Game 1: Dallas at San Antonio (May 19) The opening game of the Western Conference Finals came and what a bizarre game it was. The teams traded leads over the first half of the 1st quarter and Dallas led 16-15 with 6 minutes to go. San Antonio then scored the next 14 points to go up 29-16 with 3 minutes left as Dallas missed 7 straight shots. San Antonio led 36-23 after 1. Tim Duncan had 14 points and 5 rebounds. San Antonio shot an impressive 13-21 FG including 4-5 3-pointers for their highest output in a quarter this playoffs. Dallas shot 9-22 FG and had 3 sloppy turnovers. San Antonio continued to roll and opened the 2nd quarter with a 7-2 run to take their largest lead at 43-25 with 10:20 remaining. San Antonio led 50-34 with 6:20 remaining and Dallas went on an 8-2 run, including 2 3-pointers, to pull within 42-52 with 4:30 left. With the 10-point margin, Dallas started playing hack-a-Bowen in fouling Bruce Bowen (shot 40.4% FT this year) on each of the Spurs' next 5 possessions. Bowen wasn't able to make Dallas pay in only hitting 5-10 FT, but Dallas wasn't able to make much of a dent in the Spurs' lead as they led 57-48 with 2 minutes left as Bowen made 2 free throws. San Antonio led 66-57 at the half. Duncan had 10 points and Steve Nash had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. It was an ugly, foul filled quarter as San Antonio shot 14-22 FT and Dallas shot 17-17 FT. Both teams made 7 field goals in the quarter. Dirk Nowitzki hit a jumper a minute into the 3rd quarter to pull Dallas within 7 points, but San Antonio then scored the next 6 points to go up 72-59 with 8:20 remaining. The tide then turned as San Antonio got into the penalty early and Dallas went on a 19-6 run that included shooting 9-9 FT to tie the game at 78-78 with 3:35 left. The Spurs regained the lead by scoring the next 5 points. A putback dunk by Kevin Willis [should have been an offensive foul for his shove off or offensive interference] and 2 free throws by Emanuel Ginobili closed the quarter as Dallas did not score in the last 1 1/2 minutes. San Antonio led 91-83 after 3. Nowitzki had 10 points in the 3rd and Dallas shot 9-9 FT and San Antonio shot 6-9 FT in the quarter. San Antonio opened the 4th quarter with a 10-4 run to go up 101-87 with 8 minutes left. The tide again turned as Dallas started being more aggressive in attacking the basket (which resulted in more free throws) and Dallas scored the next 12 points, capped by 3 free throws by Nick Van Exel [should have been 2 free throws], to pull within 99-101 with 5:10 to go as San Antonio missed 3 shots and committed 2 turnovers. A free throw by Malik Rose and jumper by Tony Parker gave the Spurs a 104-99 lead with 4:30 remaining. The back of Rose's head hit Najera's knee as Rose was falling down and he left the game with a mild concussion and did not return. San Antonio's lead fluctuated between 3 and 5 points for the next 2 minutes and they led 110-105 with 2:45 left. Michael Finley hit 2 free throws with 2:30 left, Parker missed, and Nowitzki drove the baseline strong for the power dunk with 2 minutes left to pull Dallas within 109-110. Neither team could execute over the next 1 1/2 minutes as Danny Ferry missed, Nowitzki missed, Parker tried to get a layup over Nowitzki and Nowitzki blocked it, Van Exel missed a runner on a good look and Raef LaFrentz's attempted tap in didn't go in, and Parker missed a fade away with 27 seconds to go. Dallas took the ball up without calling a timeout and got the ball to Finley on the elbow and isolated him. Finley took the ball in across the paint with David Robinson beside him and threw up the pseudo-hook over his shoulder that took the soft roll in with 14 seconds left to give Dallas a 111-110 lead. San Antonio called timeout. The Spurs got the ball into Duncan in the paint and 3 Mavs converged around him and he airballed the 6-foot jumper and Nowitzki grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 4 seconds left. Nowitzki hit both free throws to give Dallas a 3-point lead and San Antonio used their last timeout. The Spurs inbounded the ball to Duncan up top and Van Exel intentionally fouled him before he could get a shot off. Duncan went to the line and clanked the 1st free throw. He intentionally missed the 2nd and the ball was volley-balled around before being tapped out and Nash grabbed it and time expired. Dallas won 113-110!!! Wow! This is definitely what you call stealing a game. Dallas led less than 2 minutes total in this game - and just 14 seconds after midway through the 1st quarter. When I first looked