Another ingrained image was shattered on Thursday night, if it still existed at all. Dirk Nowitzki, his superstar tag muddied by a soft reputation, crushed the Phoenix Suns, and whatever was left of that unflattering label.
Two nights after playing his worst game of the postseason, Nowitzki scored a career playoff-high 50 points -- 22 in the fourth quarter -- to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 117-101 rout and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Dallas, now one victory away from the franchise's first NBA finals appearance, can clinch the series Saturday night in Phoenix. Game 7, if necessary, will be played here Monday.
PHOTO: AP
Unstoppable in the fourth quarter, Nowitzki left behind a collage of new images to replace the old: Dirk banging through traffic, Dirk dunking ferociously, Dirk tangling with Tim Thomas, and Dirk rising, again and again, for jumpers over whoever stood in his way.
"You know, it was pretty special what he did," coach Avery Johnson said.
It was all the more so because of what happened over the previous 48 hours. Nowitzki's disappearance in Game 4 -- 3 of 13 shooting and 11 points -- let the Suns back in the series and left the Mavericks in a minor funk. On the day off between games, the fiery Johnson - long known as the Little General -- unloaded on Nowitzki, his 7-foot superstar.
"Avery got on me pretty good yesterday," Nowitzki said with a sheepish grin. "We watched the film session and, you know, he let me have it."
There was a touch of embarrassment in Nowitzki's tone, but more than anything, appreciation.
"Avery is a great coach; he can be tough on his players, but he's always pushing us forward and trying to get the best out of his team," Nowitzki said. "Obviously, whatever he did yesterday in the film session worked, and we got the win."
It would be foolish to count out the Suns, given their seasonlong string of improbable comebacks. They have already won two seven-game series and believe they can push this one to the distance as well.
First, they will have to figure out what to do with Nowitzki. He went 14 for 26 from the field and 17 for 18 from the line Thursday, and he was at his best in the final quarter -- 6 for 7 and 8 for 8.
He flashed a streak of dominance rarely seen at the American Airlines Center. Nowitzki scored every point in a 15-5 fourth-quarter run that put the Mavericks ahead to stay, sending the masses into a prolonged and deafening frenzy. There were chants of "MVP!" while the reigning two-time most valuable player -- the former Maverick Steve Nash -- tried in vain to rally his team.
"Outstanding," Nash said of Nowitzki, his best friend. "I don't know what his line was. Didn't feel like he missed very often."
The Mavericks also got 23 points from Josh Howard and pushed their record to 24-0 when he hits the 20-point mark. Phoenix led by 77-70 before coming unglued. The Suns got the lead on the strength of Thomas' 3-point shooting and steady scoring from Nash and Shawn Marion, who scored 20 points each.
The game turned early in the fourth quarter, when the Suns lost their cool. Raja Bell, upset over a foul call, drew a technical foul for complaining. Coach Mike D'Antoni chimed in and got a technical as well.
Nowitzki made both technical free throws, then completed a four-point possession with a turnaround jumper over Thomas. That sequence started Nowitzki on his final kick.
"I was hoping it would go the other way," D'Antoni said of the momentum swing that followed.
The Suns started misfiring down the stretch, and Nowitzki just kept scoring. A turnaround jumper over Thomas. An open 3-pointer after losing Thomas on a switch. Then a driving layup. His 50 points also set a franchise playoff record.
"The guy is one of the best players in the league," D'Antoni said. "He's had a phenomenal year, and he just did everything right tonight."
The odds now favor Dallas claiming the Western Conference title. In 134 previous playoff series that were tied at 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won the series 112 times -- 83.6 percent.
If one face represented the Mavericks' sense of determination -- or maybe desperation -- it belonged to Nowitzki. After a quiet and businesslike morning shoot-around, a deadly serious-looking Nowitzki marched quickly off the court, past reporters, without a comment.
"We are one game from doing something that this team and this franchise have never done before," Dallas guard Jerry Stackhouse said. "Hopefully we can bring all of the energy that we need."
Dallas Mavericks backup center D.J. Mbenga was suspended without pay for six games on Thursday for going into the stands to aid the wife of coach Avery Johnson during Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals.
The punishment is one game longer than New York Knicks forward Antonio Davis received in January for going from the court into the stands to defend his wife.
"It's very difficult to swallow," said Dallas president of basketball operation Donnie Nelson. "My understanding is he went up there with the intention of telling AJ's wife to go back into the locker room."
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- who also went into the stands in Phoenix on Tuesday but wasn't punished for it -- said he pressed the league to consider the Davis precedent.
NBA vice president Stu Jackson said Mbenga actually got a reduction from the 10-game suspension the league considers a baseline for this offense.
"We ended up at six because D.J. certainly went up there very calmly and there was not an altercation of any kind," Jackson said.
Jackson said Davis got a break because he believed his spouse was in trouble.
"D.J. went into the stands for someone that was albeit someone he knew, it was not an immediate family member," Jackson said.
The NBA has talked about being strict with players who go into the stands, especially after the brawl during a Detroit-Indiana game in Detroit in 2004.
Mbenga, from Congo, was on the bench in street clothes, having been made inactive for Tuesday's game against the Phoenix Suns, when he joined Cuban and other team officials when they saw that Cassandra Johnson was involved in a first-quarter confrontation with fans.
The league said in a statement that Cuban was off the hook because "his actions did not violate NBA rules and were not otherwise inappropriate."
"D.J. thought that he could assist the coach's family," Johnson said. "I hope somebody would have grabbed him before he went and took the two or three steps or whatever he did. So it's very disappointing. But we're all one big family. We're in it together."
Mbenga's punishment began with Game 5 on Thursday. With the series tied 2-2, he'll use up at least one more game of the suspension this round. If any games are left after the playoffs, it'll pick up again at the start of next season.
His absence against Phoenix likely won't hurt the Mavericks much since he'd been inactive all series. Plus, the length of the suspension enables the team to put him on the suspended list, which means someone else doesn't have to be made inactive.
Where this hurts Dallas is if the club advances to play either Miami or Detroit in the NBA Finals because both teams have multiple big frontcourt players the 2.14m, 110kg Mbenga could be used against.
"We all know DJ is not a starting-five kind of guy," Nelson said. "But is there a place for him? Absolutely. We just have to deal with it."
According to all involved, Cassandra Johnson was upset that a man and woman kept standing and cheering, blocking the view of her children. Johnson was accused of hitting the woman twice during a verbal confrontation; Johnson told police she did not make any physical contact.
Phoenix police said the matter would be turned over to the city prosecutor to determine if any misdemeanor charge should be filed.
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