Second-Half Rally Gets Dallas to Finals

Mark Cuban did a quick skip across the court and punched a fist into the air, meaning only one thing: The Dallas Mavericks were going to the NBA Finals.

For the first time in a mostly mundane 26 years of existence, the Mavericks advanced to the final round, beating the Phoenix Suns, 102-93, and winning the Western Conference finals, 4-2, Saturday at US Airways Center.

The Mavericks will play the Miami Heat in the Finals, beginning Thursday in Dallas. They easily handled the Heat this season, winning by 13 in Miami and 36 in Dallas.

Their victory over the Suns was in doubt from the start, but they came back from an 18-point deficit by allowing only 42 second-half points.

Somewhere, Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre and Derek Harper were smiling. Dallas is no longer merely the land of the Cowboys.

“When I first got here, it was rough,” said Dirk Nowitzki, in his eighth season. “We were in that old arena, Reunion Arena, and it stunk. It was bad. We fought through a lot of stuff.

“When I first got to Dallas, nobody really knew us and we could go out anywhere. Nobody was paying attention to the Mavericks really. It’s been a fun ride. Hopefully we can take it to the next level and bring this franchise a ring.”

Nowitzki wasn’t as sterling as his 50-point outburst in Game 5, but he brushed off a horrid start and finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Terry, scoreless in the first half, finished with 17 points.

“Nobody’s ripping their shirts off or going too crazy, but they should celebrate,” Mavericks Coach Avery Johnson said. “It’s just been an incredible run.”

The Mavericks made a habit of being run from the playoffs early, or even skipping postseason play entirely, as they did 11 consecutive times before making the 2001 playoffs.

Cuban’s antics are often criticized, but the Mavericks have made the playoffs six times since he bought them in January 2000.

“He’s a smart guy,” Mavericks guard Jerry Stackhouse said. “He’s not a billionaire by accident. He found the right pieces to make it work.”

The Mavericks’ feel-good story was outdone only by the Suns’ feel-bad ending.

Despite getting only three games out of Amare Stoudemire this season, the Suns advanced this far by beating the Lakers and Clippers in entertaining seven-game series. They couldn’t get past the deeper and more sound Mavericks, coming up short in the Western finals for a second consecutive season.

Raja Bell’s return from a strained calf sparked the Suns to a Game 4 victory, but he struggled after that, scoring a combined nine points in Games 5 and 6. Shawn Marion had a quiet 13 points Saturday and Tim Thomas, a surprising source of scoring during the playoffs, had only eight points.

After answering a handful of questions, Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni politely ended his postgame remarks to reporters when he started getting teary-eyed.

Steve Nash, two-time league most valuable player, had 19 points and nine assists.

“You can taste it when you get close like this,” Nash said. “You spend a lot of time convincing yourself that you’re destined to do it and when you don’t, it’s difficult.”

The Suns looked as if they were going to force a Game 7, taking a 60-45 lead midway through the third quarter. They scored only 12 points over the next 12 minutes and trailed, 78-72, with 6:08 to play.

Nash’s good friend, Nowitzki, found his shot after missing nine of his first 11, and Terry scored 10 points in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki finished with eight-for-20 shooting.

“We were so bad in the first half and so good in the second half,” Johnson said. “You talk about a tale of two halves. The way we turned it on from the middle of that third quarter on into the fourth was incredible.”

Instead of heavily favored San Antonio and Detroit, there will be two teams making their first forays into the Finals.

“Nobody had Miami and Dallas in the Finals,” Johnson said. “If you did, you won a lot of money.”