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Rockets edge Mavericks 113-111
With Shaq and Kobe broken up, get ready for the era of Yao and T-Mac. It arrived in Game 2 of the playoffs.
Yao Ming scored 33 points on 13-of-14 shooting — with his only miss arguably being more of a turnover — and Tracy McGrady added 28, but it was their spectacular baskets in the final 1:07 that mattered most in Houston's thrilling 113-111 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
The Rockets trailed 102-95 with 5:36 left, but McGrady began a go-ahead run of six straight shots with another of his amazing jumpers. When the Mavericks tied it at 109, the dynamic duo came through again, with McGrady driving to the rim, then slipping the ball to Yao for an easy dunk with 1:06 left.
Dallas tied it again, though, when Dirk Nowitzki — who broke out of his series-long slump midway through the fourth quarter — faked McGrady several times and nailed a jumper from around the free throw line with 10.4 seconds left.
McGrady, however, never hesitated. Not even looking to the bench for a possible timeout, he inbounded the ball, got it back right away and went to the top right of the 3-point line. Setting up behind a Yao screen, he buried a long 2-pointer, then made a sneering gesture as the Mavericks called time.
Given one last chance to salvage a split at home, Dallas failed when Michael Finley missed a decent look from near the top of the key.
The series moves to Houston for Game 3 on Thursday night. The Rockets will be carrying a nine-game winning streak, while the Mavs will be reeling from their first consecutive losses under coach Avery Johnson. They came into the playoffs 16-2 in his first five weeks since replacing Don Nelson and now have that many losses in three days.
The first concern for Dallas is getting Nowitzki going. He was 4-of-17 — and 9-of-36 for the series — when he made a 16-footer in transition with 7:09 left. He scored again on the next trip and put Dallas head 107-106 with 2:32 left on a hook over Yao. Still, he finished 8-of-21 for 26 points. He had just two rebounds and committed three turnovers.
Five other Mavs scored in double figures, with Josh Howard putting up 17, Jason Terry 15 and Erick Dampier 14. Keith Van Horn came off the bench to score 13, going 5-for-6.
With Yao scoring his most points since getting 40 against Toronto on Dec. 20, and McGrady making 10 of 19 shots, the Rockets didn't need much else. They got 16 from Jon Barry, including three straight 3s early in the second quarter, and 14 from Bob Sura, including the 3-pointer that put Houston up 109-107.
It was only fitting that this game came down to the last shot considering how the teams fought on every possession. Someone wrote "Energy, Effort, Excitement" on a wipe board in Dallas' locker room before the game, and both teams embodied it throughout, much to the delight of 20,884 fans, the largest crowd in Mavs history.
Players were scrambling for loose balls and hurrying to help on defense. There were several collisions, one leaving Barry's nose bloodied, another sending Houston's Ryan Bowen to the locker room to check his ankle. And that was just in the first half.
The Rockets led the entire first half, by as much as eight, but the Mavericks gained control early in the second half — for the first time since 12-10 in Game 1 — and were ahead most of the last two quarters.
McGrady still had his share of highlight-reel plays, though not as many as the opener. This time, he made Dallas pay for double-teaming him by swinging the ball around until finding the person left open by the second defender. Later, the Mavs covered him 1-on-1 with some decent results — until it mattered most.
When Mavs tied at 51 late in second quarter, the crowd became so loud that officials had trouble hearing Houston call timeout. ... With 38.9 seconds left before halftime and Dallas throwing the ball in near the Rockets' bench, Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy was on the wrong side of inbounder Michael Finley. When officials told him to move, he smirked and saluted. ... Mavs owner Mark Cuban posted on his blog Sunday the team's playoff record since 2002 based on who officiated each game. They came in 0-6 in games worked by Monday night's crew chief, Dan Crawford. They had at least one win for all other refs who worked at least three games. Dallas came in 1-3 under both of the other officials, Greg Willard and Mark Wunderlich.
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