The top-seeded Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs both
rebounded with game two victories on Wednesday to even their
National Basketball Association playoff series.
The Mavericks, shocked by lowly Golden State in their Western
Conference first-round opener, turned up the pressure and were
rewarded with a 112-99 defeat.
The Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets 97-88 to knot their series
at one game each.
In Dallas, Golden State's Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson were
both ejected after picking up two technical fouls as the Warriors
failed to build on the momentum of their game one upset.
"I thought it was a fairly good game for a while," said Warriors
coach Don Nelson. "We didn't stay in charge of our emotions. We
aren't good enough to lose a player to an ejection, let alone
two."
In game one, Davis scored 19 of his 33 points in the third
quarter and sparked Golden State to a 97-85 victory. He did not
have nearly as big a third this time, picking up a pair of
technical fouls, the second with two-tenths of a second left in the
period, while Dallas took control.
The Mavericks outscored the Warriors 33-22 in the third to open
an 87-74 lead. A 15-2 run that turned a four-point deficit into a
69-60 lead was the turning point.
"Fortunately tonight we just made a few more shots, and got a
few more stops," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "We got 19
offensive rebounds the last game but we didn't finish it. We got 12
offensive rebounds tonight, and I thought we did a much better job
of finishing around the basket."
Josh Howard scored six points in the surge and Jason Terry and
Devin Harris each added four.
Dirk Nowitzki capped the run with a free throw after the first
technical on Davis with 6:35 left in the quarter.
Dallas got a better game from Nowitzki, who scored 23 points and
grabbed seven rebounds.
Terry scored 28 points and Howard had 22 and 11 rebounds for the
Mavericks, who beat the Warriors for the first time this
season.
Jackson scored 30 points for the Warriors, who host game three
on Friday.
He was ejected after being whistled for his second technical
with 4:34 to play. At first Jackson appeared to take the ejection
in stride, but grew increasingly angry and had to be shepherded
away by a teammate.
Davis was not arguing when he was ejected game official Bennett
Salvatore. Called for a foul on a drive by Jerry Stackhouse as the
third quarter drew to a close, Davis voiced his displeasure with
the call, then began clapping in front of the Golden State
bench.
Salvatore warned Nelson to convince Davis to stop, and when
Davis continued his sarcastic applause Salvatore hit him with his
second technical foul of the game, resulting in his ejection.
In San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 22 points and France's Tony
Parker added 20 as the Spurs pulled even in their series with the
Nuggets.
Manu Ginobili scored 17 points, including a key burst in the
third quarter, and Michael Finley added 14 points to help San
Antonio take control of the contest.
The Spurs were beaten 95-89 in the series opener on Sunday as
Duncan was held to 14 points, six below his regular season
average.
(China Daily via AFP April 27, 2007)