NBA Playoffs Results

vs(From the Associated Press) - Manu Ginobili stepped off the podium and bumped into Dirk Nowitzki. They shook hands. Nowitzki gave his longtime foe a congratulatory slap on the back and Ginobili disappeared down the hallway.

He was off to celebrate a playoff series win. Just like old times for the Spurs.

“We’re thrilled that we beat them,” Ginobili said. “We’re really proud of it.”

Nowitzki then sat down for a playoff ritual of his own—dissecting yet another first-round failure by the Mavericks.

Ginobili scored 26 points and San Antonio survived blowing a 22-point lead to finish off the Mavericks 97-87 in Game 6 on Thursday night, getting payback after Dallas eliminated the Spurs a year ago in the opening round.

The seventh-seeded Spurs will play the sixth-seeded Suns in the Western Conference semifinals starting Monday night in Phoenix.

The Mavs, meanwhile, slump away into another too-early summer.

Dallas lost in the first round for the third time in four years. The Mavs head into an interesting offseason for a team that’s won 50 games for 10 straight seasons, but has only one trip to the NBA finals to show for it.

“Going into the playoffs as a No. 2 seed, it is all we could have wanted,” Nowitzki said. “We just happened to see a tough No. 7 seed that got rolling at the right time.”

Said Mavs guard Jason Terry, “As of right now this season is a failure.”

Nowitzki nearly carried the Mavs to an unbelievable comeback, getting 25 of his 33 points in a remarkable second half. But George Hill, the hero for the Spurs in Game 4, scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to keep the series from going back to Dallas.

The Spurs continue their roll after coming off their worst regular season in the Tim Duncan era, which perhaps makes this series all the more impressive.

It will technically go down as an upset. San Antonio is only the fifth No. 7 seed to win a first-round series, and the first since the opening round became a best-of-7 in 2003. It hadn’t been done since New York beat Miami in 1998.

But with a healthy Big Three and a championship pedigree, the Spurs could hardly be called underdogs.

And with no clear favorite in the West, they might be as good a finals pick as any.

“The only reason (the Spurs) we’re the 7 seed is because they’ve been hurt all year,” Mavs center Brenden Haywood said. “This could have been the Western Conference finals. The teams are that good. This isn’t like a monumental upset or anything. You all are talking like this is the NCAA tournament and the 15 seed just beat the 2.”

As for the Mavs, it was yet another early playoff disappointment.

It comes three years after the Mavs came into the postseason as the No. 1 seed, only to be knocked out by No. 8 Golden State. The Mavs were the NBA’s best road team in the regular season, but went 0-3 in San Antonio and couldn’t pull themselves out of a 3-1 deficit.

This one is especially tough for team owner Mark Cuban, who plunked down an extra $30 million for a deal at the trade deadline that brought Caron Butler from Washington.

Cuban, who needled San Antonio earlier in the series by saying he hated the Spurs, congratulated them afterward and said he’d root for his Texas rivals the rest of the way.

He followed that up with a cryptic comment.

“I’m not proud of the NBA. I’m not proud of my inability over the last 10 years to have an impact like I want to have,” Cuban said. “So I kind of feel like I owe fans an apology. But that’s just the way this business goes.”

Cuban declined to elaborate.

Butler scored 25 points and rookie Rodrigue Beaubois had 16. But aside from them and Nowitzki, no other Dallas player scored more than six points.

Among the questions facing the Mavs is Nowitzki, who could choose to become a free agent this summer. He’s steadily said he won’t, but after the game, Nowitzki was noncommittal about his future.

“I haven’t really thought about my future,” he said. “I guess I have some time now to think about my future and think about my options.”

He and the Mavs will have a long time to sulk over this one.

Plagued by slow starts in this series, Dallas got off to its worst yet when it mattered most. The Mavs trailed 22-8 after the first quarter, hitting just four of their first 18 shots. By halftime it was 47-34, a franchise playoff low for Dallas.

Nowitzki, who had four fouls in the first half, shrugged off the foul trouble and put Dallas ahead 57-56 with a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. But Ginobili immediately fired back with a 3-pointer, and Dallas never led again.

“I think we took a lot of their energy, a lot of their effort getting back into it after being so far down,” said Duncan, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds. “Hopefully we used that against them and closed the game out.”



vs(From the Associated Press) - Jason Richardson wanted to be the wild card in the playoffs for the Phoenix Suns.

