# Dallas Mavericks vs Phoenix Suns



## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

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Dallas Mavericks (34-16) vs Phoenix Suns (41-12)

Starting Lineups:*





































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Key Matchup:








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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Season series: Suns lead, 1-0

Key matchup

Dirk Nowitzki vs. Amare Stoudemire: A new-age, high-octane power forward against a throwback, in-the-paint power forward. Both Nowitzki and Stoudemire can include elements of the other style in their games, but for the most part, they approach the position differently. It'll be a game within the game watching them try to one-up the other.

Inside the Mavericks

Rookie talk: Don Nelson pulled Devin Harris aside early in the road trip and told him to stop acting like a rookie. "He said we were 40 or 50 games into the season now, so I wasn't a rookie anymore and I should stop playing like one," Harris said. He got the message, with 15 points Tuesday at Golden State. With Jerry Stackhouse (groin) out, the Mavericks need offense from Harris.

Hanging around: The Mavericks have shown good and bad traits on this trip. They have beaten good teams, such as Sacramento and Seattle, by hanging around most of the game, then pulling out a win. They've also blown a 17-point lead against Golden State.

Inside the Suns

Shawn who? There was a time when Steve Nash often said this: "When Shawn plays well, we're really tough to beat. When he's active and blocking shots, we're a terrific defensive team." On this particular occasion, he said it Wednesday and was talking about Shawn Marion – not Shawn Bradley.

Never quite the same: Nash said he expects to feel more at ease tonight than he did in his first game against the Mavericks. That's bad news, considering he got 18 assists in that game. "It helps to get one out of the way," he said, "but it's never going to be completely comfortable when you have some of your best buddies on the other team."


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## DHarris34Phan (Oct 28, 2004)

$teve Cash.....I hope we win this one....


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

I want to say that we keep the streak going into the all-star break, but I feel this could be a loss with our depleted bench. Especially if Phoenix runs the whole game.

But being the Mavs Homer that I am I say:

Dallas: 113
Phoenix: 110


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## Kekai (Jan 12, 2005)

Suns Game Thread :wave: 

Dampier and scoring Stackhouse are out. Should be a close win for the Suns.


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## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

It's going to be tough, and one of our edges in the matchup, Dampier is out. What we need to do to beat them to the boards and *stop their running*.


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## FreeMason Jr. (Jul 12, 2004)

Dallas better win this one for the spurs!

Is this one playing nationally? Should be good


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## Weasel (Oct 18, 2003)

Half:

Mavs 45
Suns 55

A very fast paced game, sometimes sloppy. Even though the Mavs are down 10 at half the game is still close. The Suns just had a huge momentum shift at the end of the first half.


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## mff4l (Dec 31, 2004)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

huge win for the mavs


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## KokoTheMonkey (Aug 4, 2003)

Depth depth depth......





Josh Howard, as always, the unheralded stud of the game. 





Very impressive win for the Mavs, considering Stackhouse, Dampier, and Daniels were all out. Very nice win.


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## Gambino (Feb 11, 2004)

That was absolutly outstanding. I'm feeling great about this team right now. No Damp, No Quis, No Stack and we still win. Finley was incredible as was Howard. Finley was the player of the game though. Hell of a win. 2nd best team in the west imo.


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

PHOENIX – The Mavericks made history Thursday night, completing the first 4-0 road trip in the franchise’s 25 years of existence.

The Mavericks overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half to knock off the Phoenix Suns 119-113 at America West Arena and complete the sweep of the pre-All-Star Game road trip.

Like the first three games of the trip, this one required a lot of backbone. The Mavericks trailed in the fourth quarter of all four of the wins.

Down to nine healthy players, the Mavericks got superior efforts from Josh Howard, who had a career-high 30 points, and Michael Finley, who tossed in season-high-tying 33. Combined with a big rebounding night from Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks offset a monster performance by Phoenix big man Amare Stoudemire.

"An incredible road trip,'' coach Don Nelson said. "This just capped off a perfect week.''

The Mavericks trailed by 10 at halftime and slowly ate away at the gap, despite missing Erick Dampier, Jerry Stackhouse and Marquis Daniels.

They got strong efforts off the bench from Calvin Booth, Darrell Armstrong and Devin Harris.

Down 91-83, the Mavericks went on a 14-2 blitz. Booth then had two dunks as the Mavericks played sticky defense and grittily held on to the lead. Booth's second dunk made it 111-103, and Finley's fadeaway jumper at the shot-clock buzzer closed it out in the final minute.

"It says a lot about this team,'' said Howard. "Guys came in and played great ball for guys who were out.''

The Mavericks came up with countless big defensive plays, including a Dirk Nowitzki block of his good friend and former teammate Steve Nash late in the fourth.

Nowitzki had just 16 points, but pulled down 16 rebounds and had four assists, and he was a big reason why the Mavericks hit all 13 of their free throws in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki hit four of them.

And then there was Finley, who had a wonderful shooting night.

"Their game plan was to double- and triple-team Dirk all night and make somebody else beat them,'' Finley said. "So that opened things up for me and Josh, and the shots were going in.''

The Mavericks improved to 35-16 for the fourth seed in the Western Conference, three games ahead of Sacramento, their first victim on the trip.


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