Keith Van Horn underwent on MRI on his left ankle on Monday and it showed that he has a 2nd degree lateral sprain. He is expected to be out 2 weeks. The NBA fined Jeff Van Gundy (Hou coach) $100,000 for public comments concerning NBA officiating. Van Gundy told the media that the refs were targeting Yao Ming after Mark Cuban had asked the league to look into moving screens that Yao was setting. Van Gundy also said that an NBA official, who is not working in the playoffs, told him that the refs were instructed to watch Yao. Commissioner David Stern said that he found Van Gundy's comments disturbing and there could be more serious punishment for Van Gundy if his attitude remains the same and he does not cooperate with a league investigation. It was the largest fine for a coach in league history, doubling the old record. Game 5: Houston at Dallas (May 2) Dallas scored the first 4 points of the game and held a small lead (with 2 ties) over the next 6 minutes. A jumper by Tracy McGrady gave Houston their first lead at 12-11 with 5 minutes to go. The teams traded buckets and Dallas then went on a 9-1 run, capped by a 3-point play by Marquis Daniels, to go up 22-15 with 1:35 left. David Wesley ended the run with a 3-pointer. Scott Padgett got a layup as the quarter neared the end. Dallas led 24-22 after 1. Dallas scored the first 4 points of the 2nd quarter and held a single-digit lead over the next 6 minutes. 2 free throws by Daniels gave the Mavs their largest lead at 37-29 with 7:30 remaining. Houston then scored the next 9 points, capped by 4 points by Mike James, to go up 38-37 with 4:40 to go. The teams traded buckets and then Dallas scored the next 7 points to re-take the lead at 46-40 with 1:05 left. Josh Howard was fouled with 10 seconds left in the half, with Yao Ming picking up his 3rd foul, and he hit the 1st free throw and missed the 2nd. Dikembe Mutombo grabbed the rebound, but Jerry Stackhouse was able to tie him up and there was a jumpball. Stackhouse surprisingly won the tip and the ball was passed back to Stackhouse and he buried the 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 52-44 at the half. James had 10 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 48% FG and Houston shot 46% FG in the half. A turn around jumper by Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas their largest lead at 58-48 with 9:30 to go, but they could not build on that. A 3-pointer by Bob Sura pulled Houston within 58-62 with 6:45 remaining, but Houston could get no closer. Dallas again built up a 10-point lead on a 3-pointer by Nowitzki to go up 74-64 with 2:35 left. Dallas led 76-68 after 3. Dallas scored the first 3 points of the 4th quarter to take their largest lead at 79-68 with 11:10 to go. Houston again cut Dallas' lead down to 4 points at 79-83 with 6:55 remaining, but Dallas then rattled off the next 7 points to again go up by 11 at 90-79 with 4:25 left. McGrady ended the run with a 3-pointer with 4:10 to go and then Dallas turned the ball over and Wesley was fouled and hit both free throws. After Yao got a block, Jon Barry nailed a 3-pointer to pull Houston within 87-90 with 3:25 remaining. The teams traded 2 points and Jerry Stackhouse drained a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 95-89 with 2:30 left. The teams traded 2 points and McGrady hit 2 free throws to pull Houston within 93-97 with 1:45 to go. Stackhouse missed inside and Yao was fouled inside on the other end. He missed the first free throw, but hit the 2nd with 1:20 left. Jason Terry missed a shot and Jon Barry grabbed the rebound under the basket, but Michael Finley snuck baseline and was able to knock the ball loose [he was definitely standing out of bounds when he did so, but the refs did not notice that] and Stackhouse grabbed the loose ball and was fouled. He hit both free throws to put Dallas up 99-94 with 56 seconds remaining. McGrady missed a layup, but Yao was there to get the rebound and slam the ball home with 43 seconds left. Terry drove and missed a wild hook shot, but Nowitzki was there to slam the ball home with 20 seconds left and again make it a 5 point lead. Yao was fouled inside and he hit both free throws with 18 seconds to go to pull Houston within 98-101. After a timeout to bring the ball up the court, Dallas inbounded to Finley in the corner and the refs incorrectly assumed that Houston was going to intentionally foul and blew the quick whistle even though the Rockets were trying to foul. So Finley went to the line, but he missed the first free throw. He did hit the 2nd with 16 seconds left. Houston brought the ball up and Dallas defended the 3-point line, so McGrady took it in for a dunk with 7.4 seconds to go to cut Dallas' lead down to 100-102. Dallas again used a timeout (their last) to advance the ball and Daniels made a wild, high flung pass in the backcourt to Terry and Terry was able to leap and grab the ball and he was fouled with 4.8 seconds left. But