Game 6: Dallas at Phoenix (June 3)

Do-or-die game 6 for Phoenix was here with no lineup changes. A layup by
DeSagana Diop opened the scoring, but Dallas would then missed their next
8 shots and Phoenix jumped out to an 8-3 lead with 7:45 left. Jason Terry
picked up his 2nd foul a mere 2 minutes into the game and he sat the rest
of the quarter. Phoenix led 12-7 with 5:50 to go and Dallas' shooting
struggles continued as the Mavs shot just 1-6 FG as the Suns went on a
14-3 run to take a 26-10 lead with 1:10 remaining. Devin Harris had
picked up his 2nd foul with 4:40 left and sat and the Mavs played Marquis
Daniels at point the rest of the quarter. Phoenix led 29-14 after 1.
Boris Diaw had 10 points in the quarter. Phoenix shot 11-18 FG while
Dallas shot just 6-21 FG (including 0-6 3-pointers) and 14 points was the
fewest points Dallas had scored in the playoffs this season. The Suns
even out-rebounded Dallas 16-8 and the Mavs didn't have a single offensive
rebound despite their many misses. A bucket by Diaw opened the 2nd
quarter, but Dallas then went on an 8-2 run to pull within 22-33 with 9:35
to go. But Terry had picked up his 3rd foul a mere 75 seconds into the
quarter and he sat the rest of the half - Terry only played 3 minutes and
did not score in the 1st half. Phoenix led 38-26 with 7:05 remaining and
a 3-point play by Diaw and 3-pointer by Shawn Marion gave the Suns their
largest lead at 44-26 with 6:15 left. Harris had picked up his 3rd foul
with 6:30 to go and he sat the rest of the quarter. Phoenix joined Dallas
with foul trouble as Leandro Barbosa picked up his 3rd foul with 7:15
left, Tim Thomas picked up his 3rd foul with 5:55 left, and Raja Bell
picked up his 3rd foul with 4:55 left. Phoenix led 49-33 with 2:55 to go
and Dirk Nowitzki converted a 3-point play, Diaw picked up his 3rd foul
with 2 minutes left and Josh Howard hit 1-2 FT, and Howard got a bucket to
pull Dallas within 39-49 with 1:05 remaining. A layup by Steve Nash with
5 seconds left capped the quarter scoring. Phoenix led 51-39 at the half.
Diaw had 20 points in the half. Phoenix shot 53% FG and Dallas shot 38%
FG (including 0-10 3-pointers) in the half. Dallas came out with a new
lineup to open the 2nd half as Adrian Griffin started in place of Harris.
Diaw picked up his 4th foul a mere 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter.
Phoenix led 55-45 with 8:50 to go and Leandro Barbosa hit a 3-pointer,
Diop picked up his 4th foul but Thomas missed 2 free throws, and a finger
roll by Barbosa on the break gave Phoenix a 60-45 lead with 6:35
remaining. Nowitzki then drove for a bucket and was fouled - Barbosa's
4th foul - and he hit the extra. Thomas got a bucket, by Terry nailed a
3-pointer (Dallas' first of the game). James Jones got a dunk, but
Nowitzki hit a jumper and then Nowitzki drove for 2 and was fouled -
Thomas' 4th foul - and he hit the extra to pull Dallas within 56-64 with 4
minutes to go. The teams traded jumpers on their next possessions and
then each missed 3 shots and there was a minute and a half left in the
quarter. 2 jumpers by Nowitzki capped the quarter scoring (with Bell
collecting his 4th foul in between the 2 shots). Phoenix led 66-62 after
3. Nowitzki had 12 points in the 3rd quarter. Dallas out-scored Phoenix
23-15 in the 3rd quarter as the game slowed down with Dallas' playing a
halfcourt game, Dallas getting back on defense to slow Phoenix down, and
the fouls called. Dallas scored the first 6 points of the 4th quarter to
take their first lead since the first basket of the game at 68-66 with
9:45 remaining - it also completed a 23-6 Dallas run from 6 1/2 minutes
left in the 3rd quarter. Diop picked up his 5th foul with 9:30 left and
he did not play the rest of the game as Dallas' lineup of Jerry
Stackhouse, Griffin, Nowitzki, Howard, and Terry was playing well. A
dunk by Diaw tied the game at 72-72 with 8:10 to go. Dallas then scored
the next 6 points to go up 78-72 with 6:10 remaining (and Thomas picked
up his 5th foul with 6:35 left, but stayed in the game). I wasn't
surprised when Nash cut Dallas' lead in half with a 3-pointer on
Phoenix's next possession. Stackhouse hit a jumper, Thomas hit a jumper,
and Stackhouse nailed a 3-pointer to give Dallas an 83-77 lead with 5
minutes to go. The teams traded a pair of misses and Howard stole
backcourt pass and was fouled (Barbosa's 5th) and Howard hit the 2 free
throws to give Dallas an 8 point lead with 3:45 remaining. The teams
traded jumpers and Nash lost the ball near the baseline as Griffin tipped
it away and Nowitzki was fouled and hit 2 free throws to give Dallas an
89-79 lead with 2:45 left. Nash drove for the quick 2. Howard was
called for traveling, but Nash fell driving and Nowitzki picked up the
loose ball with 2:15 remaining. Terry was fouled driving and hit 1-2 FT
and Nash got another quick layup. But Howard buried the 3 (and the Suns)
to give Dallas a 93-83 lead with 1:30 to go. Barbosa got a quick layup
and the Suns started intentionally fouling, but the Mavs weren't going to
fall apart and hit 9-10 FT the rest of the way. Bell hit 2 3-pointers in
the last 30 seconds and the game ended with a dunk by Griffin at the final
buzzer. Dallas won 102-93. Dallas takes the series 4-2 and advances to
the NBA Finals!!!!!!!