at the boxscore (already knowing about the high free throws), the first thing that went through my mind was, "We won this game only making 29 FG???" The 2nd thing was, "We won with only 10 assists???" Obviously, the story of this game was the free throws. The refs were blowing their whistles fast and furiously and didn't let much go - rare for a playoff game as they usually let them play. But they were mostly calling it both ways and if that is the case, it is up to the players to adjust. Dallas shot 49-50 FT - their only miss was their 1st [49 made was a team playoff record, but 50 attempts was not]. The 49 consecutive made was a team playoff record for consecutive free throws made (was 45, and that was over 2 games). How hot were the Mavs from the line? Career 64.7% FT shooter Eduardo Najera shot 7-8 FT. San Antonio did get to the line 48 times (that does include 10 times with hack-a-Bowen and 2 on intentionally fouling Tim Duncan at the end) [and 48 attempts was an opponent record], but they only made 31 of them - that's 17 missed free throws in a 3 point loss. The free throws is what kept the game from being a blowout, but it was Dallas' aggressiveness and attacking down the stretch and San Antonio's hesitancy that won this game. I can't tell you how many Spurs players were reluctant to shoot and passed up decent looks in the final minutes. San Antonio did not score for the last 2:45 of the game. Except for the free throws, they looked like the better team for most of the game, but they have to learn how to close out [they choked and nearly choked a couple of games already in this playoffs]. From the field, Dallas shot 40.3% (29-72) FG including 6-16 3-pointers. San Antonio shot 48.6% (36-74) FG - but that drops to just 40.7% if you excluded Duncan's 14-20 shooting - including 7-20 3-pointers. Dallas also was the aggressor on the boards in out-rebounding San Antonio 46-37 including 10-7 offensive. Dallas out-rebounded San Antonio 18-9 in the 4th quarter. Dallas was more sloppy than usual with a number of uncharacteristic turnovers and had a high for them 14 turnovers while San Antonio had just 9 turnovers. Dallas leads the series 1-0. Game 2 is Wednesday in San Antonio at 7:30 pm. It's one of the games for which they got smart [8:30 start time in the Central time zone is ridiculous] and changed the start time. The rest of the schedule is now: Game 2: Wednesday, May 21 Dallas at San Antonio 7:30 pm on TNT Game 3: Friday, May 23 San Antonio at Dallas 8:00 pm on TNT Game 4: Sunday, May 25 San Antonio at Dallas 7:30 pm on TNT *Game 5: Tuesday, May 27 Dallas at San Antonio 8:00 pm on TNT *Game 6: Thursday, May 29 San Antonio at Dallas 8:00 pm on TNT *Game 7: Saturday, May 31 Dallas at San Antonio 7:30 pm on TNT *if necessary The big 3 had a great game for Dallas and Dirk Nowitzki was superb. He had 38 points including 17-17 FT and 15 rebounds. 22 of his points came in the 2nd half, including a monster 12 points and 7 rebounds in the 4th quarter. Michael Finley had the key bucket - and attacked the basket despite a taller player trying to stop him - and had 26 points including 10-10 FT and 4 rebounds in playing all but 30 seconds. And Steve Nash had 22 points, 5 rebounds, and just 3 assists (but that was a team high in this crazy game). Nick Van Exel had trouble with his shot in shooting 3-12 FG, but did hit 7-7 FT for 14 points and had 5 rebounds. The unsung hero has to be Shawn Bradley. Bradley came out aggressive, going after the ball, and playing defense. He did collect a lot of fouls and that limited his time. His numbers don't reflect the good performance he had. Bradley had 0 points (only 1 attempt), 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks before fouling out in 17 minutes. Raef LaFrentz wasn't as effective and had 2 points on 1-5 FG and 3 offensive rebounds in 12 minutes. Eduardo Najera got the call for 14 minutes as Dallas sometimes went with a smaller lineup and moved Nowitzki to center. He had 9 points on 1-2 FG and 7-8 FT and 2 rebounds before fouling out. And with the big men's foul trouble, Walt Williams was inserted for 6 minutes and he had 2 points and 2 rebounds. Adrian Griffin was the only other Mav to play and he had no points, 2 rebounds, and 3 fouls in 3 minutes. No surprise that Tim Duncan was a monster in this game. He had 40 points on 14-20 FG and 12-19 FT [his weakness], 15 rebounds, and 7 assists in 45 minutes. He played a balanced game as he scored 16 points, 10 points, 4 points, and 10 points in the quarters. Tony Parker played great for 3 1/2 quarters (he was one