again, Dallas only hit 1-2 free throws and it was just a 3 point game. Dallas intentionally fouled McGrady with 3.4 seconds to go instead of risking a 3-pointer. McGrady went to the line and missed the first free throw. He intentionally missed the 2nd and was able to run down the miss and then head behind the 3-point line and turn and fire as Nowitzki was running at him, but the ball bounced off the far side of the rim and the buzzer sounded [and replays showed that his foot was on the line anyways]. Dallas won 103-100. Phew, Dallas finally broke the trend and the home team won a game in this series. It was another good, tight game with Dallas' largest lead just 11 points - Houston led by 1 point 4 times in the 1st half. Well, it wasn't a totally good game as the free throws stunk for both teams. Both teams were terrible from the line in the 4th with Dallas shooting 9-14 FT and Houston shooting 8-16 FT in the quarter. Houston did out-scored Dallas 32-27 in the 4th, but Dallas used their 8 point halftime cushion to hang on to the win. For the game, Dallas shot 23-34 FT and Houston shot 29-40 FT. From the floor, Dallas shot 46.8% (37-79) FG including 6-15 3-pointers and Houston shot 49.3% (33-67) FG [tying a Dallas opponent record for fewest field goals attempted in the playoffs] including 5-13 3-pointers. Neither team shared the ball much with Dallas having 17 assists and Houston having 15 assists. In addition to the home team finally winning, the team that won the rebounding battle won, reversing the trend from the first 4 games. Dallas out-rebounded Houston 42-39 including 13-10 offensive. For the first time this series, Dallas has the edge in leading the series 3-2. Game 6 is in Houston at 8:30 pm. Dirk Nowitzki had his first double-double of the series in finally having a good rebounding game. He had 23 points and 13 rebounds. 9 of his points and 6 of his rebounds came in the 4th quarter. Nowitzki also had 4 steals. Josh Howard enjoyed home cooking as he again had 17 points in the AAC (also had 17 in game 1 and 17 in game 2) to go with 8 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse gave a good spark off the bench with 17 points including 3-4 3-pointers to go with 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 27 minutes. Jason Terry had 13 points and 7 assists. He stepped up in the 4th quarter where he scored 9 of his points. Michael Finley had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Erick Dampier once again picked up 2 fouls early in the 1st quarter and spent most of the game in foul trouble as he played just 16 minutes. He had 1 point and 1 rebound and 5 fouls. Alan Henderson filled in for Damp and had 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in 17 minutes. Marquis Daniels played well in his 14 minutes with 11 points and 4 rebounds. Devin Harris played 11 minutes in resting Terry and had 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. For the first time this series, Tracy McGrady did not have a stellar game. His shot wasn't falling as he even missed a couple of layups. Besides his shooting, he did put up good all around numbers with 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. He had 25 points on 7-22 FG, 1-4 3-pointers, and 10-14 FT. Yao Ming had a solid outing as the refs weren't as quick to blow their whistles on him [who says complaining doesn't work]. He had 30 points on 10-13 FG and 10-16 FT, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 35 minutes. 15 of his points came in the 4th quarter as the Rockets continually went to him inside. Mike James killed the Mavs with at least 3 quick drives for layups - Jason Terry finally stopped him once in the 4th quarter. James had 16 points including 6-9 FG and 5 assists. Dallas' game plan again worked in stopping the others besides McGrady and Yao as no other Rocket besides those 2 and James finished in double-digits. Starters Bob Sura, playing with the flu, had 7 points and David Wesley had 8 points. Jon Barry had 7 points and 5 rebounds. Scott Padgett again started and had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes. He also had 3 steals. Dikembe Mutombo had 3 points and 5 rebounds, but also had 3 turnovers. After starting the first 2 games, Ryan Bowen played just 4 minutes and didn't score and had 2 rebounds. Quotes [Johnson's, Nowitzki's, Stackhouse's, Van Gundy's, and McGrady's quotes transcribed by me] Avery Johnson: "Whoo, what a game. It's a great night for us. Really doesn't matter at this point how you win - good, bad, ugly, indifferent, slow, fast. We'll take it. A lot of great contributions tonight. But mainly we had some plays down the stretch that I just can't coach. some of the plays that Stackhouse made, those are plays that you just can't coach, you just can't teach that. Hustle, intensity. Dirk made some huge plays for us down the stretch, 43 minutes. Jason Terry came on for us again. He's been mister 4th quarter, mister clutch for us. So