I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was with this win. When Josh
hit that 3, I could no longer sit and was on my feet for the next 30
minutes and bouncing around. WE'RE GOING TO THE NBA FINALS!!!!!! I know
the Mavs were the favorite going into this series, but each win is such a
high and each loss is such a low - it really is a rollercoaster. As a
long time Mavs fan, my all-time best Mavs memory was with a few minutes
left in game 6 vs Denver in 1988 (I was there) with the realization that
we were going to the Western Conference Finals (and then the next few
hours of celebrating with the rest of the fans in the arena, walking to
the car, and even driving home on Central). [2nd on my list was Michael
Finley's great feed to Calvin Booth and then Utah missing 2 good looks to
give Dallas the upset series win in their first playoff series after a
decade of disaster.] I now have a new favorite, starting with Josh's 3
and going on for the next 7 hours (I went and met the plane). I still
have a stupid grin on my face 14 hours later (and 5 1/2 hours fitful
sleep as the adrenalin remained high). MY DALLAS MAVERICKS ARE GOING TO
THE NBA FINALS!!!! This there is such a large break before the FINALS
start (Thursday in Dallas at 8 pm - you can't offer me enough money to
entice me to give up those tickets), I'm going to take the rest of the
day and probably tomorrow and enjoy the win, before settling back and
saying the focus is still on the ultimate prize. But, WE'RE GOING TO THE
FINALS!!!

As for the game, it wasn't pretty at all and really a tale of 2 halves.
The Mavs looked terrible in the 1st quarter and Phoenix took advantage and
built an 18-point lead. Dallas found their shot in the 2nd half and also
played some defense in getting some stops (and the Suns simply missed some
shots late in the game). Phoenix out-scored Dallas 51-39 in the 1st half
and Dallas out-scored Phoenix 63-42 in the 2nd half including 40-27 in the
4th quarter [Dallas out-scored Phoenix 57-33 from 6:35 left in the 3rd
quarter (where Phoenix led by 15 points) to the end of the game]. Dallas
shot 38% FG in the 1st half and 58% FG in the 2nd half (and their 3 made
3-pointers came in the 2nd half). Phoenix shot 53% FG in the 1st half and
47% FG in the 2nd half. Phoenix out-rebounded Dallas 24-17 in the 1st
half and in 2nd half Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 24-15. For the final
numbers, Dallas shot 47.4% (37-78) FG including 3-20 3-pointers and
Phoenix shot 50% (36-72) FG including 6-17 3-pointers. Dallas shot 25-31
FT (including 9-10 FT on intentional fouls) and Phoenix shot 15-20 FT.
Dallas out-rebounded Phoenix 39-36 including 10-5 offensive (5 offensive
boards was 1 off the Mavs opponent record). Phoenix had 18 assists and
Dallas had just 10 assists. Dallas scored 50 points in the paint and
Phoenix scored 36 points in the paint. Dallas had 14 turnovers and
Phoenix had 18 turnovers. Coming back from 18 down tied the 2nd largest
comeback in Mavs playoff history and was the 5th time this season Dallas
came back from 18+ points down in a game.

A big diss to the refs for being a factor in this game - the many players
in foul trouble _was_ a story in the game when you would have rathered all
the key stories be purely on plays. Dallas did benefit in the long run
with many key Suns players in deep foul trouble in the 2nd half, but the
Suns also benefited with both of Dallas' point guards sitting most of the
1st half due to foul trouble.

