# Mavs 108 Suns 106 Grades : Mavs Rebound to Make it A Series



## viggenja37 (Feb 15, 2005)

Mavs 108 Suns 106 Grades : Mavs Rebound to Make it A Series

They say that it’s not a playoff series until the road team takes one. The Mavs vs. the Suns is now officially as series.

Dampier wins the tap and the Mavs go straight to Dirk. Dirk grabs the Suns missed shot rebound. Richardson gets on the board with a trey and the Mavs go to Erick who loses the ball going up for a dunk. Joe Johnson misses and Dirk rips it down with authority. Josh curls out and nails a jumper to give the Mavs back the lead at 4-3. Marion strips Dirk, but Finley knocks the ball out on the Suns attack. Amare misses long over Erick and Dirk answers with a quick miss from behind the arc. Marion nails a jumper off a busted play to put the Suns back ahead at 5-4. Finley finds Erick deep in the paint and Dampier’s hook rolls in but Steve Nash answers with a deuce from just inside the arc. Dirk drives on Shawn and gets the and-one with 8:36 left in the first period. Dirk misses the free throw and the Suns attack with the pick and roll with Steve and Amare. Erick defends it well and the Mavs respond by going to Josh on the cut that Erick taps back in as the Mavs go up 10-7. Dirk blocks Amare’s shot and Michael takes it down court but is called for a double dribble. Steve misses from behind the arc and Finley goes to a cutting Dirk who is pushed out of bounds, but no foul call. The Mavs capitalize on the inbounds play as Finley finds an open Erick who picks up his 6th point. Amare gets sent to the line and goes 0-2. Jason sails in for a lay-up as the Mavs now lead 14-7 before Steve finally answers with a mid-range jumper. Erick deflects an interior pass out of bounds and the Suns take time. The Suns go to Amare who is fouled and sent to the line for 2-2 to make the score 14-11. Jim Jackson comes n for Joe Johnson during the timeout. Jason goes to Michael who nails the jumper. Finley kicks down low to Erick who gets the dunk but Marion answers with a dunk. Dirk scores with a nice dish from Jason but Amare hustles down and scores again off the screen and roll, but Jason answers with a floater to keep the lead at 22-15. Jerry comes in for Erick with 4:12 left in the first and Stackhouse blows by Jackson. Michael kicks the Mavs up to 27 points with a trey to force a Suns timeout. Out of the timeout, the Suns go to Steve who drives in for the lay-up. Shawn Marion throws the ball away with 2:28 left. Josh attacks the basket and is fouled hard but does not get the call. The Suns go to Johnson who misses over Dirk. Dirk finds a baseline Marquis who gets the and-one over Amare for the Mavs to take a 30-17 lead. The Suns go to Richardson who misses but comes back for the lay-up. Jerry drives and kicks to Josh who nails the baseline jumper. Richardson attacks the basket again as Dirk picks up his second foul with 48 seconds left in the first. Erick comes in with the Mavs up 32-19. Richardson goes 1-2 from the stripe. Jerry misses but Josh gets the offensive board and drops to a wide-open Erick for the dunk. Amare scores with a flip over Erick to end the scoring in the period with the Mavs leading 34-22. Erick is the leading scorer for the Mavs with 10 points on 5-5 from the field. Dirk backs him up with 6 points (3-5 FG, 0-1 trey, 0-1 FT) and picks up 5 rebounds. Michael Finley pitches in 5 points (2-3 FG, 1-1 trey) and leads the team with 3 assists. The Suns have 3 players with 6 points: Richardson, Stoudemire, and Nash.

