Christie, Kings Put Mavs on Their Heels

Kings 94, Mavericks 92

DALLAS, April 26 -- Two nights after a listless performance raised questions about the legitimacy of the Sacramento Kings, they answered their critics with a strong second half and a nail-biting exercise in survival here Monday night.

The result was a thrilling 94-92 win over the Dallas Mavericks that sends the Kings back to Sacramento with a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series. Game 5 is Thursday.

"We didn't play with the aggressiveness that we played with at home," guard Doug Christie said of Sacramento's Game 3 loss. "You can't just play well at home. It's not that way. That's not going to get it done. You have to go into somebody's building and stand up like a man and make a stand. Tonight, I think we did that as unit."

Christie played a big role in that stand, chastising his teammates during a second-quarter lapse that put Sacramento in a five-point hole at intermission. The guard then led by gritty example, finishing with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists.

The win wasn't secured, however, until Dallas guard Steve Nash, tightly defended by Peja Stojakovic, missed a runner near the free throw line as time expired. The miss was costly, but the Mavs missed 13 free throws along the way that left them in that precarious position in the closing moments.

Guard Mike Bibby had a team-high 22 points for Sacramento. Forward Chris Webber had 17 points and nine rebounds and forward Stojakovic snapped out of a 21/2-game slumber in the second half to finish with 20 points.

"I kept shooting the ball," said Stojakovic, who missed 10 of his first 11 attempts. "That's what I did. It was nothing different than what I did in the first half except some of the shots went in. I was happy about that."

Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki finished with a team-high 21 points and 14 rebounds, but be made just 5 of 22 shots (he was 11 of 14 from the foul line). Guard Michael Finley had 16 points and Nash had 11.

The Mavericks also got out-rebounded, 68-55, in a game in which neither team shot better than 40 percent.

"We find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. We certainly played hard but there were some factors that killed us," Mavericks Coach Don Nelson said. "Missing those free throws probably hurt us as much as anything. We struggled to shoot the ball and there was a huge discrepancy on the boards that hurt us. This was a game we felt we had to win to stay competitive in this series."

Dallas rookie guard Marquis Daniels's layup cut a five-point lead to 93-90 with 1 minute 24 seconds left. Finley stole the ball from Stojakovic on the ensuing possession, giving Dallas a chance to tie, but Nash missed a rushed three-point attempt and Webber made one of two free throws after being fouled by Eduardo Najera.

The Mavs cut the lead to 94-92 on two free throws from Nowitzki and had a chance to tie or win on the game's final possession, which ended with the Nash miss.

The sold-out crowd went numb, Kings' players hugged and Webber pointed into the stands to newly acquired Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who sat amid a rowdy section of fans who taunted Webber and the officials for most of the game.

Stojakovic's third quarter set the tone for the Kings' revival. Sacramento trailed 44-39 at halftime and Stojakovic had missed 26 of his previous 35 shots. He came alive in the third quarter however, with 12 points. His second basket of the period, part of a three-point play, gave the Kings a 57-56 lead. By the time the period ended, the lead was five (70-65) and Stojakovic was once again the weapon he was during the regular season.

"We came in at halftime, last game we played here, we came out of halftime too lackadaisical without energy in the third quarter and it showed," Bibby said. "We went down by like 13, 14 points. We told ourselves, 'Don't let it happen again.' We put our foot down and played hard."