The Dallas Mavericks were merely looking for a good game on both ends of the court. What they got was the most lopsided Game 7 victory in NBA playoff history.
With Jason Terry leading the offense and Josh Howard setting the defensive tone against Tracy McGrady, Dallas took a big lead in the opening minutes and built on it the rest of the way for an impressive 116-76 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
"This series stretched us, we were bending but we didn't break," coach Avery Johnson said. "Defensively, this was the performance I was looking for this whole series. It was right on time."
Terry scored 21 of his 31 points in the first half, while Howard forced McGrady to miss six of his first seven shots. Although McGrady finished with 27 points, he shot 10-of-26 while trying to force the Rockets back into it.
"We cracked in every way," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "It was really not befitting how we played and conducted ourselves this year. ... The way it ended does not reflect well on myself or the team, but it does not affect my overall pride. It does show how very, very far we have to go."
Dirk Nowitzki, who has been sick with a cold, finished with a series-low 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Howard had 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, and Michael Finley scored 13. Darrell Armstrong's 3-pointer in the closing seconds provided Dallas with its largest postseason margin of victory ever and dealt the Rockets the most lopsided playoff loss in franchise history.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the victory margin broke the record of 39 for a Game 7 set when St. Louis lost 85-46 to Philadelphia in the final game of the 1948 league semifinals.
Yao led Houston with 33 points. Other than him and McGrady, the Rockets got just 16 points from the rest of the team. The only bench points were from Mike James (four) and Jon Barry (two); starter Bob Sura didn't score in 25 minutes.
Pacers 97, Celtics 70
In Boston, the Indiana Pacers stamped their signature on the deciding game of their series with the Celtics, slowing the pace, keeping Reggie Miller's career alive and ending Boston's season with a blowout.
The Pacers won Game 7 of their first-round series 97-70 Saturday to prolong a season marked by suspensions, injuries and disharmony. Now the team that has overcome all that moves on to a meeting with their biggest rivals -- the defending champion Detroit Pistons -- in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting Monday.
It'll be a rematch between the teams that took part in an ugly brawl that spilled into the stands during an early-season game at The Palace in Auburn Hills. The suspensions from that fight could have resulted in the Pacers giving up on their season, but that has clearly not been the case.
The Celtics played very poorly in a big game, missing easy shots and allowing Indiana to take uncontested ones, and had the second-lowest point total in their playoff history. They also lost three home games for the first time in a seven-game series.
Miller, who plans to end his 18-year career after this season, took just five shots and scored five points. But Miller didn't have to do much with Stephen Jackson scoring 24 points, Fred Jones 16 and Jermaine O'Neal 15.
The Celtics were led by Antoine Walker with 20 points and Paul Pierce with 19, but both were out of the game with 4:20 left and Indiana ahead 86-62 as coach Doc Rivers began clearing his bench.
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