DIAW’S LATE BASKET LIFTS THE SUNS
Phoenix beats Dallas, 121-118, a thrilling, fast-paced start to the Western Conference finals

DALLAS—So far in the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks have pushed around Pau Gasol and outlasted Tim Duncan. But Steve Nash and an agile big man? They still haven’t figured that one out.
       With Nash picking up where he left off against his former team last postseason and Boris Diaw filling the role of Amare Stoudemire, the Phoenix Suns erased a late nine-point deficit and beat the Mavericks, 121-118, Wednesday night in a thrilling, fast-paced start to the Western Conference finals.
       Nash scored 10 of his 27 points in the final 3:26, then set up Shawn Marion on a go-ahead basket with 43 seconds left. After Dallas regained the lead on a jumper by Devin Harris with 4.8 seconds to go, Diaw swished a turnaround seven-footer with a half-second remaining on a play originally designed for Nash.
       “I saw their bench basically yelling out exactly what was going to happen, so I was like, ‘OK, Plan B,’” Nash said. “I was about to call timeout, but ... Tim [Thomas] got it inside and Boris made a heck of a play.”
       Diaw scored a career-high 34 points, showing on a big stage why he was voted the league’s Most Improved Player and why the Suns are back in the conference finals for the second straight year despite having had Stoudemire for only three games.
       “At one point there was a label on him that he was a soft, noncompetitive player,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I’m telling you he’s just the opposite. ... He’s one of the most competitive guys we have, just an intelligent basketball player that knows how to play.”
       Harris scored a career-high 30 and Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points and 19 rebounds, but the Mavericks blew their late lead with a spurt of turnovers and a lack of defensive stops when they needed them most.
       “We were just bad tonight in a lot of different areas that we have to improve on in a hurry,” coach Avery Johnson said.
       It shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise, though, because the combination of Nash and Stoudemire carried the Suns past the Mavs in the second round of last year’s playoffs. Stoudemire scored between 30 and 40 each of the first three games, then Nash burned them with between 34 and 48 over the last three games.
       Dallas fans might not be able to take more of these heart-stopping finishes this postseason. The Mavericks were coming off a second-round series against San Antonio that included six games decided at the end, including Game Seven in overtime.
       One consolation for the Mavs is that they also lost the opener to the Spurs. Another is that Game Two is in Dallas on Friday night.
       For Phoenix, this furious finish stuff is becoming fun. The Suns lost all seven regular-season games decided by three points or less, then dropped another early in the playoffs. But now they’ve won two nail-biters, having also beaten the Clippers 94-91 in Game Three of the previous round.
       Both teams lost starters to leg injuries—Josh Howard for Dallas (sprained right ankle) and Raja Bell (strained left calf) for Phoenix. The Suns also are concerned about Marion, who had 24 points and 13 rebounds but appeared to hurt his left ankle in the final minutes.
       Asked if he’ll be able to play in Game Two, Marion said, “Hey, I don’t have a choice.”
       Howard is having a magnetic resonance imaging on Thursday to determine if and when he’ll return. Bell left the locker room on crutches. “I felt it pop,” he said. “It’s pretty painful.
       But I’ve got to be optimistic. I want to play. We’ll see how it feels in the morning.”
       Johnson said Howard’s absence creates “a big void” on both ends of the court. Besides covering Marion, he’s one of Dallas’ best attackers. He scored six points in his six minutes; Dallas is 21-0 this season when he scores 20 points.
       Although both teams were coming off Game Seven wins Monday night, there was no emotional or physical letdown either way. The track meet everyone expected was off and running from the start.
       It was 62-58 at halftime and both teams were making at least half their shots. They were even more accurate in the third quarter, surpassing the Game One scoring total from the Eastern Conference final between Miami and Detroit before the fourth even began.
       Dallas went ahead for the first time with Harris leading a 13-2 run midway through the third quarter. Then a 13-0 burst at the end of the third and start of the fourth looked like it was going to be the difference, especially with the Mavs still up 114-105 with 3:43 left.
       Then, Nash—the league’s two-time MVP— decided it was time to stop distributing and start scoring. He scored Phoenix’s next 10 points on a pair of three-pointers, a lay-up and two foul shots.
       “I guess, in a way, I tried to be a little more aggressive,” said Nash, who had 16 assists, the most by anyone this postseason and one shy of his career high. AP