The 5-man lineup of Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason
Terry, and Adrian Griffin picked the team up in the 2nd half and carried
them to the win - all 5 played key roles (although most would like to
forget their 1st half performances). All 17 of Terry's points came in the
2nd half (not surprising since he played just 3 minutes in the 1st half
due to foul trouble). Not only did Howard score and rebound, he had the
defensive assignment on Steve Nash at times in the 2nd half and helped
slow Nash down. Howard's 24-0 streak this season when he scores 20+
points remains intact. Howard had 20 points, 15 rebounds including 5
offensive, and 3 steals (though he did have 4 turnovers). Nowitzki
overcame his sluggish 1st half where he shot 2-9 FG and had 8 points and
had 16 points in the 2nd half including 6-11 FG (including making 5
straight shots in the 3rd quarter) - his 12 points in the last 6:15 of
the 3rd quarter got Dallas back in the game after being down 15 points.
Nowitzki finished with a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds and
also had 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks. 13 of Stackhouse's 19 points
came in the 4th quarter (including 8-8 FT on intentional fouls). The
team did not reveal it until after the game, but Nowitzki was recovering
from food poisoning, which was the reason he did not practice the day
before (not getting a day of rest as the team originally stated). And
Griffin was making Griff plays. Playing defense, knocking balls away,
keeping the ball alive for Dallas, and occasionally hitting shots. He had
6 points on 3-4 FG and 5 rebounds in 36 minutes. With his 1st half foul
trouble and Griffin's play in the 2nd half, Devin Harris played just 12
minutes. Harris had 8 points on 4-5 FG. DeSagana Diop's playing time
suffered due to fouls (and then the above 5 players clicking in the 4th
quarter) and he had 4 points on 2-2 FG, 4 rebounds, and 5 fouls in 21
minutes. With the 1st half point guard foul trouble, Marquis Daniels
played significant minutes at point guard and had 4 points in 12 minutes.
Keith Van Horn barely played in seeing just 3 1/2 minutes of court time
and he missed his only attempt and had 1 rebound. Darrell Armstrong and
Erick Dampier did not play, coach's decision.

Boris Diaw was the game's high man with 30 points on 11-16 FG and 8-10 FT.
He also had 11 rebounds, but turned the ball over 6 times in his 40
minutes. 9 of Steve Nash's 19 points came in the 4th quarter. Nash also
had 6 rebounds and 9 assists. Shawn Marion had a double-double, but the
Suns needed more offense from him. Marion had 13 points (only 10
attempts) and 11 rebounds in 46 minutes. Tim Thomas didn't have his shot
going and struggled with foul trouble. Thomas had 8 points on 4-11 FG,
0-3 3-pointers, and 0-2 FT and 4 rebounds before fouling out with 2
minutes left in the game. Raja Bell, still playing on a sore calf, missed
all 4 of his shots before hitting 2 3-pointers in the last 30 seconds of
the game. He had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals and also had foul
trouble with 5 fouls in 35 minutes. Leandro Barbosa was the main bench
player with 14 points, but also had foul trouble. He had 2 rebounds and
3 assists in 27 minutes before fouling out on an intentional foul with 45
seconds left. James Jones had 3 points on 1-4 FG and 1-2 FT, 2 turnovers,
and 1 block for his only stats in 19 minutes. It was a tight 7-man
rotation for Phoenix as Eddie House did not play in this game.


As for the series, hats off to a gutsy performance by the Phoenix Suns
where they played with a very short rotation of 7 or 8 players and forced
teams to adjust to them. I did feel that the Mavs were the better team
throughout, but the Mavs never could get a handle on the Suns and were
constantly adjusting and Dallas never had a dominating game on the Suns (a
half or quarter a couple of times, but never a game). Phoenix did make
life a little more difficult on themselves by not grabbing many offensive
rebounds (just 51 in the 6 game series, tying the 4th lowest in league
playoff history) and just 26 steals (2nd lowest in league 6-game history).
Dallas had their own near NBA record with just 91 assists (tying 2nd
lowest in 6-games), but that wasn't unusual as they've had very low
assists numbers all season long. Phoenix went all series with a very
short rotation as 6 players averaged more than 30 minutes and another
player averaged 19 minutes and an 8th averaged 11 minutes. 3 other
players played a grand total of 10 minutes (all in the game 4 blowout).
Boris Diaw average 24.2 points and 8.5 rebounds against Dallas. Steve
Nash averaged 20.7 points and 10.2 assists. Shawn Marion averaged 16.8
points and 13.2 rebounds. Tim Thomas averaged 15 points including 15-29
3-pointers and Leandro Barbosa averaged 13.3 points. Raja Bell showed
great heart in wanting to play despite a serious injury that playing on
risked a more serious injury. In the series Dirk Nowitzki was a stud
(even more so if you remove his 1 bad game of the 6). Dirk averaged 28
points including 8-16 3-pointers and 13.2 rebounds against Phoenix. Josh
Howard averaged 19.3 points and 8.3 rebounds. Jason Terry averaged 16
points, but shot just 41.6% FG and 5-20 3-pointers (shot 41% 3-pointers in
the regular season). Jerry Stackhouse averaged 13.2 points and Devin
Harris averaged 11 points.


