Keith Van Horn did not play in Game 4 due to a sprained left ankle. He is expected to undergo an MRI on the ankle on Monday to see how serious the injury is and get a better sense of how long he will likely be out. He is unlikely to play in the rest of the Houston series. Game 4: Dallas at Houston (April 30) Dallas jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 6:45 left as Houston missed their first 5 shots (the 2 points came from free throws) and committed 3 turnovers. A layup by Scott Padgett with 6:20 to go was Houston's first field goal. Dallas led 18-10 with 3:45 to go and Houston scored the next 10 points to go up 20-18 with 1:35 left - a 3-pointer by Michael Finley at the shot clock buzzer ended Houston's run. Dirk Nowitzki drained a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer to give Dallas a 26-22 lead after 1. Houston scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter and the game stayed close the entire quarter with the largest lead being just 5 points. Dallas led 48-44 with 1:20 to go and Houston scored the last 7 points of the quarter, capped by 2 free throws by Jon Barry with a fraction of a second left in the quarter, to go up 51-48 at the half. Tracy McGrady had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Houston shot 54% FG and Dallas shot 43% FG and both teams had 10 turnovers each. A 3-pointer by Padgett and a 3-pointer by McGrady opened the 3rd quarter to give Houston a 9 point lead. The teams traded buckets and Jason Terry nailed consecutive 3-pointers to pull Dallas within 56-59 with 9:35 remaining. Houston continued to hold a single-digit lead and 5 straight points by McGrady gave Houston a 70-62 lead with 5:20 left. Dallas then scored the next 12 points, including 8 points from Terry, to go up 74-70 with 2:55 to go. McGrady scored the last 5 points of the quarter and it was all tied up at 77-77 after 3. McGrady had 17 points including 6-10 FG and Terry had 16 points including 5-6 FG in the 3rd quarter. After Marquis Daniels hit a free throw to open the scoring in the 4th quarter, Houston scored the next 6 points to go up 83-78 with 9:35 left. Houston led 88-82 with 5:40 to go and both teams would go scoreless over the next 2 minutes. After opening the quarter shooting 2-12 FG, Dallas finally got their offense going while Houston lost theirs as Terry nailed a 3-pointer with 3:15 left, Erick Dampier got a putback, Finley nailed a jumper, and Finley hit another jumper to put Dallas up 91-88 with a minute to go as Houston missed 5 straight shots. McGrady missed another shot, but Yao Ming was fouled on the offensive rebound and sent to the line with 48 seconds remaining. He hit both free throws to make it a 1 point game. Terry got the ball in the corner, lost the ball, got the ball back, lost the ball again and got it back, lost the ball again and he and Ryan Bowen tapped the loose ball up high and Nowitzki used his height to elevate and snag the loose ball, 2 defenders collapsed on Nowitzki, and he passed it out to an open Terry behind the arc and Terry rose and drained the 3-pointer as the shot clock was running down to give Dallas a 94-90 lead with 26 seconds left. After a Houston timeout, David Wesley nailed a 3-pointer with 19 seconds to go. After a timeout to advance the ball, Dallas inbounded the ball and it was knocked out of bounds off of Houston after a few seconds went off the clock. The Mavs were able to run a few more seconds off the clock in playing keep-away before Jerry Stackhouse was intentionally fouled with 12 seconds remaining. He hit the 1st free throw, but missed the 2nd and McGrady grabbed the rebound, but Josh Howard snuck behind him and was able to tap the ball loose and McGrady reached for the ball without being able to bring it back in and the ball went out of bounds having been last touched by McGrady. Dallas inbounded the ball and again ran more time off the clock before Nowitzki was fouled. He hit both free throws to make it a 4 point game with 6 seconds left. Mike James missed a 3-point attempt with a second left and time expired. Dallas won 97-93. Once again home court was anything but an advantage - hopefully the Mavs can reverse the trend in game 5. Houston again had a 4th quarter collapse. Not as dramatic as the 20-0 run allowed in game 3, but Houston went 5:21 without making a field goal in this game (from 5:40 to 0:19). Houston only shot 6-17 FG and committed 5 turnovers in the quarter. After starting the 4th shooting just 2-12 FG, Dallas shot 5-7 FG in the last 6 minutes of the game while out-scoring Houston 15-5 in that span. For the game, Dallas shot 45.8% (33-72) FG including 9-20 3-pointers. Houston shot 47.2% (34-72) FG including 5-17 3-pointers - their first sub 35% 3-point shooting game (37.5%, 50%, 52%). Dallas shot 22-27 FT [4 intentional] and Houston shot 20-26 FT - Houston can't complain about the free throws in this game