Josh Howard sprained his right ankle during the 1st quarter of game 1. The MRI reveled a right ankle bone bruise and he is listed as day-to-day. Raja Bell suffered a strained left calf during the 4th quarter of game 1. He is listed as out for game 2 and Phoenix is making no predictions for his status for the rest of the series (he did not undergo an MRI as the team said it would not affect the treatment they would give him). Shawn Marion tweaked his left ankle late in the game, but he will play. Prior to game 1, Dallas activated Josh Powell and placed DJ Mbenga on IL. Powell did not play in game 1. Game 1: Phoenix at Dallas (May 24) Phoenix opened the game looking like they were ready to roll and Dallas looked like they were still back in San Antonio. 3-pointers by Tim Thomas surrounded a layup by Devin Harris to give Phoenix a 14-10 lead with 8:10 left and Avery Johnson called an early timeout. Dallas followed the timeout with a quick turnover and Shawn Marion got a dunk on the break. A 3-point play by Boris Diaw gave Phoenix a 21-14 lead with 7 minutes to go as the Suns shot 8-10 FG to open the game. Phoenix was keeping to their quick pace as only 1 shot in their first 11 attempts (including one that resulted in free throws) came with more than 12 seconds run off the shot clock (and that one being 16 with seconds off the clock). Dallas did score the next 5 points to pull within 19-21 with 5:45 to go, but they had lost Josh Howard with 6 minutes left due to a sprained ankle and he did not return. Dallas' defense continued to be lax and a 3-point play by Steve Nash gave Phoenix a 29-21 lead with 3:30 remaining. Harris scored 6 straight points to again pull Dallas within 2 points, but Phoenix scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Phoenix led 35-29 after 1. Shawn Marion had 12 points including 5-6 FG and Tim Thomas had 10 points. Phoenix shot 13-24 FG and Dallas shot 10-22 FG and the Suns out-scored Dallas 14-2 in fastbreak points in the quarter and Dallas had brain farts in not quickly getting back on defense at times, even on made baskets. Diaw hit a jumper to open the 2nd quarter to again give Phoenix an 8 point lead. The teams traded 2 points and Dallas then scored the next 6 points to pull within 37-39 with 8:45 left. A jumper by Nash with 7:45 to go ended Phoenix's 3:20 shooting drought. Phoenix was able to hang on to a single-digit lead as Dallas was unable to get closer than 2 points. A layup by Nash and hook shot by Diaw gave Phoenix a 55-48 lead with 3:10 remaining. Jerry Stackhouse then converted a 3-point play, Raja Bell hit 1-2 FT, and Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer to pull Dallas within 54-56 with 2:10 left. Phoenix led 62-58 at the half. Nash had 12 points in the 2nd quarter. For the half, Phoenix shot 54% FG and Dallas shot 50% FG and Phoenix had 20 fastbreak points and Dallas had 4. Both teams were taking the ball inside as each had 36 points in the paint. Dallas was still unable to stop Phoenix, but it was the Devin Harris show for the Mavs as he scored 11 of Dallas' first 13 points of the 3rd quarter. Phoenix led 73-69 with 7:45 remaining and Harris drove for 2, missed the extra free throw but Dirk Nowitzki got the rebound and then got a layup, and Keith Van Horn (finally) hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas their first lead of the game at 76-73 with 7 minutes left. Phoenix called a timeout and Nash missed a shot and Van Horn got a layup to give Dallas a 5 point lead. Phoenix answered with a layup and 2 buckets by Diaw to go back up at 79-78 with 5:20 remaining. The game stayed close the rest of the quarter with 5 lead changes and 4 ties. A 3-point play by Diaw gave Phoenix a 91-87 lead with 2 minutes to go, but they would not score again in the quarter and Dallas scored the last 8 points of the quarter, capped by a jumper by Stackhouse at the quarter buzzer, to go up 95-91 after 3. Harris had 13 points and Diaw had 13 points in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix shot an impressive 11-16 FG in the 3rd quarter, but Dallas had 11 more attempts and shot 16-27 FG and out-rebounded Phoenix 13-6 including 6-1 offensive. Dallas out-scored Phoenix 37-29 in the 3rd quarter. Stackhouse drove for 2 and Marquis Daniels converted a 3-point play to give Dallas their largest lead at 100-91 with 11:15 to go. A bucket by Eddie House with 11 minutes left ended Phoenix's 3 minute scoring drought. A dunk by Tim Thomas off the break pulled the Suns within 103-106 with 6:45 left, but Nowitzki converted a 3-point play on Dallas' next possession. Raja Bell suffered a strained calf with 5:30 to go and had to be helped from the court and did not return. Harris converted a 3-point play with 3:45 remaining to give Dallas 114-105 lead. It then became the Steve Nash show as