Game 3: Phoenix at Dallas (May 13) The game stayed close earlier on with both teams holding small leads. Dallas scored 6 straight points to go up 18-13 with 6 minutes to go. Going back to the norm, Erick Dampier picked up 2 fouls in the first 4 minutes of the game and sat the rest of the quarter. Dallas led by as much as 6 points and led 27-22 with 2:10 remaining. Phoenix then scored the next 5 points to tie the game with 35 seconds left, but Dirk Nowitzki got a layup and Dallas pushed the ball after a Phoenix miss and Marquis Daniels got a slam dunk with 7 seconds to go to give Dallas a 31-27 lead after 1. Amare Stoudemire had 10 points. Both teams shot 50% FG in the quarter, but Dallas attempted 6 more shots thanks to a 15-6 rebounding edge, including 6-0 offensive. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter to take their largest lead at 35-27 with 10:20 remaining. But Dallas' shooting left them (and never returned) as Dallas shot a mere 4-21 over the rest of the quarter. Dallas led 38-31 with 9:20 to go and Phoenix scored the next 8 points to go up 39-38 with 7:30 left. Dallas did scored the next 5 points to re-take the lead and the game stayed close the rest of the quarter with the teams either tied or Dallas holding a small lead until the end of the quarter. The last 4 1/2 minutes of the game became a free throw fest with Dallas shooting 12 free throws and Phoenix shooting 4 free throws. A layup by Leandro Barbosa with 15 seconds left in the half gave Phoenix a 60-59 lead at the half. Stoudemire had 15 points in the 2nd quarter and Josh Howard had 9 points. Dirk Nowitzki struggled in the quarter in shooting just 1-7 FG. Phoenix shot 12-21 FG and 7-10 FT and Dallas shot just 6-24 FG but also shot 16-19 FT in the 2nd quarter. Michael Finley opened the 3rd quarter with a jumper, but Phoenix then went on a 12-2 run to go up 72-63 with 7 minutes remaining. Phoenix was not able to push their lead into double-digits, but Dallas was unable to pull any closer than 3 points. A long 2 (changed from a 3-pointer) by Steve Nash and a 3-pointer by Quentin Richardson gave Phoenix a 87-79 led with a minute to go, but Jerry Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer as the quarter neared an end - Dallas first 3-pointer of the game after missing their first 10 attempts. Nash had 9 points and 4 assists in the 3rd quarter. Dallas committed 7 turnovers in the quarter. After Stoudemire hit 1-2 FT, Dallas then scored the next 6 points to tie the game at 88-88 with 9:40 left. Nash ended Dallas' mini-run with a 3-pointer. A hook shot by Jason Terry pulled Dallas within 69-97 with 5:50 to go and that was it for Dallas as the Mavs went ice cold and didn't scored over the next 4 1/2 minutes in missing 7 straight shots. Phoenix took full advantage by scoring the next 15 points to take a commanding 112-96 lead with 1:55 left. Nowitzki finally ended Dallas' drought with a bucket with 1:40 to go, but the game was already over and the subs came in 15 seconds later. Phoenix won 119-102. Dallas did not look sharp all game long, including when they were leading early in the game. Phoenix also didn't look sharp during stretches, but they could always go to Amare Stoudemire, whom Dallas had no answer for, and Steve Nash turned it up in the 2nd half where he scored 19 points his points and had 8 assists. And as bad as Dallas' offense was, their defense was worse. If they were weren't letting players drive past them and having no weakside help, they were not finding players on the outside in leaving the hot shooting Shawn Marion and Quentin Richardson open behind the arc. The loss could have been worse as Phoenix did miss a number of good looks. So, once again, home court isn't much of an advantage as the road team won. Dallas will have to regroup and come out with a much better effort on Sunday. Not surprisingly to those who have watch the Mavs all season long, the loss of the key player for Phoenix did not hurt them as their other players stepped up and Dallas' effort was lacking. As for the stats, Dallas only out-scored Phoenix in the 1st quarter and that was the only quarter in which Dallas shot 50% FG. Phoenix out-scored Dallas 32-20 in the 4th quarter as Phoenix shot 13-22 FG, 3-3 3-pointers, and 3-5 FT in the quarter and Dallas shot just 10-27 FG, 0-7 3-pointers, and did not attempt a single