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Nash leads Suns to 114-108 win Over Mavs
PHOENIX - He might be the best passer in the NBA, he can score in bunches when he feels it's necessary, and he can even outhustle towering foes for rebounds. Steve Nash, Phoenix's mop-haired maestro, had it all going for him in a masterful, triple-double performance that led the Suns to a 114-108 victory over Dallas on Wednesday night and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Nash had 34 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists — the third career triple-double for the league's MVP, and his first in the playoffs. "What more can I say? Thank God he can do that," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He almost had a triple-double in the first half." Nash's big game came on the heels of his career-playoff high 48 points in Phoenix's 119-109 loss at Dallas in Game 4. "I always love to see my teammates have fun, get their energy up," Nash said, "but at the same time, being one of the best shooters on the team, I have to shoot when I'm open. I just have to find that balance and shoot when I'm open, and find my teammates when they are." With Game 6 Friday in Dallas, history is on the Suns' side. When there's been a 2-2 tie, the victor in Game 5 has gone on to win the series 84 percent of the time. "Nash played like an MVP tonight. We had no answers for him," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We tried everything humanly possible." On Thursday night, San Antonio is at Seattle, and Detroit is at Indiana. The Spurs and Pistons each lead their respective series 3-2. At Phoenix, Jim Jackson, the 13-year NBA veteran moved into the starting lineup for the injured Joe Johnson, made seven of eight shots in the fourth quarter for 15 of his 21 points. Amare Stoudemire bounced back from his 15-point performance in Game 4 with 33 points and a career-playoff high 18 rebounds — 21 points and 12 rebounds in the second half. Shawn Marion added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns. Dirk Nowitzki had 34 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks, who led 55-48 at the half and were up 77-76 after three quarters. Jerry Stackhouse scored 29 points off the bench, while Josh Howard added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Jason Terry had 17 points. But no one on the Mavericks could match the energy and effectiveness of Nash. "Obviously, Nash still hurt us in the first half, but he was a monster in the second half," Johnson said. "We came into tonight's game trying to cut off some of his passing angles. We did not follow the game plan, and they just shredded us, shredded us to pieces. I am so disappointed right now." Nash had 22 points in the second half, many over and around towering would-be defenders inside the lane, and reached a triple-double with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. "We can accept Amare getting points in the paint," Stackhouse said. "But Nash getting points in the paint is unacceptable." The Suns outscored the Mavericks 66-30 in the paint. "Whoever gets it going, we feed off that," Marion said. "We always do that. Whoever got it going tonight, we were going to feed off each other. Everything worked tonight." Nash was on the bench for a quick breather when Jackson, acquired by the Suns after refusing to report to New Orleans following a midseason trade from Houston, took charge with three baskets in a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter. "It wasn't anything mentally I told myself I needed to do," Jackson said. "It just happened. You just try to get yourself involved in the game and see how it played out." The surge put Phoenix up 85-77 with 9:22 to go and the Mavericks never got closer than four again. The Suns outscored the Mavericks 66-53 in the second half. "An incredible show of heart in the second half," D'Antoni said. "The first half, we were kind of playing on our heels a little bit, a little tight. We took a pretty good punch from them. The second half, we played our style of basketball." Dallas cut it to 87-83 on Terry's 17-footer with 7:30 left, but Nash's three-point play was sandwiched between baskets by Stoudemire and Jackson in a 7-0 spurt that put the Suns up 94-83 and sent the packed America West Arena crowd into delirium. Erick Dampier, who had played well in Dallas' victories and mostly watched from the bench in foul trouble in the defeats, was 0-for-7 from the field and scored just two points, but grabbed 14 rebounds. "They outplayed us, they out-everythinged us, and they deserved to win," Johnson said. "We will be back home for Game 6 and hopefully we can come out and play with the same energy we played with in the first half and sustain it the whole game."
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