This is still Dirk's team

Not the most flattering moment of Dirk's night

This has been a very interesting Dallas Mavericks-San Antonio Spurs playoff series. It's been unlike any other played before because it was pretty awful, but also because every game had it's own personality and names.

For the most part, Mavs' fans have been tickled pink to see guys like Ryan Hollins, J.J. Barea, Erick Dampier, Antoine Wright, Brandon Bass and others step into the spotlight and win games.

Last night, however, pounded home a stark realization: This is still Dirk Nowitzki's team.

It doesn't matter if he didn't lead the team in scoring in four of the five games. It doesn't matter how many big shots Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Bass, Wright or Barea make. It's cute when those does are pushing it and making buckets and defensive plays. But when the Giant Teuton comes rolling through Poland, you know that the shit is getting heavy.

A brilliant game by Nowitzki in a 106-93 series-clinching win that was never even in doubt at any moment in my brain as the Mavs lead from stem to stern.

A lot has been made about the "struggles" of Jason Terry and Nowitzki in this series. When really their "struggles" have been completely different. Nowitzki never "struggled."

Nowitzki shot 49 percent from the field. In game 3, he would've had 40 points had the Mavs not already run the Spurs out of the American Airlines Center. His 3-14 effort in game 2 was his only pitfall.

As for Terry, the big question was "How do you go about getting the JET going?" The real questions should've been: "How do we get JET to hit an open jumper?" It's not like Terry was being denied the ball all series or he was heaving up 50-foot fall-away jumpers from the stands. He was missing simple, wide-open jumpers that he hits at a 50 percent clip normally. It's like asking how do you get Dampier to rebound more? Just tell him to jump and grab the ball.

Good times, friends, good times.

Numbers:

1
The amount of times Tim Duncan's been ousted in the first round of the playoffs. Get used to it.

1
The number of good games by Duncan. A lot of attention -- as noted above -- was placed on the absence of Terry and Nowitzki from the Mavs. Well, how about talking about how Duncan was pretty much a non-factor for four games. He was fantastic last night, but it was way too little, too late.

2
Bricks to start the game for Matt Bonner. What a waste of a roster spot in the NBA. He is useless. The Mavs were like, "Hell, Matt Bonner, we'll let you shoot all day long!"

4
Three-pointers from Jason Kidd. I didn't think he was as effective last night as he was in games 3 and 4 in Dallas. But the dude knows how to hit the big three pointer. The one to close out the third quarter pretty much sealed the game (officially) in my brain.

1,000,000,000
Big plays made by Josh Howard all series. He's the series MVP in my book. Offensively he was really good in making the game come to him and never forcing anything. Other than the oddball turnover every once in a while, Howard was fantastic, particularly on the defensive end. How many steals did he grab or cause? How about the huge block (on Parker?) last night. I don't think defensive stats tell one's story, but he had seven steals and three blocks in the series. But he was much bigger than that.

3-7
Erick Dampier's free-throw line from last night. Two days after I bragged about him going 9-11 so far in the series.

11
Missed free throws by Duncan for the series. I always consider Shaq O'Neal a second-tier all-time center because of his considerable disregard for free throws (in this day and age, you can always get better). Same for Duncan. The guy is a threat 15 feet from the basket. Why can't he hit a free throw? It's also worth noting that if you take away his 18 attempts in game 4, he only had 10 in the entire series. That's little more than two a game.

14-33
The field goal line for all Spurs not named "Duncan" or "Parker" last night. The Spurs have a lot of decisions to make about their team. Other than the two top, they suck. They suck bad. They're old and they suck. And it's not like the Mavs were just playing hardcore defense. They played good defense, but the Spurs missed a ton of open shots. A ton. If the Spurs hit some shots this is a different series, obviously, but it shouldn't take away from the fact that the reserves and third-tier guys on the team just aren't very good. Maybe that's why they missed all those shots.