this was a, man, great win for us. I'm really thankful for this one. Especially at home. Guys had a lot of pressure on them playing at home because we know we haven't had any success here during the playoffs. But again, you know, you got 2 teams that just won't give in. The Rockets, this game could have went either way. So we're excited to be heading back to Houston to have another game." Johnson: "It's a game of swings and momentum. We had it kind of early in the game and pretty much for the 1st 3 quarters. But boy they came up big. They scored 32 points on us in the 4th. We had a goal of holding them to a certain number in the 4th and they far exceeded that goal. Which is to be expected. McGrady, Yao, man, what a combination, they got it going. But again, they only got 1 other guy in double-figures and Mike James definitely hurt us tonight. But we're fortunate to get this win. Have 6 guys in double-figures - that's kind of the way we like to play. Damp's been battling some foul trouble, but he got back in there and made some pretty good plays for us that won't show up on the stat sheet." Johnson on not posting up Stackhouse more: "Yeah, but at one stretch David Wesley kind of stopped him 2 times in a row. So again I don't want to keep milking it, milking it. We try to go to something else. I don't like Dirk to run up and down the court 5 or 6 times without touching it." Johnson on transition defense: "It was okay. Everyone is trying to get some more transition points, but it's just not happening in this series. So it was okay." Johnson on offensive rebounding in the 4th: "Again, that's just hustle, determination. I wish I had some type of formula that I could put together and I probably could sell it if I had something I could sell like that." Johnson on momentum in the series: "Until you really win a series, you don't have anything. We haven't accomplished anything. Obviously we were in a pretty big hole. But we figured out a few things. It's just a matter now of making shots and making plays in the 4th quarter. We pride ourselves of being a big 4th quarter team. We didn't get it done defensively. So with us giving 32 points up in the 4th quarter, hey, we have nothing to be excited about. That's a humbling experience. So we know how dangerous this team is." Johnson on hack-a-Yao: "No, not really. Yao is not a bad free throw shooter. I know some didn't go down for him, but he had a big game tonight." Johnson on the bench: "Man, Hendu [Henderson] again is giving us a few minutes. Marquis Daniels has really been good - he had 2 turnovers and he didn't have any assists tonight, but again even on those last 2 plays to get the ball in, that's a real pressurized job. You know, I had that job before. If he doesn't make that past to Jason and Jason doesn't get up like a wide receiver and catch that ball - I've been calling him a quarterback but he was a wide receiver, and he was playing like a wide receiver in the 1st half, but he started playing like a quarterback in the 4th quarter." Johnson on Harris: "Again, Devin's given us some minutes there. You know, I don't want to play Jason 48 minutes. We're just getting contributions across the board right now. You know, with Van Horn not being out [there], who's been like my 7th man, it's pretty good. But again, it's going to be a dog fight on Thursday. We just hope when Thursday comes around that we're around somewhere in the 4th quarter, hopefully we won't get blown out too early in the game and be able to make some shots and make some plays." Johnson on wearing McGrady down: "No, I don't think so. Again, we don't have an answer for him. We played 3 different guys on him during the course of the game. And all that we can do is hope that he misses a shot, because he made a big 3 tonight even to get them back into the game in the 4th quarter. So we're running 3 or 4 guys at him. I don't think you can necessarily wear a player like that down. You just hope that he miss." Dirk Nowitzki: "I felt the whole series, I think, the rebound battle hasn't really been that important. They won the rebound battle in game 4 and we still stole that one. I feel like with the small lineup out there, both teams are going to be fine rebounding-wise. That's not going to make a big difference, I felt, the whole series." Nowitzki: "We were pretty much up all game and they just kept coming back. They kept making big plays. We were up 11 at one time right there in the 4th and they just, you know, they're a good team. They're going to make plays and obviously they got 2 superstars who had it going again tonight. At the end we just made a couple of tough plays. We had a couple of lucky bounces that went our way, but that's what you got to get in the playoffs. You got to get lucky once in a while. And we made some big plays." Nowitzki on the bench: "It was great, especially with Keith being out, who's usually a big part of our bench. You know, he comes in and gives us