as the refs let a lot of contact go inside, unlike the previous games where the refs were making those calls [I disagree with the refs not making those calls, but they were consistent and it was up to the players to adjust and not simply gripe about the non-calls]. The rebounding winner was again the overall loser as Houston out-rebounded Dallas 37-32 including 11-10 offensive. Both teams had sloppy turnovers as Dallas had 17 turnovers and Houston had 18 turnovers. It was again a tight game throughout as the largest lead was just 9 points. The series is now tied 2-2 and it is down to the best of 3 series. Game 5 is in Dallas at 7 pm [note the early start time]. The surprise hero of the game was Jason Terry, who went nuts in the 2nd half. 24 of his 32 points came in the 2nd half. He shot 11-18 FG and 6-8 3-pointers. He also had 4 rebounds and 3 assists, but did turn the ball over 5 times. Josh Howard didn't have a good game with just 8 points including 3-11 FG, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, but he had the key defensive play in knocking the ball loose after Jerry Stackhouse's missed free throw. Dirk Nowitzki remained true to form with another subpar outing with just 18 points including 4-14 FG. But he contributed in other ways and was key in the 4th quarter with 4 assists, including 3 in the last 2 minutes of the game, and had a nice steal where he simply ripped the ball out of Yao Ming's hands after Yao got an offensive rebound. For the game, he had 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Michael Finley had a nice outing and hit 2 key buckets late in the 4th quarter. He had 18 points on 8-13 FG and 2-6 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals (no assists, though). Erick Dampier was limited by foul trouble and had just 2 points - but it was a key putback coming late in the game - and 5 rebounds before fouling out in 18 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse had 10 points including 3-10 FG and 6 rebounds. Alan Henderson had a nice contribution in the 1st quarter, coming in after Dampier picked up 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes, with 4 points and 2 rebounds (both offensive) in 5 1st quarter minutes (before he picked up 2 fouls). Marquis Daniels had 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists in 18 minutes, but also had 4 turnovers. Tracy McGrady had a game high 36 points, but only 2 of his points came in the 4th quarter as he shot 1-5 FG in the 4th. He also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but turned the ball over 5 times. Yao Ming also turned the ball over 5 times, including twice late in the game - once where he simply fumbled a nice pass away under the basket. Yao had 20 points on 6-7 FG and 8-10 FT, 5 rebounds, and 5 blocks, but only played 25 minutes due to foul trouble. No other Rocket was in double-digits. David Wesley had 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Bob Sura had 5 points including 2-6 FG and Jon Barry had 6 points including 2-6 FG and 5 rebounds. Mike James had 7 points including 3-11 FG, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Scott Padgett got the surprise start and had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 18 minutes. Ryan Bowen came off the bench and had 2 points and 1 rebound in 16 minutes. Dikembe Mutombo had 5 points and 7 rebounds filling in when Yao was out. Quotes [Johnson's, Finley's, most of Terry's, Van Gundy's, and McGrady's quotes transcribed by me] Avery Johnson: "Well obviously we're very thankful for this victory. We had a lot of great contributions in the 4th quarter. What a great team win. Our 4th quarter defense has been pretty good. We know they missed some shots, but we thought we contested a lot of those shots, which we hadn't been doing. But we get 4 guys in double-figures. Again, a lot of times in the 4th quarter when things get tight, some of those shots sometimes don't fall and fortunately the Rockets' shots didn't fall in the 4th and ours did. So I'm really excited for our guys. But we're still not in control of this series, by any stretch of the imagination. The Rockets are still a dangerous team." Johnson on having been in a hole: "Well we're definitely not out of it yet. I thought our focus coming into the game was good. We normally don't shoot before 4:30 games. I got the team out of the hotel, brought them over here for a little 45 minute shootaround, because most of my players they'll sleep until 1:00 if you let them. So we thought that may have helped us just get off to a good start. I thought our energy was pretty good. We weren't playing good all year on 4:30 games. So we thought we'd change up the routine." Johnson on being down 8 in the 4th: "What we need to figure out why we've been down by 8. That's the problem. I think we couldn't score, what, for the first 3 or 4 minutes of the quarter. And it was probably my fault. I was trying to give Dirk a blow because I wanted, you know, keep him fresh. He wasn't having one of his better games. But for him to get 6 assists tonight and Jason Terry to do what he did, he gutted it out for us the whole 4th quarter, hit some huge shots. My wily veteran, Finley, came through. I ran a play for him - I asked him did he want it, he said, 'Yes, run it for me. I feel good.' So we had a lot of good things happen tonight. We thought Damp came in - you know, he's not putting up great numbers for us, but he's really been coming through with some good defense for us in the 4th quarter when we put him back in. He had a big tip in there for us. Obviously we're happy we won the game, but by no stretch of the imagination is this series anything close to being over. We're going back home now and, boy, we sure didn't play too good at home that last time. So we're asking our fans to give us another chance and hopefully we can have a better performance." Johnson on Terry: "Well first of all, Jet's contribution in the 4th, we wanted to get him off the ball a little bit. Stack found him for a 3, Dirk found him. He's a big shot maker. He kind of did what Van Exel did for us a couple of years ago. So I wouldn't consider him a classic point guard, but he gets the job done. I've been talking to him about quarterbacking the team, and obviously he had 5 turnovers, but in the 4th quarter he did the right thing with the basketball and got it to the right people. So again, you can't expect a guy like Jason Terry who hadn't even been in the playoffs to come in and be Tom Brady all of the sudden. You know, give him a chance. So now I think he's settling in a little bit. He probably was a little nervous like a lot of us were our first playoff game. But he's come around now and made some big shots." Johnson on defending McGrady: "Well if you notice, we use about 3 different guys on him. You can only hope that in the end he will wear down a little bit. But we had no answer for him. We've committed that we don't have an answer for him, but we got to guard the rest of the guys." Johnson on Yao's shots: "Again, we just don't want to give him easy looks. We've tried to give him different looks, we don't do the same thing on him every time. We just try to come from different places, give him different looks, and hope that he'll turn it over or miss a shot. [reception glitch] ... But again, Yao Ming and McGrady, they're going to do what ever they do. The guys like Barry and Mike James and Wesley, all of those guys are the guys that we've had trouble [with]." Dirk Nowitzki: "We have so many options. This is a good team we have, and we showed it tonight." Nowitzki on his pass to Terry for Terry's 3-pointer late in the game: "That was really the only thing I was doing out there. I couldn't really get any calls out there, so I tried to make other things happen." Nowitzki on Terry's 3-pointer: "He lost the ball like 3 times on that one play, then he comes back and shoots it like nothing ever happened. It was an amazing play." Nowitzki: "I can't complain; we won this game. I had a couple of good looks there and layups that were in and out. I'll always keep being aggressive. Even if I don't make a couple of shots, I've got to stay aggressive for this team and make something happen for my teammates." Nowitzki: "We fought too hard all season long. We worked too hard to not believe in each other and what we can do. We came too far to give up. The game is 48 minutes, and that's what we used in both Games 3 and 4." Michael Finley on the 4th quarter: "... I basically told the guys that in a nutshell we were playing terrible with 5 minutes to go and we still were down 6. It was just about us coming out and getting some defensive stops, taking care of the ball, and taking quality shots. And we did that. They missed some shots that they were making earlier, so that was good for us. But we capitalized on it and going home with a win." Finley on if Dallas' defense affected Houston in the 4th quarter: "Well, it would be easy to say that, but until I look at the film, you really don't know. But as a player, the coaching staff just emphases just to stick with our game plan. Although at that time it might seem like it's not working, you have to stick with it. And for us, defensively we stuck with it. And the shots, like you said, that they were making earlier they missed later on down the stretch and it worked in our favor." Finley on Terry: "He made some big shots. He fumbled the ball around a couple of times, I thought he was going to turn it over. So instead of turning it over, he shot and he made it. So he's been making big shots like that for us all year, so it wasn't a big surprise for us as a team. I'm just glad that he stepped up when we really needed him tonight." Finley on the road success: "You know what, Bob, if I had the answer I would