Game 6: San Antonio at Dallas (May 19) For the first time this series, San Antonio did not make a lineup change. Dallas, of course, had to make a lineup change as Jason Terry was suspended for this game - Jerry Stackhouse started in his place. There were reminders of Terry throughout the arena with signs and jerseys, including most of the courtside fans wearing Terry jerseys courtesy of season ticket holder Neal Hawk who purchased 150 jerseys. The downside was that Michael Finley took the brunt of the fans displeasure with lots of boos [I'm all for not cheering opponents in the playoffs, but with Fin's past in Dallas, he didn't deserve the treatment he got]. Jerry Stackhouse hit a jumper and 3-pointer to give Dallas a 8-4 lead with 8:25 left. DeSagana Diop picked up his 2nd foul with 7:25 remaining and sat the rest of the quarter. A bucket by Tim Duncan pulled San Antonio within 9-10 with 6:30 to go, but Dallas then scored the next 6 points to go up 16-9 with 4:50 left. Duncan collected his 2nd foul with 4:10 left and sat the rest of the quarter. A 3-pointer by Josh Howard gave Dallas a 21-13 lead with 3:10 remaining. A jumper by Manu Ginobili with 1:50 to go was the last field goal of the quarter as each team missed their last 3 shots. Robert Horry hit 1-2 FT with 1:20 left for the quarter's last points. Dallas led 25-20 after 1. Dirk Nowitzki had 9 points and 7 rebounds. Dallas continued to struggle with their shooting and had 3 turnovers as well as San Antonio opened the 2nd quarter with an 8-2 run (with Dallas' 2 points coming from the line) to go up 28-27 with 8:45 remaining. A 3-pointer by Keith Van Horn gave Dallas back the lead and ended the Mavs' 5 1/2 minute field goal drought. Diop picked up his 3rd foul with 7:30 to go and Duncan quickly followed in picking up his 3rd foul with 6:50 to go and both sat the rest of the quarter. A reverse layup by Marquis Daniels completed an 11-3 Dallas run (started with Van Horn's 3-pointer) to give Dallas a 38-31 lead with 6:10 left. A 3-pointer by Van Horn gave Dallas a 41-35 led with 4:10 left, but that would be Dallas' last field goal of the quarter as the Mavs went through another shooting and turnover slump (plus the refs were whistle happy). A layup by Ginobili pulled San Antonio within 39-45 with 2:10 to go, but that would be the Spurs last field goal of the quarter. 2 free throws by each team capped the quarter scoring. Daniels nailed a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer, but replays clearly showed that the ball was still in his hands when time expired so the shot did not count. Dallas led 47-41 at the half. Ginobili had 13 points in the 2nd quarter. Dallas shot 10-12 FT and San Antonio shot 10-13 FT in the quarter as each team was called for 10 fouls. For the half, Dallas shot 38% FG and San Antonio shot 41% FG. Diop picked up his 4th foul a mere 30 seconds into the 3rd quarter. A bucket by Erick Dampier with 10:30 left ended Dallas' 5 1/2 minute field goal drought and a layup by Duncan with 10:15 left ended San Antonio' 3 minute field goal drought (Duncan also hit the free throw to complete the 3-point play). Finley nailed a 3-pointer and a layup by Duncan completed 8 straight points by San Antonio to tie the game at 49-49 with 9:10 remaining. Howard answered with a jumper and Stackhouse hit a 3-pointer to give Dallas a 54-49 lead with 8:20 left, but that would be the largest lead of the quarter as the game stayed really tight. A 3-pointer by Ginobili and dunk by Duncan tied the game at 54-54 with 6:20 to go. A jumper by Nowitzki gave Dallas a 62-58 lead with 2:40 left, but San Antonio then scored the next 5 points to take a 63-62 lead with 1:30 to go. The teams traded leads a couple of times. Duncan collected his 4th foul with 50 seconds left - the only team foul called against San Antonio in the 3rd quarter (they were also called for 1 offensive foul; Dallas was called for 6 team fouls and 1 offensive foul in the quarter). The game was all tied up at 67-67 after 3. A bucket by each team was all that was scored over the first almost 3 minutes of the 4th quarter as the teams continued to miss shots. A 3-point play by Duncan gave San Antonio a 74-71 lead with 8 minutes to go. The teams traded buckets, Dallas turned the ball over, the teams traded misses, and jumper by Ginobili put San Antonio up 78-73 with 6:25 left. The teams traded buckets and then Dallas scored the next 6 points to take an 81-80 lead with 3:40 remaining as San Antonio missed 3 straight shots. Tony Parker ended the run with a jumper and Devin Harris was fouled at the other end - Duncan's 5th foul, but he kept playing. Harris hit 1-2 FT and the game was tied at 82-82 with 3 minutes left. But Finley gave the Spurs back the lead with a 3-pointer in the corner 15 seconds later. Harris drove in for a layup to pull Dallas within 84-85 with 2:30 to go. After Parker missed a long attempt, Harris got