DALLAS, Texas, 17 May 2005 — Josh Howard had 29 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 25, leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 119-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Sunday.
League MVP Steve Nash poured in a career-high 48 points to lead the Suns, scoring 35 of those points in the second half. But despite his career performance, Phoenix could not stop Dallas from evening the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
“I had to be aggressive to make them pay for the way they were playing,” Nash said. “But we just got out-hustled. You can look at the oddity of me scoring a bunch of points and not having many assists (five).”
Jerry Stackhouse collected 22 points off the bench for the Mavericks, who built a 16-point lead by halftime. Erick Dampier added 13 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.
The teams have alternated wins and losses so far. Game 5 is scheduled for tomorrow in Phoenix, where the Suns scored 233 points over the first two games, but came away with just one win.
Shawn Marion had 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the loss for Phoenix. Amare Stoudemire added 15 points, Quentin Richardson scored 13 and Jim Jackson had 11.
Nash scored 23 of Phoenix’s 29 points in the third quarter, but the Suns couldn’t make much of a dent in Dallas’ 66-50 halftime lead.
Phoenix got as close as 11 points in the third quarter three times, but Nowitzki ended the period with a three-point play to give the Mavericks a 93-79 lead heading into the fourth. Nash went on to score 12 more points in the fourth quarter, including two that got the Suns within 103-94 midway through the period. But Dallas scored 10 of the next 13 points to go up 16, and Phoenix would never be closer than nine the rest of the way.
Nash ended the game 20-of-28 from the field, getting most of his 48 points on drives to the basket. Only Charles Barkley has scored more points for the Suns in a playoff game — 56 against Golden State on May 4, 1994.
Phoenix shot 51 percent for the game and went 8-of-21 on three-pointers. But Dallas was even better, hitting on 55 percent of its shots and six of its 14 three-point tries.
“It was just a great Western Conference shootout,” said Dallas head coach Avery Johnson.
Nowitzki scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half, and Dallas led by as many as 21 on the way to a 66-50 advantage at the break.
In Indianapolis, Chauncey Billups scored 29 points and Rasheed Wallace added 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers 89-76 in Game Four of their semifinal playoff. The series is tied 2-2 after the champions dominated the latest game in the Eastern Conference series, leading by as many as 20 points at one stage, to bounce back from losing the last two games. Game Five is in Auburn Hills tonight.
Detroit went on a 19-1 run in the first quarter and although the Pacers got back to within six points in the third quarter, the Pistons were never really pressed at any point as the Pacers shot just 37 percent, going 3-for-19 from 3-point range.
Richard Hamilton chipped in with 13 points for the Pistons, while Antonio McDyess had 12 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince each hauled down 10 rebounds for the Pistons, with Prince scoring seven points and Wallace adding six.
Stephen Jackson led Indiana with 23 points, while Jamaal Tinsley added 17 points but had a game-high seven turnovers.
Jermaine O’Neal was held to 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Reggie Miller scored just seven points in 36 minutes.
Jeff Foster, who helped the Pacers to wins in games two and three with 20 and 12 rebounds respectively, played just 12 minutes and had one rebound. The winner of the series will face the Miami heat in the Eastern Conference final. Miami swept Washington four straight in the second round and now have at least a week to rest.