Nash hit 2 free throws, neither team scored over a minute, Nash nailed a 3-pointer, Jason Terry hit 2 free throws, Nash drove for the ridiculous flip shot just ahead of the outstretched arms of Nowitzki and the shot hit about as high off the glass as you can get and went in, Adrian Griffin lost the ball inside, and Nash nailed another 3-pointer to complete the 10-2 Nash run to pull Phoenix within 115-116 with 1:05 to go. Harris drove with Nash riding his hip and Harris was called for an offensive foul (should have been no call either way) with 55 seconds left. In a pick-and-roll, Nash feed Marion for the easy dunk to give Phoenix a 117-116 lead with 44 seconds to go. Dallas called timeout. Stackhouse drove, but as he turned the corner at the baseline, the ball bounced off his knee and went out of bounds with 39 seconds left. Phoenix brought the ball up and ran some time off the clock setting up a play. Diaw drove, but Van Horn got a piece of his layup attempt and Nowitzki grabbed the ball with 22 seconds remaining. Dallas did not call a timeout and took forever to get a shot. Nowitzki passed to Stackhouse on the wing and Stackhouse made the cross-court pass to Harris and Harris nailed the 18-footer to put Dallas up 117-116 with 4.8 seconds to go and Phoenix called timeout. The ball was inbounded to Thomas and he passed to Diaw in the post, who was being defended by Stackhouse, and Diaw spun baseline and faked and nailed the 5-footer to give Phoenix the lead with .5 seconds left. Dallas called timeout (their last) and moved the ball to halfcourt. Daniels was the inbounder and none of the Mavs could get open and with the 5-second count running out, he passed to the baseline but Nowitzki hadn't stepped towards from the baseline and the ball went out of bounds. Phoenix called timeout to move to halfcourt. Dallas fouled on the inbounds and the refs took sometime to set the clock at .2 seconds. Thomas hit 2 free throws. Without a timeout, Nowitzki's long pass was touched by Phoenix and time expired. Phoenix won 121-118. Phoenix leads the series 1-0. Though the game stayed close throughout, it wasn't a good game by Dallas and they have a lot to work on. Basically, they played Phoenix's game. Phoenix likes to run and Dallas seemed to forget that at points and didn't get back on defense and the Suns took advantage with 32 fastbreak points. At times Dallas got sucked in to taking quick outside shots, which Phoenix likes because of the long rebounds - Dallas shot 3-16 3-pointers. Phoenix played well at the end of the game and Dallas did not. Phoenix closed the game with a 16-4 run over the last 3 1/2 minutes of the game as Dallas shot 1-4 FG and committed 4 turnovers. Just a bad game by Dallas and they got the loss they deserved. Not much defense played either way and both teams took the ball inside. Dallas had 74 points in the paint and Phoenix had 72 points in the paint - neither Dallas or an opponent had scored 70+ in the paint in 05-06. As a result of all the openings inside, Phoenix wasn't the 3-point shooting team they usually are. The Suns shot 5-15 3-pointers, with 5 3-pointers made being the fewest they've made in the playoffs thus far. For the game, Phoenix shot 55.3% (47-85) FG and 22-29 FT and Dallas shot 50.5% (47-93) FG and 21-23 FT. Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 48-38 including 18-12 offensive - Dallas has out-rebounded their opponent in all 12 playoff games. Dallas had 26 2nd chance points and Phoenix had 6 2nd chance points, but Phoenix out-scored Dallas 32-12 in fastbreak points. Phoenix almost doubled Dallas' assist numbers with Phoenix having 24 assists and Dallas having 13 assists. The largest lead by Phoenix was 8 points and the largest lead by Dallas was 9 points. It was the Steve Nash and Boris Diaw show. Nash was stellar and he made a couple of his circus shots. He scored 10 of his 27 points during a 2 1/2 minute stretch late in the 4th quarter that got Phoenix back in to the game. His 16 assists were 3 more than Dallas had as a team - and he had just 3 turnovers. Nash shot 11-18 FG and also had 5 rebounds. Dallas had no answer for Diaw and Devin Harris often ended up guarding him when Phoenix ran the pick-and-roll and Dallas switched and Diaw feasted on that mismatch. Diaw had a career high (including regular season) 34 points on 13-23 FG and 8-10 FT and had 6 rebounds. Shawn Marion had a double-double with 24 points including 10-15 FG and 13 rebounds. He also had 3 steals and 3 blocks. 