the long rebound (and was fouled without a call) and brought the ball up (and was fouled without a call) and then was called for an offensive foul as Bruce Bowen exaggerated the contact. San Antonio got the ball into Duncan on the post and he got the running hook with 1:50 remaining to give San Antonio an 87-84 lead. Harris missed a 17-footer, Ginobili missed a 3-point attempt, and Harris drove and missed a layup attempt and San Antonio eventually grabbed the rebound after it was batted around (with lots and lots of contact with no call) and there was 50 seconds to go. Duncan missed the short turn-in jumper late in the shot clock and Dallas called timeout with 26 seconds left. Dallas eventually got the ball to Nowitzki and he drove for the reverse layup to pull Dallas within 86-87 with 17.7 seconds to go and San Antonio called timeout. Dallas intentionally fouled Ginobili with 15.2 seconds remaining and he hit both free throws and Dallas called timeout. The ball was inbounded to Daniels and he passed to Stackhouse and he passed to Nowitzki in the corner who had Finley in front of him and Finley stood firm with his arms up and didn't go for any of Nowitzki's fakes and Nowitzki shot the fade away 3-pointer that was over a foot short of the rim and Parker grabbed the airball and was fouled with 5.5 seconds left. He hit both free throws to seal the win. Harris missed a 3-point attempt with 3 seconds left and that was game. San Antonio won 91-86. The series is tied 3-3. Although it was another tight game between these 2 teams, neither team played particularly well. Pure and simple, you have to hit some shots to win games and Dallas did not do that in this game. It was especially frustrating to see some of the dumb mistakes Dallas made during the game, especially in the 4th quarter. This was by far Dallas' worst game of the playoffs. But even so, San Antonio's largest lead in the game was just 5 points (and Dallas' largest lead was 9 points). Again, it was an exciting game, but it definitely wasn't pretty. Dallas shot a mere 38.6% (32-83) FG including 5-14 3-pointers and San Antonio shot 43.3% (29-67) FG including 4-10 3-pointers. The Spurs had a big advantage at the line, especially in the 2nd half. San Antonio shot 29-34 FT and Dallas shot 17-20 FT. In the 2nd half, San Antonio shot 15-15 FT (4 off of intentional fouls) and Dallas shot 2-3 FT. Thanks to Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas did have the advantage on the boards, but didn't hit enough shots for it to make a difference. Dallas out-rebounded San Antonio 42-39 including 12-4 offensive - 4 offensive rebounds set the record for an opponent playoff low. The assists numbers remained low for both teams as San Antonio had 11 assists and Dallas had 15 assists. San Antonio had 17 turnovers and Dallas had 15 turnovers. The due-or-die for both teams game 7 is Monday at 7 pm in San Antonio. Manu Ginobili led the way for the Spurs with 30 points on 8-14 FG and 12-13 FT. He also had 10 rebounds and 3 steals, but turned the ball over 3 times. 16 of Tim Duncan's 24 points came in the 2nd half as foul problems did limit him some. He shot 8-21 FG (and missed a number of shots he had been making throughout this series) and 8-10 FT and had 8 rebounds in 33 minutes. Michael Finley again played well and for the 3rd straight game had a power dunk during the game and critical 3-pointer late in the game. He had 16 points and 6 rebounds in 45 minutes. No other Spur was in double-digits. Tony Parker had a miserable night - I guess he was trying to help Dallas out with the loss of Jason Terry. Parker had 8 points including 3-15 FG. He did have 4 rebounds and 3 assists, but also turned the ball over 3 times. As usual, Bruce Bowen didn't care about his numbers as he's on the court for defense. Bowen missed his only attempt and had 2 rebounds and 4 fouls (3 of which came in the 1st half) in 35 minutes. Brent Barry had 5 points on a perfect 2-2 FG and 1-1 FT and 3 rebounds, but turned the ball over 3 times. Robert Horry continued to be a non-factor and had 6 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes. Nick Van Exel played 14 minutes and had 2 points and 2 rebounds. As much as I love him, Devin Harris was the goat of the game. In Jason Terry's absence, the Mavs needed Harris to step up big. Instead he laid an egg. He actually had one spurt late in the 4th quarter where he hit 2 buckets and 1-2 FT; but outside of that little 1 1/2 minute stretch, he shot just 1-13 FG and had 2 points. His shooting problems (and other problems) caused Avery Johnson to sit him for long stretches in the 1st half and Dallas was never able to really push the ball get the game going to a faster tempo. Harris simply looked like an inexperienced player and struggled with the limelight. Harris had 7 points including 3-14 FG, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers in his 31 minutes. Jerry