Phoenix at Dallas (February 26) Dallas was without Jerry Stackhouse and Phoenix was without Steve Nash. The game stayed close early on with both teams holding small leads. Consecutive 3-pointers by Phoenix followed by a dunk by Quentin Richardson gave Phoenix a 26-17 lead with 4:30 remaining, but their lead would not rise above single-digits. Phoenix led 38-31 after 1 as the Suns shot 62% FG including 5-10 3-pointers. Richardson had 12 points. Dallas opened the 2nd quarter with an 8-2 run to pull within 39-40 with 10:30 to go. Phoenix led 52-49 with 6:30 left and Dallas went on a 10-2 run to go up 59-54 with 4 minutes remaining. Dallas held a small lead the rest of the quarter and led 71-68 at the half. Jason Terry had 11 points in the 2nd quarter. Both teams shot 58% FG in the half. Michael Finley opened the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer, but Phoenix then scored the next 8 points to go up 76-74 with 9:50 left. Dallas scored 7 straight points to go up 94-87 with 3:50 remaining. Phoenix scored the last 4 points of the quarter. Dallas led 97-95 after 3. Shawn Marion scored 12 points in the 3rd quarter. The game stayed close in the 4th quarter with 7 ties and 5 lead changes. Dallas went on a 6-1 mini-run to go up 123-117 with 1:45 to go. Dirk Nowitzki stole the ball, but Finley put up a 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left on the shot clock and Phoenix came rushing back and Richardson got the quick 3-pointer to pull the Suns within 120-123 with 1:12 remaining. Keith Van Horn put up a 3-point attempt again with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Amare Stoudemire was fouled driving and his 2 free throws made it a 1 point game with 43 seconds to go. Nowitzki missed a short jumper with 22 seconds left. Van Horn gave him space and Joe Johnson drained the 17-footer with 4.7 seconds to go to give Phoenix the lead. After a Dallas timeout, the Mavs inbounded to a curling Nowitzki and he drove for what looked to be the game winner, but he got whacked on the head from behind by Marion and the ref held his whistle as Marion got the rebound off the "block" with a little over a second left. The Mavs were so stunned that the call was not made that no one intentionally fouled Marion and time expired. Phoenix won 124-123. It was a bad no-call, but it was only one of several reasons Dallas lost this game. They weren't smart about the clock in the last 2 minutes in taking 2 3-point attempts with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. They played poor defense on 2 of Phoenix's last 3 possessions. And they missed 9 free throws during the game, critical in a 1 point loss. Phoenix also missed 9 free throws, but Dallas is a better free throw shooting team and Phoenix was missing one of their best free throw shooters in Steve Nash. Phoenix scored the last 7 points of the game to get the win. Not surprisingly, it was a game that featured a lot of offense and not much defense. Phoenix shot 56.3% (49-87) FG including 8-20 3-pointers and Dallas shot 49.9% (46-94) FG including 7-21 3-pointers. Surprisingly for such a high scoring game, there were not very many assists. Phoenix had 20 assists and Dallas had 19 assists - that's 56 field goals made (114 points [2 3-pointers]) that were unassisted. Dallas had a season high 18 steals. It was the first time this season Dallas has lost a game when leading going into the 4th quarter (28-1). [Since I bash him so much, let me point out that the no-call was made by Courtney Kirkland and not Joey Crawford, who was reffing only his 2nd Mav game this season. Crawford didn't have a bad or biased officiating game for a change.] As usual, Phoenix got most of its production from its starters. As he has been in the previous 2 Mavs games, Dallas could not handle Amare Stoudemire. He had a game high 33 points on 13-20 FG (again, most of his misses came when he tried to shoot jumpers) and 7-10 FT. He also had 10 rebounds including 6 offensive, 3 blocks, and 5 turnovers. 12 of Quentin Richardson's 26 points came in the 1st quarter. He shot 10-18 FG, 4-9 3-pointers, and 2-6 FT and had 4 rebounds. Shawn Marion had a double-double with 25 points including 10-17 FG and 13 rebounds. He also had 4 steals. Joe Johnson had a nice outing with 18 points including the game winning jumper, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Leandro Barbosa filled in for Steve Nash and had 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists in 33 minutes. Walter McCarty had 9 points and 4 rebounds, Jim Jackson had 5 points including 1-4 FG and 5 assists, and Steven Hunter had 2 points off the bench. Jason Terry finally found his touch again after slumping over the last 5 games and had a Mavs' high 27 points including 11-17 FG to go with his 7 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was strong with 26 points including 9-12 FT, 16 rebounds including 4 offensive, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Josh Howard continued his solid play with 22 points [9th straight double-digit game] including 9-12 FG, 6 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 3 steals. Michael Finley ended his streak of 5 straight 20+ scoring games with just 13 points including 4-15 FG. He did have 3 steals, but just 