Quotes
Avery Johnson: "Tonight this was a really special win. But first, I want
to just thank the Suns. They are a first class organization. I thought
they had an incredible year. Nash is just such a special player; I had to
change my pick-and-roll coverage almost ever other time down the court.
And they've had a wonderful run, especially without Stoudemire. But
again, man, this was a special night for us. We were so bad in the 1st
half and so good in the 2nd half. You're talking about the tale of 2
halves. And the way we turned it on and from that middle of the 3rd on in
to the 4th was incredible. Really got to take your hats off to Jason
Terry. What an incredible comeback. What an incredible example of
perseverance. Went to him in the 2nd half. He had 3 fouls in 3 minutes,
basically, in the 1st half. And Dirk came back, wasn't feeling too
particularly good. Couldn't practice yesterday. And, you know, these
guys are just - I can keep going on and on down the line. It's just been
an incredible run. So, we're excited to be in the Finals, obviously. But
nobody's ripping their shirts off or going too crazy. But they should
celebrate. But we know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us
because we came into this season with the idea of winning the
championship."

Johnson on starting Griffin in the 2nd half: "Well he just gave us that
size. And you know Adrian started for us quite a bit this year. We kind
of felt if we were fortunate enough to get by the 1st round, we knew we'd
have to start Devin against the Spurs. And Devin just got on such a big
roll coming into this series, I thought that maybe we'll start him against
Phoenix. But he hadn't played particularly well this series. He had an
okay 1st half, but we needed to get some size out there. And we thought
it would give Nash an opportunity to play more defense on Terry or if he
tried to guard Griffin, we would go big. But this game turned around
because we decided to take the ball to the basket. We were settling for
too many jumpshots. Believe it or not, we think we're more of an
inside-out team, whether it's posting up or penetration. We're not a
jumpshooting team any more. So, glad we took the ball to the basket.
Just really excited. Excited for Mark Cuban, who's definitely our #1 fan
and loyal faithful supporter."

Johnson on the 3rd quarter comeback with defense: "We did it what?
Defensively? We're not a defensive team. Defensively, wow, that's pretty
new. [sarcasm] I think it was great the way we turned up our defense.
We got some steals in there. We created some turnovers. And guys were
just active. And again, we're a team that normally doesn't have a really
good 3rd quarter. But we were fortunate to have a good 3rd quarter - not
so much offensively, but defensively. And except for them getting some
baskets at the end of the game when the game was over, I'm probably as
proud of our 2nd half defense as I've been all year, especially under the
circumstances."

Johnson on if the transition from being a run-and-gun team is complete: "I
think over all it is. Again, we took over a team - Coach Nelson laid a
really good foundation here for years - but we took over a team that had
lost in the 1st round, that we lost in the 2nd round last year. And we
added the right pieces. We added Jason Terry and Erick Dampier and
Stackhouse and Devin Harris last year, which was critical, and some of
those guys had never been to the playoffs. Then we add DeSagana Diop and
Adrian Griffin, who if we didn't have those 2 guys, you probably wouldn't
be talking to me, you'd be talking to another coach. So I think those 6
players and the development of Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard, who is
playing on an All-Star level right now, to go along with Dirk, has really
been nice for us. And we added Van Horn last year, who we think still has
another level to go to. So, I like the way we pieced together this team
and it was definitely with the intention of trying to be flexible enough
to play fast, slow. We feel that we have different styles, that we can
play against teams with different styles."

Johnson on the foul trouble and depth helping: "Yeah, you know, our depth
has been key this year because, like I said - I've sound like a worn out
record - but we were injured quite a bit this year. Only Dirk and Damp
and Jason Terry a little bit were our staples. Everybody else was in and
out of the rotation the whole year. And to still win 60 games with
DeSagana Diop, who had never played in the league in 4 years, and Griff,
and it was incredible. It shows the resilience of our team. We talked
about it at halftime. I put 4 3s on the board. And they were wondering
what that was. But I told them that was the guys, Tim Thomas and Diaw,
all of those guys had 3 fouls. They thought I was going to say some
rocket science stuff."

