Mavericks 105, Suns 98

What a difference Josh Howard makes, huh? Like you've probably heard a thousand times already, the Mavs are undefeated this year when Howard scores 20 or more, and he was certainly a huge factor in last night's game. And although I'm glad the Mavs won and everything, I certainly don't feel that great about this series so far. Yes, we won last night and probably should have won game 1, and yes, the Mavs seemed to have figured out how to better guard Steve Nash in game 2. But it seems like the Suns are still controlling the pace of this series, and that we have basically been forced to play their game. Thats not good. I think the Mavs are going to have a very rough time in Phoenix if they don't turn it up on defense and show more of the toughness and attitude that we saw against San Antonio. I still think its our series to lose, but the Suns are playing us much tougher than I expected. We'll see what happens Sunday I guess.

ESPN's Marc Stein on game 2: Link