Source: http://0rz.tw/wzUzY
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Dallas Mavericks' balanced act too much for Spurs' two-man show
01:11 AM CDT on Sunday, April 26, 2009 / By EDDIE SEFKO
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Tony Parker was the blowtorch, and the Mavericks were wilting under the heat
Saturday afternoon.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the meltdown. The Mavericks showed
that steely nerve displayed by many can hold up against even a blazing
assault by one. Or two.
With Josh Howard rolling and the Mavericks showing uncommon grit and
attention to detail, they withstood outrageous showings from Parker and Tim
Duncan for a 99-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at American Airlines
Center.
By protecting their home court, the Mavericks went ahead, 3-1, in the
best-of-7 series. They can close out the Spurs and move on to the second
round for the first time since 2006 with a win Tuesday at San Antonio.
It did not come easily, but things worth savoring seldom do.
If this had been a playground game of two-on-two, the Mavericks might be
stuck in a 2-2 playoff series. Parker had a career playoff-high 43 points but
had only 12 in the second half, when the Mavericks gained the advantage.
Duncan had 25 points. The rest of the Spurs had 22.
This being a five-man game in the NBA playoffs, the Mavs used a diverse
attack led by Howard and Jason Kidd to overcome a hideous second quarter and
yet another game in which the Spurs refused to let Dirk Nowitzki or Jason
Terry beat them.
"It was a collective effort," said Howard, who had a Mavericks' series-high
28 points. "We know what San Antonio wants to do with Dirk and Jet, so we're
doing different things to get the ball in the basket."
Like getting to the free throw line. The Mavericks attacked the basket and
were rewarded with 39 trips to the line, where they outscored the Spurs by
11.
"I'm really pleased we won, because it was a gut-check the way they finished
the first half," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "A 3-1 lead is great, but it
doesn't guarantee anything. They are by no means out of the series."
But the Mavericks, who in each of the last two playoffs have been down 3-1 in
the first round and went on to lose, will gladly take this spot.
Nowitzki failed to score more than 20 points for the fourth straight game.
The Mavericks were 6-14 in the regular season when he scored 20 or fewer.
They have found other ways to score when the Spurs look to stop Nowitzki and
Terry, who had 12 and 10 points, respectively. Terry was 3-of-17 from the
field and was 0-of-10 in the last three quarters. The Mavs shot 38.4 percent,
including 25 percent in the fourth.
Yet they won by controlling the boards and keeping all the Spurs not named
Parker and Duncan under wraps.
They also got great support from Ryan Hollins, who had three crowd-pleasing
blocks and a wicked dunk that put the Mavericks up, 92-86, with 4:20 to go.
When Parker missed a couple of free throws with 3:47 left, it cost the Spurs
dearly. They got a 3-pointer from George Hill to make it 93-90, but Howard
nailed two free throws with 2:06 left.
The Spurs missed five 3-pointers on their last five possessions.
That leaves the Mavericks on the verge of handing Duncan a first-round loss
for the first time in his career.
"The old cliche is that the elimination game is the toughest, always,"
Carlisle said. "Both teams have been down this road before. Nobody's taking
anything for granted, I can assure you of that."
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