free throw. Phoenix also out-rebounded Dallas 15-9 in the quarter. For the game, Phoenix shot 51.7% (46-89) FG including 11-22 3-pointers. Dallas shot 39% (39-100) FG including a mere 1-18 3-pointers. Phoenix shot 16-22 FT and Dallas shot 23-27 FT. Dallas did out-rebound Phoenix 52-44 including 24-12 offensive. Not surprisingly, Phoenix had more assists with 25 assists while Dallas had 18 assists. The team that won the opening tip has won all 3 games. Phoenix leads the series 2-1 and game 4 is in Dallas on Sunday at 8:30 pm. Once again Amare Stoudemire was a stud. Not surprisingly, the mismatches that flustered him in game 2 did not bother him in game 3. The Mavs had no answer for him and he got lots and lots of thunder dunks during the game. Stoudemire had a game high 37 points on 13-24 FG and 11-15 FT. He also had 14 rebounds including 8 offensive and 5 blocks. And Steve Nash was stellar in this game. He had 27 points including 12-21 FG and 17 assists, but did turn the ball over 7 times. Shawn Marion was white hot from outside with 21 points including 5-7 3-pointers. He also had 9 rebounds. Quentin Richardson also liked being behind the arc as all 12 of his points came from 3-pointers in shooting 4-6 3-pointers (missed the 4 2-pointers he attempted). He also had 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Jim Jackson filled in for the injured Joe Johnson and had 17 points and 8 rebounds. And that was basically it. Leandro Barbosa played 16 minutes and Dallas went at him when ever he was on the quarter. He had 5 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes. Walter McCarty played 9 minutes and didn't score and collected 5 fouls. Steven Hunter only played 2 minutes as he got the quick hook after Marquis Daniels burned him on an offensive drive. No other Sun player played. No Mavs player stood out as the high scorers shot poorly. Mavs fans are still waiting for the real Dirk Nowitzki to show up. This is the first playoff season where his playoff numbers have not increased from his regular season numbers. His shot was not falling in this game and his drives were not sending him to the line. He had 21 points on 8-24 FG and 5-5 FT. He did have 13 rebounds including 4 offensive and 3 blocks. Jerry Stackhouse had 20 points off the bench, but he shot just 6-18 FG, including one terrible loss of the ball on what should have been a fast break layup or dunk. He also had 7 rebounds including 5 offensive in 34 minutes. After coming off a strong game, Michael Finley's shot also wasn't falling. Finley had 11 points including 4-14 FG and 0-5 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, and no assists in 43 minutes. And after by far having his best game of the playoffs, Erick Dampier reverted to form by being in foul trouble the entire game. He had just 4 points and 4 rebounds in a mere 13 minutes. Besides defense, Jason Terry did play well with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. But his defense was lacking as he couldn't keep Steve Nash in front of him and he got yelled at a couple of times during timeouts. Josh Howard had 15 points and 6 rebounds and Marquis Daniels had 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Alan Henderson played some while Dampier sat and he had 2 points and 4 rebounds including 3 offensive in 13 minutes. Darrell Armstrong played 4 minutes, Shawn Bradley played 2 minutes, and Devin Harris came in for the last minute. Not the reason for the loss (I would have mentioned it even if Dallas would have won and commented on it a number of times during the game), but the refs did not have a good performance. There were a number of questionable fouls called, especially by Sean Corbin. And they let a ton of contact go on drives and Dallas was attacking the basket a lot. Those non-calls didn't hurt Phoenix much as except for Stoudemire the Suns were mostly a jump shooting team. But Dallas was struggling from the outside so they were attacking the basket strong and lots of times would get hacked without a call. Again, it was Dallas simply not being able to run a good offensive set and put the ball in the basket during that drought in the 4th quarter that resulted in the loss, but I will call out refs when I don't think they did their job. Quotes [D'Antoni's, Nash's, Stoudemire's, AJohnson's, and Nowitzki's quotes transcribed by me] Mike