Stackhouse was not far behind Harris with a poor outing as his shooting also stunk. Stack had 10 points on 4-15 FG, though he did hit 2 3-pointers (but missed 2 free throws). He also had 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers. The only Mav to really show up was Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki was a monster on the boards and set the team playoff record with 21 rebounds (only 2 on the offensive end, though). San Antonio aggressively ran a double-team at him in the 1st half and Nowitzki kind of shyed away from his shot some during stretches, even when the double did not come as he was expecting it. He did have a 20-20 (the 3rd 20-20 a Mav has had team playoff history) with 26 points on 9-16 FG and 8-8 FT and also dished out a team high 5 assists (but also had 3 turnovers). Josh Howard struggled early, but got it going a little bit later in the game and finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds. DeSagana Diop struggled with foul trouble and, add in Tim Duncan's foul trouble and the team playing a little better with Erick Dampier was on the court, and Diop only played 6 minutes in the game. He had 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 fouls. Unlike the last game, Dampier got a couple of offensive touches, but as usual his focus was on trying to keep a body on Duncan. Dampier had 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 fouls in his 26 minutes. Keith Van Horn got a little more court time and hit a couple of timely 3-pointers. He had 10 points [that's 4 Mavs in double-digits, if you're counting] and 4 fouls in 14 minutes. With Terry out, Marquis Daniels and Adrian Griffin played more than they had been (with Griff playing after DNPing the last 3 games). Daniels had 8 points and 4 fouls in 16 minutes and Griffin missed his only shot attemt and had a bunch of 1s in his 16 minutes. Darrell Armstrong was on the court for a minute and a half and a steal and forced a Spur charge call. Disclaimer: in no way am I blaming the refs for the loss - Dallas' poor shooting was the reason for that - and I would have still included this note if the Mavs had won (just without the disclaimer). I've said it before and I'm saying it again, Bennett Salvatore is a very poor official. I said to a couple of people before the game that both teams would have plenty of gripes about the refs due to bad and questionable calls. No surprise that Salvatore proved me right. San Antonio had Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, and Manu Ginobili all with 3 fouls in the 1st half, 20 fouls were called in the 2nd quarter (10 on each team), and San Antonio was called for a grand total of 3 team fouls in the 2nd half (and the only 1 in the 3rd quarter came with 40 seconds left in the quarter). Fans of both teams can point to many instances during the game where they screamed about a bad call/non-call (or both as Devin Harris was bumped getting the rebound and bumped bringing the ball up the court with no call before the whistle blew and Salvatore then amazingly called an offensive foul on Harris). The good news is that he won't be reffing in game 7. The bad news is that one of Joey Crawford (the ref I never want to see), Danny Crawford (Dallas has never won a playoff game that he has officiated), and Steve Javie (whom Spurs fans felt did a poor job in game 2 [but whom I've felt for the past several years is the best in the league]) will likely be calling game 7. Here's hoping that what ever officiating crew is on the court is hardly notice and there is nothing but minor gripes for game 7 about the officiating. Quotes [Popovich's, Finley's, Duncan's, Johnson's, Nowitzki's, and the first one of Stackhouse's quotes transcribed by me] Gregg Popovich: "Well not much different from any of the other games. You just flip a coin and which ever way it lands, that's the team that will probably win that night. That sounds simplistic, but they're all carbon copies of each other. So we're thrilled to get out of here with a victory, of course. But again the game belonged to either team." Popovich on if they stopped Harris: "Hopefully there was a reason why. We did do a better job on him. I'll just leave it at that. Hopefully we can do the same thing on Monday." Popovich on Finley: "I'm thrilled for Michael. He's such a class act, no matter what the circumstances or what's going on in a basketball game. All year long he's been one of our leaders. Gained quick respect from everyone. And he comes here in such a tough situation for him, a place where he was such a leader for so long, and plays hard, without malice, without showmanship. Just comes in and competes with class. So I couldn't be more proud of him." Popovich on 15-15 FT in the 2nd half: "Besides that being a miracle for us? We don't shoot them like that very often." Popovich: "We had several guys that played through foul trouble - Bruce, Timmy, and Manu. They showed really good composure and we were able to sit them long enough. I wanted to sit Timmy even a little bit longer, but we weren't going to get anywhere without him. So we rolled the bones a little bit and put him in a little bit earlier than one would like. But Manu used his head and stayed out of some of those situations, where he might earn a foul." Popovich on game 7: "I won't give it any thought at all. It's there, there's no formula for that sort of thing. These guys are grown. They've been there. It's like most players on most teams, they got kids. They're not 14 years old. They don't need speeches. They know it's a 7th game. Dallas guys are the same way. They're good people and they know the deal. They've been playing a long time and it will be another hopefully competitive game just like these. Sure we'd like to win by 20 and Dallas would like to win by 20 so one of us could not end up with a heart attack or an ulcer; but another game like this would be great, just to finish off the series that way and see who wins." Tim Duncan on playing with fouls: "He trusts me in that type of situations. I hadn't come through, especially in this series, I've continued to pick up fouls even knowning my situation. But got lucky tonight. Got a couple of tough whistles that got me into that situation. But I had an opportunity to just play through it and stay out on the floor as much as possible, stay away from as much contact as possible." Duncan on Finley: "You know what, Finley was great tonight. He was big for us. He really kept us in the game at a certain point there. Just mentally tough, knowing that the type of crowd that's on him, the type of situation he's in. And he continues to play through all of that. I thought, above and beyond that, I thought defensively I thought he was really solid. I thought he was really good on the defensive end. He really stayed up into Dirk and made everything he did tough. So he was just big for us all around." Duncan on no Dallas big runs: "Well it's been working in both ways. We get a situation where we get up 5 and they make a 6-0 run. It's kind of been like that. It's been a see-saw battle the entire series, not only on our end but on their end also. No one's able to pull away, except for game 2 where they won by a large margin. Beyond that, we just haven't been able to put together a little streak to get away from them, and the same with them. It's a credit to the way the teams are built and the mental toughness that both of the teams have. No matter what the score, what the situation, we're going to play every possession and try to stay in the game." Duncan on if game 7 last year helps: "I think it helps with the experience, but honestly, it's one game. It's going to be a basketball game and the emotions are going to be there. It's going to come down to who shows up, to who makes shots, to who makes plays down the stretch. As the series has gone, it's come down to the 4th quarter, it's come down the last couple of minutes and who's able to make the plays down the stretch there. Manu and Fin were great down the stretch and gave us that edge today. Hopefully, Tony and I can really step up and really help those guys out and finish the next one." Duncan on his 2nd half production from the 1st half: "I had a chance to play. With the foul situation in the 1st half, I spent a lot of time on the bench. Didn't shoot the ball very well tonight, but just kind of stuck with it. Just kind of got some shots to fall. Down towards the end there, they continued to throw the ball in to me, Pop keeps calling my number and keeps giving me those opportunities. And as I said, just kind of got an opportunity to continue to attack the basket, got some shots to fall, and then got an opportunity to draw some double-teams and really kick them out. I think Tony had missed a couple and Manu had missed a couple of shots that they usually hit in those situations when double-teams are drawn. So that's just a great option to have." Duncan on Ginobili: "Manu carried us through the entire game, he really did. In the 1st half, he's the one who kept us alive. He gave us the opportunity to go into halftime only down 6. Continued to make shots for us, continued to make plays for us. And on top of that, he was great rebounding the ball, he really was. With the size advantage with Dirk and athletism of those other guys, he really got in there, really mixed it up, and really came down with some big rebounds for us." Duncan on Dallas defending him: "I think they've been solid defensively all series long. I missed some shots that I'd been hitting throughout this series. I really felt that I had 3, 4, 5 shots that I'd love to have back. Great shots that just didn't go down for me, and that's just sometimes how it goes. It just works out that way. But luckily enough to get out of here with a victory, lucky enough