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 39 minutes. DJ Mbenga got the surprising starting nod, but only lasted a handful of minutes at the start of the 1st and 3rd quarters and was never subbed back in. He had 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in 10 minutes. The 2nd surprise of the night was that newly acquired Keith Van Horn played 23 minutes. He only arrived in Dallas the previous afternoon and had just a light practice with the team. He played well for most of the game, but not the end as he took a quick 3-pointer and gave Joe Johnson too much space when Johnson hit the game winner. He had 10 points and 7 rebounds in his Mavs debut. Marquis Daniels chipped in 13 points in 22 minutes. Thanks to Terry's good play, Devin Harris only played 14 minutes and Darrell Armstrong only played 3 minutes. Quotes Mike D'Antoni: "We kept making shots. The last team that made the shot won. Joe Johnson hit the game winner, Q [Richardson] hit a big shot. Amare, we rode him for a while. Everybody contributed and played hard. I thought it was a great game." D'Antoni: "We have guys that aren't afraid to take a big shot. We had Shawn, Q and Joe all make big shots down the stretch. Shawn made a big block there at the end. It's been like that all year. We now have 4 or 5 guys who will take that last shot. We've got a lot of confidence." D'Antoni on the last play: "I thought it was a clean block. But I'm sure they don't feel that way." D'Antoni: "It's important if we tie, so I'll tell you in about 2 months. We've won 2 straight games without Steve and that's important for our psyche. It's important that Leandro to get in there, and it's important that we don't dwell on Steve not being in there. We're a better team with him in the lineup, but now he's gotten some rest and we won a big game without him." D'Antoni on Nash: "He'll probably sit out tomorrow - there's no reason in playing him 24 hours after we just rested him tonight. We have 3 days off after tomorrow night, so he'll rest 1 game and then he'll be ready." Shawn Marion on the last play: "Keith Van Horn set a screen, so Dirk had a step on me. He went up with it so fast and I was able to swipe it out of his hands. I hit the ball, I didn't foul him. They showed 3 angles on TV and it was all ball from behind. I didn't touch him, so they couldn't call a foul. He went up, lost the ball, and hit the rim with his hands and part of the ball. I got the rebound and after I straddled the baseline, I made the save to Joe. Van Horn set a great screen and I was able to recover quick enough to get the block. I saw the screen coming, so I had to do whatever I could to get back and recover." Marion on the last play: "He had a step on me. He went up for it so fast and I just swiped at it and knocked it out of his hands. Then I got the ball. I didn't foul him, it was all ball." Marion on the last play: "I thought he'd get it at the top of the key. I was going to get all up in [him]. I had to react. I wasn't going to let him get an easy dunk." Marion: "We just sucked it and made some big stops and big shots. This is how we've been on the road all year. If you can win on the road, you've got it made." Joe Johnson on his game winner: "I came off the pick and I had no intentions of passing, to be honest with you. Van Horn gave me a step, I hesitated a little bit, and then hit the short jumper. It was about 15-feet or so, I wasn't deep at all. Van Horn switched to me, but he gave me a cushion. I was able to pull up and it felt good when it left my hand. It was just one of those shots." Johnson on his game winner: "I came off Amare's pick and had no intentions of passing. Van Horn gave me a step so I just hesitated for a little bit and then pulled up for the sure jumper. He didn't really come out. He gave me about 2 feet." Johnson on his game winner: "When I got the switch, no doubt I was thinking shot. Those are great moments in the game that everybody lives for." Johnson: "It feels good, because with us not having our floor general in Steve Nash, we were lacking a little bit on defense. Offensively, we just wanted to move the ball and make plays. This is a good win for us." Don Nelson: "Well, it just doesn't seem fair. Stoudemire got 8 straight calls when he had the ball and we clearly got fouled on the last play and didn't get the call for our best player. You have to live with the hard losses and the big wins. I thought it was a really good basketball game; I was glad that I was here coaching it. We ran a terrific play at the end and got an even better look than we thought and we ended up getting a layup. It should be a 1 point win in our favor but its not." Nelson: "Well, we knew that without Henderson and Dampier that we had a void guarding Stoudemire, and Mbenga's just not ready to do that although he did all right. He's just too young to play very many minutes. But I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part. We double-teamed him and if it wasn't for the free throws, we'd be very happy; but every time he made a move it was a foul and thats what really lost us the game." Nelson: "I didn't think I was going to play Van Horn that many minutes. I thought he was really good and we really needed him. I've always known that he's been a good