D'Antoni: "Just pick a name out there and I'll talk about him because I think everyone of them played great. Steve, what did he have, 27, 17, that's not bad. That's not a bad career. That's what I had for a career, as a matter of fact. Yeah, Steve Nash is unbelievable. And he gave 42 minutes and it didn't affect him too bad going down the stretch. You know, you really got to give Jimmy Jackson, he was huge for us. Just a lot of guys really stepped up. I mean, Shawn hit some 3s that opened things up. Quentin's defense, taking charges. Just a great team effort and didn't expect anything less. We've been doing it all year. Just really, really proud of them." D'Antoni on Jackson: "That's what, Jimmy on the defense end was just super. I guess you know why Brian [Colangelo] went and got him. That's really paying dividends right now." D'Antoni on defense: "Well, Amare's really picking up the energy level at both ends. He was blocking shots and doing a lot of things. But Shawn Marion also. We were just quick to the ball and we did a lot better job this time than we did the last time. We didn't have as many lapses mentally or focus. And to be honest with the team, it was the 1st quarter that messed us up the last game. After that we played pretty well. But, you know, we can't let down against these guys. These guys can score a lot. We just gave up 36 points, which is too many." D'Antoni on the 4th quarter: "Well, you know, hopefully their legs got a little tireder. You know, that sometimes happens. We're going to keep running. We're coming out next game and our guys will regenerate somehow. And you know, Steve Nash, we'll give him some IVs and he'll be ready to roll." D'Antoni on missing Joe Johnson: "I don't know if surprise is the word I'd use. I knew we would. We've done it all year, we really have. I don't want to sit up here and say I knew it all. I hate that Joe's not here and I think the team really hated that he misses this. Jimmy Jackson gives us a lot and every time he's started he's had a great game. So we were hoping that and you never know until it happens. But I knew Amare, Shawn, Steve, and Quentin will turn it into an extra gear. They would really be focused because they knew they didn't have Joe. And that's what a good team does. They just kind of close ranks and they come out with the effort that they did." Steve Nash: "You just try to take what they give you. I think that's what's great about our team is we have a lot of balance. Obviously we can lean on Amare a lot, but we have other guys who can get it done and who make each other better. So we just try to move the ball and make it difficult for people to guard all of us." Nash on an airball early: "You know what, I almost don't want to tell this because it will be an excuse, but it's too funny. I got fouled by my drawstrings. I went up to shoot and I got my hand caught up in my drawstrings and I probably should have tucked them in. So, way to foul yourself, I guess." Nash on talking to Stoudemire: "I think tonight they kind of tried to get under his skin and ruffle his feathers a little bit. Just told him to just stay calm, he'll be fine." Nash on 15-0 run in 4th: "I thought that the whole 2nd half that we really had a good rhythm. They're a good team and they made some plays too and kept themselves in the game. But we kind of felt like we just still had a run in us. We were able to get in the paint and get the ball to shooters. Our guys got into rhythm at that point and kind of made some shots for us. That's kind of the beauty of our group. Amare'll punish you then one of the shooters will open up and they'll make a 3. So it's good balance, I think, offensively." Nash on high minutes: "Not really, I think we're all in great shape, all felt pretty fresh. We're just excited to have this opportunity. No one, well very people picked us to be in the playoffs, so to be in the 2nd round, we're just trying to enjoy it and see how good we can get." Nash: "We got one for Joe. We all feel sick about what happened to him, just a freak accident. He's going through a lot, he's never missed a game. He's been terrific for us all year and we really needed to play better than we did in game 2, even without him, you know, one of our best players. I just thought we stuck with it tonight and we rallied together tonight. I thought everyone was