truly tell you. But I don't know. We just seem to come together as a team on the road. Through adverse situations, we just seem to find a will within us to will our games. It was there for us during the regular season. It didn't change during the playoffs. So hopefully we can go home and steal one. [smiles]" Finley on going home: "We'll be fine. I think we learned a lot in this 4 games thus far, even the 2 we lost. We learned a lot that sometimes you can't come in with a lackluster attitude like we had I think in the first 2 games. You have to have a playoff attitude." Finley on leadership: "On our team, playoff experience is very limited. I think besides myself and Dirk, there's not a lot of guys who have playoff experience and have been in top notch playoff games. So when adverse situations occur sometimes the guys who haven't been there before sometimes get their heads down, get discouraged. So as a leader of the team, I just wanted to keep everybody encouraged and keep them with a positive mind set, because when you do that good things can happen. And tonight was a great example of that. You know, we were down 6 at one point with, I think, with 5 minutes to go and I just told the guys, 'We're still in this game. We're playing terrible and we're only down 6. Keep our composure, get some key stops, knock down some shots, and we're right back in it.' And it happened for us." Finley on being 2-2: "It's been a big swing, but we're still back where we started. And when we were at this point before when the series was tied at 0-0, we didn't start the way we wanted to. We look at this as a time to start over, so to speak. The series is tied. Now it's the best of 3. And we feel confident that we can get 2 games and we just have to take it 1 game at a time. And the next game is in Dallas." Finley on his 4th quarter: "Again, I'm just trying to be a leader out there. The coach is either calling my number or the players are finding me. And I'm just trying to make the most of the situations, either making a play for myself, making shots, or trying to get my teammates involved. This is playoff time. It's time to put all excuses aside and just go out there and play. And I'm just trying to do what ever it takes for the team to win." Finley: "We can't get it wrong, we're very fortunate. But again, in my opinion hard work pays off. We were working hard those first 3 quarters and things didn't seem to go our way. But in the 4th quarter, we stuck with our defensive scheme, we started knocking down shots, they started missing shots, and it went our way. I mean, that's one thing I told the guys before the game, no matter what defensive scheme, offensive scheme that the coaching staff puts us in, we have to remain confident in it because it will pay off. And for us, it took a while, but it finally paid off." Finley on Terry: "Like you said, he's done it for us all year. It was something coming into the season we didn't know that he had that in him. but as the season went on and different game situations, he had the guts to step up and knock down big shots. And tonight was no different. Coach called his play and he was able to get his feet set. I think when he gets his feet set, he is one of the better shooters in the league and tonight proved it." Finley on McGrady having 2 points in the 4th quarter: "I think we just wanted to smother him when he got the ball and make his other teammates make plays. He's a good player and he's going to do what ever it takes for his team to win. Tonight he was more apt to pass when we double-teamed ... [technical glitch] I expect him to be even more aggressive come the next game and maybe he doesn't pass out of that double-team, he just shoots. There wasn't anything that we did special, I just think he was willing to give up the ball." Finley on wanting the shot: "I've always had confidence. I've been in this league so many years. I mean, I've had terrible games - playoffs, regular season - and my confidence has always been the same. Even when the shots doesn't seem to be going down, I have enough confidence in myself that I think the next one is going to go down. And it doesn't change in this series. Although I had 2 bad games in the first 2 games shooting-wise, I'm going to still remain confident as a basketball player and when the coach calls my number, I'm going to be apt to step up to the plate and knock down the shots." Finley on home court: "It will be different for us. I think losing the 1st game and then coming back and losing the 2nd game at home opened our eyes a little bit and it was good for us to get on the road and get that playoff mental attitude that we needed. I think the first 2 games we were just so lax, just comfortable to be at home. Thinking we would just walk out there on our home court and win. But Houston had other plans. You know, they had other plans and they came out with a lot of