10 of Tim Thomas' 17 points came in the 1st quarter. He also had 7 rebounds. Raja Bell was fairly quiet with just 8 points and 1 rebound in 35 minutes before leaving with his injury. Phoenix didn't get much from their bench (which has to be a concern with the loss of Bell) - just 3 players with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists in 53 minutes. Leandro Barbosa had 3 points on 1-7 FG and 1-4 FT, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers in 35 minutes. James Jones made his only attempt for 2 points and had 2 rebounds in 10 minutes. Eddie House had 6 points and 2 assists in 8 minutes. Kurt Thomas, who's been out a long time recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot, dressed but did not play. The Mavs wasted a great game by Devin Harris. Harris attacked the basket often in trying to make Steve Nash work on defense. Harris had a career high (including regular season) 30 points including 12-17 FG in 30 minutes. He also had 2 offensive rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 steals. Dirk Nowitzki had a stellar rebounding night with 19 boards, including 8 offensive (a really high number for him). He had 25 points on 8-18 FG (started 1-4 FG in the 1st quarter) and 9-10 FT. Josh Howard looked to be having another of his strong 1st quarters and had 6 points on 3-4 FG before leaving with his sprained ankle 6 minutes into the game. Jason Terry had a poor shooting night in shooting 6-17 FG including 1-5 3-pointers. He had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers. The Mavs mostly played without a center, but Erick Dampier did well when he was in. Damp had 6 points on 3-4 FG and 5 rebounds including 3 offensive in 17 minutes. DeSagana Diop did not play, coach's decision. Jerry Stackhouse contributed 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists off the bench. Keith Van Horn played the "center" roll a lot, but shot far too many 3-pointers (some of them were good looks, but they were also playing into Phoenix's hands). Van Horn had 7 points on 3-11 FG and 1-7 3-pointers and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes. With Howard out, Adrian Griffin and Marquis Daniels saw more playing time. Griffin had 4 points on 2-3 FG and 6 rebounds in 27 minutes and Daniels had 9 points on 3-4 FG and 3-3 FT in 15 minutes. Darrell Armstrong missed his 2 attempts and had 2 rebounds and 1 great block in preventing a breakaway layup in 8 minutes. [Ref note: Since I've been complaining about the refs lately, I thought I'd point out that I didn't have a problem with this crew and thought they did an okay job. Sure, I was unhappy with the offensive foul called on Devin Harris late in the game and a couple of other calls, but refs will make mistakes. Most of the game the refs were hardly noticed, their calls didn't seem to be favoring one team or the other, and they weren't whistle happy.] Quotes [D'Antoni's, Nash's, Diaw's, Johnson's, and Nowitzki's quotes transcribed by me] Mike D'Antoni: "Another normal night in the NBA. That's a heck of a game and both teams up and down and we really wanted to make the last shot. And that about sums it up. They played well and we shot the ball pretty good. You know, 55%, but we can shoot it better. But a lot of heart, a lot of desire, and came up with the big plays at the end." D'Antoni on Bell: "He strained something. We hope it's a strain. Could be worse, could be better. We'll see tomorrow with the swelling. And we'll do every thing we can to rehab him and get him back, but we don't know." D'Antoni on Diaw: "Which is unbelievable. I'm standing out there, someone said he had 34. I had no idea. Usually I have a sense, though he's a little bit like Shawn Marion, I have no sense in what they're doing. And, you know, it's funny, I felt so bad for him because the next to last play, when he kind of scribbed it up there. He comes back, 'My fault, guys; my fault, guys.' He said it 15 times to everybody. 'My fault, guys; my fault.' And he goes down and hits the big shot. You know just, at one point there was a label on him that he was a soft non-competitive player. That's who we got from Atlanta. And I'm telling you what, he's just the opposite. That's why it's easy, this league is easy to put labels on people, and that's a lot of times definitely not even close to the truth. He's one of the best competitive guys we have, most competitive guy. And just an intelligent basketball player that knows how to play and couldn't happen to a nicer guy, that's for sure." D'Antoni on what he told his team about Dallas making a run: "Just hang in there. We turned it over a few times. And again, you're right, sometimes I get mad at the guys because we didn't hold them off, but the Mavericks are too good not to make a run. They're too good not to put us in some kind of position where we're going to have to make some big shots or big plays, and we came through. So we're just trying to hold it in there and some breaks go against us and then some for us. And if you can weather those storms - we were just scoring enough points and at a clip that I thought we could win if we could