Johnson on the next series: "Well, again, we're playing against a team
that's a really hot basketball team right now. A team whom we've only
played them 2 times this year. And obviously Coach Riley's done an
incredible job. He's a Hall of Fame coach and played in the league, so
he's seen it both ways. And, you know, Shaq and Wade, they're great. And
their supporting cast, I think, with Posey and Gary Payton and Jason
Williams and all those guys, I think those guys have really been the key
to their season. So, we respect our opponents. You know, when coming
into this season, nobody had Miami and Dallas coming in to the Finals - if
you did, you won a lot of money. But, everybody had 2 other teams. And
we just felt we had a chance and we weren't getting the respect. But I
think people respect a little bit more what we're doing now. But, again,
we signed up to win the championship. We're delighted to be there, but,
again, we're not satisfied."

Dirk Nowitzki on resiliency: "Yeah, I thought we battle back great always.
It's about sticking together when you're down and when you're up. I think
we went through tough times all season long. We had some ups, we had some
downs. The important thing is you have to stick together as a team.
They'll be some mistakes out there, but you have to believe in each other.
You have to believe in the coach and the system. And I think ultimately,
that's what we did. I think most importantly today was we made that push
right before the half, we cut it down to 12 or 10. And I think that's
something that's doable against Phoenix, especially with their style of
basketball. You know, all it takes is a couple of minutes to cut that
down. I thought defensively we were awesome in the 2nd half. We were
rotating for each other, we were helping each other, we were contesting
shots, we were rebounding well. And, I mean, that's the kind of defense
we play under Avery and it won us the game the 2nd half."

Nowitzki on 8 years with Dallas: "It's kind of hard. So much stuff is
going through your mind. But obviously I'm proud of what we've
accomplished so far. Obviously now you're in the Finals, you want to get
the ring and you want to fight for it. But obviously we're proud of the
organization. I've had a great 8 years so far and I think we worked and
worked continuously with Mark [Cuban] and all the players have gone in and
out, but we stuck with it and kept fighting. And this is what we've
worked for a long time. You know, I've been in the Western Conference
before a couple of years ago and it's obviously a little sad if you play
all the way to June and then get knocked out. So I'm just so happy to go
to the Finals."

Nowitzki on seeing Dallas turn around: "Yeah, I mean, when we first got
here, it was rough. I mean, we were in that old arena, in Reunion Arena,
and, I mean, it stunk. It was bad. So I think we fought through a lot of
stuff. But it was great, obviously, with Steve coming in and Mike, Fin,
were there and we kind of built that triangle for a while, which was
great. They're obviously great friends and it hurt losing them and I
wish, obviously, both would still be here to enjoy this moment with me,
but, you know, we made different decisions as an organization and we moved
on. And obviously I'm still proud of what they do for their teams. But,
it's been fun the whole ride so far, these 8 years. And, you know, when I
first got to Dallas, like I said, nobody really knew us and you could go
out any where and nobody was paying any attention to the Mavericks,
really. And then Mark took over and we got better and better and we got
to be a playoff team. It's been a fun ride. So hopefully we can take it
to the next level and bring this franchise a ring."

Nowitzki on the 2nd half and Terry: "Yeah, I thought Jason struggled this
whole series. You know, he always, every single game so far, he got early
fouls, 1 or 2 or 3 quick fouls. He never really got to find his rhythm
early. And we all know as shooters and players and play-makers, you want
to be able to find your rhythm early in the game. And so I think that was
a little disappointing for him that he always had to sit down early and
kind of watch. And then it's kind of tough to come back in the 2nd half.
But he stuck with it. I thought this whole series, he kept battling back
in the 2nd halves. You know, I couldn't really get anything going early.
In the 2nd half, I just thought I had to drive a little bit. I got 2
and-1s, that's obviously, you know, always helps open the basket up a
little bit for the jumpshot. Man, a great team effort, I mean really
defensively and offensively we swung the ball. We had, how many, 4 guys
in double-figures and everybody was playing well."

Nowitzki on Miami: "Well, obviously, we watched them, watched them a lot.
And, you know, Shaq and obviously Dwyane are playing at their level,
obviously great. But I think their role players are playing phenomenal.
You know, the Walkers are making shots, the Paytons, Jason Williams, all
those guys, Posey, coming in playing great defense for them, and Haslem,
and making shots when they're open and really executing their offense. So
we're going to have our hands full, but we're going to enjoy this one
tonight. Tomorrow have a little day off. And get focused on Monday on
what's ahead. But obviously it's going to be a heck of a Finals series.
Obviously, it's great we have homecourt. We worked hard for it all season
long. And we'll be ready on Thursday night."

Josh Howard: "I'm just proud of us sticking together, especially with what
happened last year against this team. We just stayed focused throughout
the season and letting everybody know that we were connected at the hip by
concrete. This is a close-knit family. That's what we are. I think
everybody reached down deep inside and we knew we had to give it all if we
wanted to make it to the next level. Adrian Griffin came in and made some
huge steals, big rebounds, and made some baskets for us. Like I've been
saying all year that when guys get their opportunity, they've come through
for us. Now we have to step up and try to win at the next level against
Miami."

