NBA Game Summary - Phoenix At Dallas on Home Services

Dec

NBA Game Summary - Phoenix At Dallas

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Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and the Dallas Mavericks withstood a late Suns rally to hold off fellow Western Conference-heavyweight Phoenix, 108-105, at American Airlines Center.

Josh Howard had 23 points and seven rebounds and Devin Harris scored 21 to go with six assists as Dallas never trailed in winning its fourth straight.

Amare Stoudemire went for 25 points and eight rebounds, while Steve Nash managed to score 21 and hand out 18 assists despite missing stretches of the second half after a cut opened underneath his chin. Shawn Marion had 23 points and 10 boards for the Suns, who have now lost three of five.

Down as many as 14 early in the fourth, Phoenix used a 14-4 burst to pull within 100-96 with under three minutes to go. Nowitzki then nailed a three from the top of the key to put Dallas back up seven, and the two squads traded baskets until Nash dished for Stoudemire, who scored on a lay-in with less than 45 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 106-102.

Jason Terry then committed a turnover, and Stoudemire made it hurt at the other end when he converted a put-back while being fouled by Nowitzki. After hitting the free throw to pull the Suns within one with 8.5 ticks on the clock, Stoudemire fouled Nowitzki with 7.3 seconds to go.

Nowitzki hit both from the line, and Phoenix called timeout to set up a potential overtime-forcing three-pointer. Off the inbounds, Nash eventually got a clean look at a three from the wing off an up-fake, but came up way short, and his air ball caromed out of bounds as the clock expired.

Terry finished with 13 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Erick Dampier had eight points to go with 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“They are an aggressive team in the pick-and-roll and they have awesome scorers in Nash and Stoudemire,” said Howard. “So we knew they were going to hang around, but in that first quarter I’d like to take my hat off to (Dampier) and Dirk. Both those guys really came to play tonight”

Raja Bell scored 11 and Leandro Barbosa added 10 for Phoenix, now 11-5 on the road this season. The Suns had won four of their last six in Dallas.

“We got into (a hole) a couple of times and you’ve got to give them credit,” said Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni. “They were the aggressors…then we picked it up and we came all the way back and couldn’t quite get over the hump. (We) made some turnovers that were costly but they kept battling and that’s all you can ask for. This is December, this just one game and I’m pretty pleased with the toughness that we demonstrated, especially in the last three quarters.”

Dallas dominated the opening quarter, scoring the final 11 points of the stanza for a 37-20 lead going to the second. But the Suns recovered from what was a 13-point deficit with as few as 3 1/2 minutes left in the half, using a 13-3 spurt completed by Marion’s tip-in at the horn to pull within 58-54 at the break.

The Mavs held a 76-65 advantage at the five-minute mark of the third, but Phoenix again clawed back to pull within five before Howard hit one-of-two from the line to make it 83-77 going into the final quarter. Dallas then extended its lead to 96-82 in the opening five minutes of the final period before Phoenix made its final surge.

Game Notes:

Dallas held a decided advantage on the offensive glass, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds to the Suns’ seven; The Mavs won the overall battle on the boards 49-35…Phoenix shot 52.4 percent (43-for-82) from the floor, while Dallas hit 46 percent (40-for-87)…It was the two teams’ first meeting of the season.

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