Boris Diaw’s big third quarter wasn’t enough to hold off a Dallas comeback.
The San Antonio veteran’s decisive shot in the final minute was.
Diaw hit a go-ahead three-pointer for the last of his 17 points, Manu Ginobili scored 23 and the top-seeded Spurs held on to beat the Mavericks 93-89 in Game 4 on Monday night, pulling even in their first-round play-off series.
“You’ve got to give up something,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who was running at Diaw as the shot was released. “That was a tough one.”
Just like Vince Carter’s buzzer-beating three-pointer was for the Spurs two days earlier, when Dallas went up 2-1 with a one-point win. The difference was, the Mavericks had a chance to do something about Diaw’s shot after San Antonio went up 90-87 with 32 seconds remaining.
Nowitzki, who had 19 points, had a putback on a missed three by Monta Ellis to get Dallas within 90-89 with 19 seconds to go. But the Mavericks let nearly 10 seconds run off the clock before fouling Ginobili.
Ginobili missed one of the free throws, giving Ellis a chance to tie on a driving layup. Ellis, who led the Mavericks with 20 points, missed again to finish a 6-of-20 shooting night.
“I had a good look at the end but it didn’t go down,” Ellis said.
The Spurs, who led by 20 points in the third quarter, regained the home-court advantage by getting a split of two games in Dallas, matching what the eighth-seeded Mavericks did in San Antonio.
Game 5 is Wednesday night in San Antonio, and the Spurs are going back tied because a bench that’s been quiet this post-season outscored Dallas’ reserves 50-30.
“We knew that we could do better,” Diaw said. “We didn’t play the same like we did during the regular season.”
Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter had double-doubles for the Spurs, with Duncan getting 14 points and 10 rebounds and Splitter adding 10 points and 12 boards.
San Antonio, who led from early in the second quarter until late in the fourth, were down 83-82 when former teammate DeJuan Blair was ejected for kicking Splitter in the back of the head after getting called for a foul when he got tangled up with the San Antonio centre as both players fell to the court.
Ginobili, who had five assists, made the technical free throw for an 83-all tie, and Splitter hit both free throws on the foul for an 85-83 San Antonio lead.
Blair had a big hand in getting Dallas back in the game, scoring all 12 of his points and grabbing nine of his 11 rebounds in the second half.
“It’s real disappointing because with me in the game our momentum was going great and when that happened and that got me out of there, that was a big deal,” said Blair, who said the kick was unintentional.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich challenged his team to play with more “nastiness” after falling behind in the series with two straight losses, and his Spurs responded in the first half.
The best display was in a dominant second quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Mavericks 32-13. Kawhi Leonard intended to swat Carter’s driving shot into the stands. Instead, Patty Mills dived into the seats to save it, sending the Spurs on a fast break that ended with a miss by Tony Parker, who had 10 points of 5-of-14 shooting.
Parker’s miss didn’t matter, though, because the Mavericks were in the middle of a 5-minute scoreless stretch that included eight straight misses to cap a 2-of-18 shooting spell from late in the first quarter to late in the second. Dallas shot 21 per cent in the second quarter.
Diaw scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the third quarter, and looked like he was going to be able to hold off the Dallas surge.
“Manu and Boris changed the entire game,” Duncan said. “They kept us from blowing a big lead.”
OTHER MONDAY PLAY-OFF RESULTS
Heat 109, Bobcats 98 (Heat win series 4-0)
LeBron James coasted to 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting and Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade chipped in a combined 32 as the Miami Heat wrapped up an unsurprising sweep of the Charlotte Bobcats to move on to the second round.
James added seven rebounds, nine assists, three steals and a block to fill up the stat sheet. Norris Cole added 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench.
Charlotte never truly competed in this series with their most important player, Al Jefferson, hobbled by an injury to his foot. He did not play on Monday night.
Kemba Walker led the Bobcats, scoring 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting.
Charlotte will reclaim the Hornets nickname next season after the original Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans and eventually became the Pelicans before this season. Monday’s loss means the ‘Charlotte Bobcats’ will ultimately go down without a single play-off victory in their 10 years of existence.
Hawks 107, Pacers 97 (Hawks lead series 3-2)
Indiana inched closer to an unthinkable collapse on Monday night, as a shaky offensive unit actually shot a respectable 46.2 per cent but their usually stout defensive play falterd as Atlanta shot an even 50.0 per cent from the field.
Shelvin Mack, with 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and Paul Millsap, with 18 on 5-of-11 shooting, led the Hawks in scoring. Kyle Korver also had 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting (all from three-point range) and nine rebounds in the road victory.
Paul George scored 26 on 9-of-16 shooting, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished six assists and snagged six steals in one of his most complete games of the play-offs, but it wasn’t enough.
Indiana, who at one point had the NBA’s best record midway through the season and, despite struggling to the end of the regular season, still finished with the East’s top seed, will face elimination in Atlanta on Thursday for Game 6.
If they can survive, Game 7 will bring the series back to Indianapolis on Saturday.
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