The Mavs go with Jason, Marquis, Josh, Jerry and Erick to start the second period. Marquis runs the pick and roll with Erick who drops a two handed slam. Steve answers with a long jumper and the Mavs go back to the pick and roll but Marquis is blocked (out of bounds, no call). Jim Jackson rescues a broken play and nails a jumper, but Avery is ticked about the Suns 5-2 run to start the quarter and calls timeout with 9:59 left in the first half with the Mavs ahead 36-27. Out of the timeout the Mavs run the pick and roll with Erick and Jason as Terry nails the jumper. Jason flips out the ball from behind Steve with 9:28 left as Dirk comes back in for Erick. Marquis finds Josh baseline who gets the and-one with 9:13 left but Josh misses the free throw. Jim Jackson is left wide open in the corner who makes Josh pay with a trey. Jerry isolates against Steve Nash who takes the foul. Jason comes back and goes straight at Nash who pulls Jason to the floor for a second foul. Finley drops in a jumper and Steve answers with a running lay-up. The Suns go to their pick and roll, but the Mavs converge and deny the lane to Amare who goes 1-2 from the stripe with 7:19 left in the first half, Mavs up 42-33. The Mavs go to Marquis baseline over Nash, but Amare gets the block. Michael drives hard into the paint but Nash gets the charging foul on Finley. Johnson gets stripped by Jason as the Mavs go to Dirk who gets floored by Marion. Dirk goes 1-2 from the line as the Suns attack. Erick steals the ball from Amare and Finley nails a long jumper over Richardson for the Mavs 45-33 lead. Amare shoots from top of the key but misses. Dirk misses but Erick gets the board and kicks to Finley who is sent to the charity stripe for 2-2 for the Mavs 47-33 lead. Steve gets a left-handed bounce pass to Amare for the slam. Dirk misses and the Suns are off to the races as Finley puts Marion on the line who goes 2-2 to pull the Suns back to a ten-point margin. The Mavs go to Dirk who slams into Richardson who is late on the attempt to get the charge. Dirk drills his free throws with 3:52 left for a 49-37 Mavs lead. Steve gets a phantom call on Marquis as Steve runs by Daniels pulling his jersey. Joe Johnson gets a runner out of the Suns timeout but Dirk answers with an and-one going against Amare. Dirk sinks the free throw for the 52-39 Mavs lead. Steve drives the lane but is tripped up by Marquis with 2:17 left in the half. Steve sinks both free throws to bring the Suns within 52-41. Jerry nails an elbow jumper but Joe Johnson goes right back at Jerry for the and-one but Joe misses the free throw. The Mavs go to Dirk but Dirk gets called for a 3 second lane violation fighting for position. Steve misses a jumper and Finley clears. Stackhouse isolates on Joe who stuffs him. The Mavs get the ball back, but again Jerry loses it out of bounds. Marion gets a tip-in to bring the Mavs lead down to single digits at 54-45. Jason drives the lane but misses the bunny. Joe Johnson goes hard to the basket and Jerry is called for a flagrant foul (Jerry did block the lay-up but did foul him with the body, but Joe hit the floor hard because he hung on the rim) as Joe lands hard with 19.7 seconds left. Joe goes 1-2 from the stripe and then exits for stitches. The Suns get the ball on the flagrant and go to Steve for the last shot. Steve pulls up in the lane and his missed shot is grabbed by Alan. Finley launches a 73-foot leaner that drops his field goal shooting to 4-6. The Suns outscore the Mavs in the second period 24-20 and trail going to the locker room by 8 points, 54-46.

