SAN ANTONIO -- First there was foul trouble for Dirk Nowitzki and then he got hit with a technical foul. Next came serious foul trouble for Nowitzki, which was followed by the ejection of Don Nelson.

More technical fouls and ejections quickly followed in a game that seemed to be all but over by the time the tempestuous first half ended.

Dallas did manage to make a late push, but Tim Duncan's 32 points and the Spurs' early 24-for-24 free-throw shooting were too much to overcome last night as San Antonio defeated the Mavericks 119-106 in Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference final.

"We definitely lost our composure, but we knew coming in how it would be," said Mavericks guard Nick Van Exel. "Our focus was to keep fighting through it and play through it as best we could, but tonight it just got the best of us."

The Spurs evened the series with Game 3 set for tomorrow at Dallas. Perhaps that will be the night a low-key officiating crew is assigned to the game.

Following a Game 1 that featured 72 personal fouls and 98 free throws, notoriously hot-tempered referee Joey Crawford called four technical fouls in the first 10:11.

Two of the them came in rapid succession during a timeout when Nelson tried to engage Crawford in a staredown. Assistant coach Del Harris was tossed by Crawford late in the second quarter after he walked onto the court.

"Don (Nelson) walked up to half court. I never told him to sit down because that's not my job to tell him to sit down. I told him to go coach his team, and he said 'No, I'm not going to.' So I hit him with one," Crawford told a pool reporter.

"I said, 'Go coach your team.' He said 'I'm staying right here.' So, bang, I threw him."

The Spurs went to the line 28 times in the first half and made 26, with Malik Rose going 13-for-14 while shooting a majority of the technicals.

The second half consisted of little more than waiting to see if any more individual technical fouls would be called -- none were -- and whether the Mavericks could make an improbable comeback with assistant coach Donn Nelson Jr. running the team.

They got within eight but no closer.

Rose finished with 25 points, Tony Parker had 19 and Stephen Jackson 17. San Antonio made 37 of 45 free throws.

"It is tough being in a situation where you're up so much and are trying to play the clock out basically," Duncan said. "We talked about trying to win the game instead of sustain the lead."

Michael Finley led the Mavericks with 29 points and Nowitzki had 23.

Things started going poorly for Dallas midway through the first quarter -- and they quickly got much worse.

Nowitzki was called for his second foul with 7:39 left in the period for slapping at the ball as Duncan went up for a shot. Nowitzki turned to Crawford to complain and the ref immediately gave him a technical.

Nelson took a risk by leaving Nowitzki in the game with two fouls and with 4:49 left in the first, he was whistled Nowitzki for his third personal. That forced Nelson to remove Nowitzki from the game and Nelson was gone himself with 2:46 left in the quarter.

"Nothing that Nellie does surprises me," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "He's clever and creative, but he was real creative tonight."

SPURS 119

MAVERICKS 106