of the players guilty of being hesitant down the stretch) and had 18 points and 5 assists. Bruce Bowen had 13 points, but only hit 5-10 FT with hack-a-Bowen. Emanuel Ginobili was the 4th Spur in double-digits with 12 points and 5 rebounds. Stephen Jackson was very quiet with just 8 points including 2-9 FG and 3 rebounds in 38 minutes. David Robinson had just 7 points and 2 rebounds in 23 minutes. Kevin Willis came in and gave a nice boost in limited minutes with 9 points including 4-6 FG and 5 rebounds including 2 offensive in 10 minutes. Malik Rose was ineffective and limited by foul trouble before getting a knee to the head and leaving the game with 4 minutes left in the game (he's expected to be okay). He had 3 points, 1 rebound, and 5 fouls in 10 minutes. Speedy Claxton had no points, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals in 14 minutes and Danny Ferry had no points, 1 assist, and 4 fouls in 8 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "Oh my goodness. What an incredible basketball game. It was great to be a part of it really. I thought I was probably going to have to be 2nd in here [winning coach goes 1st in the interview room] and tell you all what a great game it was but we didn't win. But some how we found a will and a way to win, just didn't give up. Things didn't look very good for a long period of time. Thank God for the free throw. We shoot it better than anyone in basketball. I think we set a record this year for league average, and certainly that had to be a playoff record - 49 in a row, I believe it was, or there abouts. And anyway, we're probably the only team in the league that has a free throw coach. His name is Gary Boren and he does a marvelous job. He's been with me ever since Golden State and all my teams have shot the free throw extremely well and tonight we really needed it. We actually did some extra practice the last few days because Gary told me that we weren't shooting it as well as we need to and we need some extra practice. It wasn't a lot because we haven't been doing a lot - we've been playing every other day. But anyway, we really shot it tonight. I don't know what to tell you about the game. It was an incredible game. We made some major adjustments at halftime. We just couldn't stop Duncan, not that we ever did, but at least we found something that was working a little bit better in the 2nd half. And we just kept the pedal to the metal. Kept doing what we were doing. Trying to be aggressive. Going for the win. I didn't get the chance to rest my guys very much, but I said the heck with it. And we did it really with guys not making normal shots that they make. Nick, of course, didn't have a great game, but was there in the end and really did some good things for us. I thought he had the game winner at one time on our out of bounds play. He's been making that shot, but missed that particular one. But just got a little lucky I think at the end where they missed a few shots and we got the rebounds and we made ours. But an incredible basketball game." Nelson: We couldn't stop Duncan. So we had to go to our combo zone, which I think is a little more successful. And when you're in a zone, I don't know that anybody gets credit for stops or anything like that defensively. It's kind of a total team effort. But everybody really did their job and they were where they were supposed to be. I thought Bradley had a huge affect on the game, even though he fouled out. His numbers probably aren't that good, but he played good for me. He had 8 rebounds, I can see, and a couple of blocks. We didn't play a great game, but somehow we found a way to win. I thought their defense was superb, really made us pay. We had a really hard time scoring, but we just kept going." Nelson on Duncan's last shot: "How many airballs from 6 feet have you seen him shoot? I don't know, just lucky I think more than anything. We were in our zone and he had a pretty deep catch. We had him surrounded with 3 guys and he's been making that shot all game, but that particular one, you know, he missed. I thought we did a good job to bother him, but it didn't matter before with that particular shot. Maybe we were a little lucky on it or whatever. But we still would've got the last possession. So anyway, you have to be good and a little lucky occasionally to win on the road and to win against a really great team like the Spurs. And I think we were a little lucky and a little good and just a great, great bunch of guys with big hearts in that locker room. I'd of said that if we lost, by the way. I would