intensity and they worked hard for the 2 wins. But now we know what it takes to beat this team. We can't just come in and expect it to happen. We have to play hard for 48 minutes. And hopefully we won't get too relaxed at home." Jerry Stackhouse: "Hopefully, home will be a safe haven at some point in this series. I think the pressure has been on us and now that the series is even, the pressure should be about the same." Stackhouse on going back to Dallas: "You got to feel like home is going to be a safe haven at some point. It's time for us to step up and make a statement." Stackhouse on Terry's 3-pointer after nearly loosing the ball: "Karma. We get a bounce or 2, we'll take it." Stackhouse on Terry: "He's had his rough moments. But JT has persevered throughout everything. He's been our guy. We never played with Nash. The only guys who ever played with Nash were Michael Finley, Dirk, and Shawn Bradley. We came in with a fresh approach, not trying to ask him to be somebody he wasn't. Obviously, I think who he is is pretty damn good. It turned out good tonight, didn't it?" Jason Terry: "We had to take care of the ball down the stretch and we had to get stops. We knew if we got stops in the last 3 minutes, we could win this ball game." Terry on game 5: "We just got to come out and give our fans something good. Dallas, we're coming home, baby." Terry on the playoffs: "It's all the same. The game remains the same. It's still 94-feet, the goals are still 10-feet. I'm just coming out here and playing hard. Got to cut down on my turnovers, though. Every possession is critical." Terry on his 3rd quarter: "The thing that happened was they got the lead. They were making a run on us and we figured if we couldn't get stops, we at least had to score and match them. They were over-playing Dirk. I just wanted to be as aggressive as possible - get in the lane, create for others, or create something for myself. And things worked out for the best." Terry on the 4th quarter: "We just paid much more attention to detail. Coach Johnson has been on us. He's been preaching defense since he's taken over, even in training camp. And now it's a situation where the first 2 games we really didn't play our Maverick defense. And even still, tonight we came out with a win, but we only did it about, what, 4 or 5 minutes in the 4th quarter. So we're still waiting to see that good Maverick solid defense that we've been talking about." Terry on his 2nd half: "I thought it was perseverance. Coach took me out there towards the end of the 1st half. I had just uncharacteristic turnovers - probably a little too energized. But every possession is so critical in the playoffs that you just want to take care of the ball and make it easier. So if you can get a shot and then come back on defense and get a stop, and that just wasn't happening for me in the 1st half. I had a rough go at it. So I just said coming out into the 2nd half, I wanted to be as aggressive as possible and instead of turning it over, at least take the shot and give ourselves the opportunity." Terry on hitting the 3 after nearly turning it over: "There you go again, lost the ball. See, doing a lot of that tonight. But just a situation where Dirk stepped up. I turned the corner, lost it, came back up, lost it again, some how it tipped to Dirk and Dirk seen me wide open and he tapped it to me. And I knew it was good when it left my hands." Terry on being tight early in the series: "Coming into the 1st game, everyone wanted to make a big deal of it - my 1st playoff. I didn't really fell any anxiety or anything, any nervousness. I just felt that the level of play steps up. Teams scout you a lot differently. And every possession is so critical you just got to take care of the ball and just manage the game, especially as a point guard." Terry on calming his teammates down after he made the 3-pointer: "My message was to stay focus. This was a long game and going back to game 2 when Tracy hit the shot on us, I mean, you just have to stay focus, man, and hold your energy and emotions in until after the game. And then even still, you don't want to get too high in the playoffs and you don't want to get too low. It's a long series and we know we got game 5 back in Dallas. And we just want to stay focused, man. It's definitely a blessing. You know, the Lord was on our side tonight." Terry on going back to Dallas: "Yeah, there's definitely an advantage. I mean, home court is home court. But we can't count on that alone. We have to come out, play with energy. For us, it's come out and concentrate on the defensive end. A lot of times we miss shots and we let our offense dictate how we play on defense. So we just can't do that. We have to come out and play defense for 48 minutes." Terry on Finley: "Huge, huge. Mike's been a leader for us all year long. And I knew that coming into Dallas that this has been Mike's team for