The AP reports:
 |
Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood gave the Dallas Mavericks the energy, toughness and scoring they needed—in other words, everything the Mavs expected when they traded for them a few months ago.
Butler scored a career playoff-best 35 points and had 11 rebounds, and Haywood provided a strong inside presence at both ends in his first start of this postseason, keeping the Mavericks alive by leading them to a 103-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series.
The Spurs were outplayed most of the first half, but trailed by only seven at halftime. Dallas didn’t let them hang around much longer…
Butler’s performance turned Dirk Nowitzki into a sidekick. He had 15 points and nine rebounds. Jason Terry had 12 points, while Marion and Kidd each scored 10. Kidd also had seven assists and seven rebounds.
Tony Parker led San Antonio with 18 points. Half of them came during an 11-2 run at the end of the second quarter that gave the Spurs hope of pulling off another throttling third quarter, like they did to win Game 4.
Duncan scored 11 in 24 minutes and Manu Ginobili scored seven in 19 minutes.