Howard: "Like we've been saying all year, we've got a great supporting
cast. Any guy, any night can come out and give us a chance."

Howard: "We're fearless, never going to back down no matter what the score
is."

Howard on the comeback: "Guys just keep fighting, keep coming back. We
want to keep the focus. We know we're going to play a great Miami team.
We just have to be ready for them."

Howard on what Johnson said at halftime: "Coach said a lot of things, but
the biggest thing he said was that we could still win."

Howard on defending Nash: "Nash is a great, great player, who is at his
best in certain time frames. The big thing was just to make him work at
both ends of the floor."

Jason Terry: "I prayed at halftime for God to help me persevere and get
through the game. I knew I had to keep my head up and stay aggressive.
My teammates did a great job of holding it down until I got back out
there. When I got out there, I just wanted to leave it all out there on
the floor. At that point there was nothing to lose. If worst came to
worst, we lose the game and go home to play. So we just wanted to play
extremely hard. Defensively, we just wanted to turn it up a notch. I
thought we were able to do that. At halftime the worst was behind us. We
did a great job of getting back into it. We just came out in the 2nd half
and let it all hang out. Our fans in Dallas, they know what we're doing,
and they are the greatest. We're at the finals, let them start."

Jerry Stackhouse on resilience: "Well, I think we definitely showed that
we've been a team that fought through adversity all year. I missed the
first 20-some games of the year and then we had other guys that were
injured throughout the year and we were still able to just hold everything
together. And I think that built a lot of character for our team
throughout the year. And I think that just climaxed in this moment in
this game. You know, we were down. We knew they were going to come with
a burst early in the game. And we felt that if we could withstand that
burst and still be around in the 2nd half, find a way to get a few stops,
we could find a way to get this game."

Stackhouse on the Finals: "I mean, it's just unbelievable. It's an
unbelievable feeling that to be able to, the hard work throughout the
years. I mean, this is my 11th year. And just having been on teams that
have not been so good. Teams that had a chance and just couldn't get over
the hump. And to finally be able to get over the hump, to get to the
Western Conference Finals, I wouldn't change it for the world. I think my
course and how it's happen for me has been the perfect route. So now the
only thing left for us is to try to get 4 more. I mean, this wasn't our
goal. I mean, obviously this feels good. this is a huge stepping stone
to our final goal, but when we started in training camp, our goal was to
win the Championship. So that requires us getting 4 more wins. We know
we got a tough task ahead of us. You know, we got a team that's got a lot
of momentum, that's got 2 great players and a real nice supporting cast.
But we feel that we're going to go in and it's going to be a battle and
may the best team win."

Stackhouse on depth and foul trouble: "Yeah, I mean, this is an important
game for us and I think everybody contributed. We had guys like Marquis
Daniels, who really hadn't played much at all this series. But he's been
a guy that's been live on the bench, has been encouraging everybody. I
mean, that's a strength of this team. Everybody knows that when the
playoffs comes, the rotation shortens a little bit. But, you know, Avery
makes a point to make sure that everybody stays ready. The 8th through
the 12th to 13th guys, he's working those guys out. He's working them out
and making sure that they're ready. Obviously Damp hasn't been big in
this series because of the style of play, but, you know, he should be well
rested and going to get a lot of this up coming series."

Stackhouse on the 2nd half: "I just think that defensively we were able to
mix it up on them a little bit. I think they got off to a good start,
they got off to a hot start. They had guys making shots and, all of them.
And Diaw was unbelievable earlier, we were able to get him under control a
little bit. But it was our defense. Once we were able to get some stops
and push the ball back to the other end, you know, Dirk got going and JT
[Terry] got a few baskets and I was able to get going in the 4th quarter.
So it was an all-around team effort. Josh made some big shots for us.
And Griff, you know, he may not ever be a guy that's going to have big
numbers in a game, he does so much dirty work, so much little things that
makes us win games."

Marquis Daniels: "The foul trouble was unfortunate for us, but there was
an opportunity for other guys to step up. With our depth, that kind of
played into our favor."

Darrell Armstrong on Howard: "When you've got a taller guy who can move
his feet and make you stay outside and make you arch your shot, it makes
it a lot tougher for you. He was huge for us."

Mike D'Antoni: "You know, first give Dallas credit, they're a great team.
They did what they're supposed to do to win and they showed a lot of guts
coming back from 18 down. Give them all the credit in the world. But our
guys fought as hard as they could. They jut ran out of steam. 3rd
quarter, we got bogged down, couldn't score and that's more or less the
game. But, you know, we're not going to dwell on what was or what if's or
all that stuff. We'll come back tomorrow and have some team meetings and
Monday we'll get to work and try to bring us a championship. We're
getting closer. You know, we played until June 3rd this year. Last year
was June 1st, so we're inching closer."

