Suns' point guard Steve Nash went down with a stinger injury in the first quarter, and Jason Terry (above) led a balanced attack as the Mavericks cruised to an easy win. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)The Dallas Mavericks (21-5) caught a break yet again Friday night as another former player was unable to showcase their skills due to an early exit. It's the second time in the last five games that a former Mavericks' point guard has gone down with an injury in the first quarter and then failing to return for the rest of the contest.
It happened Dec. 9, with New Jersey Nets' point guard Devin Harris crashing to the ground on his left shoulder, and this time it was against the Phoenix Suns (12-13) as two-time MVP Steve Nash went down hard in a collision with Mavericks' center Tyson Chandler five minutes into the opening quarter.
A scary scene played out as Nash laid motionless on the ground for a few minutes, and he said after the contest that he had no feeling in his arms or legs after his neck bent awkwardly against Chandler's hip and elbow.
"I couldn't feel my arms or legs for about 10 seconds," Nash said. "My left side came back, then my right side came back when I went to the locker room - and I feel better."
The Suns' point guard was 2 for 3 from the field with four points and an assist in five minutes of action, and Mavericks' head coach Rick Carlisle knows it would have been a different game with Nash on the floor.
"The game certainly changes without Nash, there's no question. He's one of the best players ever," Carlisle said. "He was very aggressive and he was going to have a major impact on the game. I hope he's OK."
Dallas took advantage of the Nash-less Suns lineup, taking a 54-42 lead going into halftime. The Mavericks accomplished this with their own MVP, Dirk Nowitzki, playing less than three minutes in the second quarter after picking up his third foul with 9:23 left in the frame.
An 8-0 run followed Nowitzki's seat on the bench, with the Mavericks bench picking up the slack on the offensive end. The duo of Shawn Marion and Jason Terry scored 13 points each in the second quarter, including the final eight points of the half for Dallas to give the team a double-digit lead going into the locker room.
Dallas dominated the second quarter, scoring 32 in the frame while holding Phoenix to just 17 points.
"The second quarter was a key stretch after Dirk got his third foul," Carlisle said. "Shawn and JET did a great job at both ends of the floor."
The lead reached as many as 24 points after a DeShawn Stevenson steal and hot potato with Jason Kidd en route to the basket ended with an easy lay-in for Stevenson on an alley-oop. Caron Butler continued his third quarter magic, scoring 10 in the frame and, without a healthy Nash, the Suns were unable to get any closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
"We've got to put teams away," Terry said. "We've let teams hang around. It's come back to bite us."
Terry finished the game with 18 points on 8 of 16 shooting, tying for a game-high in scoring with Nowitzki. Marion finished with 15 and Butler had 17 points as nearly every Mav contributed on the offensive end. A total of 11 Mavericks made at least one basket, with only Brian Cardinal unable to notch a point.
Hakim Warrick led the Suns with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds off the bench.
Dallas has now won 14 of it's last 15 games overall, and finishes a six-game home stand with a shiny 5-1 record. Boredom didn't set in for the Mavericks tonight as they were able to keep their foot on the gas and finish off a team late without their star player.
Hack-A-Haywood Strikes Again
Late in the fourth quarter, down 96-82 with under four minutes left, Phoenix tried to get back into the game by employing a tactic used early in the week by the Milwaukee Bucks to end the Mavericks 12-game winning streak. Haywood, now a 26 percent free throw shooter on the season, was fouled three straight times and missed five of six before Dallas was finally able to get third-stringer Ian Mahinmi in the game.
Phoenix got as close as they would get for the rest of the game at 96-84 thanks to the ploy, but the Suns tried to Hack-A-Mahinmi and Ian made all four to thwart the run.
In terms of actual play on the court, both Haywood and starter Tyson Chandler dominated the smaller Suns' lineup. Haywood grabbed 10 rebounds to go alone with six points, while Chandler snatched 12 boards, blocked three shots and added seven points for good measure.
"Tyson got us off to a good start. His energy in the third quarter was a big factor." Carlisle said. "I thought Haywood was dominant when he was in there."
What's Next
Dallas gets two days off before taking their talents to South Beach to take on the Miami Heat. The Mavericks defeated the Heat 106-95 the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Miami hasn't lost since - winning 11 straight games. Miami is now 20-8 on the season, 12-3 at American Airlines Arena.
"They're a different team now than the one we saw," Carlisle said. "They're clearly playing the best of anybody... I'm sure they'll be thinking revenge."
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. central time.
News and Notes:
- Without Nash at the helm, Dallas held the Suns to under 100 points for only the eighth time this season. Phoenix is now 0-8 in those contests. On the other hand, Dallas has failed to score over 100 points 12 times this season, and has a respectable 7-5 record when failing to break the century mark.
- Martin Lawrence was in the house Friday night and received a pretty good ovation from the crowd after being shown on the jumbo-tron late in the second quarter. Dammnn, Gina!
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