player. That's why we made the trade. It's his health that's really the issue. He does have a tendon problem, much like Marquis. Hopefully, they're both over it." Dirk Nowitzki on the last play: "Obviously, I thought I got fouled. But it shouldn't have come down to that play. We had a good lead but couldn't execute down the stretch. [The refs] could have called it or not called it. I thought I got hit." Nowitzki on the last play: "I was wide open for a layup to win the game. I tried to dunk it, but somehow he got a hand on it. I thought I got hit on the hand and the head, but they didn't call it." Nowitzki on the last play: "I was more open than I expected. I was wide open for a layup to win the game. I probably should have just shot a layup and we wouldn't be having this discussion. The game would have been over." Keith Van Horn: "It was a tough loss. I thought we made a great play at the end and unfortunately we didn't the call. That's the way it goes in this league. We kept things too close for too long and it really came back to hurt us." Van Horn on the end of the game: "We had a couple of offensive possessions that didn't go our way. I felt I probably should have drove the ball on that one when I took the jump shot and we had some good looks that we just didn't convert. We also had some situations throughout the game that we could have take care of that we failed to do and those are the plays that hurt you." Van Horn on Johnson's game winner: "He made a good shot. I contested it, but he knocked it down." Van Horn on Johnson's game winner: "I contested it and he knocked it down. That's all, you can give yourself the opportunity to try to make the block. The guy just made the shot." Van Horn on the last play: "At any other point in time, it's a foul. But sometimes, whistles get swallowed at the end of the game." Van Horn: "I started to feel more comfortable out there, especially in the 2nd half. I started to get a little more orientated with the offense and how these guys play, but it's going to take some time and I realize that. I'm just going to go out there and just try to play basketball." Van Horn on playing 23 minutes: "The players told me going in that you never know with Nellie what's going to happen." Van Horn: "We have a chance to go very far with this team. This is the best team I've been on since I went to the Finals with New Jersey. This team is probably more talented than that, so I really think that we can put this together and have a great 2nd half." Jason Terry: "It was definitely our game to win tonight. You can't win them all, but we'll learn from that one. Down the stretch, time and score is definitely the key. We just have to learn from it." Terry: "I don't know about the call at the end, but I just thought it was our game to take. We were right there even with 4 seconds left; we're still there to take it. It just didn't go our way tonight. In the 4th quarter we have been stepping up and playing well, winning these ball games and now we finally drop one so we know how it feels to be on the other side." Terry: "I just played aggressive. I wasn't myself the last 3 or 4 games. I hate to lose this one. This was a tough on to swallow." Terry on if Van Horn playing so many minutes was surprising: "No, that's the first thing we told him. Expect the unexpected. When you come here and have a uniform on, you will be called upon. He played big tonight. He still has to get use to what we are doing out there." Josh Howard on the last play: "It looked like a foul to me. They called the block, though. You've got to move on." Phoenix Suns 124, Dallas Mavericks 123 at Dallas (February 26) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 38 30 27 29 - 124 .612 .400 .563 .667 Dallas 31 40 26 26 - 123 .534 .333 .489 .727 Halftime: Dallas 71-68 3rd Q: Dallas 97-95 Technicals: Dallas defensive 3 seconds 9:43 2nd Refs: Courtney Kirkland, Joey Crawford, Mark Wunderlich Attendance: 20,435 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Steve Nash (strained left hamstring), Jerry Stackhouse (strained right groin) Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Quentin Richardson 40 10-18 4-9 2-6 26 0-4 1 2 2 2 0 Shawn Marion 41 10-17 1-2 4-5 25 2-13 0 2 4 4 1 Amare Stoudemire 37 13-20 0-0 7-10 33 6-10 2 5 3 0 3 Joe Johnson 40 8-14 0-1 2-2 18 1-6 6 4 3 1 0 Leandro Barbosa 33 3-8 0-3 0-0 6 1-4 6 3 4 1 0 Jim Jackson 25 1-4 1-1 2-2 5 0-4 5 2 4 0 0 Walter McCarty 20 3-5 2-4 1-2 9 1-4 0 1 2 0 0 Steven Hunter 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 1 0 1 Totals 48 49-87 8-20 18-27 124 11-45 20 19 23 8 5 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Josh Howard 42 9-12 0-1 4-4 22 4-6 2 2 1 3 0 Dirk Nowitzki 41 8-18 1-1 9-12 26 4-16 5 1 3 4 1 DJ Mbenga 10 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 0 1 0 1 Michael Finley 39 4-15 3-8 2-2 13 0-3 1 2 3 3 0 Jason Terry 34 11-17 3-7 2-2 27 0-2 7 0 4 3 1 Devin Harris 14 2-5 0-2 2-6 6 1-2 3 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 12 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 0-4 0 2 4 1 0 Marquis Daniels 22 6-13 0-0 1-3 13 2-3 0 4 3 4 0 Keith Van_Horn 23 4-9 0-2 2-2 10 2-7 1 1 5 0 1 Darrell Armstrong 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 46-94 7-21 24-33 123 15-45 19 12 24 18 4 patricia