D'Antoni on end of 1st half. "Yeah. Yeah. You know, we had the 18, we
just couldn't hold it. And, you know, it's a mark of them too. It's not
always, I can't explain it that, you know, we just didn't play well,
whatever. They played really well. And we couldn't hold it. We didn't
make some big shots there in the 3rd quarter. A little tentative. LB
[Barbosa] got into foul trouble and it kind of screwed us up a little bit.
But, you know, again, give them the credit and we just fell a little short
and we got to do something about that next year."

D'Antoni on Nash being tired and getting help for him: "The thing is, it's
a little bit more complicated than that. And you know, we'll address that
in the off season. But, when someone like Amare coming back, that takes a
lot of the pressure off. You know, and now you don't have to do something
every time to create something, and that's one thing. The nother thing,
Leandro keeps developing and Boris keeps developing. So, we'll be fine.
And, yeah, we'd like to take some minutes off, but you know what? I
mean, Steve's 7-13, he's 19 [points] and 9 [assists]. Sheesh, I'd like to
find somebody that can play better than him tired. You can't find it, you
know. So, yeah, he was a little winded at the end, but I think that's
kind of normal. I don't think that's something that we - you know I'd
love to cut his minutes down, we want to keep him for another 6 years.
For that reason, you're right."

D'Antoni on foul trouble: "Yeah, that's probably in the 3rd quarter where
we did get in foul trouble, we had to take some guys out. We turned the
ball over. We just were out of sync. Again, contribute a lot of that to
them and how hard they were playing. They were closing out extremely
well. And we just didn't solve the problem. But, you know, [pause] Raja,
probably the most courageous guy that I've ever seen. And he was playing
with half a leg and just didn't have the pop that maybe would have helped,
maybe not. And you know, these are good guys. And I'm not going to say
that's the reason that we did get beat, but we would have played better if
he was feeling better. So just a lot of little factors. It just didn't
work out."

D'Antoni on if the margin of error was small: "Yeah, it was. And that's
why somebody - you know, first of all getting Tim Thomas was a stroke of
luck and him being available. And when Kurt went down, he really saved
the season at that point, because without him we couldn't have done all of
this. And, so that filled in nicely. We got lucky with that. And then
these other guys just kept being resilient in the sense of they just
didn't hang their heads. And, you know, we went through a lot of stuff.
We went through a lot of injuries. And the margin of error wasn't great.
I tried to play my cards real tight. I wasn't going to give in to
fatigue. And maybe in the end, you know, we probably got tired. But, I
just didn't feel like it was prudent to not play the guys I knew that
could win us a championship and spread it out a little bit. And I just
didn't think we had enough at this level to do that. And, it was, you
know, just trying to mix and match. And that's where these guy's hearts
come in. And Boris tonight, you know Boris Diaw had 30 and 11. I mean,
here's a guy that, you're talking about most improved, I would imagine in
that category. And, you know, just guys like him and Leandro just
stepping up and their character. You know, the character issue is the
thing that is going to get us over the top. That's where we're going to
be a winner next year and that's why we're going to win a championship
pretty soon, because we got some guys with hearts as big as Phoenix."

D'Antoni on Phoenix's character: "Yeah, and you know, you should have been
in the dressing room right now. It's probably the moments that - as, ah,
[pause] Okay. We're done. Thank you. [quick exit before he gets
emotional]"

Steve Nash on the loss and Nowitzki: "Well, it's a tough loss for sure.
I mean, you know, you can taste it when you get close like this. So, you
know, you spend a lot of time convincing yourself that you're destined to
to it. And when you don't, it's difficult. However, we got beat by a
good team, a very good team. And for me personally, to see Dirk be able
to play for the Championship, it's exciting. I mean, it hurts a lot that
I won't be able to do it, but you know I really, really admire what he's
been able to do, really proud of his accomplishments and what he's meant
to that team. And he deserves it and I'll be rooting for him."

Nash on fatigue: "Well, I think it would be ignorant to say it wasn't a
factor at all. I mean, we were winning in every game of the series, I
believe, at halftime. So you know, to lose in the 2nd half, I don't know
if you can pin it all on fatigue, but I think it would also be ignorant
not to say it played a part. And, you know, we had a short bench
throughout most of the year, we had a lot of injuries and we definitely
had a short bench in the playoffs. And we're undersized, so we have to
play a little bit hard and do more running and more things to try to
negate our size [dis]advantage."