years. And himself and Dirk, they've been big, tremendous. Especially for me, a guy that hasn't been to the playoffs, like you said, he shares his experiences with me. And the 4th quarter came - the last 2 games - it was 3 minutes left and Mike's in the huddle like it's not over, you know, stay focused, we're down 6 and we aint played good all night, we're right here, so just persevere and it's going to work out. So we have a tremendous belief in ourselves and the system." Terry on his 3-pointer late in the game: "I knew it was good as soon as it left my hands. It's something you dream about as a kid on the playground. This is what the NBA is all about." Terry on his 3-pointer: "It just ended up in my hands. I just took the shot and it happened to go in. I feel confident and comfortable that I can knock it down. Having the ball in my hands at the end of the game is great." Terry: "Somebody has got to take the pressure off of Dirk and Michael. Teams focused on them a lot in the regular season and we know they're going to be on them even more in the playoffs." Josh Howard on tipping the ball out off of McGrady after Stackhouse's missed free throw: "It was just me being sneaky. Coming around taking a chance. I poked it out. He tried to reach back for it, and it went out on him. It's just something I do." Howard: "I just took a chance poking at it and hoped. He reached back and that was it." Howard: "I saw the ball bounce off his hand. Most likely it surprised him that I was behind him, because he didn't know where I was." Howard on how many times out of 10 that play would have worked: "Probably just that one. I think he took his eye off it. He probably wasn't expecting me to be coming. 1 in 10. It was meant to be for some strange reason." Alan Henderson: "I just try to be prepared, and when you're name is called, do the best you can for however long you can." Jeff Van Gundy on the 4th quarter problems: "Not just the 4th quarter, it was the start of the game again. Just not enough poise under pressure, not just the last quarter. It's why we keep starting in a hole. And our defense is - the small lineup has proven some what at times, playing small has proven some what at times beneficial on offense, but defense, we don't have enough presence individually or team right now being able to guard the ball." Van Gundy on Yao's shots being limited: "I think, what did he have, 7 tonight plus 10 free throws, so if you add that another 5 shots, that's 12 in 25 minutes. Foul trouble is the biggest problem. No, but they're defending the post well. But when you have 18 turnovers in a game, you're going to have so few shots that's going to limit you. And he had 5 turnovers and Tracy had 5 turnovers, so that's 10 possessions. And if you count a point a possession - which it is or a little bit more - you're giving away a lot of opportunities to score. We got to handle the ball better. But we're just not poised enough right now. All through the game, we're not playing the way we would like to be playing right now." Van Gundy on Terry: "Our team defense and our individual defense really throughout the game was very, very poor - recognition, awareness, to individual tendencies, and also then tendencies team-wise what we're supposed to do. It was just very poor defense. And if you look at him, he's been a dominant player throughout the series. And one of the most critical plays is he gets a tip in and we're just standing there. It's disturbing." Van Gundy on McGrady and turnovers: "No, Tracy, he's got the ball in his hands so much right now, he's going to have some mistakes. I mean, you're asking a guy to defend their best player in the post. It's a wearing process. I just think at the start of these 2 home games, he's tried to do so well that he's been a little bit frantic. And then as the game's worn on, he's played very well. So I mean, his turnovers - our transition defense is bad, we're just not playing well enough to win. They're out-playing us right now. And we out-played them in the first 2 games. So we got what we deserved when we went down there, which was 2 wins. We got what we deserved here, which is 2 losses. There is no reason to be down. We're 2-2. We should be determined to get it right, play a good game, and live with the result. But we got to play a good game first. We haven't played correctly these last 2 games." Van Gundy on McGrady defending Nowitzki: "I wanted to start the way I wanted to start because when they downsize they're is no great matchup for Scott. So we started that way and then we brought Ryan in. But I wanted someone to guard Stackhouse too because we had a heck of a lot of problems with Stackhouse individually. Well, frankly, we had a lot of trouble with their whole perimeter - you know, Stackhouse, Finley, Terry." Van Gundy if McGrady defending Nowitzki is wearing McGrady down in the 4th quarter: "I don't know. I