really behind one another tonight and didn't panic when we were kind of sluggish in the 1st half and just stuck with it. When things got tight in the 4th quarter, we stayed with it. We're a resilient team, I think." Amare Stoudemire on Nash: "The MVP always plays great, man. Steve is a great guy. He commands the ball so much because he draws so much attention and then that leaves most of us open and that creates a lot of easy baskets for us." Stoudemire on 4th quarter run: "I think we came down and really buckled up on the defense end. And then on the offensive end we scored the ball. That allowed us to go up 10, 12 points and we closed it out with that note." Stoudemire on playing physical without calls: "It felt good to just go out there and play basketball. I think the officials did a great job of calling the game and staying on top of things out there and making sure nothing got out of hand. From my stand point, we kept our composure and closed the game out." Stoudemire on high minutes: "I was fine. We did have timeouts, they were long TV timeouts. I breathe in pretty strongly and breathe out. That gave me a little extra wind to go out there and finish the game up." Stoudemire 1st half: "I came out wanting to set a tone, you know, offensively and defensively, to let Dallas know that, hey, we're here to play. I think as a team, the team responded to that and we came out and closed the game out pretty strong." Stoudemire on Jackson: "Well you know, Jim is a remarkable player. He's been great now for us coming off the bench. And he's undefeated now in the starting lineup. So we feel good about Jim in the lineup now. We just hope that Joe gets healthy pretty soon and we did it for him." Stoudemire: "I think we made a statement that regardless of what they throw at us, we're going to counteract to it. You know, they came with a small lineup, we did a great job of recognizing that early. They came with a big lineup, we put in the screen-and-rolls. I think that what ever they throw at us, as long as we do a great job of recognizing it early that we'll be in good shape." Stoudemire: "We wanted to protect the basket and not foul as much and just play solid and contain on the defensive end. And I think with Jim Jackson guarding players out there, he did a great job defensively and we did as a team." Stoudemire on his technical: "I think the technical foul was Michael Finley said, 'Look at this' and then he touched me on the chest and then I pushed his hand off like 'Don't touch me' and then the ref gave me a tech. Honestly, I understand the official's part of it and we did a great job of maintaining our emotions." Quentin Richardson: "We set the tone so now they're going to come out Sunday and scratch and claw, because they don't want to be in a close out situation. We got them good." Avery Johnson: "Well this was a very disappoint loss. To come back home after we had that split out there in Phoenix, and play the way we play, especially in the 2nd half, is very disappointing. Giving this team a 119 points, they out-scored us 32 to 20 in the 4th. And we didn't shoot the 3 well tonight, we were 1-18 from 3. But the disappointing thing was we did not attempt a free throw in the 4th quarter. They had no team fouls in the 4th quarter. That is unheard of in a playoff game. And so that's very disappointing that we did not shoot a free throw in the 4th quarter. So again, you have to take your hats off to them. They only had 5 points off the bench. They had their starters play all, play 41 minutes or more, and they all looked like they could play some more. They seemed like they don't get tired. We got to learn how to fight fatigue a little more. You know, some of our guys get tired and they just become brain, they just can't think. We didn't fight adversity tonight, that's very disappointing. We'll get back to the drawing board tomorrow, make some adjustments, and we'll be ready to play in game 4." Johnson on the game with 6 minutes left: "Well I think it was a combination. We shot some jump shots, we settled for some jump shots, but we took the ball to the basket very strong, I thought. And just for some reason, just never made it to the free throw line." Johnson on Dampier's foul trouble: "It hurts us, man, you know, it hurts us. You know, he plays 5 minutes in the 1st quarter. So maybe in that situation