some offense off the bench. So obviously we miss him. But I think Jerry was big off the bench. He made some unbelievable plays down the stretch. That 3 he hit when he was wide open obviously was very big. Hendu has been coming off the bench and giving us a nice little lift rebounding-wise and doing a good job on Yao as long as he's in there. I feel like we're one of the deepest teams, before Keith obviously got hurt. I feel like we got 9, 10 guys that can go out there and play and compete at a high level. So they gave us a huge lift today." Nowitzki on playing different on McGrady: "Not really. I actually thought he missed a couple of layups. That he had a couple of good looks at the basket and that he usually makes. So we can't really be too satisfied with our defense. He got to the basket a couple of times, missed a couple of good looks, wide-open layups, really. So, I mean, we got to do even better in game 6. They're going to come out firing from all angles, I'm sure. It's tough though. Yao is so good down the middle you have to pay attention whenever anyone rolls right down and then Tracy's coming at you - you got to pick your poison. They're both so great players. And they got their spot up shooters in the corner that you can't really leave. That little high screen-and-roll that they run is a tough play to stop and they ran it a bunch of times down the stretch and we didn't really find a way to stop it. But at least we won the game." Nowitzki: "Obviously going down there down 0-2, obviously we knew we had to believe in each other. I mean we were all depressed and frustrated obviously with losing 2 at home, especially the 2nd one was a heartbreaker with a buzzer beater to lose. So obviously that deflated us a little bit, but I think we had 2 good days off afterwards, that Tuesday and Wednesday we had good practices and watched a lot of film and got re-focused. I thought game 3 was big. We were down 10 in the 4th quarter and coming back like we did in that game and showing a lot of heart in that 4th quarter and I think that was a key. Finally we got a win and got in the series and I think that really turned the momentum around." Nowitzki: "Obviously that game today was big for us because we didn't want to go down there and steal 2 and come up here and lose at home game again. So you know, we had to protect home court. Finally we got a win on the home court. We weren't playing phenomenal the first 2 games here and then we got beat. So we had to do a little extra and it worked." Nowitzki on game 6: "I feel more of the same than we did in game 3 and 4 down there, and that's executing in the 4th quarter. Like I said earlier, we were down game 3 and game 4 a couple of points, almost like 10 points in both games. But down the stretch we found a way to stop their plays. And on the other hand, for ourselves move the ball and get everyone involved and make some big shots. I think this series is all about the team has to come through and I think we did that today. We had like, I don't know, 6 guys in double-figures - that's the kind of basketball we got to play to win in this series. Hopefully we can do the same thing Thursday." Nowitzki on Houston not using the screen-and-roll as much: "I don't really know what they're thinking and what their play calling is, but obviously they were right there with us in the 4th. Like I said, they have 2 good players and they're tough to guard. It's actually a simple play, but those 2 players make it tough to guard. We just try to mix it up once in a while. You can't go with the same coverage over a series. Sometimes you just got to mix it up and keep those good players guessing and that's what we try to do." Nowitzki on Yao: "We tried to keep him out of the lane as much as we could, but he's so big, we couldn't stop him." Michael Finley on knocking the ball out of Barry's hands late in the game: "I just saw the opportunity to make a play on the ball and ripped it out of his hand." Finley on if he was out of bounds when he made that play: "I can't really remember." Finley on Nowitzki's reaction (sticking his tongue out) after his putback dunk: "That's not us. We're not a flamboyant team. We don't do those kinds of things on big plays. We're used to making big plays. But at that moment, it was perfect timing. He let a little something out and it was good to see." Jerry Stackhouse: "It's about just coming out and trying to provide some energy. I thought I started this game out with good energy tonight, as did the bench players. We just got to try to come out and maintain it. And I think we came in and had a little more energy than our starters, and that was good for us in the 1st half. 2nd half, we knew they were going to make a run. This series has been like it all 5 games. Looks like something's about to start and then all of the sudden they get back into the game. And it's just been that way back and forth all series." Stackhouse on a will to win: "It's