mean, I don't think like stuff like that. We got to play. You got to be in the game in the 4th quarter." Van Gundy on control of the series: "I don't get into those cliches, control, not control. It's 2-2. It doesn't matter how you get to 2-2. It's 2-2. I think coming into the series, most people thought it was very close. It's proven to be close. I'm sure they were disappointed with their first 2 games. We were happy with the 1st one. We weren't quite as happy with the 2nd one. And we're disappointed with how we played the 3rd and 4th games, in large part due to a lot of the things they're doing as well. They've made a lot of good plays to make us not play as well. So it's not really about control. Control implies that's going to have some impact on the next game and it's not. You go to 4 games, who ever gets there first wins the series. You've got to play well to win and they've certainly out-played us the last 2 games. That doesn't mean that we can't play better. We certainly think we can." Van Gundy and McGrady's passes to Yao: "Yao was looking for them. He dropped the ball. Happens." Tracy McGrady on loosing the ball after Stackhouse's missed free throw: "I got the rebound and the ball was just basically knocked out of my hands. He said it hit me. [question: did it hit you?] No, not at all." [replays showed it did] McGrady on the call: "Man, it's heartbreaking. Because Jerry Stackhouse is a great free throw shooter and it's very rare that he'd miss free throws like that. So that put us down 2. All I was thinking was just another situation that we weren't going to call timeout, was just going to push the ball up and just trying to get the best shot. But that call, it was just heartbreaking." McGrady on Houston's offense in the 4th quarter: "Basically these last few games is coming down to who executes, who does a great job of defending, who takes care of the ball, and who wants it more. And right now those guys want it more than us. They're doing a great job of coming down, getting great shots, having us panic on offensive end. We're just not getting the best shots and right now it's really hurting us. 88-82 again, I can't believe it." McGrady: "Do I have enough help? Absolutely. I wouldn't be in this situation if I didn't have enough help. My guys are going out there and competing. I just think right now everybody wants it so bad, but we're just not staying poised. We're not poised on the defensive end or on the offensive end. At times we're not taking care of the ball. When those guys double-team me and deny me the ball, it's like, what do we do now? And that's been situations late in games." McGrady on control of the series: "They have a little bit of momentum because they ran off 2 in a row. But, no, I feel it's an even series now. It's back to 0-0. They did to us what we did to them and that's knock us off on our home court. We just got to go back, we got to concentrate on game 5 and hopefully we can get that one - I think the most important game of the series for either team." McGrady on if there is an advantage to playing in Dallas: "We don't know. With those guys beating us 2 times in a row, who know what kind of confidence they have now. I don't know. I just know we're pretty confident on the road and there's less distractions." McGrady on getting only 5 shots in the 4th quarter: "It's mostly them denying me the ball, taking the ball out of my hands, trapping, switching at times. So they did a pretty good job during the 4th quarter preventing me from getting comfortable, getting in great situations for me to score, and to put my teammates to score. So I give them credit. They did a great job of that down the stretch of the game. But when teams do that, we've gone over it time and time again to counter when teams do that, and right now we're just not doing that." McGrady: "You know what, Dallas won the ball game, no doubt about that. But we beat ourselves. There is no question about that - we beat ourselves. Because we didn't do the proper things down the stretch of that ball game for us to win. We had control of the game. Both nights, we had control of the game. But when those guys up the pressure, we don't keep our poise, we don't execute, we don't be in the right spots, we don't take care of the ball - and they do that. They've done it the last 2 games, that's why they've won. So it's just we have to look at the film and realize we're in control of the game. It's right there for us to take. We got to do a better job of closing it out." McGrady on defending Nowitzki: "Well we changed the starting lineup. Ryan Bowen came off the bench and Scott Padgett started, so that put me on Dirk. it's a difficult matchup. The guy has 5 or 6 inches on me, so it's like putting a small guy on me, you just shoot right over him. But I'm just trying everything in my will to make everything tough for him." McGrady on Terry: "We