By Paul Levine May 27, 2006, 14:46 GMT
Los Angeles - Dirk Nowitzki stepped up down the stretch and the Dallas Mavericks defence shut down Steve Nash when it mattered.
The German juggernaut scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter and pulled down 14 rebounds as the Mavericks slowed down the up-tempo style of the Phoenix Suns, 105-98 in game two Friday night to level the Western Conference final series at one game apiece.
'I wanted to make some stuff happen, going to the basket some and not settle for jump shots,' Nowitzki said. 'I was trying to attack the rim. Saying all that, we played pretty good and they were still right there, so it's going to be a long series.'
'Dirk is playing on an MVP level right now. He made some tremendous plays in the fourth quarter,' Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said of his superstar. 'But we still have another level to go. We'll keep getting better as the series goes on.'
Nash has been the motor that drives the Suns' high-powered offence. In the opener, he had 27 points, including 10 straight late in the fourth quarter before Frenchman Boris Diaw hit the game-winner in the final half second of Wednesday's dramatic 121-118 victory.
However, the two-time league Most Valuable Player failed to take a shot in the second half until hitting a meaningless uncontested jumper to end the game.
'In hindsight maybe I would have tried to be little more aggressive, but I feel like I kept making the right plays,' said Nash, who finished with 16 points and 11 assists.
'I kept drawing two guys and passing to the open man. That's the kind of player I am. I try to make the right play and when the right time comes you want to be really aggressive. But the time never really came where I got the opportunities to be aggressive.'
Johnson gave credit to his defence, which will temporarily stop his phone from ringing with well-wishers telling him how to contain Nash.
'Hopefully, now I can stop getting all of those messages on how to stop Steve Nash from concerned people,' Johnson joked. 'Nobody solved Steve Nash. It's no easy task. We're just mixing things up.'
Dallas forward Josh Howard erupted for a playoff career-high 29 points after suffering a bone bruise on his right ankle that knocked him out of the opener midway through the first quarter. Jason Terry added 18 points and Jerry Stackhouse chipped in with 11 - all in the second half.
'I tried to carry over from last game before I got hurt,' said Howard, who made 10 of 19 shots and grabbed seven rebounds in 40 minutes. 'Helping my team win is my number-one priority, and we didn't want to go back to Phoenix down 0-2. So the guys sucked it up and played great Mavericks basketball.'
Diaw scored 25 points and a playoff career-high 10 rebounds for short-handed Phoenix, which was without injured Raja Bell (torn calf muscle). Tim Thomas had 20 points and Shawn Marion collected 19 along with 19 rebounds as the Suns host games three and four on Sunday and Tuesday.
'We gave everything we had, and we had them on the ropes for awhile,' Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. 'We're happy leaving Dallas with one. So we're in pretty good shape. We're going to Phoenix and will hold serve. If we do that we win the series.'
Phoenix carried a 77-75 lead into the fourth quarter, but Nowitzki and Terry scored six points apiece in a pivotal 12-2 run that put the Mavericks ahead 90-84 with 6:17 remaining.
The Suns closed to 91-89 with 4:11 left on a jumper by Diaw. But Stackhouse converted a three-point play and assisted on Howard's short jumper. After Diaw's hook shot, Nowitzki answered with a tough driving reverse lay-up for a 98-91 lead at the 1:36 mark.
A three-pointer by Thomas made it 100-96 with 40 seconds left, but he missed another wide open triple eight seconds later. Nowitzki and Stackhouse made two free throws apiece to seal the win.
'We're disappointed not to win this one but we just didn't play great in the fourth quarter,' Nash said. 'But a split is still a pretty decent result here. So, it's still a mission somewhat accomplished. Hopefully, we'll play s little better at home.'
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