Nash on being up 18: "Well I think it's also, the 2nd quarter is not a
good time to get an 18 point lead, you know. Dallas had a 20-something
point lead in the 2nd quarter against San Antonio in game 7 and it went to
overtime. So, it's not, an 18 point lead is not all it's cracked up to be
in a pressure game, in the 1st half especially. Especially in the NBA,
you know, everything seems to even out. And we'd done a great job
defensively early on. They'd also missed some opportunities. I think
when we got a little more tired and we got all these fouls stacked up
against us, we couldn't play quite the same, with the same activity. And,
you know, they started to get it going. And I think more than anything,
our fatigue also hurts our offense. I think we scored 30-something points
in the 2nd half, maybe into the 40s because of a late little run. But,
you know, it's tough for us at both ends of the floor a little bit. And
that definitely was a factor, I think."

Shawn Marion: "I think we laid it on the line and we just ran out of juice
at the end. It hurts. But at the end of the day, we have to hold our
heads up high. We accomplished things that everybody said we couldn't. I
wish we could have gone to the next one, but sometimes you have to come to
the end. The run we went on was amazing. And, it's hurting so bad right
now that I have no words for it, but I have to lift my head up to these
players on this team this. They went out there and gave it their all, all
the efforts, the injuries, the stories of people coming in here. They
went the extra mile."

Marion: "The way the flow of the game was going, we weren't getting looks
at the basket and it happens sometimes like that. I think we just ran out
of gas. I felt it. I wish we could have pushed it and made another run
there are the end, but there just wasn't juice."

Marion on being eliminated: "It's hitting me hard. I'm trying to hold it
in right now. I'm hurting inside right now. It was a hell of a year. It
was great playing with these guys. [Deep sigh.] To see us go out here
and do what we did was amazing. I got no words for it now. I wish it
wasn't over."

Raja Bell: "They get a taste of the finals and we didn't necessarily play
like that. We weren't necessarily running, but they did a good job of
running us off shots. I'm not going to say that we lost that. They won
that game. They came out and did what they needed to do to win it. It's
pretty disappointing. What can you do? So, you go out and you give it
your best and it's not good enough. You have to accept that fact that
it's not good enough."

Bell: "Right now, everybody's kind of hurt a little bit. We had a great
opportunity. Everybody says we're going to be better next year well be
better, but I think the stars were kind of lined up for us and we didn't
take advantage of them when they were. I haven't been able to reflect on
the season as a whole."

Bell: "Never once did I think about one of these elimination games being
the game. It just always felt like a team that was going to get it done.
We were on our way to doing it tonight until a better team stepped up and
knocked us out."

Bell on Dallas late in the 3rd and early in the 4th: "They were
scrambling, they were playing defense. It was like there were 7 guys on
the court."


Game 6: Dallas Mavericks 102, Phoenix Suns 93 at Phoenix (June 3)

1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Dallas 14 25 23 40 - 102 .586 .150 .474 .806
Phoenix 29 22 15 27 - 93 .545 .353 .500 .750

Halftime: Phoenix 51-39
3rd Q: Phoenix 66-62
Technicals: Raja Bell 10:17 1st
Refs: Dick Bavetta, Bob Delaney, Bernie Fryer
Attendance: 18,422 (sellout)
IL: DJ Mbenga (Dal, suspended), Amare Stoudemire (Pho)


Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Jason Terry 26 6-13 1-5 4-6 17 1-3 3 1 4 0 0
Devin Harris 12 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 0-0 0 1 3 0 0
Josh Howard 46 7-16 1-4 5-6 20 5-15 1 4 3 3 0
Dirk Nowitzki 44 8-20 0-5 8-9 24 1-10 3 2 2 3 3
DeSagana Diop 21 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 0 0 5 0 1
Jerry Stackhouse 40 6-13 1-5 6-6 19 0-1 2 2 3 3 0
Adrian Griffin 36 3-4 0-0 0-0 6 1-5 1 2 2 1 0
Marquis Daniels 12 1-4 0-0 2-4 4 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Keith Van_Horn 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 37-78 3-20 25-31 102 10-39 10 14 22 11 4

Phoenix Suns REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Steve Nash 42 7-13 1-2 4-4 19 0-6 9 3 2 1 0
Raja Bell 35 2-6 2-6 0-0 6 0-2 2 1 5 2 0
Shawn Marion 46 5-10 1-2 2-2 13 1-11 0 1 3 1 0
Tim Thomas 30 4-11 0-3 0-2 8 2-4 2 2 6 0 0
Boris Diaw 40 11-16 0-0 8-10 30 2-11 2 6 5 1 1
Leandro Barbosa 27 6-12 2-4 0-0 14 0-2 3 1 6 0 0
James Jones 19 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 0-0 0 2 0 0 1
Totals 48 36-72 6-17 15-20 93 5-36 18 18 27 5 2


patricia
Go Mavs!


--
Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com
For NBA stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/index.html
For Mavs stuff: http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/mavs.html