These days, everyone wants Finney-Smith to launch three-pointers

There was a time – many of them, really – when no one wanted forward Dorian Finney-Smith out on the perimeter launching three-pointers.

“I can remember early in my career (then-Mavericks coach Rick) Carlisle telling me don’t shoot any threes unless it’s late in the shot clock,” Finney-Smith said. “Now they’re telling me to shoot it as soon as I got a good look.

“It’s just a test to the work I put in and a test to the work everybody on the team seen me put in.”

That work has definitely paid high dividends for Finney-Smith, who made 8-of-12 from three-point range during Sunday’s 111-101 win over the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. Largely because of the work – and shooting – by Finney-Smith, the best-of-seven series between the Mavs and Suns is deadlocked at 2-2.

Game 5 will be Tuesday in Phoenix at 9 p.m. Game 6 is Thursday in Dallas at 8:30 p.m..

The eight threes by Finney-Smith are one shy of the Mavs’ postseason record set by Jason Terry, when he buried 9-of-10 three-pointers during a 122-86 victory over the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals. That game was dubbed the Mother’s Day Massacre, and it occurred May 8, 2011 — exactly 11 years ago Sunday.

Finney-Smith wasn’t aware that he was within striking distance of equaling or surpassing Terry’s playoff record.

“It feels good, especially being here I’ve run into him a couple of times,” he said. “He’s got a girl’s team and my daughter played for him last year. It feels good to be in that company.”

Finney-Smith finished with a career playoff-high 24 points and eight rebounds. He had 15 of his points in the first half on 5-of-7 triples, and his teammates kept encouraging him to just keep on shooting

“They yelled at me because they drew up a play for me after I hit the three, and I didn’t shoot it,” he said. “But Luka (Doncic) told me, when I hit five threes, he was telling me, ‘You’re about to get some more.’

“When LD is telling me I’m going to get some more threes, I figured I was going to get some more threes.”

The Suns made one last push and chopped a 17-point deficit to 89-83 with 7:12 left. However, Doncic scored inside, and Finney-Smith followed with back-to-back electrifying three-pointers, and suddenly the Mavs had a grip on things again.

“We got a stop, we got to running, they were lost in transition and Luka passed it to me and I swung it to Reggie (Bullock) and he swung it back and I made that one,” Finney-Smith said. “On the next possession . . . JB (Jalen Brunson) pushed it and pitched it back to me and. . .that was big. This is a great team. They’re not going to lay down.”

An undrafted rookie out of Florida in 2016, Finney-Smith entered the NBA with a reputation as a hard-nosed defender with limited offensive skills. But each offseason he expanded his offensive game, and a lot of it was on full display Sunday.

“He was aggressive (and) he didn’t hesitate when he touched it,” coach Jason Kidd said. “When he’s playing like that and when he’s aggressive and not thinking about the shot – and just catch-and-shoot – it’s as good as anyone’s.

“We needed that lift and he just picked us up.”

In each of his six NBA seasons, Finney-Smith has improved his three-point shooting from the year before. It started at 29.3 percent as a rookie and he wound up shooting a healthy 39.5 percent from downtown this season.

And more than anything, Finney-Smith loves to camp out in the corner in front of the visitor’s bench, then turn and talk a little trash after he makes a three-pointer, much to their chagrin.

“The crazy part is that LD said when I turned down a shot today, he said, ‘Man, why don’t you shoot it and talk trash like you do in practice?,’ “ Finney-Smith said. “I talk a lot when I’m shooting, so I always feel like it’s going to go in.

“Even when it was ugly, even when I was missing, I still was talking a lot.”

Folks on social media were also talking about Sunday’s shooting spree by Finney-Smith, with former Mavs guard JJ Redick and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young describing him as an underrated player.

“I appreciate them guys,” Finney-Smith said. “They see the work, but I like to be under the radar any way.

“I just wanted to pull out the win. If I hit all these eight threes and we lost, nobody would be talking about it.”

Finney-Smith knows one person who is talking about his sterling performance.

“My mother, she’s going to be happy about that one,” he said. “But I’m happy we got the win most of all.”

STILL CHEERING THEM TO VICTORY: Forward Dorian Finney-Smith said the Mavs have so much love and appreciate for one another, which is why the players are always standing and cheering during the course of the game.

“We love being around each other,” Finney-Smith said. “Just look at the bench. That will tell you how much we like each other.

“We got fined, but they’re still up. Just don’t be on the court, but we’re still up. Everybody wants to win and everybody puts winning first, so it feels good when everybody’s playing like this.”

Finney-Smith was referring to the NBA fining the Mavs $25,000 for violating league rules regarding team bench decorum. It stemmed from the NBA saying several players and a member of the Mavs’ coaching staff were standing away from the team’s bench and were on or encroaching upon the playing court during last Wednesday’s game in Phoenix.

PAUL’S ROUGH WEEKEND: Suns point guard Chris Paul has a rough weekend on the court in Dallas.

Paul, who turned 37 years old Friday, turned the ball over an unheard-of seven times during the Mavs’ 103-94 Game 3 win over the Suns. And on Sunday, Paul fouled out with just five points.

Finney-Smith said the Mavs were “just making it hard for (Paul and) picking him up full court. Reggie (Bullock is) doing a good job of making it hard for him. Just make him tired. He’s up in age, so we just trying to use it against him.”

BRIEFLY: The sellout crowd of 20,610 got what they came for. “I thought the fans were great in Games 3 and 4,” coach Jason Kidd said. “It was electric. We’re going to need that in (Game) six (on Thursday).”. .Guard Spencer Dinwiddie went into Game 4 with just 15 points on 5-of-17 shots in the previous two games. But he scored 10 points on 3-of-7 shots Sunday while giving the Mavs a shot in the arm, and he also added four assists in just 13 minutes. Before the game, Kidd said of Dinwiddie: “I have conversations with everybody who struggles. And it’s not just struggles. When you’re playing well – in this case if you’re not shooting the ball well – there’s other aspects of the game that you can participate in, and we believe his shots will fall. But he’s getting great looks and we’ve talked about it with Maxi (Kleber), Jalen (Brunson). Just be yourself, have fun, stay in character and good things will happen.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice