The All-Star break is this weekend. Josh Howard and Devin Harris will play in tonight's Rookie-Sophomore game at 8 pm on TNT. Dirk Nowitzki will play in the All-Star game on Sunday at 7:30 pm on TNT. Dallas is off until Wednesday. Dallas at Phoenix (February 17) It was expected to be a tough game against one of the best teams in the league and Dallas had the additional fun of it being the last game of a tough 4 game Western road trip (with 1 day off between each game) and without 3 key players - Jerry Stackhouse (groin strain), Marquis Daniels (appendectomy), and Erick Dampier (strained tendon right foot). Nevertheless, Dallas played well in the 1st quarter and it was an entertaining, if not lower scoring than expected, quarter. Dallas went on a 9-2 run, including a 3-pointer and layup by Josh Howard, to go up 17-9 with 5:10 left, but Quentin Richardson ended Dallas' run with a 3-pointer to kick of an 11-2 run to give Phoenix a 20-19 lead with 2:45 remaining. A jumper by Howard tied the game at 22-22 with 1:45 to go, and neither team scored the rest of the quarter. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 2nd quarter to go up 28-22 with 10:20 left and the Mavs held a small lead, none larger than 6 points, over the next 5 minutes. Dallas led 43-37 with 6 minutes to go and the Mavs' offense collapsed and Phoenix's took off as the Suns went on an 18-2 monster run, including 8 points by Amare Stoudemire and a jumper as the quarter ended, to close the quarter. Phoenix led 55-45 at the half. For the half, both teams shot around 46% FG, but Dallas missed 9 of their last 10 shots of the 2nd quarter. A 3-pointer by Shawn Marion gave Phoenix their largest lead at 60-49 with 10 minutes remaining. Consecutive 3-pointers by Michael Finley pulled Dallas within 66-69 with 6:20 left, but Marion answered with a 3-pointer and Phoenix led between 6 and 10 points over the next 4 minutes. Phoenix led 81-72 with 2:45 to go and Dallas went on an 11-3 run to pull within 83-84 with a handful of seconds left in the quarter. But Dallas' defense lapsed at the end and Steve Nash was able to take the ball all the way up the court undeterred and was bumped and got his circus shot to fall with less than a second left in the quarter. He hit the extra free throw to give Phoenix an 87-83 lead after 3. Finley had 12 points and Howard had 10 points in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix scored the first 4 points of the 4th quarter to go up 91-83 with 11 minutes to go. Dallas' offense started clicking and Phoenix's offense started missing as the Mavs went on a 16-3 run to go up 99-94 with 6:40 remaining as Phoenix shot 1-7 FG during the run, including 3 missed midrange jumpers by Stoudemire. A 3-pointer by Finley gave Dallas a 107-98 lead with 5 minutes left. A 3-point play by Stoudemire did pull the Suns within 106-111 with 1:15 left. Dallas ran the shot clock down and Finley swished a tough fade away baseliner over a defender with the shot clock running out with less than 50 seconds left. Dallas shot 6-6 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win. Dallas won 119-113. Wow. This was the toughest of the 4 road games in being at the end of the trip, the last game before the break, and without 3 key players and yet the Mavs still found a way to win. They overcame Phoenix's 2nd quarter burst and hung around long enough until they finally found a burst of their own in the 4th to get the win and give Phoenix only their 6th home loss of the season. Dallas shot 53.6% (45-84) FG including 8-15 3-pointers - Dallas is 13-0 when they shoot 50% or better. Phoenix shot 45.3% (43-95) FG including 9-29 3-pointers - they shot 1-10 3-pointers in the 4th quarter. Dallas had a good night at the line in only missing 2 free throws - 21-23 FT. Phoenix shot 18-22 FT. Dallas enters the break with a record of 35-16, 5th best in the league. Lots of heros for Dallas in this game. Michael Finley was the man in the 2nd half in shooting lights out no matter how tough the shot as 25 of his season high 33 points came in the 2nd half. He had 13 points including 3 3-pointers in the 4th quarter. He shot 13-21 FG including 5-8 3-pointers and had 4 rebounds in 45 minutes. Josh Howard was solid throughout and had a career high 30 points including 11-18 FG. He also had 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Phoenix's defense focused on Dirk Nowitzki and he struggled. He didn't have a great game, but was a monster on the boards. He had 16 points including 5-15 FG, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 5 turnovers. Alan Henderson got the starting nod and was strong early with 7 points in the 1st quarter, often as Nowitzki found him open as the defense left Henderson for Nowitzki. Those were all the points he scored. He also had 6 rebounds including 4 offensive in his 25 minutes. Calvin Booth got most of his minutes in the 4th quarter and played very well in scoring all 10 of his points in the quarter including 4-5 FG. He grabbed 2 rebounds and had 2 blocks in his 13 minutes. Don Nelson again spread the minutes amongst his 3 point guards, including some with playing 2 at the same time (which proved disastrous as Phoenix made their 2nd quarter monster run with 2 Dallas points on the floor). Jason Terry didn't have his shot going and had 9 points including 3-11 FG and 4 assists in 24 minutes. Devin Harris had 10 points including 4-6 FG and 3 assists in 18 minutes. Darrell Armstrong played 20 minutes and got the nod for most of the 4th quarter as Nelson went with the vet. He had 4 points and 4 assists. Dallas could not handle Amare Stoudemire inside. I don't know why he took those 3 midrange shots during Dallas' run in the 4th quarter, but I thank him for it. He led the way for Phoenix with 31 points on 11-24 FG and 9-11 FT and 12 rebounds. Steve Nash had his usual double-double with 19 points and 11 assists (and no rebounds). Quentin Richardson had 22 points including 4-9 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Shawn Marion was fairly quiet with 17 points and 6 rebounds. He did also have 5 steals. Joe Johnson chipped in 12 points, 6 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 assists. Leandro Barbosa was the only bench player to produce with 10 points and 4 assists in his 16 minutes. Quotes Don Nelson: "That was an incredible trip. We just capped off a perfect week. This was our best game in a long time. We needed to be good today." Nelson: "I thought everyone made a contribution, especially Josh Howard. He played the best game of his career." Dirk Nowitzki: "The whole trip we were a 4th quarter team. We were down a couple times and down the stretch we made some big plays. It doesn't matter who, they were made on both ends of the floor." Michael Finley: "We went into 4 hostile environments and got 4 big wins." Finley: "It just shows the character of this team. We never give up." Finley: "Their game plan was to double- and triple-team Dirk all night and make somebody else beat them. So that opened things up for me and Josh, and the shots were going in." Finley on his tough fade-away in the last minute of the game: "Coach wanted to get a late shot on the shot clock and I knew that. I drove left and tried to fake the man but he didn't fall for it. But I was still able to get a good shot off and once I let it go I knew it was going in." Jason Terry on the 4-0 road trip: "I knew we had something special here. That's another sign of what we can become." Josh Howard: "They hit off Nowitzki all the time and that opened the floor for everyone else." Howard on Armstrong and Booth: "We got guys on the bench that can step up and that is what they did. That is a good sign of a team coming together. It was a fast paced game and we had to suck it up if we wanted to win." Howard on the bench: "It says a lot about this team. Guys came in and played great ball for guys who were out." Howard: "This is my second year. I still have a long way to go." Mike D'Antoni: "We didn't stop them in the 2nd half. We played well in the 1st half; but in the 2nd, we gave them 74 points and that is way too many. Howard played well and Finley made unbelievable shots." D'Antoni: "We weren't clicking on offense and defensively we didn't play well enough." Steve Nash on Finley: "The key to the game was Mike. He was just outstanding. He hit every key shot down the stretch." Amare Stoudemire: "Finley came out on fire in the 2nd half. Dallas came out and played great ball all around, inside and outside." Dallas Mavericks 119, Phoenix Suns 113 at Phoenix (February 17) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 22 23 38 36 - 119 .536 .533 .536 .913 Phoenix 22 33 32 26 - 113 .515 .310 .453 .818 Halftime: Phoenix 55-45 3rd Q: Phoenix 87-83 Technicals: Phoenix defensive 3 seconds 0:33 1st, Dirk Nowitzki 0:42 2nd Refs: Monty McCutchen, Jack Nies, Gary Zielinski Attendance: 18,422 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Jerry Stackhouse (right groin strain), Erick Dampier (strained tendon right foot), Marquis Daniels (appendectomy) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 45 13-21 5-8 2-3 33 1-4 2 0 1 0 0 Jason Terry 24 3-11 1-3 2-2 9 0-2 4 1 1 2 1 Josh Howard 46 11-18 1-3 7-7 30 2-8 2 2 0 4 0 Dirk Nowitzki 44 5-15 0-0 6-6 16 1-16 4 5 2 0 3 Alan Henderson 25 3-5 0-0 1-2 7 4-6 0 0 3 0 1 Darrell Armstrong 20 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-2 4 2 4 1 1 Devin Harris 18 4-6 1-1 1-1 10 0-1 3 2 2 0 0 Calvin Booth 13 4-5 0-0 2-2 10 0-2 0 0 5 0 2 Shawn Bradley 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-3 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 45-84 8-15 21-23 119 8-44 19 15 19 7 8 Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Joe Johnson 39 5-12 1-3 1-2 12 5-6 3 1 2 1 1 Steve Nash 36 7-16 2-4 3-3 19 0-0 11 3 1 0 0 Shawn Marion 39 6-14 2-5 3-4 17 2-6 2 1 2 5 2 Quentin Richardson 37 8-15 4-9 2-2 22 1-6 2 4 2 0 2 Amare Stoudemire 41 11-24 0-2 9-11 31 4-12 0 1 5 0 0 Jim Jackson 16 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0-4 0 1 2 0 0 Leandro Barbosa 16 5-8 0-2 0-0 10 0-2 4 1 1 0 0 Walter McCarty 10 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2-3 0 1 2 0 0 Jake Voskuhl 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 43-95 9-29 18-22 113 14-41 22 14 18 6 5 patricia