So while the Portland Trail Blazers were focused on Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, Richardson came up big for the third time in the first-round series, scoring 28 points in a 99-90 Game 6 victory Thursday night.

The win sends the third-seeded Suns into the second round against seventh-seeded San Antonio, which advanced by beating Dallas 97-97 earlier Thursday night. The opening game of the Western Conference semifinals is Monday night in Phoenix.

Richardson had 29 points in the Suns’ 119-90 victory in Game 2 before scoring a career playoff-high 42 in a 108-89 win in Game 3.

“Everybody knows what Steve can do, and everybody knows what Amare can do. I’m just trying to be that wild card, that third scorer, and help us get wins and try to go deep into the playoffs,” Richardson said.

The Suns last went to the second round in 2007, when they got past the Los Angeles Lakers to open the playoffs before falling to the Spurs. In 2008, the Spurs got the best of Phoenix in the first round.

Since the 2002-03 season, the Spurs have eliminated the Suns from the postseason four times.

The Suns went up 53-41 at halftime and led by as many as 16 points in the second half. The Blazers tied it at 76 midway through the fourth quarter, but could not pull ahead.

Martell Webster had 19 points for Portland, which failed to advance out of the first round for the second straight year.

The Blazers narrowed it to 74-71 with 10:44 left on Rudy Fernandez’s 3-pointer. Jared Dudley fouled Webster on a 3-point attempt, and Webster made two free throws to close to 74-73.

After Leandro Barbosa’s bank shot, Jerryd Bayless hit a long jumper that pulled Portland within one. Amare Stoudemire fouled LaMarcus Aldridge, who made one of two free throws to tie it at 76.

Stoudemire’s layup prevented Portland from taking the lead, and Goran Dragic added a basket to put the Suns in front 80-76. Phoenix extended it on two consecutive layups and a 3-pointer from Richardson to make it 87-78 with 4:36 left.

Steve Nash sealed it with a 3-pointer that gave the Suns a 92-82 lead.

Stoudemire finished with 22 points for the Suns, while Nash, who said afterward that he had been battling a hip injury since Game 2, had 10 points.

Richardson made five of eight 3-point attempts.

“J-Rich definitely shot the ball extremely well from the outside and he created for us,” Stoudemire said. “He’s been a great addition to this team, a great help in the playoffs, and hopefully we can see that great play continue in the next series.”

Brandon Roy had 14 points for the Blazers in his first start of the series. Portland’s three-time All-Star had arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee two days before the series against the Suns opened.

He was originally ruled out of the first round, but unexpectedly came back for Game 4, which the Blazers won 96-87 at the Rose Garden.

Roy had 10 points in that game, then got just five in Portland’s 107-88 Game 5 loss in Phoenix, but he was coming off the bench—which he said made him uncomfortable.

Roy said that after all the team had been through, he wanted to finish on the court and not on the bench.

“I was happy I was able to play,” he said. “I wasn’t able to play as well as I liked. I didn’t have quite the bounce that I needed but at least I can go into the summertime knowing that I’m healthy and I finished the season out with my guys.”

The Suns, who found success in the series when they established a fast pace, went up 17-6 early with Richardson hitting three 3-pointers.

But Stoudemire collected two quick fouls and retreated to the bench. Richardson wound up with 14 points after the first quarter, but it was tempered by Nash’s five turnovers.

Portland narrowed it to 28-26 on Fernandez’s 3-pointer.

The Suns stretched the lead to 41-32, but Roy finally came alive, hitting a running 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:51 to go in the half.

Hill’s fast-break layup and free throw made it 53-40. Richardson finished the first half with 19 points. He made all four of his 3-point attempts.

Channing Frye hit a 3-pointer to put Phoenix up 64-50 midway through the third quarter.

Webster hit consecutive 3-pointers that narrowed it to 69-65, but Dudley answered with a 3-pointer for the Suns.

Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry credited the defense.

“At the end of the night, they shot 38 percent. To me, that’s a credit to our defense. Nobody really talks about it, but we like it,” Gentry said. “In the locker room, we pat each other on the back.”

Hill advanced past the first round for the first time in his 14-year career.

The Suns are 6-1 in their last six potential series-clinching games.

Portland has never won a series that they have trailed 3-2.

“Seemed like every time we were able to get close we’d make a mistake,” Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. “Whether it was a turnover or a bad possession, they make you pay. Nash has had that MVP-type season. Richardson was big this series. Amare came with his `A’ Game tonight.”