for teammates to really step up and make plays." Manu Ginobili: "I just took it as any other game of course with lots of responsibilities. But once I saw Tim with foul trouble, things were going well for me, that I realized it was going to be a great opportunity to take more shots." Ginobili: "This win was huge because if we hadn't won, we would be out of here. We haven't gotten too confident because we haven't accomplished anything yet. We've got to try to finish the job on Monday." Tony Parker: "The team played great. Fin was huge. Obviously Manu played great too, and so it was great. That's why we're a good team, everybody stepped up tonight." Parker: "I had to just keep being aggressive and hope it would turn around. It was just one of those nights. Nothing is going your way. I was just coming off from 2 strong games, but tonight was just not my night tonight." Parker on game 7: "It's going to be another great game. The Mavs are going to be in our home, fans are going to help us, and we're going to have a lot of energy. So hopefully we can get a win and it will be a great series." Bruce Bowen: "It's about making stops. Defensive teams win championships." Michael Finley: "It's not a personal vendetta for me. I'm just on a team that happens to be going against my former team. A lot of people was trying to make it an individual thing or me mad at the Mavs or vice versa. I'm just going out there and trying to do whatever it takes for my team to win. And fortunately for us tonight we did enough to win this ball game." Finley: "You know, the boos, I think it's unfortunate. Especially in a place where I felt I gave my all for 8 years, blood and guts on the court, tried to be a model citizen in the community. And to come back and hear the boos, it's kind of disheartening. But I try to always turn a negative into a positive. The 1st game I came back this year, I got a lot of cheers and it was a little bit emotional for me and that game was tougher than any of these games that I've plyed since they've been booing me. So now that they start booing me, it makes me focus a lot more. I know now that I'm the enemy and it makes me go out there and play harder. It was difficult to play when they ere cheering for me. So I just made a negative into a positive." Finley on if the booing is a product of the playoffs: "I don't know because I'm hearing things like traitor. I'm not a traitor; the Mavs got rid of me. I'm hearing things like a whiner I didn't do anything. I got hit. So it's kind of, like I said, disheartening to hear the things that some of the fans are saying. Like I said, I thought I did a lot for this organization as far as just being a model citizen. But I guess that doesn't matter." Finley: "One of the reasons I signed with the Spurs, I want to put myself in a position where I had a chance to be on a championship caliber team. Me signing here doesn't guarantee us a championship run. They had a lot of things established already as far as coaches, players, and such and I knew that I was coming into something that I wouldn't mess up. That I would basically just fit in. And the situations these last couple of games has been really intense. But 10, 11 guys on the team already before me have been in even tougher situations - the NBA Finals, getting blown out by Detroit by 20+ points a couple of times, and having to go back to game 7 in San Antonio to win a title. So all the experiences that they've been through, they're just carrying me along. And if I feel that I have an opportunity to say something here or there, I speak my piece. But I'm just riding their coattails right now." Finley on San Antonio's experience in game 7 helping: "Well hopefully it will be very beneficial for us. We have a lot of guys who've been in that experience at the highest level, being in the 7th game of the NBA Finals. So hopefully that will be to our advantage. But we still can't go into that game [thinking] because we were successful last year in game 7, over confident. We still have to go in and play with a chip on our shoulders, so to speak. And go in there to have one purpose, and that's to win a ball game." Finley on his leadership: "Well, like I said, these guys have been in the situations a lot more than me and more intense situations, but I pick and chose my chances to speak in huddles, to tap guys on the back when they need it, to give them encouragement when they need it. Just trying to be a little bit of a vocal leader, like I was here when I played in Dallas, but it's kind of in a different role. So I don't want to over do my leadership role, just like I said, pick and chose my points and hopefully it's carrying over." Finley on starting: "In this certain series, it makes me real comfortable. Being that they were booing me, I can get that out of my system early. You get to get in a flow a lot easier. Defensively, you know the strategies. Offensively, you