Suns befuddle Dallas

So far in the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks have pushed around Pau Gasol and outlasted Tim Duncan.

But Steve Nash and an agile big man? They still haven’t figured that one out.

With Nash picking up where he left off against his former team last postseason, and Boris Diaw filling the role of Amare Stoudemire, the Phoenix Suns erased a late nine-point deficit and beat the Mavericks 121-118 Wednesday night at Dallas in a fast-paced start to the Western Conference finals.

Nash scored 10 of his 27 points in the final 3 minutes, 26 seconds, then set up Shawn Marion on a go-ahead basket with 43 seconds left. After Dallas regained the lead on a jumper by Devin Harris with 4.8 seconds to go, Diaw swished a turnaround 7-footer with a half-second remaining on a play originally designed for Nash.

“I saw their bench basically yelling out exactly what was going to happen, so I was like, ‘OK, Plan B,’ ” Nash said. “I was about to call timeout, but … Tim (Thomas) got it inside and Boris made a heck of a play.”

Diaw scored a career-high 34 points, showing on a big stage why he was voted the league’s most improved player.

Off the court

A day after winning the top pick in the draft lottery, the Toronto Raptors dispatched coach Sam Mitchell and senior adviser Wayne Embry to Italy to scout forward Andrea Bargnani. … Ed Tapscott stepped down as president and CEO of the second-year Charlotte Bobcats. … The Washington Wizards confirmed that coach Eddie Jordan was fined $25,000 for griping about the officiating during the first round of the NBA playoffs.