just come up with a few stops or if they just didn't make a few shots. I mean, it's a pretty simple game sometimes." D'Antoni on Marion limping and if he's okay: "Hope so. Hope so. Needs to be." D'Antoni on if Diaw was the option for the last play: "No. Steve Nash, but they knew the play. They scouted us. I read it one time about 5 months ago and they figured it out and they were yelling down there, Steve, you'll have to ask them, but Steve said he saw them yell. So when Boris got the ball, he was to pass through a backdoor to Steve. Steve said, 'Go Boris' and Boris took it and scored." D'Antoni on Harris in the 3rd quarter: "By driving to the basket, his speed, quickness. You know, he's dangerous. He goes. And sometimes out of control. But he definitely brought them back and then did a great job, it's not surprising. He did it a lot against San Antonio the same way. So, we'll try to figure out a little bit to slow him down, but he's a heck of a player." D'Antoni halftime: "[audio glitch] I though we could hit some shots. We had a couple of lulls and the layup came out at the end, so we could have been up 10 points easily; and that would have been about right." D'Antoni on mismatches: "And they, I'm sure, will have to try to figure out the pick-and-roll. And we're going to keep doing it until they figure it out or whatever. But Boris was really good; and the whole 2nd half, obviously, I didn't know that, but he was. And what the guy's done is incredible." D'Antoni on the tempo: "Oh yeah, we're going to do that, we're doing that. We're throwing the ball all over the place. You know, you guys better duck sometimes because it's coming. And if we make shots and they have that energy we had tonight and make big shots, we'll be okay." D'Antoni on problems with the game: "We'll always feel that way, we're coaches. We need to feel that way. I'm sure the players think, they're feeling pretty good. But our job's half done here. We wanted to come here and get 2. We think we can and we're going to come back and lace them up in a couple of days. So we'll be ready to go." Steve Nash on his 10 points in the 4th: "I think late in the game, you definitely don't want to pass up opportunities and you have to be aggressive. And for much of the 2nd half I was trying to facilitate our other guys and take mismatches into the post and our guys were playing great down there, so I really wanted to let them go for it. But late, especially when they got the 9 point lead, it was important to make some shots and be aggressive. So, I guess in a way, I tried to be a little more aggressive late." Nash on Diaw: "Boris was amazing. You know, I'm very, very proud of him. He's just getting better and better. And he's doing it on a big stage now. So it's exciting to see a young guy to really want the ball and to be fearless, you know, when it counts. Obviously he had a terrific game and then made a big shot for us. So I'm really proud of him." Nash on Harris: "He was great. Stretches he kept them in it. He's really a terrific penetrator and got to the free throw line, I think, a few times and finished around the basket. He had a great game." Nash on respect: "I don't know. We're really not concerned with it. I don't know if we'll ever really get respect unless we win the thing. It's not important to us. You know, we feel good about ourselves. We feel like we've overcome a lot of adversity this year to be where we are. And we want to see how good we can get." Nash on their last play: "Well I saw their bench basically yelling out what exactly was going to happen, so I was like, okay plan B. I was about to call timeout, but then I thought Boris was playing great and, you know, if Tim could get it to him, let Tim get it to him and I won't crowd him and go in there and make a crowd. And if he couldn't, Tim would have called timeout or I would have called timeout. But he got it inside to him and Boris made a heck of a play." Nash on tempo: "I don't know if I can say that we dictated the pace of the game because they were pretty successful tonight too. Obviously you wouldn't be talking about the tempo if we hadn't made that last shot. So, you know, they're more than capable with their speed and their depth to play at that pace as well. You know, it's not necessarily a case where we dictated the tempo. We happened to win by 1 basket. It's a tempo we're very comfortable with, but I think they're pretty comfortable with obviously to play at that speed too." Nash on game 2: "I think there will be a lot of adjustments. It's difficult to say what's going to happen. You got to make the most of whatever defense they decided to play. If they're going to take away 3-point shots, you know, we got to make them pay in other ways. So, we'll see. We'll see what transpires. It's going to be a long