have said the same thing." Nelson: "I'm so used to us making free throws. We just don't miss the free throw very much. I didn't know that we were shooting them that well, but I don't expect us to miss. And we didn't and we don't very often. I would say that since we've been playing - this is our 15th game - I would say that the free throw has been a part of 4 or 5 of those games, usually in our favor, where the other team hasn't made a good enough of a percentage. I think Portland would've beat us in one of the 1st 2 games had they shot their free throws. And then a couple of other games, I can't remember which ones, but the free throw wasn't shot very well against us and really helped us win some games. This night, we made the free throw and it helped us win the game." Dirk Nowitzki: "We knew they're not going to make every shot. They were terrific the 1st half. They were making shots from all over the court and we knew they were not going to continue like that. We just kept hanging around and we gave ourselves a chance to be in the ball game at the end of the game." Nowitzki: "My teammates keep looking for me. They kept guarding me with a bigger guy, so that gets my perimeter game a little going, taking them off the dribble, and it was working well today." Nowitzki on free throws: "We did the hack-a-Bowen a little in the 1st half. It didn't really work that well, but we won the game and move on." Nowitzki on game 2: "We've got to go for it. We've got to leave it all out there and give the same effort. [You got to be greedy.] Of course. None of that free swing any more. We got to go for it." Nowitzki on being down by 14 in the 4th quarter: "I just thought we played them well defensively. They're very good penetrators and we made sure we took their penetration away and made every jumper contested. The big thing for us always is getting the rebounds and we ended our defense with good rebounding. And we just kept on pushing the ball and that was big." Nowitzki on Duncan's last shot: "Yeah, I was pretty much right there. We kept on double-teaming him. We played him pretty much one-on-one in the 1st half and he just destroyed us in every way, he made shots all over the place. We just couldn't hold him on one-on-one. So actually, the double-team worked really well in the 2nd half. We got the ball out of his hands some and made the guy beat us. And I think that's a big key of why we won the game." Nowitzki on free throws: "We're probably the only team who has a free throw coach. We shoot a lot of free throws. After every practice, we shot a 100 or even more free throws. You know, we have a good free throw shooting team and it was big for us today. But the biggest thing for us is that we got to the line 50 times. We're not really a great team getting to the line. We're a good free throw shooting team, but usually we average like 10, 11, 12 free throws and usually get out-shot from the free throw line by like 10 or 20. So I think we did a good job of getting to the basket and getting some fouls today and making our free throws." Nowitzki on Bradley: "We need him if we want to be successful in the playoffs. We need a guy who can clog up the middle and be a big factor under the basket. We all know we're not the most physical team in there, but with his length, he changes a lot of shots and he's got to throw his body in there. And he did a great job for us, clogging up the middle, changing some shots, and that's what we need." Nowitzki on hack-a-Bowen: "In the 1st half, they were just on fire from all over the place. Duncan was unstoppable. But even when we doubled-teamed in the 1st half, they were just kicking out and they were just making jump shots from all over the place. With the hack-a-Bowen tactic, we were just trying to break their rhythm a little bit so they just have to walk it up and shoot some free throws. We tried to break their rhythm. It didn't really work 'cause he almost made them all. We tried to break their rhythm and generally it worked 'cause they came right back and we stopped it and they came right back and kept on scoring, so it wasn't really a good tactic. But in the 2nd half, we found a way to slow them down." Nowitzki on winning game 1: "It was huge. We approached the game believing we could get this. I think you saw that we found a way to kind of hang in there and kind of stay close and then give ourselves a chance at the end of the game to be in the game and make it a game and win the game. And it was great. So obviously, it's going to be still a long series. It's very tough to beat a good team 4 times. It's still going to be a heck of a series, but that was a huge win for us." Nowitzki: "We played very well on the defensive end tonight and did a great job of getting to the foul line. We are normally a good foul shooting team, but struggle at getting to the line. 50 is astounding and we did a great just making plays and getting them into foul shots. I think we did a good job of disrupting their rhythm to come back from that big of a deficit." Nowitzki on Duncan: "He was unstoppable tonight. We tried to do more double-teaming tonight and really got out there and just made plays. He really kept them in the game." Michael Finley: "As a team, even when we were down we kept our focus. We kept chipping away and gave ourselves a chance to win in the 4th. In the playoffs sometimes little things lead to big wins and tonight getting to the line did that for us. That's something we've strived to do well all season. We got some key stops and rebounds late and we were able to that because we kept our head." Finley on his last basket: "In the huddle coach said he was going to give me a chance to make a play. The big thing in my mind was to just stay aggressive. No matter what I did I wanted to be aggressive because that's how you make things happen. I knew I had to go strong to the basket and either get fouled or get the basket. Fortunately I was able to get in the lane and get the hoop." Finley: "It's a big win in that we were down by a big number and didn't lose our heads. On the last bucket, I just wanted to make an aggressive play. I was going to go aggressive to the basket and do what I did or try to get a foul. If they had double-teamed me, I was going to look for a teammate." Steve Nash: "It feels great. I think we definitely wanted to get one, coming down here. I think this gives a new perspective, getting the first one. After 2 7th games, that first game is always tough. I'm surprised the league didn't give us a back-to-back in the first game. But we came down and we survived and played well, well enought to win. We didn't play great and we hung around, chipped away, and think that's what our teams has to do to make up for a lack of sort of a Duncan-stopper, for another name." Nash on controlling Duncan in the 2nd half: "It was a huge key. I think the 1st half he was just going crazy. We all know he's the MVP. He's dominating in the post, inside, on the boards. He also makes his teammates better. So we had to do something and I think in the 2nd half when he got the ball, we zoned and trapped and did some different things to him to give him some different looks and just kind of mixed it up a little bit. In the 1st half, it was just predictable - he was either going to the foul line or he was scoring - and we had to do something to change that." Nash: "I don't think we ever feel like we got them completely playing our style. I think what happened, though, we started to take them away from what they wanted to do. We didn't have a lot of fast break points, in the 1st half especially - I don't know how many were in the 2nd half. But we were able to give them some different looks in the 2nd half and it made them a little more passive I think, or at least made Duncan a little more passive. And it had to because we were doubling him and playing zone. We started to feel that if we could just stay with them and sty with them, it was going to be a tough finish for them and that's kind of what happened." Nash: "We're a good free throw shooting team. It's just we're glad that we got to the line that many times. Hopefully we won't have to rely on that percentage the rest of the series, though." Nash: "We didn't feel like we ever really got the game going in a style we like but what we did do was take them out of what they wanted to do. Our defense on Duncan didn't stop him of course but at least forced him to pass the ball out of doubles and make others try and beat us." Nash on free throws: "I'm glad we got to the line that many times, but hopefully we won't have to rely on a percentage that high throughout the whole series." Nash: "This certainly is one of the biggest wins in franchise history but it's just a small part of our overall plan. We feel really good about it but it's just one leg of the journey." Nash on Nowitzki: "He showed again that he has a total complete game tonight and affirmed his superstar status. He loves the big games and he loves the prime-time stage. He was huge tonight." Nick Van Exel: "It's great, we love this place. They are a great half court team but they will push the ball when they can. During the LA series, they pushed the ball." Van Exel: "We don't know if we proved anything, we have so much confidence in ourselves right now." Van Exel on game 2: "Our mindset now is to go for the jugular. It will be tough, but we will try and limit Duncan and go for it." Raef LaFrentz on Duncan's final shot: "We were attempting to bother him all night and I guess we finally did." Gregg Popovich: "What affected us the most was missed free throws. They shot 50 free throws, but it's not like we didn't shot any. We shot 47. So that's the way the game was called tonight. There were a lot of free throws, but it went both ways. And that's been a weakness for us all year. You can talk about anything you want to talk about - who plays, who doesn't play, what defense, what offense - that's all baloney. When you look that somebody shoots 49-50 and you shot 31-47 and miss 16 of those babies, that's giving a game away. We know that's a weakness. We're 26th out of 29 in free throws. You get down to the final 4 teams out of 29 and those things can rear their heads. And tonight it did. So I think that had more to do with the game than Malik getting hurt. I don't know, we'll see what he's like tomorrow. He had a stinger as far as the doctors are concerned, but we won't know until tomorrow exactly what it means." Popovich on Dallas' defense on Duncan: "They're like everybody else. They do a little bit of everything, but it's nothing that hasn't been seen in 90 previous games. Sometimes he gets fronted a little bit. Sometimes they play behind. Sometimes other guys crowd it. I mean, there's not a whole lot new that you can do. I thought both teams busted their butts. They played hard, competed really hard. It was great. I think anybody could of won the game. I just feel badly that we're so poor at the free throw line." Popovich on hack-a-Bowen: "We didn't tell them anything. We expected it. Nellie's done that a lot. I've been there with him when he's done it before. It was fully expected at some point - if he didn't do it tonight, he's going to do it another night. But we didn't take Bruce out. He stayed in the game and he shot the free throws. During that stretch, I think he was 5-10. I think it's important for his confidence and important for us to just go ahead and play with it. He hit his last 3. In the 2nd half, they didn't foul him that way." Popovich: "It doesn't matter how the whistle is blown as long as it's consistent. If one team shots 47 and one shots 50, that's nothing to complain about. Whether you think that's to quick of a whistle or whatever, you have to adjust to what's going on in a game. I thought both teams were very aggressive going to the hole, obviously. They knocked down 49 of them, so give them credit." Popovich: "It was a heck of a game. The bad guys won and the good guys lost. They sure can shoot free throws." Tim Duncan on Dallas' defense at the end: "They did it the entire 3rd and 4th quarters. They kind of put a guy in the middle of the lane and they kind of dump down - it was a semi-double-team without double-team - they were with in arms' length. Just close enough to discourage anything in the middle but close enough that they could get back to our shooter at the top. And they did a good job." Duncan on hack-a-Bowen: "I thought we came out great and I thought we came out with a lot of energy and played and really jumped on them. And they had to find a way to kind of kill that energy a little bit and that was an answer for it. They fouled Bruce and tried to get the crowd out of it. I thought we did a good job of kind of substaining that. It got them back into the game a little bit more because they killed the energy and they kind of made a run back at us. But I thought we substained pretty well. 2nd half was kind of the difference. Lot of fouls called. They made their free throws and we missed more than they did. So it came down to free throw shooting and just being aggressive." Duncan: "Like I said, they're a high octane team. They're going to get up and down. And the whistle was blowing left and right. Basically, they're a jump shot shooting team and when they can get 50 free throws in a game where they're shooting a whole lot of jump shots, it just adds to what they do." David Robinson: "We had a lot of bad stretches during the game. They did a great job of hanging in there and playing tough and putting themselves in position to win the game. We just didn't come out and make our foul shots." Robinson on free throws: "They really did a great job of getting to the line, but we didn't