definitely. I mean I think that last play where we threw it back in the back court to JT [Terry], that's all that was all about was will. It wasn't about Xs and Os. Obviously the play that we drew up, they had everything covered, and he threw the ball up to JT and they kind of had something going, he and Marquis said if you don't have any one open, just look long and throw it and he was going to go up and get it. And that's what it's all about. Knowing that we are going to do everything it takes to try to get to that next level." Stackhouse on momentum and game 6: "Not really. I still don't feel that we have a lot of momentum. What ever I said before this game and before last game, I'm saying again. So I'm just going to keep with it. I don't think that it's there yet. We played well, but obviously the game was right there in the balance, at the end of the game it could have went either way. But we made plays when we had to and I think that wound up being the difference in the game." Stackhouse on the end of the 1st half: "I knew we had a foul to give. And then we had the missed free throw, I was able to sneak up under Dikembe and tie him up. And I think I was down at his feet, I think we was looking around for the open man and he forgot I was there to jump with him and I was able to tap the ball to Josh and we moved the ball and got a good look. It was a whole day of focus. I think the day was more focused than I've been all series, just coming in and with the approach that this was, to me, the pivotable game of the series. Wanted to come in and do all I could. Got in with Ro Blackman this morning and just got locked in, focused shooting the ball. And I think that was a key to me having success tonight at the 3-point line. Some of the things happen so fast out there during the course of the game that sometimes you just got to step back and get re-focused again. He helped me get re-focused today. And I think that was a key to me having the game that I had today." Stackhouse: "I think we feel good. Like I said, we didn't really know this team coming in. We hadn't played them in a while, especially the team that they are now. We played them a couple of times before they made the trades to get key players like Jon Barry and David Wesley. So it was kind of a feeling out period and feeling out for us to find out what things worked offensively against them. So I think we're starting to figure it out now and obviously becoming these last 3 games having more of a role of being able to try to attack them. Although they're seeming like small guards, they're tough guards. I mean, Wesley looks size-wise like I could just go down there and post him up, but he's strong, got the strongest forearms probably in the NBA. So he makes it tough on you. So we just have to continue to move the ball and then try to take advantage of mismatches, whether it's myself, Dirk, Fin. Try to get double-teams and move the ball; we got guys that can knock down shots." Stackhouse on intensity: "I thought we were probably over-intense the 1st game. I mean, we were in it. Although sometimes it can be counter-active once you come out with so much juice. The building was electric. It was hyped, we were getting each other heightened a little the pre-game session. And we just came out flat. All of the sudden, too much energy and we were flat. I think today we were loose and we made a conscious effort to be loose. Before Avery comes in to speak to us, just everybody do your normal routine. He said it perfectly: some teams they can have a business like approach and come in stern face, but this is not that team. We're a team that just got to hang loose and come out and do what we do. And that's worked out well over the last 3 games." Stackhouse on the 4th quarter success: "We just try to execute. I mean obviously every time it doesn't work all the time, but for the most part we try to prepare ourselves for late game situations. All the things we do to get the ball in bounds at the end of the game, we work on those things. We work on those things at full speed in practice knowing that those situations are going to come up in the games. So we're prepared. Even though it may look helter-skelter, we felt that we're prepared in those situations." Jason Terry: "It was a tough battle. It's been a tough series, but we can't stop now. We've got work to do coming in on Thursday at Houston. They're going to be ready to go. There's nothing you can say about them not coming to play. They're going to be ready. We're going to be ready. It's going to be a similar game and we're just going to have to get stops in the 4th quarter." Terry on holding off Houston in the 4th and still being aggressive: "Which is always tough to do. We got stops when we needed them. Both teams missed some free throws down the stretch, but we can't count on that. We've got to get stops and come back down and execute on the offensive end." Terry on his 4th quarter