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DALLAS (Ticker) -- On a night when the Dallas Mavericks retired the number of former great Rolando Blackman, Erick Strickland made a little history of his own. Strickland scored a career-high 36 points and Michael Finley scored the final five of the contest as the Mavericks snapped a six-game losing streak with a 104-99 triumph over the Phoenix Suns. Strickland made 11-of-19 shots, 13-of-17 free throws and had 12 points in the final period when the Mavericks erased a four-point deficit. Finley finished with 22 points and seven rebounds while Shawn Bradley had 17 and 12. Blackman had his No. 22 jersey retired in a halftime ceremony commemorating his career. He was joined by former teammates and coaches, including Mark Aguirre, Derek Harper, Brad Davis and Dick Motta. "I was totally inspired by Rolando last night at his dinner," Strickland said. "He gave me the inspiration to come out and play like he played. This game was definitely for Ro. It just broke me down to watch how he came through and the things that he did in this league. It gave me a new found focus for the game of basketball." "The Reunion Rowdies made a re-appearance tonight with Rolando's night and helped us get over the hump," Finley said. "Defense was emphasized in practice as far as transition, talking, and helping each other. It was evident out there tonight. Hopefully, we'll learn that defense does win ballgames." With the game tied at 99-99, Finley buried a 3-pointer from the left wing with 59.5 seconds to play. Strickland missed two free throws 22 seconds later but Suns rookie Shawn Marion missed a 3-pointer from the right corner. Strickland ran down the rebound and Finley was fouled with 17 seconds left. Finley, an 81-percent free throw shooter missed both but Penny Hardaway misfired on a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to go. Finley grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and redeemed himself by making both from the line to seal the victory. "The bottom line is that we rode Strickland on offense and Bradley on defense." Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "We played as hard as we could. I don't think we played very well. Offensively we sputtered again and struggled, but it was good enough." Cliff Robinson led Phoenix with 29 points and former Maverick Jason Kidd just missed a triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. "They did a good job defending and Strickland got it going to keep them in the game," Robinson said. "They just made a few more plays down the stretch. It really wasn't a game where we did things tremendously bad, they were just able to make shots. We made shots, but we did't make enough." Phoenix led 83-79 on a 20-footer by Rex Chapman with 7:59 to go. But Bradley hit two free throw 13 seconds later to ignite a 10-0 run. Strickland had a 14-footer and two free throws to give the Mavericks the lead and Bradley's layup with 6:13 remaining put Dallas on top, 87-83. Strickland then capped the burst with a 15-footer from the right corner with 5:51 left. Robinson responded for Dallas, converting a three-point play and 3-pointer 26 seconds apart to tie the contest. The game remained tight down the stretch until Finley took over in the final minute. "Not only could we not get anything offensively, but we couldn't stop them," said Suns coach Scott Skiles. "Every loss is frustrating, regardless of when and who it is against. Strickland was able to do anything he wanted to do -- penetrate, shoot jumpers, coast-to-coast, you name it, he did it." The game was tied 4-4 three minutes into contest when Bradley sank a seven-footer to ignite a 9-0 run. Strickland had the final seven of the burst, capping the spurt with a free throw with 7:31 left. The Suns battled back to tie it at 24-24 with just under a minute left in the quarter. The game remained tight over the next two quarters and into the fourth. Dallas blocked 10 shots and recorded 10 steals in the contest. Phoenix has dropped two straight but is 13-4 in its last 17 games.
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