know what we're trying to do. It fits me well for this series. Next series, I don't know." Finley on Nowitzki: "Well, you know, Dirk's a First Team All-NBA. He got my MVP vote this year. He's been doing everything for his team. And any time he has the ball, he's a shot waiting to happen. For me, I just wanted to make his shots difficult. Even the ones I was contesting, he was still making. He's that type of player that makes tough shots, and most of the great players in this league make tough shots. And tonight he made those and unfortunately for them, he missed the one at the end." Finley on Terry: "The rules state that if you throw a punch and it's connected, I guess you miss a game. You know, unfortunately for Jason it happened at this time. It was nothing between me and him throughout the game. I consider him one of my better teammates last year, so it was kind of surprising for him to do that, but in the heat of battle, you never know what your emotions might have you do. But I don't write the rules, I just go out there and play. But again, unfortunately for him he had to miss a game." Avery Johnson: "Well tonight this was definitely a bad loss for us. We really had our chance at winning this game and playing well, but we just couldn't put it in the basket. The guys competed. They played hard, extremely hard. They poured it out there on the court. But we just couldn't get it done. We'll get back to practice on Sunday, strap it up, and get ready to go to San Antonio." Johnson on Harris: "Just having a tough night and, you know, when you have a rough night during this time, it's kind of really magnified. Be playing some game on the road against a non-playoff team in December, you get on the plane and you go to the next city. But he just had a rough night. But Devin and Stack, we love 'em. Just couldn't get it to fall tonight. But that's not why we lost. We just didn't get enough stops in the end." Johnson on attempting a 3-pointer on Dallas' last play: "We wanted 2 opportunities to go for 2. We were trying to get Josh there on a back door, he wasn't open. If we got it for 3 and we were covered, we wanted a drive. But Dirk thought maybe he had some space or maybe - you know, he just couldn't get it up for what ever reason. Probably good defense. It always seems like they play better defense in those situations." Johnson on the lineups they used: "We did what we thought would give us our best chance. We wanted to create some space for Devin and we created the space, but just couldn't get anything to fall." Johnson on Nowitzki: "Again he had a big night, but we just were unsuccessful. And Devin, Devin is still growing. And there's no one person that lost the game for us. We win together and we lose together. It's just really difficult when we're always fighting an up hill battle at the free throw line. It's really difficult. And then we're the ones that don't complain and we're the ones - I can't say that, right Joe, so don't say it. So next question. That's my bodyguard right there, he's here for a reason." Johnson on game 7: "Well we're going to strap it up and go in and play hard. We're just going to play hard. And hopefully the players can get out there and go to war and hopefully they can just decide it right there on the court. And whatever the best team was that's what we're hopeful for." Johnson: "Did I say calls? Did I say anything about fear? Let me explain something to you. Fear, going to playing a game 7 in San Antonio and you're talking to somebody that got cut on Christmas Eve. Fear going to a 7th game. This is what we signed on the dotted line for. And what happens is when you sign on the dotted line, you don't sign up just when you make every shot or when something really goes well. You sign up for adversity too. And that's why we all are here, that's what we love. We love the challenge of the game. So we don't have any fear, the coach doesn't have any fear." Dirk Nowitzki on the last shot: "Well, I really had nothing. Fin was all over me. I probably should have drove it, get a quick 2 and get another foul. It was a tough game, obviously a tough loss for us. We didn't play well. Shoot 38%, it's tough to win. But we still had our chances and it just wasn't enough. So now it comes down to one game. Game 7, we've been in it before and been pretty successful, so we'll see how it goes." Nowitzki on if they let an opportunity slip away: "Well, yeah, obviously like I said, we just dropped 2 tough ones in a row and they did those 2 tough ones they lost here back-to-back. Obviously we approached this one like a game 7 and obviously we didn't want the series to go back to San Antone, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Prepare for Monday. Do somethings better. Hopefully execute better offensively, get some more stops. We should be confident going to San Antonio. We won game 2. Game 5 came down all the way