play: "I wasn't doing my job defensively and I just had to focus in. Coach sat me down for a minute and that got me re-focused. I knew in the 4th quarter that he was going to come back to me and my teammates stayed confident. Dirk made a great pass and I knocked down a shot. And the way Dirk played tonight, he just persevered. This whole series has been about perseverance and we've been able to do that." Terry: "It was about wanting to. At the end of the game, it seemed like we wouldn't let anything stop us. We had to have this, and we took it. This whole series has been about perseverance." Terry on Stackhouse: "Stackhouse played aggressive from the minute he checked into the game. I can't say enough about his play all year long. He is a 6th Man of the Year in my eyes." Terry on Howard: "[Josh] was huge. Everybody did a great job, and Josh knows his energy is key for us. He always has tough tasks of defending the other team's best player. As far as offense, he doesn't get a lot of plays. He does the little things. The intangibles: loose balls, rebounds, runs the floor on the fast break, and [gets] tip-ins. He's a very valuable part of this team." Terry on McGrady's intentionally missed free throw at the end of the game: "It was a perfect miss. [After that], whoever wanted the ball the most was going to get it. McGrady got it ... [then] my heart stopped for a couple of seconds. Fortunately, he missed." Terry: "We're not worried about our bench. We know our bench is solid. They are very confident when they come in; they know their role, and they execute well." Terry: "Getting in that hole made us have to find an edge. We found a certain anger. We were disappointed, but we couldn't play disappointed." Josh Howard: "We just played great team ball. I don't know if it's one of my best games. I was just being aggressive. I love being at home. When I play at home, I play as great as I can." Howard: "It's just a matter of how much more you want it than the other guy. I think tonight we saw who wanted it." Marquis Daniels on his inbounds pass to Terry late in the game: "I'll take my chances in a jumpball situation with JT. He was like a wide receiver going up for it." Alan Henderson: "It's just been good games, good basketball. I'm sure it's been fun for everybody to watch. We're just fortunate to come out on top again tonight." Henderson: "We knew we didn't finish the 3rd quarter tonight as well as we wanted to. We really didn't get the kind of shots we wanted to end the quarter and they got a little momentum going so we tried to pick our energy up to start the 4th quarter. It worked out for us, but even down to the end they had a chance to tie it up so it's not over till it's over." Henderson on being aggressive inside: "Well, we've been making minor adjustments every game. AJ's been doing a great job of getting us ready to go and as long as we stick to our defensive scheme, we're okay. Sometimes we don't execute it as well as we'd like to, but when we do execute it we can make it harder for them to score." Henderson on winning on the home court: "That's a good thing. I don't think our confidence was ever too shaken. We always feel like we have a good team if we play well. We knew those first few games that we really didn't play too well and that our best basketball was ahead of us. We have a pretty confident team with a lot of veterans and I don't think that's ever going to be a problem in this locker room." Jeff Van Gundy: "We lost. Didn't go the way we wanted, obviously." Van Gundy on if they've figured out how to get Yao the ball: "You know, you never have anything solved. We played a more organized offensive game. We missed a lot of free throws and we made some mistakes and we took some tough hits as far as - Finley being out of bounds on that last inbound play. But you know, that stuff happens. Stackhouse ripped one from us late. But really, I thought the end of the 1st half was critical. There we were, we were hanging and we had like 4 bad possessions - we gave them a fast break layup, let Howard get to his right hand, free throw rebound, lost the jump ball, 3-point play. So that gave them a little bit of a cushion." Van Gundy on rebounding in the 4th: "Certainly it's something they do well. The one we had secured with Barry, got knocked away, Finley was, I saw it again - but it was just unfortunate it didn't go our way." Van Gundy on the non-call on Finley's knocking the ball away while out of bounds: "You know what, Bennett [Salvatore, ref] said there was no way he was out of bounds. You know, he made a mistake, what the heck. He's a great official, so I got no complaints with that." Van Gundy on smaller guys defensive problems: "[sarcasm] Really? I didn't even notice that. Really? That's true. But, hey, our guys fought. David fought, played all 48, down there locked in the post, trying hard. So I have no complaints with our effort. Our effort was good. We didn't play well enough to