Shawn Marion gets the easy lay-up to start the third and Dirk answers with a miss. Richardson comes quick and drains an open trey to close within 3 points. Erick loses the ball out of bounds and the Suns drill the ball down court as Amare nails both free throws to come within one point at 54-53. Dirk misses the baby hook and Shawn is left wide open but misses. Jason drives and kicks to Finley for the jumper. Amare drives the baseline and again pulls the Suns within one at 56-55 to force a Mavs timeout with 9:57 left in the third. Out of the timeout Dirk passes to the Suns trying to get it to Erick in the paint. Jason deflects a Nash pass but Steve finds Amare in the paint for the dunk and the lead, 57-56. Jason finds Erick on the pick and roll as Richardson picks up his 3rd foul sending Erick to the charity stripe at the 9:12 mark. Erick goes 0-2 and the Suns go to Steve who misses as Erick clears. Jason misses in the lane but Amare gets the tip in on the other end for a 59-56 Suns lead. Amare gets his third foul sending Erick to the line for 1-2 to bring the Mavs within 2 at 8:20 left. Erick clears on a Steve miss-communication and Finley finds Dirk for three to put Dallas back ahead at 60-59. Jimmy Jackson lobs it to Marion for the alley-oop as Dallas goes back to Dirk for the lay-up. Dirk grabs his ninth rebound and gives to Michael to create for the jumper for the Mavs lead of 64-61. Finley tries to get an offensive foul on Amare but instead is called for his third. Steve misses the bunny but finds Jackson for the trey in the corner for a tie game at 64-all. The Mavs go to Dirk who is long and a Nash lob is long. Josh attacks the basket and puts a fourth foul on Richardson for the and-one. Josh misses the free throw but Nash gets called for an 8 second violation walking the ball up. The Mavs go to Jerry whose lay-up is blocked. The Suns push and get Jackson in the corner for three. Finley responds with a well-defended jumper to give the Mavs the lead again at 68-67. Finley steals the ball and kicks to Jerry for the trey but it goes long. Steve drives on Josh who gets his 3rd foul for the and-one and the lead back to Phoenix at 70-68. Finley finds the cutting Josh for the dunk to tie the game. Finley gets his 4th foul sending Barbosa to the line for the 71-70 lead again with 3:29 left. Marquis leads the attack for the Mav how gets the and-one on the Marion isolation. Dirk misses the free throw but the Mavs still have the 72-71 lead. Dirk (4th foul) sends Amare to the line with 2:54 left. Out of the timeout, with Erick in for Dirk, Amare goes 2-2 to give the Sun the lead at 73-72. Jason fumbles the pass and Marion makes the Mavs pay with a breakaway. Marquis throws the ball away again and Jason sends Marion to the line for the and-one. Finley nails a trey to bring the Mavs back to within three at 75-78. The Suns miss from the corner, but Erick is called for pushing off on Amare who sinks both free throws to give the Suns the 5-point advantage. The Mavs go to the hot hand Michael who is knocked to the floor (no call) but Erick clears the Suns missed shot. Marquis finds Finley who nails the trey to pull the Mavs within two at 80-78. Amare is called for traveling and the Mavs attack but Finley misses the turn around jumper. Nash drives the lane and dishes to Marion for the dunk. Jerry gets fouled by Jimmy Jackson with 4.3 seconds left who nails both free throws to pull the Mavs within 82-80. The Suns outscore the Mavs 36-26 in the quarter. Michael Finley is the games’ leading scorer with 23 points (9-13 FG, 3-4 treys, 2-2 FT) with Dirk backing him up with 19 points (7-15 FG, 1-2 treys, 4-7 FT). The only problem is that the Mavs co-captains are both playing with 4 fouls each. 

The Mavs open up the fourth with Marquis, Jerry, Michael, Josh and Erick. Marquis slithers in side to tie the game at 82 all. Amare answers with a hanging lay-up to put the Suns back up. Marquis answers with a jumper in the paint to tie the game at 84 all. Stackhouse rejects the Suns and Finley nails a trey to put the Mavs up 87-84. Erick picks up his 4th foul putting Amare on the line with 10:17 left in the game. Amare sinks both but Finley misses the baseline jumper. Amare misses but Richardson nails the open trey to put the Suns up 89-87 with 9:36 left in the game. Out of the timeout Jerry finds Michael for his 5th trey. Finley answers at the other end handing Amare his 5th foul pushing off on Michael. Jimmy Jackson fouls Jerry at the elbow and Jerry sinks both free throws to give the Mavs a 3-point lead, 92-89, with 8:53 left in the game. Daniels stops Barbosa on the bunny. Finley kicks to Dirk who draws the 5th foul on Richardson with a fake (foul called on the floor). Finley inbounds to Marquis but Dirk misses on the isolation. Steve nails a jumper to bring the Suns within one at 92-91. The Mavs go back to Dirk who kicks to Marquis, but Daniels throws the ball to the Suns. Steve draws the 4th foul on Josh and puts the Suns ahead from the charity stripe with 7:22 left in the game, the Suns up 93-92. Jason Terry comes in for Marquis but Jerry misses the trey. Steve whips it in to Amare and Josh gets his 5th foul slapping Amare hard. Amare goes 1-2 from the stripe with 6:47 left in the game for the 2-point lead at 94-92. The Mavs go to the pick and roll with Dirk and Marquis but Daniels misses the bunny. Dirk clears for the Mavs as the Mavs go to Finley who misses with a short jumper. Jackson isolates against Jason but Terry knocks the ball out with 5:33 left. Out of the official’s timeout, the Suns miss and Finley tips the rebound to a racing Jason who is sent to the stripe with 5:03 left. Jason sinks both free throws to tie the game at 94-all. Steve nails a jumper from the line but Jason answers with a jumper in the paint. Steve misses a fall away and the Mavs got to Dirk. Amare flips the ball loose from Dirk but the ball falls out of bounds. Finely fires a deuce with the shot clock expiring to give the Mavs a 2-point lead. Nash misses the trey and Dampier taps in a Daniels miss for the century mark at 100-96. Nash finds Amare who gets the and-one on Erick with 3:23 left in the game, but Amare misses the free throw. Jason slashes inside for the lay-up to put the Mavs up 102-98. Daniels knocks the ball away and gets the goal tend call from Amare. The Suns call timeout with 2:49 left, down 104-98. Nash goes to Amare who drops in the lay-up. Dirk defers to Marquis who misses the long jumper. Daniels compounds that by fouling Marion in the backcourt. Shawn sinks both free throws to bring the Suns back to within 2 points at 104-102. The Mavs go to Dirk on the isolation who wheels in on Marion for Shawn’s 5th foul with 1:55 left. Dirk goes 2-2 from the charity stripe to extend the Mavs lead back to 106-102. Nash goes to Amare for the lob dunk but Amare blows it. The Mavs again go to Dirk but misses short. Amare misses twice at the rim and Dirk clears with 1:12 left in the game. The Mavs call timeout with 1:02 left in the game trying to protect a 106-102 lead. Jerry goes to the rim but is called for the charge for pushing off with his left. Nash finds a wide-open Amare for a two handed slam to make it a two-point game. Jason throws the ball away with 36.1 seconds left. Steve pulls up and ties the game with 27.4 seconds left from the free throw line. The Mavs go with Jason, Michael, Josh, Dirk and Jerry Stackhouse. Jerry inbounds the ball and finds Josh. Josh kicks to Jason who gets it to Dirk at the arc. Dirk drives for and nails a fall away for the 108-106 lead. The Suns call timeout for the final play with 6.8 seconds left in the game facing a two-point deficit. Jimmy Jackson inbounds to Nash who is hounded by Dirk. Steve finds Richardson whose trey attempt over Marquis and Dirk bounces off the rim.