really make our foul shots. In order for us to keep leads we have to do a better job of hitting free throws when we need to get to the line. That will help us down the stretch, but they did an excellent job of just getting to the line and knocking them down. They really gave a great effort, and we just didn't execute on our free throw shooting." Robinson: "I thought we did a good job. We were moving the ball around, we're getting some good shots. Down the stretch, we didn't really move it as well and get as good of shots down the stretch, but also our defense didn't make the stops we wanted to. Like I said, we kept sending them to the line and that killed us." Robinson on 49 straight free throws made: "Nope, I can't say that I have. When you let a team shoot 50 free throws, I mean, you know, it doesn't matter how many fast breaks you run, all that stuff doesn't matter, you know, you let a team shoot 50 free throws, you really haven't done your job defensively. We got to do a better job of that next game." Robinson: "We weren't adjusting to the calls. I think a lot of them, yeah, a lot of bad calls, but then again we made a lot of stupid fouls too. You have to play smart. You have to understand how the flow of the game is going. If it's going against you, be smart. And we didn't, we just didn't adjust to it very well. Especially for a little stretch there, it looked like we just got frustrated a little bit and made some dumb fouls following some calls we didn't like and that's not how you have to play. You got to just ignore that stuff and keep playing. And we didn't do a good job of that." Bruce Bowen on 49 free throws: "No, I haven't seen anything like that. But I don't think that, yeah, we missed free throws, but that wasn't the game to me. Defensively we had a lot of lapses and we just didn't take care of the ball the way we should have. And, you know, you can't look for excuses in this. We didn't take care of the ball and we still had an opportunity to win, even with the way we shot free throws, so that's why I say, free throws, it wasn't as much as people put on them - not just because we missed them, I'm not trying to over look that because we should've made more, I should have made more - but even with that, we still had an opportunity to win." Kevin Willis: "I felt that we gave great effort tonight and just didn't make free throws. We have to be ready to bounce back from this game. We have the capability to do that. This is going to be a very long series and we have to be ready to just counter the effort that the Mavs gave. They played a great game and we just have to be ready to go out there and play on Wednesday." Dallas Mavericks 113, San Antonio Spurs 110 at San Antonio (May 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 23 34 26 30 - 113 .411 .375 .403 .980 San Antonio 36 30 25 19 - 110 .537 .350 .486 .646 Halftime: San Antonio 66-57 3rd Q: San Antonio 91-83 Technicals: Walt Williams 9:14 2nd, Gregg Popovich 4:39 3rd, San Antonio defensive 3 seconds 6:26 4th Refs: Bennett Salvatore, Greg Willard, Ron Garretson Attendance: 18,797 (sellout) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 47 7-14 2-5 10-10 26 0-4 2 2 1 1 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 10-19 1-4 17-17 38 1-15 2 4 4 1 1 Raef LaFrentz 12 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 3-3 0 1 3 0 1 Steve Nash 43 7-15 2-4 6-6 22 0-5 3 2 3 1 0 Raja Bell 13 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 4 0 0 Nick Van_Exel 41 3-12 1-3 7-7 14 1-5 1 3 4 0 0 Shawn Bradley 17 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3-8 0 1 6 0 2 Eduardo Najera 14 1-2 0-0 7-8 9 1-2 1 0 6 1 0 Adrian Griffin 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 3 0 0 Walt Williams 6 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 0-2 0 1 2 0 1 Totals 48 29-72 6-16 49-50 113 10-46 10 14 36 4 5 San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Bruce Bowen 36 3-6 2-5 5-10 13 1-2 2 1 4 2 0 Tim Duncan 45 14-20 0-0 12-19 40 3-15 7 2 5 1 1 David Robinson 23 2-2 0-0 3-6 7 0-2 1 0 2 1 0 Tony Parker 34 7-18 2-5 2-2 18 1-2 5 3 3 0 0 Stephen Jackson 38 2-9 1-4 3-3 8 0-3 2 3 4 2 0 Malik Rose 10 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 0-1 0 0 5 0 0 Emanuel Ginobili 22 3-8 2-5 4-5 12 0-5 4 0 6 0 0 Speedy Claxton 14 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 1 0 2 3 0 Danny Ferry 8 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 4 0 0 Kevin Willis 10 4-6 0-0 1-1 9 2-5 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 36-74 7-20 31-48 110 7-37 23 9 36 9 1 patricia Go Mavs!