Duncan Foils Early Strategy

Dallas Coach Avery Johnson should’ve known better than to underestimate Tim Duncan. Especially in the playoffs.

In the opener of a best-of-seven second-round Western Conference series Sunday against the Spurs at San Antonio, Johnson took the calculated risk of letting his former teammate go against his centers with only limited help.

Duncan, a three-time Finals most valuable player who teamed with Johnson for the Spurs’ 1999 title, made the strategy backfire by scoring 20 of his 31 points in the first half, giving San Antonio the lift it needed to pull out an 87-85 victory over the Mavericks.

“Timmy was awesome,” teammate Tony Parker said. “When he plays like that, it makes it easy for everybody.”

The Spurs were playing only 36 hours after eliminating Sacramento, while the Mavericks had been off since Monday.

But at game’s end, when the difference should’ve benefited Dallas most, it was San Antonio that persevered -- thanks mostly to Bruce Bowen.

Bowen made a go-ahead three-point shot with 2:15 left that ended up being the winner. His biggest contribution, though, was pestering Dirk Nowitzki into a forgettable game with what Johnson called “bear-hug defense.”

Nowitzki scored 20 points on eight-for-20 shooting after averaging 31.3 in the first round.

Bowen also came up big on the final possession, which began with 13.9 seconds left. Nowitzki got the ball on the right side, but Bowen was all over him. When Nowitzki tried going right, Duncan headed his way. So Nowitzki threw a cross-court pass to Jerry Stackhouse that was nearly intercepted by Manu Ginobili before Stackhouse retrieved it to take a three-point shot that came up way short.

Parker said he wasn’t surprised that Dallas didn’t aggressively double-team Duncan.

“A lot of people have been doing that lately because they thought he can’t score any more,” Parker said. “That’s a big mistake.”

Duncan made 12 of 24 shots, grabbed 13 rebounds and tied Parker for the team’s assist lead with four. Parker scored 19 and Ginobili added 15.

Nowitzki was one for four in the fourth quarter. He scored two points in the final period and Dallas scored 13. The Mavericks missed their final six shots.

“There wasn’t any rust,” Nowitzki said. “We played well enough to win the game, but didn’t.”

Detroit 113, Cleveland 86 -- The Pistons limited LeBron James and made 10 three-point shots in the first half -- one shy of an NBA playoff record -- to open up a 21-point lead at halftime en route to beating the Cavaliers in Game 1 of their second-round series at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The Pistons, who also had a franchise playoff-record 43 points in the second quarter, finished with a franchise playoff-record 15 three-point shots on 22 attempts and missed only once before halftime.

James scored all of his 22 points in the first half. Triple-teamed at times, James was forced to take difficult shots or defer to teammates who didn’t respond by making shots of their own.

James didn’t play in the fourth quarter after he was held scoreless in the third while the Pistons built a 30-point lead.

Richard Hamilton led six Pistons in double figures with 20 points.