to the last couple of possessions. So it's not like we can't win down there. So we'll go from there." Nowitzki on if it's appropriate that this series is going to a game 7: "Well, not really. I would of loved to win it earlier, but you know, it's been a fun series obviously. Besides game 2, every game was close and came down to the wire. Guys making big plays for both teams. It's been great. So hopefully we can go down there and steal game 7." Nowitzki: "Pressure is always there. I really can't comment too much who's the pressure on. The pressure is on both teams. They had their backs against the wall, one more loss they would have been done, and now we're in the same situation. It's unfortunate that they had homecourt advantage, but like I said, we've been playing pretty good down there. So it's do or die for everybody and the pressure is on both teams." Nowitzki on missing Terry: "Well obviously we miss his shooting. He's one of the best clutch shooters in this league. He stretches the floor for us offensively and I thought they dogged it up pretty good in there. They were playing Devin's drive all night, waited for him at the rim. We just couldn't get anything to go. So obviously we missed his outside shooting. But saying all that, we still battled and we still had a chance to win. Guys stepped up, but it just wasn't enough." Nowitzki on rebounding: "I felt good before the game and it was just one of those nights where the ball comes to you a lot. Obviously I wanted to be aggressive on both ends of the floor. But some nights you try to do the same thing and every ball seems to drop right over you head. And tonight it was just one of those nights I was able to get my hands on a lot of balls. But saying all of that, it doesn't matter really. I could have had 30 rebounds, we lost the game. I got to find a way to be more efficient for the team so I can help my team win the game." Jerry Stackhouse: "I think we just kind of got stagnant in the 2nd half. I don't know, it didn't seem like we were moving a lot. Just sitting, playing isolation up top, and they were double-teaming and they were switching guys they were double-teaming from and [we] couldn't really get a rhythm of what was happening and everything and just weren't able to get stops and get into transition like we like. And even when we pushed and then got in transition, we didn't really convert." Stackhouse on Terry: "JET being back should be a big lift. Even though we'll be on the road, still we've got to force the tempo. We were able to do that in Game 2." Stackhouse: "There's no cavalry coming. We just have to suck it up and get ready for Monday." Devin Harris: "I felt great and I got around the rim, but the shots just weren't falling." Harris: "It's a big game and everybody wants to play well. I had shots at the basket and I just couldn't finish those shots." Harris: "All night long I struggled offensively and defensively, they had a great night just getting what they wanted to do." Marquis Daniels: "We had our chances but didn't capitalize on them. It was a game of mistakes and we just made too many." Game 6: San Antonio Spurs 91, Dallas Mavericks 86 at Dallas (May 19) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% San Antonio 20 21 26 24 - 91 .439 .400 .433 .853 Dallas 25 22 20 19 - 86 .391 .357 .386 .850 Halftime: Dallas 47-41 3rd Q: 67-67 Technicals: none Refs: Mike Callahan, Ken Mauer, Bennett Salvatore Attendance: 20.986 (sellout) Did not play: Jason Terry (suspended) IL: Sean Marks (SA), Josh Powell (Dal) San Antonio Spurs REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Manu Ginobili 38 8-14 2-5 12-13 30 2-10 2 3 3 3 1 Tony Parker 35 3-15 0-2 2-2 8 0-4 3 3 1 0 0 Michael Finley 45 6-10 2-3 2-2 16 0-6 2 2 0 2 1 Bruce Bowen 35 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 2 4 0 1 Tim Duncan 33 8-21 0-0 8-10 24 2-8 1 3 5 1 1 Brent Barry 22 2-2 0-0 1-1 5 0-3 2 3 2 0 0 Robert Horry 18 1-2 0-0 4-6 6 0-4 0 0 4 1 2 Nick Van_Exel 14 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 0 0 0 1 Fabricio Oberto 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Beno Udrih 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 48 29-67 4-10 29-34 91 4-39 11 17 19 7 7 Dallas Mavericks REB Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK Jerry Stackhouse 39 4-15 2-6 0-2 10 1-3 4 3 1 0 1 Devin Harris 31 3-14 0-1 1-2 7 0-1 3 4 5 0 0 Dirk Nowitzki 46 9-16 0-1 8-8 26 2-21 5 3 1 1 0 Josh Howard 42 7-17 1-2 2-2 17 2-6 1 3 3 1 2 DeSagana Diop 6 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2-3 0 1 4 1 1 Erick Dampier 26 2-4 0-0 2-2 6 4-5 0 0 5 1 2 Marquis Daniels 19 3-7 0-0 2-2 8 0-1 1 1 4 1 1 Adrian Griffin 16 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1-1 1 0 2 1 1 Keith Van_Horn 14 3-7 2-4 2-2 10 0-1 0 0 4 0 0 Darrell Armstrong 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 48 32-83 5-14 17-20 86 12-42 15 15 29 7 8 patricia Go Mavs!