Steve Nash and Michael Finley scored 33 points apiece as the Dallas Mavericks overcame a poor outing by leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki to outgun the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-101, for their fifth straight victory.
Last season, Milwaukee's high-scoring trio of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell held the moniker of the "Big Three" as it averaged better than 62 points per game and led the Bucks to the Eastern Conference finals.
This season, the trio is averaging just under 61 points per game -- nearly two points less than Dallas' three-headed monster of Nowitzki (23.3), Finley (21.1) and Nash (18.4).
 Joel Przybilla offers some resistance to Juwan Howard. Glenn James NBAE/Getty Images |
"They definitely have what we have," Allen said. "The only way you can make it work, though, is you have to be very unselfish and Steve can score it, Fin can score it, Dirk can score it and you can't be unselfish out there; you have to ride the guy that's hot."
Nowitzki had a rare off game with eight points on 3-of-14 from the field. Finley and Nash more than compensated by combining for 66 points on 28-of-49 shooting from the field.
"We withstood a poor shooting game from Nowitzki," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "We withstood it because because we had a pair of Larry Birds out there."
"I really wasn't showing up today, but Steve and Mike played phenomenal moving the ball and making big shots for us," said Nowitzki.
Allen and Robinson scored 21 points each and Cassell added 12, but the trio made just 21-of-59 shots as Milwaukee had its three-game winning streak snapped.
"I think on our team we've beome too selfish with the ball," Allen said. "We've become too selfish with the ball. We don't let the ball find a good shot and from the times I've watched (Dallas) -- just outside this game -- they have played just like that. They're not selfish, they know they need each other and I think we are still not learning that yet."
"When their big three don't all have a great game you seem to have a great chance of winning and I think you saw that," Nash said.
This season, Nowitzki has gotten off to the quickest start but Finley is heating up. He made 16-of-31 shots as he led the team in scoring for the fifth straight game and added eight rebounds and eight assists.
"Coach said before the game that they are very similar to us as far as their three main scorers and a lot of role guys coming off the bench with energy," Finley said.
Nash, who scored a career-high 39 points last week vs. Portland, was even better, making 12-of-18 shots, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. The point guard also added eight assists.
"He's so unselfish andd it's contagious with his teammates," Allen said. "He passes the ball in transition and gets his teammates open looks."
In the decisive third quarter, Finley scored 14 points and Nash 12, combining for all but two their team's points and giving the Mavs an 87-75 lead.
Cassell's basket pulled the Bucks within 80-75 with 2:08 to go in the third period. Finley hit a pair of jumpers around a 3-pointer by Nash to close the quarter.
"Dallas is playing well and they just give us matchup problems in general," Karl said. "Mike Finley and Steve Nash just kicked our (butts)."
A tip-in by Eduardo Najera gave the Mavs their largest lead at 105-88 with 5:48 to play. Robinson scored seven straight points to cut the deficit to 107-97 with 3:06 left, but Nash made a layup and jumper to seal it just over 30 seconds later.
"They ran the ball," Allen said. "They played just the way we want to play all the time. I think we didn't respect that. A lot of times we didn't get back in transition and they ran. The way they played today is the way I love to play, the way this team should play, the way we are supposed to play."
Tim Hardaway scored 15 points and Juwan Howard added 13 for the Mavs, who shot 52 percent (45-of-87). Nowitzki had 12 rebounds.
Michael Redd scored 16 points and Anthony Mason added 12 for the Bucks, who shot 39 percent (37-of-95).
Milwaukee had won eight of the last nine meetings between the teams since February 6, 1996.