Terry Makes His Point to Lift the Mavericks

Jason Terry might never pass the ball enough to earn favorable comparisons to Dallas’ previous point guard. That’s OK with the Mavericks, as long as Terry keeps scoring the way he did in Game 4.

With Dirk Nowitzki in another slump and Houston’s Tracy McGrady suddenly struggling after scoring virtually at will, Terry took over in the fourth quarter to rescue the Mavericks from the bleakest of deficits.

The unheralded point guard scored a season-high 32 points, including a three-point basket with 26.9 seconds left, and Michael Finley had 18, rallying the Mavericks from another late deficit in a 97-93 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t consider ‘Jet’ a classic point guard,” said Maverick Coach Avery Johnson, who was exactly that during his 16-year NBA career. “But he gets the job done.”

The victory evened the best-of-seven, first-round Western Conference series at 2-2. Game 5 is Monday night in Dallas.

The Mavericks might want to petition the NBA to hold the game elsewhere, because home-court advantage has been nonexistent in this series. The road team has won every game.

“Hopefully, home will be a safe haven at some point in this series,” Maverick guard Jerry Stackhouse said. “I think the pressure has been on us and now that the series is even, the pressure should be about the same.”

McGrady led the Rockets with 36 points on 13-for-26 shooting but came up short down the stretch. He had only two points in the fourth quarter, missing all but one of his last five shots.

He played a huge role in Houston’s late collapse, firing up a couple of bad shots in the last minute and failing to hold on to a rebound under Dallas’ basket with the Rockets down by two points with 11.4 seconds left.

“I just think that right now, everybody wants it so bad we’re just not staying poised,” McGrady said. “Right now, those guys want it more than us.”

Terry was nearly unstoppable, scoring eight points during a 15-2 spurt midway through the third quarter that gave the Mavericks a 77-72 lead and briefly silenced the raucous crowd of 18,211.