in the next time, I'll just leave him in because, you know, we need him out there on the court. Obviously you saw the difference in when he played in the last game and played well and had a presence about him. We even made a little run in the 4th quarter a little bit when he was in there. So we don't have anybody that can really play physical with Stoudemire. So we definitely need him in the game. Every time he gets in foul trouble, then we got to go small. So hopefully he can stay out of foul trouble." Johnson on Stoudemire not getting into foul trouble: "[laughs] Next question." Johnson on Nowitzki: "Well, I think you saw a lot of times they were triple-teaming him. Again, he's tried to make outlet passes. Again, if we're not making shots and loosening up the defense, they're going to continue to double-team him. I thought he took the ball to the basket really strong. And you know, the amount of free throws he shot is really not indicative of how strong he took the ball to the basket. You know what the real sad part about this is? Because the whole thing with me is no excuses, right, that's been my whole deal. I'll stand by it for as long as I'm the coach. But you know what's a fact right now? To have a guy like Dirk Nowitzki that is a MVP caliber player, he's one of the least respected MVP caliber players that I have ever been associated with. He's the least respected. When you talk about Shaq, when you talk about Tim Duncan, you talk about Tracy McGrady, you know, Steve Nash, but if you looked at what type of year this kid had, he had as good of a year as any body. The stats proved it. We won 58 games and he survived a coaching change. He didn't know who his coach was some nights, all right. So he is the least respected out of any MVP caliber player I've seen in my life. He takes the ball strong to the basket, he plays the game, he plays defense, he does it all. But the least respected." [end of press conference] Dirk Nowitzki: "I thought that was a big difference, especially down the stretch. You know, we got cold, couldn't really make a shot, and they came down, they had every thing going, they had Steve on the pick-and-roll getting to the hoop, making layups. And if we sucked in, he found the open shooters and everyone shot the ball well. Marion had a couple of 3s, Jimmy Jackson had a big 3 there. You know, they just made big shots and we didn't." Nowitzki: "Obviously that was a game that we wanted to have. I thought the energy was fine. We were up a couple of points early in the 1st half and I thought everything was fine. But just in the 2nd half we got cold at the wrong time. And you have to give them credit, they played an extremely smart basketball game. So we got to watch some film tomorrow and figure some ways out to stop them. 120 is just too many points, you know, for them to score if we want to win the game." Nowitzki on Nash: "He had a great game tonight. Like I said, he had us both ways on the drive, but he also found the shooters. He really mixed it up nicely, keeping it himself and getting to the rim and if not, really spreading the floor with their shooters, and he's always finding them. So he played a really good game tonight." Nowitzki on lack of calls for him: "That's all right. I'm going to keep coming. I'm going to keep working hard. That's all I can to do. I'm not going to sit here and complain. I got easy looks, especially around the basket, that I just got to finish. I missed like 3, 4 layups where I was right there. So that's all I'm going to do is just keep being aggressive and try to get to the line as much as I can." Nowitzki: "Well, everybody knows I'm a face-up player. You know, I'm a 1 or 2 dribble and up guy. And obviously in the 1st round and 2nd round, to play with smaller people and taking my strength away, and that's what the playoffs is all about - taking the opponents strength away. And you've got to give them credit. The back to the basket game is something that I want to improve over the years. It's something that I have to work on and get better, especially then when I get double-teamed then I've got to find my shooters a lot better. You know, they're just a lot of things for me to work on in these next couple of years." Nowitzki on using the small lineup: "You know, Damp was in foul trouble again early and so we just have to adjust out