Suns advance to West finals behind Nash
DALLAS – With Steve Nash leading the way, there’s simply no stopping the Phoenix Suns’ offense. Not in a game and, perhaps, not in the playoffs.
Nash helped erase a 16-point, third-quarter deficit, forced overtime on a 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left, then made the 3 that put the Suns ahead for good in a 130-126 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night that puts Phoenix in the Western Conference finals.
Nobody enjoyed it more than Nash, who made the Mavs regret not re-signing him last summer by having 39 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds — one board shy of his second straight triple-double. The league MVP scored eight points in the final minute of regulation and seven more in overtime, while making his last five field goals.
Dallas got 36 points from his replacement, Jason Terry, including a tough 3-pointer with 3 seconds left that kept the drama going until the final buzzer. Yet Mavs fans will remember Nash dribbling by Terry for the open shot that tied the game at 111 in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, then Terry getting berated by Dirk Nowitzki after the buzzer for his lousy defense.
Nowitzki, who had 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, found Nash after the game and shared a brief hug.
“They said congratulations and just keep going,” Nash said about the postgame hugs from former teammates.
The NBA’s highest-scoring team in the last decade, the Suns are trying to become the first offense-driven team to win the title since the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers. They’ve already become the first team to go from missing the playoffs one year and making the conference finals the next since Boston in 2002. The last West team to do it was Phoenix in 1989.
Drained but proud, the Suns will open the next round Sunday at home against the San Antonio Spurs.
In becoming the first team to win consecutive games this series, Phoenix went from scoring 64 points the first 32 minutes to racking up 66 in the final 21 minutes. And the Suns did so with Amare Stoudemire capping a poor game by his standards (18 points, six rebounds) by fouling out with 1:40 left in regulation.
Stoudemire had 10 points in the first quarter, then didn’t even take a shot in the second. Dallas’ defense changed to contain him, but it left open Shawn Marion and he capitalized with a playoff career-best 38 points and 16 rebounds. Jim Jackson scored 16 and Quentin Richardson added 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Josh Howard provided Dallas with tremendous energy early and finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse scored 19 in a reserve role and much-maligned Erick Dampier rebounded from a basket-less Game 5 to have 13 points and six rebounds.
Dallas fell to 3-4 all-time in the playoffs in overtime.