know Jason Terry from the past. I've seen him because I was in the East last year and I've faced him numerous times when he was in Atlanta. I know he can score and I know he can shoot the ball. And tonight he showed that. Dirk was struggling a little bit and he was the guy that stepped up. And he hit some real crucial big shots. There was one possession where I switched onto him, I think we were down 1, I switched onto him. He kind of lost the ball. I knocked the ball out, Ryan Bowen and him was kind of tussling with the ball, it went up in the air, Dirk got the ball. We sunk down, he kicked it out to Jason Terry and hit a big 3 that put them up 4. That was a big possession." McGrady on Yao: "You know what, we tried to search Yao out. It's difficult to search him out when he has a small guy on him, because it's kind of easy to move their feet and kind of front Yao and sometimes they bring an extra guy over, so it's hard to get the ball into him. But when we got the ball, when we searched him out and got the ball in there, he delivered. So some how, some way, we have to search him out a little bit more and get the guy the ball. He has to take more than 7 or 8 shots, or how many shots he took tonight, because if he doesn't produce, if we don't get the ball - regardless of what I do - we're not going to win." Yao Ming: "First of all, I need to stay out of foul trouble. That way I get more minutes on the court." David Wesley: "It's very disappointing, the way we finished these last 2 games. It's 2 blown opportunities." Wesley: "It's a very disappointing way to finish 2 playoff games. Maybe it was guys taking chances, doing things they don't normally do. Maybe it's pressure. I don't know. It was just 2 blown opportunities." Wesley: "The last two games we've been up 88-82, and just completely off offensively. We just haven't put the ball in the basket." Wesley: "We were awful, awful in the last 6 minutes. The last 2 games we were at 88-82 and just completely off offensively. We haven't put the ball in the basket. Bad possessions. Turnovers. A 20-0 run [Thursday] and a 15-5 run at the end of the game [Saturday]. If it's panic or whatever it is, we didn't execute. We were awful finishing this game tonight the way we finished game 3. Awful." Wesley on Yao: "We're letting everybody drive to the basket, which gets him in foul trouble. And we have to search for him more. If he can stay out of foul trouble and stay on the floor, then hopefully he'll get more shots." Mike James on giving McGrady help: "Great players have to be able to play both ends of the court and he's doing great. He's doing a great job. He just has to have help from the supporting cast. We have a real good supporting cast and we just have to be able to help him on both ends. We just can't ask Tracy to do everything all the time. He's a superstar and he's playing like a superstar right now. But he has to have his supporting cast. The greatest of teams, they had not just their star but they also had their cast of players coming through also. We have to step it up." Ryan Bowen on the loose ball prior to Terry's 3-pointer: "I had it, and I ended up hitting it up in the air. I felt I was just getting ready to grab it. If I do anything else, hit it down, do anything but what we did, we probably get that ball." Game 4: Dallas Mavericks 97, Houston Rockets 93 at Houston (April 30) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 26 22 29 20 - 97 .462 .450 .458 .815 Houston 22 29 26 16 - 93 .527 .294 .472 .769 Halftime: Houston 51-48 3rd Q: 77-77 Technicals: none Refs: Dick Bavetta, Jim Clark, Luis Grillo Attendance: 18,211 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Keith Van Horn (sprained left ankle) Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 43 8-13 2-6 0-0 18 0-3 0 1 1 3 0 Jason Terry 41 11-18 6-8 4-4 32 1-4 3 5 1 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 43 4-14 1-1 9-9 18 1-7 6 1 3 1 1 Josh Howard 30 3-11 0-2 2-3 8 2-3 4 1 3 1 0 Erick Dampier 18 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 3-5 0 0 6 0 1 Jerry Stackhouse 31 3-10 0-2 4-6 10 1-6 2 3 3 2 0 Marquis Daniels 18 1-1 0-0 3-5 5 0-2 2 4 1 0 0 Alan Henderson 12 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 2-2 0 0 4 1 0 Devin Harris 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 48 33-72 9-20 22-27 97 10-32 17 17 22 8 2 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK David Wesley 40 3-7 1-2 0-1 7 1-4 3 0 3 3 0 Bob Sura 24 2-6 0-1 1-2 5 0-2 1 0 3 2 0 Tracy McGrady 45 13-26 3-9 7-8 36 1-6 5 5 2 1 1 Scott Padgett 18 2-3 1-1 0-0 5 1-3 1 2 4 0 0 Yao Ming 25 6-7 0-0 8-10 20 3-5 0 5 5 0 5 Mike James 28 3-11 0-2 1-1 7 2-4 4 3 4 1 1 Jon Barry 24 2-6 0-2 2-2 6 0-5 1 0 1 1 0 Dikembe Mutombo 20 2-3 0-0 1-2 5 3-7 0 2 4 1 1 Ryan Bowen 16 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 1 2 0 0 Totals 48 34-72 5-17 20-26 93 11-37 15 18 28 9 8 patricia Go Mavs!