Great game!

TNT: F; Their camera men are terrible with absolutely no imagination. I can’t wait until UPN returns to broadcast. -36

Avery / Del: A; Avery and / or Dirk got Erick pumped up as Dampier had his best game of the playoffs. Del gave Avery a big assist as he became the aggressor in the Mavs timeouts late in the game demanding better defense and asking them “ Do you want to win this game!”. Great joint effort by Avery and Del tonight.

Howard: B+; Josh fought foul trouble most of the night but still delivered 34 minutes. Scored 10 points on 5-10 shooting. Zero turnovers. +8

Nowitzki: A-; Dirk made the winning basket and helped in the defensive series to end the game by stopping Nash and helping Marquis with hands up over Richardson’s trey attempt. A small concern in Dirk deferring to Marquis with 5 seconds left in the shot clock late in the game, but Avery will get that corrected. Dirk backs up Michael with 23 points and gets the double-double by adding 12 rebounds. +23

Dampier: A; Erick bounced back from a terrible Game one by getting a double-double with15 points and 12 rebounds. Erick was still limited to 27 minutes due to foul trouble in conjunction with his problems at the free throw line (1-4). Still a great effort by Erick help dampen the controversy. +24

Finley: A+; Michael was very impressive on defense when the Mavs went small trying to slow down Stoudemire but was even more impressive with his shot, nailing 31 points (12-18 FG, 5-6 treys, 2-2 FT) with the only trey he missed being an end of the half 73-foot heave. Michael helped the Mavs focus on getting the ball to Erick on his way to sharing the team lead with Jerry with 5 assists. +36

Terry: B; Jason started slow but warmed up at the end of the fourth to keep the Mavericks in this one. Scored 12 points (5-10 FG, 0-2 treys, 2-2 FT) but had 4 turnovers to only 2 assists. +8

Stackhouse: B; Jerry didn’t have his shot going tonight, but sank 4 clutch free throws to keep the Mavs afloat. Jerry tied Finley with 5 assists. Was called for a controversial flagrant foul on Joe Johnson that ended up sending Johnson to the hospital with an orbital fracture. Replays showed that Stackhouse blocked the lay-up and ‘may’ have had a tiny bit of body contact. The damage came from Joe hanging on the rim, then releasing with his momentum swinging out that ended up him hitting the floor face first. +5

Daniels: B; Marquis got to 9 points (4-12 FG, 1-1 FT) along with 8 rebounds but had 3 turnovers to go against his 3 assists. Marquis did provide quality minutes for the most part, but Avery may have stayed with him just a few minutes too long. +11

Henderson: B; Essentially a DNP with less than a minute in period ending situations. Zero turnovers. +1

Armstrong: B; Essentially a DNP with less than a minute in period ending situations. Zero turnovers. +0

Harris: DNP-CD.