series. And it's going to be very important for us to be able to read and react to how they play us." Shawn Marion: "It was a great game and we had to make some adjustments in the game and they had to do the same thing. We got some stops at the end of the game and pulled it out." Marion on Diaw's last shot: "Boris hit a big, tough shot right there. You know I think he had it going and I'm glad it went in. They got a big turnover down there when we went down there and it was over with." Boris Diaw on Phoenix's last play: "Actually that wasn't a play for me. When we started this play, I was more of the 2nd option. We drew a play for Steve, but that's a play we did maybe 2 or 3 times during the season and I think Dallas saw it and they knew what we was about to do. And when Tim Thomas got the ball, the coach from the [Dallas] bench said what was going to happen and that Steve was about to backdoor to get a layup. So he [Nash] kind of stopped the play right here, but Tim Thomas didn't see that they knew. So we kept doing the play and when I had the ball, Steve couldn't backdoor any more because they knew what we was about to do. And with the seconds going down, I had to take the shot." Diaw on Nash in the 4th: "I mean, you know, that's what he's doing. Steve, he's just great player, he's going to do what he has to do to win the games. Sometimes he's going to be making big shots at the end of the game and sometimes he's going to be just creating to find the open man." Diaw on if the win gives Phoenix respect: "Of course. I mean you know, every time we hear something about us, it's yeah, we're a little underrated, I think. Everybody say it wasn't [??] the playoffs, maybe, when Amare got hurt and then it was about losing against the Lakers and then against the Clippers. And now everybody says we're going to lose against the Mavs. So, we just going to take the game one by one and see what's going to happen." Diaw on fitting in Phoenix: "I think maybe the fact that the coach been playing and coaching in Europe, he kind of knew they way I was playing and looking on the basketball. And he just give me his trust and his confidence. And he also came with my teammates. And just the way we play. I like the way we play - the first team in assists in the NBA. Very unselfish team. And I really enjoy to play like this." Diaw on this time last year: "A year ago I was in France right now on the French Riveria, so it's really different. I really, you know, enjoy being here. And, you know, it's been a big difference and I just take the challenge and try to help my team going as further as possible." Diaw on if Dallas was trying to take away the 3-pointers: "Of course, I think they stayed home and that's why we had so many looks inside, because they didn't want to help that much. And we had many drives and many postups with them staying on the 3-point shooters. So it's been working out a little for us. We had the lead for about 3 quarters. That we just got to kind of do the same thing, I think. I think it's on their part to adjust." Raja Bell on his injured calf: "I had to shoot a quick jumper and I was retreating a little bit. I went to go for [the ball] - because it was a long rebound - and I felt like somebody shot me with a paintball." Bell on his injured calf: "Its pretty painful right now. I never really experienced something like that. I thought someone threw something at me from the stands. But then it started to burn and right now it's pretty sore. So right now I've got to be pretty optimistic because I want to play, but we'll see in the morning. It's pretty stiff and sore right now." Bell on his calf injury: "I felt it pop. It's pretty painful. But I've got to be optimistic. I want to play. We'll see how it feels in the morning." Bell on Nash and Diaw: "Well they carried us. You know they were committed to staying home on the shooters and making Steve and whoever was in the 2-man game with him win the game, and those guys stepped up time and time again when we got down and carried us on their shoulders. So you can't say enough about them." Bell: "Nobody ever doubted. You know we were going to play it to the end and Steve and Boris made some huge plays, Shawn with the big dunk. We got some good stops. That's good for a win right there." Avery Johnson: "Well, tonight we weren't very good. They had a little bit more energy than what we did. Our defense wasn't very good. Obviously we scored enough points to win the game, but you know even though we had the lead we just couldn't hold the lead at the end. We didn't execute. So we were just bad tonight in a lot of different areas that we have to improve on in a hurry. We obviously had some pretty good offensive performance from some guys. But, again, defensively - Nash, too easy; Diaw, too easy. I know they're really