WASHINGTON - The Big Three plus the Poetic One equaled the Washington Wizards' first playoff victory in 17 years.
Etan Thomas, leading a Washington big-man attack notably absent in the first two games, scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds, and, along with fellow reserve Michael Ruffin, started a second-half rout with a big third-quarter run in Saturday's 117-99 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
The win was the first in the postseason for the Wizards since May 8, 1988, when they beat Detroit, 106-103 in Game 4 of a first-round series. Of immediate concern for the Wizards is that they cut the Bulls' series lead to 2-1, with Game 4 in Washington on Monday.
The Big Three of Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes and Antawn Jamison played their parts, but the trio that accounted for 66 percent of the scoring in Games 1 and 2 gained inspiration from unsung front court players Thomas, Ruffin and Brendan Haywood.
Arenas finished with 32 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Hughes had 21 points and seven rebounds, and Jamison had 21 points and eight rebounds - but Ruffin chipped in a season-high nine points, and Haywood had eight points and nine rebounds.
Tyson Chandler had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead six players in double figures for the Bulls, who didn't get the type of heroic game that led them to victories in the first two games. Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni seemed unstoppable in Game 1, and Kirk Hinrich made nearly everything he shot in Game 2. The scoring was balanced this time, but a Wizards defense much maligned for its efforts in Chicago rode the emotion of the day and held the Bulls to 39 percent shooting and dominated the last 17 minutes of the game.
MAVERICKS 97, ROCKETS 93
In Houston, with Dirk Nowitzki in another slump and Houston's Tracy McGrady scoring virtually at will, unheralded Dallas point guard Jason Terry rescued the Mavericks from the bleakest of deficits.
Terry scored a season-high 32 points, including a 3-pointer with 26.9 seconds left, and Michael Finley added 18 to rally the Mavericks from a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Houston,
The victory evened the best-of-seven, first-round series at two games apiece. Game 5 is Monday night in Dallas.
The Mavericks might want to petition the NBA to hold the game elsewhere, because home-court advantage has been a disadvantage in this series. The road team has won all the games in this matchup.
While 14 teams in NBA history have come back from 0-2 deficits - most recently last season when the Lakers beat San Antonio - only two teams have done it in a seven-game series after losing the first two games at home. The 1994 Rockets did it against Phoenix, and the 1969 Lakers against the San Francisco Warriors.
These Mavericks came to Houston knowing they could win on the road, having won a franchise-best 29 games away from home.
- Dallas forward Keith Van Horn sat out Game 4 against the Houston Rockets because of a severely sprained left ankle.
Van Horn will have an MRI exam in Dallas on Monday. He was wearing a protective boot on his ankle Saturday, a day after hobbling around on crutches.
"We'll know a little bit more after Monday. He looks to be moving around a little bit today," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "I think he's felt a little bit better as time has gone on."
The Mavericks forward sprained his ankle in the second quarter of Game 3 and didn't return. He is considered day to day.
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