there, what ever the game brings us, you know. Damp wasn't in foul trouble in the 2nd game and he was able to play a lot more minutes and be out there and be effective for us. So what ever really the game brings, I have to adjust. You know, I have to guard Amare for quite some time. You got to keep working on him. You know, he's a great scorer and he'll get his numbers. Try to keep out of the lane, but it's a hard job." Nowitkzi: "I don't know. Like I said earlier, energy was there. So I don't think we relaxed or anything. So I just we didn't make enough shots and we didn't play well enough to win this game. We shot 39%, especially at home, and that's not enough to win the game." Jerry Stackhouse on Stoudemire: "We're throwing everything we can at him. He's a load down there." Josh Howard on Nash: "We wanted to cut down on his assists. He did a great job of finding people. He was making a lot of stats in the lane, a lot of wide open layups." Howard on the 4th quarter: "We were trying to scramble, trying to match them shot for shot. That's not the way to win." Marquis Daniels on the 4th quarter: "We missed a couple of shots and they were making big shots and they were hitting a lot of 3s. They got some transition baskets that we were trying to limit, but they got things going late in the 4th." Daniels on the 4th quarter slump: "It's part of basketball. Unfortunately for us, it happened in the 4th quarter. We missed some shots and they made them. That was the difference right there." Daniels on Dallas' cold streak: "It's part of basketball. Unfortunately for us it happened in the 4th quarter. We're not going to miss shots forever. We're going to make our share of shots. Like I said before, we missed shots and they made them and that was the game." Daniels on the 4th quarter: "They're a quick scoring team and they fire shots so quick and they get the ball down the floor quick so you have to try to put out the first fire. Steve did a great job tonight of getting into the lane, finding guys and they were making their shots. He's a great point guard. I mean he's the MVP of the league. We've just got to go back and look at film and find a way to get things right." Daniels: "They were throwing different looks at us. I tried to take whatever they were giving us. Fortunately, I was able to get to the basket a little bit tonight." Daniels: "You could say they played great D or you could say we just missed open shots. Unfortunately tonight we all ran cold at the same time, but I think we'll come back and we'll get it together." Game 3: Phoenix Suns 119, Dallas Mavericks 102 at Dallas (May 13) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Phoenix 27 33 27 32 - 119 .522 .500 .517 .727 Dallas 31 28 23 20 - 102 .463 .056 .390 .852 Halftime: Phoenix 60-59 3rd Q: Phoenix 87-82 Technicals: Amare Stoudemire 9:20 2nd, Avery Johnson 3:56 3rd Refs: Jim Clark, Sean Corbin, Ed F. Rush Attendance: 20,896 (sellout) Did not play due to injury: Joe Johnson (fractured orbital bone), Keith Van Horn (sprained left ankle) Phoenix Suns REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Steve Nash 42 12-21 1-5 2-3 27 0-3 17 7 1 2 0 Jim Jackson 42 8-15 1-3 0-0 17 3-8 1 0 2 0 1 Quentin Richardson 42 4-10 4-6 0-0 12 0-5 2 1 3 4 1 Shawn Marion 41 7-14 5-7 2-2 21 1-9 2 1 4 2 1 Amare Stoudemire 46 13-24 0-0 11-15 37 8-14 0 3 3 0 5 Leandro Barbosa 16 2-4 0-0 1-2 5 0-4 2 1 2 0 0 Walter McCarty 9 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 1 1 5 0 1 Steven Hunter 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 48 46-89 11-22 16-22 119 12-44 25 14 21 8 9 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Michael Finley 43 4-14 0-5 3-4 11 2-3 0 2 1 2 0 Jason Terry 41 7-14 0-3 0-0 14 3-9 7 0 3 2 1 Dirk Nowitzki 42 8-24 0-2 5-5 21 4-13 4 2 2 1 3 Josh Howard 27 5-9 0-1 5-6 15 1-6 2 2 4 1 1 Erick Dampier 13 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 0 2 3 0 2 Jerry Stackhouse 34 6-18 1-4 7-8 20 5-7 1 2 0 1 0 Marquis Daniels 20 5-11 0-2 3-4 13 3-4 2 2 2 3 1 Alan Henderson 13 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 3-4 0 1 2 1 0 Darrell Armstrong 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 Shawn Bradley 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 Devin Harris 1 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 39-100 1-18 23-27 102 24-52 18 14 17 11 8 patricia Go Mavs!