good players, but we just got to play better defense. So we'll get back to work tomorrow and hopefully bounce back in game 2." Johnson on losing Howard: "Well, obviously it's a big void. You know, talk about a guy capable of getting 20 points and 10 rebounds, especially in a game like this. You know, his athleticism, you know, trying to have someone else to guard Marion. Marion is a tough cover because he's really athletic. So, again, we miss Josh but it's still no excuse. We still had a chance to win this game. And we had a lead with a couple of minutes to go and we just couldn't hold it." Johnson: "They were kind of burning us on the pick-and-roll. And, you know, there was some emergent situations where we had to switch. And Diaw was down there, we tried to trap him and get it out of his hands, but he split the traps and passed it, he moved it, so he burned us on that a couple of times. So we'll have to take a look at it see how we can be much more effective the next time." Johnson on Harris and making Nash play defense: "I think it's really important. We tried to do that. Devin was very effective. You know and then we tried to go to it late, and it was the strangest of situations. I've never seen a point guard turn the corner and get called for an offensive foul. But, so that was one of the turning points of the game right there on his offensive foul. He clearly had his man beat. But for some strange reason, you know, he got called for an offensive foul in that situation." Johnson on the tempo he wants: "I think we're still trying to find it, find what's good and what's bad. And we'll take a look at it tomorrow, because there's a tempo that we're comfortable with. But, again, if you told me, score 118 points and shoot 50% from the field, I think we have a really good chance to win. But our defense wasn't very good." Johnson on the end of the game: "Well, again, I just think it's a situation where we've talked about no lead is safe with these guys, and when you're in a situation like that Nash loves to go for the 3. And, you know, he did it. And we just didn't execute defensively on it." Dirk Nowitzki on if they let one get away: "Yeah, I mean, the last couple of minutes, I thought everything went wrong that could have gone wrong. You know, we couldn't get a stop. Nashy made a couple big shots. Diaw makes a tough turnaround. And on the offensive end, our execution was horrible. We didn't even get a shot up until all the way at the end until Devin made the though shot to get up a point. But just obviously not what we were looking for. And so obviously a very disappointing loss. Tough way to start the series with a loss at home. But, you know, we knew they were a good team and they never give up and they showed it again today." Nowitzki on if they can keep up with the fast tempo: "Well, I think so. Like I said, it took us a little bit at the beginning to adjust from the pace from last series to this series. And, you know, they had a couple of leak outs early and just had layups and layups on us. But I think once the 1st quarter was out of the way, I think we were fine. We got some stops we needed. Got a nice little cushion down the stretch. But then, like I said, the execution was terrible the last couple of minutes. So I think the pace was fine. We were right there. And we just couldn't get the job done in the last couple minutes." Nowitzki on Nash: "Well, he got open a couple of times and made some big shots, and that's what he does. He's the 2-time MVP. And he makes his teammates so much better. And, yeah, he played tough down the stretch. And I thought we made a lot of defensive mistakes, obviously. But, you know, we'll watch the film tomorrow. And you know, the playoffs are always a game of adjustments and we'll see what we come up with. But like I said, saying all of that, we made a lot of mistakes and we still should have won the game." Nowitzki on Harris: "He was big. I thought he was a little little nervous at the beginning. But then he really found his rhythm. He took it to the basket hard and finished. He made some big shots. He made the shot with 5 seconds to go. And he really looked confident that he could finish for us, and that was great. He had a couple of great games for us in the San Antonio series. And, you know, he's still a young guy, he's still learning. And he'll be a heck of a player in this league." Nowitzki on the 3 turnovers and if the ball was supposed to go through him: "Uh, let me think. Yeah, on the one it actually was. I don't know what that call was when Devin got that offensive foul. I didn't even see the play, I didn't see what happened. But I was supposed to postup on that play and make something happen for myself, for my teammates, and that was a tough whistle with a minute left." Nowitzki on Phoenix's