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Dallas Cashes In on Line of Credit

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Times Staff Writer

The carnival set up in town, complete with clowns and midway games.

The Dallas Mavericks showed they have mastered the art of tossing a ball through a hoop from 15 feet away. Instead of a stuffed animal, their prize Monday was Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

They swiped a game at SBC Center by a 113-110 score in large part because they made 49 of 50 free throws.

“Thank God for the free throw,” Maverick Coach Don Nelson said. “We shoot it better than anybody in basketball.”

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The Spurs came into this best-of-seven series playing the best ball of anyone in the playoffs, the de facto team to beat after dethroning the Lakers.

But if the Mavericks can successfully turn this into a free-throw shooting contest, the odds are in their favor. Dallas was the top free-throw shooting team in the league this season (83%). The Spurs were the worst (73%).

They took it to extremes in front of 18,797 Monday, as the Mavericks shot 98%, while the Spurs converted only 31 of 48 (65%).

Looks like Mark Cuban’s extensive payroll and lengthy list of coaches paid off.

They have a free-throw coach on staff, Gary Boren, and he insisted they spend extra time on it in practice recently.

As a result, the Mavericks now own home-court advantage in the series. Game 2 is here Wednesday.

“We approached the game believing we can get this game,” said Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki, who had 38 points and 15 rebounds. “We found a way to hang in there and stay close and give ourselves a chance at the end of the game to win.”

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The Spurs led by 18 points in the first half and by 14 with 8 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. But Dallas came back with its ally, the free throw, and an unusual visitor: defense.

After Spur forward Tim Duncan scored 16 points in the first quarter, Nelson ran through all of his options.

He tried Raef LaFrentz, Nowitzki, Eduardo Najera and Shawn Bradley on Duncan.

Then he waved the white flag.

He had his players foul Bruce Bowen, a 40% free-throw shooter during the season, whenever and wherever they could get their hands on him. They fouled him in the backcourt. They fouled him off the court, as he stood on the sideline after inbounding the ball.

It was similar to the approach Nelson has used against Shaquille O’Neal in the past, prompting O’Neal to call it “clown” ball.

Bowen said: “That’s Nellie’s style of play. If that’s the way he’s going to try to get victories, so be it.”

The strategy succeeded to a small degree. Bowen missed five of 10 free throws in the second quarter, and the Mavericks cut an 18-point deficit to as little as seven.

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“With the Hack-a-Bowen tactic, we were just trying to break their rhythm a little bit,” Nowitzki said. “It wasn’t really a good tactic.”

Ultimately it was defense that changed the game for Dallas.

The Mavericks went to what Nelson called their “combo zone” and surrounded Duncan inside. He scored only 14 of his 40 points in the second half.

The Mavericks forced him to pass the ball out, and Tony Parker and company fired away from three-point range. A three-point shooting contest also plays into the Mavericks’ hands; they were the third-best three-point shooting team in the league.

But Dallas did a better job of attacking the basket late in the game. Nowitzki drove baseline for a dunk with 2:05 remaining to pull the Mavericks within one. Then Michael Finley drove from the left side for the go-ahead points with 14.2 seconds left.

Duncan missed a hook shot in the lane with six seconds to go.

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