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Mavericks edge out the Suns 108-106
Dirk Nowitzki's late jumper and Joe Johnson's headfirst fall have suddenly tilted the Western Conference semifinal series in the Dallas Mavericks' favor. Nowitzki's 12-footer over Quentin Richardson with 6.8 seconds left gave the Mavericks a rugged 108-106 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night to even the best-of-seven series at a game apiece.
The Suns, meanwhile, lost Johnson when he was fouled on a drive to the basket and fell face-first to the court. He was taken to a hospital and was to undergo surgery Thursday to repair a displaced bone near his left eye. He also suffered a mild concussion. Johnson, who has played in all 287 regular-season and playoff games for Phoenix since he was traded from Boston in his rookie season, will miss at least Game 3 on Friday night. That will move Jim Jackson into the starting lineup — and deplete a bench that wasn't that deep in the first place. Nowitzki's winning shot came after a defensive switch that left the smaller Richardson to guard him. "I wanted to go to about 6 or 7 seconds with the shot and take it baseline and spin," Nowitzki said. "That's my move. I was fortunate when it left my hand. It didn't really look great, but it went in." But the game belonged mostly to Michael Finley, who shot 5-for-6 on 3-pointers, scored 31 points and even defended big Amare Stoudemire for a time, part of the Mavericks' strategy to switch things up and disrupt the Suns' high-flying offense. "Hey, he's good, and good players win games," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said, "and he won this one." In the other game Wednesday, Indiana beat Detroit 92-83 to tie that series 1-1. In Thursday's games, Miami is at Washington and San Antonio will play at Seattle. The Heat and Spurs lead those series 2-0. At Phoenix, Finley was 12-for-18 shooting. "I just had some open looks at the basket and I got into a nice rhythm offensively," he said. "My teammates kept finding me and kept leaving me open. I was just making the most of those situations." Richardson's 3-point attempt that would have won the game for Phoenix bounced off the back rim at the buzzer. Nowitzki added 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Mavericks bounced back from a 127-102 blowout loss in Game 1. Erick Dampier, called out publicly by Nowitzki after being outscored by Stoudemire 40-0 in Game 1, had 15 points, 10 in the first quarter, and grabbed 12 rebounds. "We had a good talk, and I liked the way he responded," Mavs coach Avery Johnson said. "Basically, he did what we brought him here to do. But we brought him in to do it consistently. Am I happy that he had 15 points and 12 rebounds? Yeah, but I'll be happier when he strings together a couple of these games." Stoudemire had 30 points and 16 rebounds for the Suns. Steve Nash had 23 points and 13 assists, and Shawn Marion added 23 points and 15 rebounds. It was the first playoff loss for the Suns after five victories and erased the home-court advantage they earned with an NBA-best 62-win regular season. "We didn't play great," Nash said. "It was kind of a role reversal — we were flat in the first half, indecisive at times and got away from what we like to do." Nowitzki sank two free throws to put Dallas ahead 106-102 with 1:55 to play, then Stoudemire missed a dunk and a layup on consecutive possessions. But Marion blocked Nowitzki's shot, and Stoudemire dunked on a pick-and-roll feed from Nash to cut it to 106-104 with 50.9 seconds to play. Jason Terry threw the ball away on the next possession, and Nash's 18-footer tied it at 106 with 27.4 seconds left. After a timeout, the Mavs got the ball to Nowitzki, who worked his way inside and got the winning shot off over Richardson. On the final sequence, Nash penetrated but was met by Nowitzki, then got the ball to Richardson. Richardson dribbled away from a defender, but the 3-pointer was just long and to the right. With 19.7 seconds left in the first half, Johnson was fouled by Stackhouse on a drive to the basket and fell face-first to the court. He stayed on the floor while he got six stitches to close a cut near his left eye. Referee Dick Bavetta belatedly called it a flagrant foul. Johnson, looking like a boxer who lost a fight, eventually got to his feet to the cheers of the crowd. He made one of two free throws before leaving for good. Stackhouse insisted he didn't even foul Johnson, let alone do it flagrantly. "I blocked the shot. I had all ball," Stackhouse said. He said Johnson hung on the rim, and that's what caused his awkward fall. Pacers 92, Pistons 83 At Auburn Hills, Mich., Jermaine O'Neal scored 22 points, Reggie Miller had 19 and Jeff Foster grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds to lead Indiana past Detroit. The Pacers trailed for two-plus quarters before taking over with an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter. Detroit's Tayshaun Prince scored 24 points. Ben Wallace, who dominated Monday with 21 points, 15 rebounds and four steals, was limited to three points — on 0-for-4 shooting. "They did all the effort things that we did in Game 1," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "That was the key. When the game really meant something, they made every single effort play." The next two games are in Indianapolis on Friday and Sunday.
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