Mavs force a game five

Years ago, on one of my many automotive excursions in the western United States, I ventured down to Tombstone, Ariz. You see, much of my vacation life has been shaped by movies I've seen. My first visit to Hawaii was less than 24 hours long, but I made sure I found the time to visit the beach where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr filmed their love scene in From Here to Eternity. I love to visit Monument Valley where my favorite John Ford westerns were filmed and recently I spent an afternoon at Devil's Tower solely because of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In Nashville, I spent a day at the Acropolis, or whatever it's called, solely because of the closing scene of Robert Altman's film.

Anyway, ever since 1957 when I saw this cheesy western that I dearly loved, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, I have been enthralled by the entire mythic behind Tombstone. So I went way out of my way to visit this place (it is not on the road to anywhere) and was shocked when I walked over to the actual O.K. Corral. The historic society there has erected tiny monuments depicting where everyone stood during the gunfight. These two rival gangs -- the Earps and the Clantons -- stood no more than six feet apart firing at each other at point blank range. That, I guess, is what they mean when they refer to the "gunfighter's mentality."

I thought a lot about the actual gunfight at the O.K. corral tonight during the closing minutes of Game 4 of the Dallas-Denver series, a game in which the Mavs toughed it out all game long and came away with a 119-117 victory. Dirk Nowitzki poured in 19 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter and Carmelo Anthony hit another three-pointer in the closing seconds, only this time the Mavericks were up four points, not two. (In fact, if Dallas had played the last 30 seconds of Saturday night's game as they did the final 30 of this one, this series would be tied right now.) But it was indeed like the Earps and Clantons at the American Airlines Center tonight.

The one major downside for the Mavs was their horrible defensive display in the first quarter, when the Nuggets jumped out to a 34-23 lead. Other than that, Dallas played an excellent Denver team evenly or better the rest of the way and, for the first time in the series, really outplayed the Nuggets in the fourth quarter.

In fact, the second half, in which the Mavs outscored Denver 66-54, belonged to Dallas tonight. Midway through the third quarter, as I watched the Mavs scratch and claw their way back into contention, I felt myself thinking "Regardless of the outcome of this game, I'm really proud of the way this team is playing right now."

I still think the Nuggets are the better team and will probably wrap up the series Wednesday night in Denver. They are just too tough at home and the Mavs have appeared to me to wither late in the games there, probably because of the altitude. But, damn, I liked that effort they gave tonight and, barring some unforeseen catastrophic meltdown Wednesday, this season will end with me feeling much better about this team than I ever thought I would.