Diaw Is the Big Man in Rally of the Suns

Poor little Phoenix Suns.

Such a small lineup. Such tired legs. Such underdogs. So much sympathy.

Their pity party was interrupted again Wednesday night, just in time for them to move three victories from the NBA Finals.

Score another one for small ball as the Suns ran rings around the Dallas Mavericks, who are usually pretty adept at their own run-and-shoot style, but not quite like the Suns in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Boris Diaw had a career-high 34 points, including the winner with 0.5 of a second to play to ensure the Suns a 121-118 victory at American Airlines Center.

Steve Nash had 27 points and 16 assists for the Suns, who blew by the Mavericks with 32 fastbreak points, 20 more than the home team could muster.

Suns cynics were again hushed ... for now.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever really get respect unless we win the thing,” Nash said. “We want to see how good we can get.”

Lakers and Clippers fans have seen enough of the Suns, who were dismissed as too short and sweet when championship contenders were anointed by so-called experts before the playoffs began. San Antonio, Detroit, Miami, maybe even Dallas -- few, if any, picked the Suns.

But here they are, two Game 7 victories in one holster and a surprising 1-0 lead in the other. Not bad for a starting lineup that barely averages 6 feet 6.

Diaw, a native of France who said he was lounging on the Riviera at this time last year, tilted the series in the initial direction of the Suns with a last-second effort that was diagramed for Nash.

The Sun called timeout after Devin Harris’ 16-footer gave the Mavericks a 118-117 lead with 4.8 seconds left. Tim Thomas was supposed to inbound the ball to Nash, but the Mavericks had scouted the play.

“I saw their bench basically yelling out exactly what was going to happen,” Nash said. “So I was like, OK, Plan B.”

Not a bad option.

Thomas found Diaw, who spun in the post, pump-faked with Jerry Stackhouse on him and made a fadeaway seven-footer from the right side.

After a Dallas timeout, Marquis Daniels’ inbounds pass to Dirk Nowitzki sailed out of bounds untouched, and Thomas made two free throws with 0.2 of a second left.

The Mavericks held a 114-105 lead with 3:43 to play but disintegrated amid a host of miscues. They missed four consecutive shots before Harris finally connected, and committed three turnovers.

“The last couple of minutes, everything went wrong that could have gone wrong,” said Nowitzki, who had 25 points and 19 rebounds. “Our execution was horrible. Tough way to start the series, with a loss at home.”

It was a rough game for both teams.

Mavericks forward Josh Howard, the team’s third-leading scorer, did not return after suffering a sprained ankle in the first quarter. Guard Raja Bell, the Suns’ top defender and fourth-leading scorer, left the game after suffering a strained calf muscle in the fourth quarter. Both players’ status for Game 2 is uncertain.

Diaw, a throw-in from the off-season trade that sent Joe Johnson to Atlanta, made 13 of 23 shots, continuing to thrive in the Suns’ system.

“There was a label on him that he was a soft, non-competitive player ... that’s who we got from Atlanta,” Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “And I’m telling you what, he’s just the opposite. He’s one of the best competitive guys we have.”