come away with a road win. And we're going to need to play better, certainly. But that's what we plan on trying to do." Van Gundy on Yao's free throws: "No, he had a bad night from the line. That's how it is sometimes." Van Gundy on being down 2-3: "I think we have to stay in the process. Not get concerned with Thursday. Rest and study tomorrow, good practice on Wednesday, good shoot around, and then let it rip on Thursday night. And hopefully we'll play a little bit better. Obviously the series has been very close. The last 3 games, they've made 1 or 2 more plays than us down the stretch. You got to give them credit and yet at the same time we feel like all we have to concentrate on is to have one step at a time, study tomorrow and then a good practice and a good shoot around and try to play better on Thursday." Van Gundy on McGrady's passing: "You're not going to shoot the ball great every game. But I think from the middle of the 3rd on, I thought he was very, very assertive going to the rim. We missed a couple of layups right in that same stretch where we were missing some free throws. But I loved Tracy's assertiveness. Again he's fighting hard at the other end with Nowitzki. We just have to find a way to play a little bit better, but I give Dallas credit. They played very well. And we're going to try to play just a bit better." Van Gundy on his fine and Stern's comments: "I didn't hear about it. It's interesting. [question: did it upset you] You know what, it is what it is. I'll let everybody evaluate what I said. And if it's that bad, that's I guess is up for he and Stu Jackson to determine. I didn't see anything wrong with what I said, but certainly obviously for a statement like that to come out, he obviously differs and feels that, I guess, pretty bad. So that's all right." Tracy McGrady on being down 2-3: "It's tough, man. It's real tough. Gosh, man, we just were right there. We're right there and it's always something down the stretch of the ball game. We do a great job of fighting back, getting ourselves back into the ball game [from] where we're down 11. We just did a great job of fighting back. And it's always just a broken play or rebound or it's something, man, it's just always something. And we just can't never get over that hump." McGrady on the next game: "Nobody is down, nobody is down. Our backs are against the wall, whatever you want to call it. You know, we lose, we go home. Everybody understands that. But we're not going to lay down, not at all. We got another game to play. It's not over. It's not over until they beat us again." McGrady on if he got a good look on his last 3-point attempt: "I did, I did. But walking back to the locker room, saw the replay, I realized that my foot was on the line. And at a time like that, the refs, they have to look at that play, you know, replay. So it would have been heartbreaking if I would have made the shot, regardless. It is what it is. It's very tough to swallow. But this is great, man. This is great basketball. It really is. You know, you got 2 teams, 2 great teams out there and just competing. Every game is going down to the wire. Hate losing, but I'm really enjoying the series, every bit of it." McGrady on if they'll play on Saturday: "I hope so, I sure hope so. It's definitely going to be tough. It's either win or go home. That's where we are at right now - win or go home. Don't want to go home. I'm enjoying this series and going to do everything in our will power to try to come back." McGrady: "Well basically my role is pretty much the same. In Orlando I had to score and in Orlando I had to try to take out the best scorer on the opposing team. And that's what I'm doing now. And that's what you have to do to be great in this league. If that's the role, it's a challenge, take on that challenge. And that's what I'm doing. I told Coach I wanted to guard Dirk. I'm pretty sure if I would have never went to him, I probably would have been on Josh Howard or somebody like that. So I told him I wanted to take on that challenge." McGrady on how he feels after 5 games: "I feel great. I feel like I'm doing everything in my will to try to frustrate him, to try to make things tough for him. The guy's a great player. He has 5 or 6 inches on me. It's a real tough challenge when he post me up. I just try to do everything to try to make it tough on him. Just try to body him a little bit, get him tired as well." McGrady on rebounding in the 4th quarter: "Really critical. I think it was a play where we were down 2 and it was a crucial rebound by Jon Barry and he got the ball smacked out of his hands, but the guy that smacked it out had 2 feet out of bounds. And that right there is very rare when a referee is right on a play, opposing to being far. You know, he's right there on the play and I don't understand why he didn't see that." McGrady on game 6: "With me, I've been in situations like that every time I've been in the playoffs. So