by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Heading into halftime last night in San Antonio, the Dallas Mavericks appeared to be on the verge of tying up the series with the Spurs. Tim Duncan (with no baskets at that point) looked older than the 34 years he had just reached, and the 7th seed Spurs did not look like a team ready to take a commanding lead.
And then the second half started.
Things quickly unraveled for Dallas, and now they face an almost insurmountable 3-1 hole as they head back home. According to Shawn Marion, though, things aren’t as bleak as they may seem.
He tells ESPN that — despite what history indicates — the Mavs have a good shot at coming back in this series:
Only eight teams in NBA history, out of the 189 that have tried, have managed to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series. “I’ve been in this situation. It can be done. … I don’t see no fat lady,” Marion said after the Mavericks’ 92-89 loss to the Spurs in Game 4 on Sunday night.
Marion played on one of those eight teams to overturn a 3-1 deficit when he helped the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the first round of the 2006 playoffs.
Marion was everywhere in the first half of Game 4, grabbing loose balls, rebounds and never giving the Spurs a moment to relax. But he shrank along with the rest of the Mavs when the chips were put on the table. And now he’s asking the world — and his team — to believe they still have a shot.
Game 5 will present the Mavs’ first opportunity to change the skeptics’ minds.
