four against the Atlanta Hawks, and made just enough stops and big shots down the stretch to finish their second consecutive sweep and become the first team to advance to the conference finals undefeated since the Miami Heat did so in 2005.

It's still hard to tell how much of the Hawks' inability to score in this series was about their injuries, and how much credit to give to the Cleveland defense. This was as bad an offensive effort as you'll see in a playoff game, Atlanta shooting 31.5 percent from the field and 2-for-13 from downtown. That will happen to a team as hobbled as the Hawks were.

Mike Woodson finally pulled the plug on Al Horford early in the third quarter, benching him in favor of Zaza Pachulia and smallball (with Josh Smith at center) the rest of the way after Horford put up zero points and three boards in 19 minutes. Marvin Williams got the start and played 30 minutes. He wasn't bad, but he shot 1-of-7 from the field and sat for the last nine minutes in favor of a three-guard lineup that put Flip Murray on the floor. You could quibble with Woodson's closing unit--I might have been tempted to put Murray at the point and keep Williams at small forward as part of a superior defensive lineup, especially on a night when Mike Bibby scored three points on 1-for-6 shooting in 31 minutes and was a -16--but at some point, you're rearranging furniture on the Titanic.

The Cavaliers were hardly brilliant in this one, but they accomplished the task in front of them. LeBron James had his worst outing of the series, which meant all he did was score 27 points, grab eight rebounds and hand out eight assists. However, that came in 43 minutes, which meant a steep drop-off from the point-a-minute pace James had set in this series. More seriously, James did not finish quite as prolifically this time. He was still far and away the best single player on the court, and he had the better teammates.

All five Cleveland starters contributed, whether it was Zydrunas Ilgauskas posting a double-double (14 points, 10 boards), Delonte West attacking the defense for 21 points and six assists, Mo Williams hitting the three (four triples in all) or Anderson Varejao ripping down 11 boards and contributing his usual defense.

Mike Brown rode West especially hard, playing him 45 minutes, a sum which included the entire second half. With Daniel Gibson conspicuously absent from the rotation (he played three minutes in the first quarter, then sat), West formally took on the role of backup point guard as opposed to initiating as part of a lineup including Gibson. That meant Cleveland went very big, with Wally Szczerbiak playing alongside West in the backcourt during the third and fourth quarters. The experiment was generally something of a failed one; the Cavaliers were -3 with West at the point. We'll see if that shows up against either Boston or more likely Orlando if the Magic continues utilizing lineups with Hedo Turkoglu as point guard.

With the Celtics/Magic series bound to go at least through Thursday and the Eastern Conference Finals not scheduled to begin until Saturday at the earliest, Brown and his coaching staff will have plenty of time to ponder the matchups.

Dallas 119, Denver 117 (Denver leads series 3-1)
Pace: 99.5
Offensive Ratings: Dallas 119.3, Denver 117.9

That was fun. Fresh off the controversial finish of Game Three, the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets played one of the postseason's more entertaining games. It was a breakneck affair with the teams totaling nearly 100 possessions apiece and scoring efficiently, resulting in a final score well into the triple digits. Again, it came down to the final seconds, the Mavericks scoring on their last five possessions to erase a deficit and extend the series.

I pause now to talk about a foul call that, while not anywhere near as egregious as the one that marred the end of Game Three, was still disputable and critical to the outcome. This time around, Dallas got the benefit when Kenyon Martin was called for contesting Dirk Nowitzki's fadeaway jumper with 8.3 seconds left in a two-point game. Had the Nuggets rebounded a miss, they would have been in virtually the identical situation to Game Three, with a chance to tie or win on their last possession. Instead, Nowitzki made both free throws and Denver had to go into desperation mode with time running down and a two-possession deficit. My take--without the benefit of replay, since the play mysteriously does not appear in the highlights on either NBA.com or ESPN.com--was the contact warranted a foul in the second quarter, but not in the closing seconds (a position I know is hardly unanimous).

Nowitzki was brilliant throughout, and especially in the final quarter, when he scored 19 of his 44 points. Operating both as the roll man in screen-rolls as well as out of the post against Martin, he hit a variety of circus shots to keep the Mavericks close and eventually give them a lead. Nowitzki shot 14-of-25 from the field, made 16 free throws in 17 tries and grabbed 13 rebounds. I don't care about the outcome of the series thus far; there is little more that Nowitzki could be doing for his team.

It was Nowitzki who scored six straight Dallas points to bring the team from down 110-108 to up 114-112 on the strength of his jumper with 1:05 to play. He missed on the ensuing possession, but Josh Howard--gamely fighting through severe pain from two bad ankles--was fouled trying to pull in the offensive board and made both shots. The Nuggets got the points back with two free throws from Carmelo Anthony, setting up the possession on which Nowitzki was fouled. Anthony hit a three to get Denver back within one, but the play was too slow to develop and left just 3.1 seconds on the clock as the Mavericks inbounded at half court. Jason Terry was able to sneak free to run two more ticks off, and he perfectly executed the intentional miss on his second attempt; the Nuggets never got off a shot.

Given the heat Vinny Del Negro took for running out of timeouts earlier in these playoffs, I'll be watching with interest to see if George Karl receives the same criticism. Karl has done a masterful job in the postseason, but having just two timeouts for the final two minutes instead of the standard three hurt Denver. If I'm reading it right, that timeout was taken as a 20 at the 2:43 mark of the fourth with the game tied. It was one Karl could have used when the Nuggets looked frazzled after Nowitzki's score put Dallas ahead. Instead, a frenetic possession ended with a Chauncey Billups turnover. Had the timeout been saved then, too, it would have been available to Karl to set up a final shot if Denver had fouled slightly more quickly.

All in all, it was an effort the Nuggets can be proud of, given they were playing on the road against a desperate team without key reserve Chris Andersen (flu). Anthony was phenomenal, needing 34 shooting possessions to score his 41 points and adding 11 rebounds. Billups added 24 and seven assists, and J.R. Smith was borderline unstoppable in beating the buzzer with off-balance shots. Linas Kleiza gave Denver a tidy performance in taking Andersen's spot in the rotation. He had seven points, and the Nuggets were +17 with Kleiza on the floor.

There was plenty for the Mavericks to like, too. They found a nice answer in the middle in Brandon Bass, who played 28 minutes and was on the floor for the bulk of the fourth quarter. Bass outplayed Nuggets counterpart Nenê, coming up with 11 points and six boards. Along with Terry and Jose Barea, Bass was one of three Dallas reserves to score double-figures. Alas, Erick Dampier was awful in his 23-minute stretch, fouling out with five turnovers and committing a silly technical foul (of course, so too did Bass). Howard was also key for Dallas. He might have been a bit aggressive on offense given his health, but Howard's 21 points and especially 11 rebounds were key in a game where the Mavericks controlled the glass.

Besides the fact that a Denver win at home will end this series far too soon, the other disappointing aspect is the continued prominence of the referees. Here, everyone shares responsibility. The two teams have been very physical and have simply lost their heads entirely too often. Does that explain 58 fouls, 87 free throws, seven technicals and two flagrants? I'm dubious. Steve Javie once had a well-deserved reputation for having the quickest trigger in terms of technicals in the league. That's calmed down in recent years, but we might have seen it on display last night. Here's hoping for a calm Game Five that does not require such a firm hand in terms of the officiating, because when these two teams simply settle down and play basketball, this has series has regularly delivered.

Kevin Pelton is an author of Basketball Prospectus. You can contact Kevin by clicking here or click here to see Kevin's other articles.