Bradley: DNP-CD.

Van Horn: DNP-CD, Left ankle sprain.

Typical Chef Ed Type


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## Tersk (Apr 9, 2004)

Mavs are undefeated this year, when Dirk and Finley both score over 20 points each


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

I think almost everyone here can tell you it was gonna go this way. The Mavs are too good a team to not adjust and take one in PHX. The Mavs play best with their backs against the wall, always have.


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

This game was huge because there is a chance that PHX could take one of the games in Dallas because they where the best road team in the NBA.


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## kuen1 (Apr 26, 2005)

SMDre said:


> This game was huge because there is a chance that PHX could take one of the games in Dallas because they where the best road team in the NBA.


Very True. The Mavs needed this one for a lot of reasons. Hopefully they'll be able to turn up the pressure on both ends being at home with the AAC crowd behind them. 3-1 after this weekend sure would be nice. :biggrin:


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## symphonix (Apr 14, 2005)

yes AAC crowd is terrific and I am gonna be there hopefully again like I did in the 1st round. 3-1 would be great, but I dont think it would happen


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

symphonix said:


> yes AAC crowd is terrific and I am gonna be there hopefully again like I did in the 1st round. 3-1 would be great, but I dont think it would happen


I just hope that if the Mavs do win game 3, that they go ahead and put their foot on PHX's throat and win game 4 and get the series over in 5 because the SA/Sonics series looks like a sweep.


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## nutmeged3 (Apr 11, 2005)

> yes AAC crowd is terrific and I am gonna be there hopefully again like I did in the 1st round. 3-1 would be great, but I dont think it would happen


whts it like at AAC


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

nutmeged3 said:


> whts it like at AAC


It's amazingly loud and it is hard to find a bad seat in the place. Even the "nose bleed" seats have a nice view of the court. The seats are comfortable all over the arena and most of the ushers are nice. I love to take the opportunity to go when I can.


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## xray (Feb 21, 2005)

I'm sure the crowd will be great, but I hope the Mavs learned how to play the Suns last light. 

:curse: :curse: ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK :curse: :curse:


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## JasonJETerry (May 12, 2005)

SMDre said:


> It's amazingly loud and it is hard to find a bad seat in the place. Even the "nose bleed" seats have a nice view of the court. The seats are comfortable all over the arena and most of the ushers are nice. I love to take the opportunity to go when I can.


When i went i sat in the platnum section. its not to close but really nice seats.. they were actually more expensive then the floor seats.. it was crazy with waiters and stuff. My friend and I walked around the AA Center three hours before the game.. i painted my face and everything.. it was cool


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## TMac01McGrady (Oct 9, 2004)

this game was good and close


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## FirstRocket (Mar 10, 2005)

Yeah, Mavericks won the second game but you guys should worry about Mavericks losing a big lead. Against Suns, holding on to your lead is a must. Suns could have won the game with a 3pts shot. It just happen, your opponent missed the last shot.

Keep in mind that Suns have a lot of good 3pts shooters, Mavericks might not be that lucky in the next game. Mavericks really need Dirk to be HIMSELF.


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## terry2damp (Apr 24, 2005)

dirk didnt deserve an A- his defensive rotations were TERRIBLE


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## SMDre (Jan 28, 2005)

FirstRocket said:


> Yeah, Mavericks won the second game but you guys should worry about Mavericks losing a big lead. Against Suns, holding on to your lead is a must. Suns could have won the game with a 3pts shot. It just happen, your opponent missed the last shot.
> 
> Keep in mind that Suns have a lot of good 3pts shooters, Mavericks might not be that lucky in the next game. Mavericks really need Dirk to be HIMSELF.


True, but making freethrows will help us secure our lead. Mavs: 16-24


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## FirstRocket (Mar 10, 2005)

SMDre said:


> True, but making freethrows will help us secure our lead. Mavs: 16-24


More like Mavericks bench is the problem: 6-23


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