I know how it feels. Just going to be optimistic about it, have a positive attitude and just play hard, man, just go out and play. Lay everything out on the line. Because like I said, if we lose, that's it. Our goal is to be back here in Dallas. We got to come out and we really got to lay it all out on the line. And these costly mistakes that we're making at the end of these games, we got to some how just try to be perfect and do a better job of executing, making the extra effort." McGrady on getting Yao involved: "My thing was I just wanted to assert myself in the 4th quarter, just come off aggressive on that pick-and-roll. And those guys were kind of playing off me a little bit. They were playing a little soft and I was just attacking who ever that next guys was. And once they stepped up, you know, Yao is 7-5, you go to just throw it up by the rim. And you know, we were just drilling that play right there and it was effective for us. Just trying to get him involved, man. He did a great job tonight of staying in the ball game and we needed him tonight and he really stepped up big for us. So I was just trying to work the pick-and-roll and get Yao down the stretch of the ball game, because once you get the ball down there you can't do nothing but foul him 'cause he's going to score." McGrady on using it in the next game: "Absolutely, absolutely. If he's in the game, I'm definitely going to make him effective." Yao Ming on his missed free throws: "The missed free throws are a bad thing but not really hurting us. We still could have kept going [toward a win] after the missed free throws. I felt really good but maybe it was because of a little bit of exhaustion." Jon Barry: "We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the 4th and a lot of 2nd chance points. We had plenty of opportunities." Barry on the non-call of Finley being out of bounds when he knocked the ball away: "It's a shame. Our whole bench saw it. What can you do?" Barry on the ref not making that call: "I don't think he knew. Those guys have a tough job. And it's unfortunate that he was out of bounds. It was a big play. But that's life." David Wesley: "We can look back on a game like this and find 10 things that might have made the difference." Wesley on McGrady's last shot: "I thought it was going, Mac's shot. I think we all did. Everybody out there thought that 3 was going. I kept saying, 'This game is going to overtime.'" Bob Sura on not getting rebounds in the 4th quarter: "We had a small lineup in there. When we're small, we have to stick our nose in there and get the ball." Scott Padgett: "There was a time when we were getting stops - as far as stopping their initial play. Instead of getting to go down the other way, though, they were able to keep the lead because we couldn't come down with the rebound." Padgett: "Face it, we're never big right now. Me and Ryan are the 4s right now. We're never in a big lineup. So when we're in a small lineup out there, you've got to make an even more concentrated effort to rebound the ball." Padgett: "As frustrated as you are, those are things you have control over. We missed a lot of free throws in the 4th and gave up a lot of 2nd opportunities. When you're playing on the road against a team as good as Dallas ... you almost have to play perfect. We didn't but we still had a chance. It's another one you feel you let get away when you think you had control." Game 5: Dallas Mavericks 103, Houston Rockets 100 at Dallas (May 2) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 28 24 27 - 103 .484 .400 .468 .676 Houston 22 22 24 32 - 100 .519 .385 .493 .725 Halftime: Dallas 52-44 3rd Q: Dallas 76-68 Technicals: none Refs: Tony Brothers, Joe DeRosa, Bennett Salvatore Attendance: 20,894 (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 44 5-10 1-4 1-2 12 1-6 1 3 3 1 0 Jason Terry 37 4-9 1-2 4-6 13 0-3 7 1 1 1 1 Dirk Nowitzki 43 9-22 1-3 4-6 23 4-13 2 0 5 4 1 Josh Howard 31 6-13 0-1 5-7 17 2-8 2 0 5 1 0 Erick Dampier 16 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 1-1 0 2 5 0 0 Jerry Stackhouse 27 6-13 3-4 2-2 17 3-3 3 2 1 1 0 Alan Henderson 17 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 1-1 0 0 3 0 1 Marquis Daniels 14 3-5 0-0 5-7 11 1-4 0 2 2 0 0 Devin Harris 11 2-3 0-1 1-2 5 0-3 2 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 37-79 6-15 23-34 103 13-42 17 11 26 8 3 Houston Rockets REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK David Wesley 48 2-5 2-3 2-2 8 0-2 1 1 2 1 0 Bob Sura 23 3-5 1-2 0-0 7 1-2 2 2 2 0 0 Tracy McGrady 42 7-22 1-4 10-14 25 3-9 6 2 5 3 2 Scott Padgett 21 1-3 0-1 2-2 4 2-4 0 1 4 3 0 Yao Ming 35 10-13 0-0 10-16 30 3-8 0 2 4 0 3 Mike James 30 6-9 0-0 4-4 16 0-2 5 1 3 1 0 Jon Barry 25 3-7 1-3 0-0 7 0-5 1 1 2 0 0 Dikembe Mutombo 12 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-5 0 3 2 0 1 Ryan Bowen 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 48 33-67 5-13 29-40 100 10-39 15 14 25 8 6 patricia Go Mavs!