The San Antonio Spurs approached game six with the right attitude and mentality, as a result; they dispatched the Dallas Mavericks in six games and moved on to the next round where they will face the Phoenix Suns in a Western Conference Semifinals match.
However, it wasn’t easy. The Spurs tried to pull away early building a lead as much as 22 points in first half only to see it evaporate in the second half when the Mavs made their run.
Dirk Nowitzki had a spectacular night scoring a game-high 33 points, Caron Butler did his share on offense with 25 points and rookie Rodrigue Beaubois added 16 points for the Mavs but it wasn’t enough.
The Spurs got payback and they’ve done it with a total team effort. But how did they Spurs won the series? Let’s checkout these stats.
87 – The Spurs won every game in this series when the Mavericks scored less than 100 points.
40 – The Spurs dominated the post, outscoring the Mavs 40-32 inside the paint.
31 – The Spurs had a 31-15 advantage in free throw attempts for the game but only converted 19 including 1-7 from Tim Duncan . Translation: they need to work hard on their foul shots as they go deeper into the playoffs.
26 – Manu Ginobili scored 26 points in this game clincher after scoring just 7 points in game five.
17 – Tim Duncan scored 17 points on 17 shots from the field and the Spurs outscored the Mavs on the fastbreak 17-10.
7 – Matt Bonner grabbed 7 boards and scored 4 points in just 12 minutes, Tony Parker had 7 rebounds and 8 assist, Richard Jefferson only scored 7 points in 31 minutes of action and Keith Bogans went scoreless in 7 minutes.
0 – Antonio McDyess scored 8 points with 6 rebounds and one block without committing a single turnover in 25 minutes of playing time.
What Next?
The Spurs will move on to the next round to face another familiar foe. If history holds true, then it should be another exciting playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns. Remember the last time these two teams met in the playoffs?