last play: "Yeah, obviously we wanted to stay with their shooters; they're very, very dangerous. And Boris was big all night. I mean, he really took advantage of the switches. He got into a lane. I mean he had, what, 34 points in about 13 layups. I mean, he lived in the paint. And, yeah, he was big for them. And he really improved his game so much over the years and he's fun to watch. So for some reason he's always killing us already in the regular season. And we got to find a way to slow him down a little bit. Obviously, it hurt us a little bit that we lost Josh. You know, he's one of our primary defenders out there. So we'll see what his status is for next game." Josh Howard on his sprained ankle: "It hurts pretty bad." Jason Terry: "We didn't execute down the stretch. We had a 9 point lead with 3 minutes left. A couple turnovers, a couple blown defensive assignments, execution on both ends of the floor - all correctable errors. We will watch the tape tomorrow. Its disappointing we let one slip away. Terry: "The turnovers killed us. And defensively we blew a couple of assignments. We can't make critical mistakes at that point in the game." Terry on Harris: "Devin played real well. He was real aggressive attacking the ball to the basket and finishing strong inside." Terry on if the plan was to attack Nash: "That's the plan. You have to make him play on both ends of the floor. Give him credit; he didn't wear down. Give Diaw a lot of credit because he played well also." Terry on Phoenix's last play: "Thats the play we thought they would go to. Boris Diaw made a tough shot; a turnaround fade away and it went in. Jerry Stackhouse on his turnover late in the game: "We botched a few plays late in the game, and you can't do that. That was one of those botched plays." Stackhouse: "All we needed was a stop. But we had some malfunctions late." Stackhouse on Diaw's last shot: "You have to give him credit. He turned left, he turned right and he hit a tough little 12-foot shot." Stackhouse on losing Howard: "We miss everybody. With Josh, he would have been out there and given us another body who is an athlete. We had enough. But you talk a lot about what you miss when you lose." Marquis Daniels on the fast tempo: "Its a matter of adjustment. They were just quick enough tonight, but we still had our chances. We were right there. A couple mistakes down the stretch that were uncharacteristic of us. We just have to come in and get better." Daniels: "We had some mistakes. A couple things that we correct here and there and who knows how the game goes; we would be here talking about something different right now." Daniels on if Dallas was tired: "I don't think so. I don't think we had any problems with energy out there. We got off to a slow start because we were used to the Spurs pace of postups with Duncan. This game is a lot more pick-and-rolls, up-and-down; they got a lot of transition baskets early. We slowed that down in the 2nd half. That's all correctable." Game 1: Phoenix Suns 121, Dallas Mavericks 118 at Dallas (May 24) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 35 27 29 30 - 121 .600 .333 .553 .759 Dallas 29 29 37 23 - 118 .571 .188 .505 .913 Halftime: Phoenix 62-58 3rd Q: Dallas 95-91 Technicals: none Refs: Joe Forte, Bernie Fryer, Greg Willard Attendance: 20,789 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Kurt Thomas (stress fracture right foot) IL: Amare Stoudemire (Pho), DJ Mbenga (Dal) Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Steve Nash 40 11-18 2-5 3-3 27 1-5 16 3 2 0 0 Raja Bell 35 3-5 1-1 1-2 8 0-1 0 0 3 0 0 Shawn Marion 39 10-15 0-1 4-4 24 4-13 0 3 3 3 3 Tim Thomas 34 5-11 2-3 5-6 17 1-7 0 1 5 2 0 Boris Diaw 38 13-23 0-0 8-10 34 4-6 2 3 4 1 1 Leandro Barbosa 35 1-7 0-3 1-4 3 2-3 3 4 2 1 0 James Jones 10 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 0 0 0 Eddie House 8 3-5 0-2 0-0 6 0-1 2 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 47-85 5-15 22-29 121 12-38 24 15 20 7 4 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jason Terry 40 6-17 1-5 2-2 15 0-4 3 3 4 1 0 Devin Harris 30 12-17 0-0 6-7 30 2-2 2 3 5 5 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 8-18 0-0 9-10 25 8-19 2 3 2 1 0 Josh Howard 6 3-4 0-1 0-0 6 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Erick Dampier 17 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 3-5 1 0 2 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 35 7-13 1-2 1-1 16 1-4 3 3 4 1 0 Adrian Griffin 27 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 1-6 2 2 3 1 0 Keith Van_Horn 23 3-11 1-7 0-0 7 2-5 0 0 3 0 1 Marquis Daniels 15 3-4 0-0 3-3 9 1-1 0 2 0 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 8 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-2 0 0 2 0 1 Totals 48 47-93 3-16 21-23 118 18-48 13 16 26 9 2 patricia Go Mavs!