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Warriors lose cool, advantage against Mavs

Apr 26, 2007 - 7:00 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- On Sunday, the Golden State Warriors gained the advantage in their playoff series with the Dallas Mavericks. Three days later, they lost the game and their cool.

Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson were both ejected after picking up two technical fouls and the Warriors could not build on the momentum of their Game One upset as the Dallas Mavericks posted a 112-99 victory to even the Western Conference first-round series at a game apiece.

In Game One, Davis scored 19 of his 33 points in the third quarter and sparked Golden State to a 97-85 victory. He did not have nearly as big a third this time, picking up a pair of technical fouls, the second with two-tenths of a second left in the period while Dallas took control.

The Mavericks outscored the Warriors, 33-22, in the third to open up an 87-74 lead. A 15-2 run that turned a four-point deficit into a 69-60 lead was the turning point.

"Fortunately, tonight we made a few more shots and made a few more stops," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "When we have a healthy respect for our opponent and when we're playing at a high level, we can be pretty good."

Josh Howard scored six points in the surge and Jason Terry and Devin Harris each added four. Dirk Nowitzki capped the run with a free throw after the first technical on Davis with 6:35 left in the quarter.

"I thought offensively we were a lot sharper than we were the last game," Nowitzki said. "Just attacking from different angles, taking advantage of the scrambling defense that they play. There all over the place, double-teaming, rotating. We wanted to make sure we were executing a lot better, take the shots if they are there. If not, try to break the defense down. We did a lot better job."

Dallas simply needed a better game from Nowitzki, the NBA MVP candidate who made just 4-of-16 shots and finished with 14 points in Game One, and they got it. He scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and got plenty of help from Terry and Howard.

Terry scored 28 points and Howard had 22 and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, who beat the Warriors for the first time this season.

"We came out with passion. Energy was high, the crowd got in to it early. That's what was really lacking (in the first game)," Terry said. "We just didn't have that air about us, that we were in the playoffs and we were excited to be there. The energy just wasn't high. Tonight, that's the kind of energy that we have to bring, night in and night out regardless of whether we are at home or on the road."

The Warriors had won six straight meetings, dating to last season, and seven of the last eight overall. Golden State was the only team to sweep the season series from Dallas in 2006-07.

Jackson scored 30 points for Golden State, which hosts Game Three on Friday. He was ejected after being whistled for his second technical with 4:34 to play. At first Jackson took the ejection in stride but grew increasingly angry and refused to leave the court. Matt Barnes eventually escorted Jackson to the locker room while trying to cover a still-arguing Jackson's face with a towel.

Davis was not arguing when he was run by Bennett Salvatore. Called for a foul on a drive by Jerry Stackhouse as the third quarter drew to a close, Davis voiced his displeasure with the call but then began clapping in front of the Golden State bench.

Salvatore warned Golden State coach Don Nelson to have Davis stop but when Davis continued his sarcastic applause, Salvatore hit him with his second technical foul of the game, resulting in his ejection.

Davis got his first technical about halfway through the third quarter after exchanging words with Terry. The incident also led to technical fouls being called on Terry and Jackson.

"The first one I got because I reached in after Jack (Stephen Jackson) fouled him," Davis said. "And then the second one, I think he told Coach he gave me a warning and Coach told me to calm down, and I was calm.

"I know I've got five fouls and this is the end of the third so I clapped at Coach and clapped to the bench and said, 'We're going to be all right fellas, we're going to be all right.'"

Davis had 13 points before being ejected and realized he put his team in an awkward spot.

"I told the guys, I apologized to my coaches. I understand how important I am to this team, and my intentions were not to get thrown out of the game," Davis said. "My intentions were not to show up the ref in any purpose. I understand it's the playoffs and it's emotional and I try to do as good a job as I possibly can and keep my emotions in check, but we're an emotional team.

"It was an unfortunate situation. I still felt when I got kicked out, we still had an opportunity to get close and win the basketball game."