AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Suddenly, it’s a series.

Ben Gordon scored 28 points and the hot-shooting Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 108-92 Tuesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, pulling to 3-2 in the series.

Detroit opened the series with two routs and made a big comeback in the third game, leading some to predict it would end with a sweep – or in five games at the most.

Obviously, the Bulls had other plans.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Chicago and if Game 7 is necessary, it would be Monday night back on the Pistons’ home court.

The Bulls started the game Tuesday night with a sense of urgency and didn’t let up in a game they never trailed.

Chicago only missed one of its first seven shots while holding Detroit to 3-of-9 shooting and each starter scored to help build a 14-6 lead.

The Bulls made 72.2 percent of their shots in the first half – falling just short of an NBA record – but only led by eight at halftime. They outscored Detroit 33-20 to take a 21-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Unlike the two previous games, the Pistons didn’t rally at all and were frustrated against a team that looked much like the one that swept the defending NBA champion Miami Heat in the first round.

Gordon made shots early and often and had plenty of help.

Luol Deng scored 20, Kirk Hinrich had 17 and P.J. Brown scored a playoff-high 15.

The Pistons, meanwhile, didn’t have a one consistently effective player on offense and allowed the Bulls to do whatever they wanted at the other end of the court.

Chauncey Billups scored 17, Richard Hamilton had 16 points and Rasheed Wallace added 15, but the trio combined to shoot just 16-of-42.

Stoudemire, Diaw suspended for 1 game; Horry for 2

PHOENIX – Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire and teammate Boris Diaw were suspended Tuesday for one game for leaving the bench after Robert Horry’s flagrant foul of Steve Nash in Game 4 of the Suns’ Western Conference semifinal against San Antonio.

The NBA also announced Horry was suspended for two games for knocking Nash into the scorer’s table with 18 seconds remaining in the Suns’ 104-98 victory at San Antonio on Monday night. Phoenix’s victory evened the series at 2-2.

All three players will miss Wednesday night’s Game 5 in Phoenix of what has been a rough, intense showdown between two of the best teams in the NBA. Horry also will miss Friday night’s Game 6 in San Antonio. Horry was suspended for flagrantly fouling Nash and striking Raja Bell about the shoulders with a forearm, NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson said in a statement. Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended for leaving “the immediate vicinity of their bench” during the altercation.

Mavs’ Nowitzki named NBA MVP

DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki smiled, standing a few feet from an NBA MVP trophy with his name etched into it.

Having long since conquered his doubts, Nowitzki put a permanent stamp on his career by winning this award – the first for a European, for someone who didn’t go to high school or college in the United States, and for a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

“You don’t have to encourage him to get into the gym, he’s the guy you have to lock out,” Dallas owner Mark Cuban said. “He’s not the guy who you wonder if he cares, he’s the guy who hurts so much when things don’t go the way you want.”

That’s what makes him an MVP. He’s an example … that you don’t have to fit a certain role, a certain model, but if you work hard enough and care enough, anything is possible.”

About the only person dragging the mood down was Nowitzki.

“Even when I heard I was MVP, I was sad to watch all these playoff games and know that we’re not a part of it,” Nowitzki said. “It’s heartbreaking still to me. I was trying to be positive and be really happy, but it’s going to take a while for it to really sink in.”

Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 67 wins, a total eclipsed by only five teams in NBA history. He was the team’s top scorer (24.6 points per game) and rebounder (8.9 per game), and averaged a career-high 3.4 assists. He also was the only player in the league to shoot better than 50 percent from the field, 40 percent on 3-pointers and 90 percent on free throws.

He was listed first on 83 of the 129 ballots, garnering a total of 1,138 points, to end the two-year MVP reign of his close friend and former teammate Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns.

“I’m extremely proud of him and happy for him,” Nash said. “I think it’s really well-deserved. Hopefully he gets a chance to enjoy it regardless of their playoff outcome, because he had a phenomenal year and he really deserves it.”

Nash finished second with 1,013 points and 44 first-place votes. He could have joined Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as the only players to be named MVP in three straight years.

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers got the remaining two first-place votes. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan was fourth and Cleveland’s LeBron James was fifth.

The vote was based on regular-season play, with ballots due before the playoffs started. The result might have been different, otherwise, because of how poorly Nowitzki played in Dallas’ first-round elimination by Golden State, one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.

Stern dismissed the idea of Nowitzki’s victory prompting a change in voting to include some or all of the playoffs. It’s worth noting that five of the previous seven MVPs did not lead their team to the championship; however, it had been 25 years (Houston’s Moses Malone in 1981-82) since an MVP failed to win a single playoff series.

“It happens,” Stern said. “The beauty of sports is you take nothing for granted. Obviously Dirk was disappointed with the way the season ended, but he should feel quite good about his place in history for the season he led the Mavs to.”

Nowitzki takes a lot of pride in how far he’s come in his career. He thanked his first coach, current Warriors coach Don Nelson, for daring to “have a 7-footer dribble up the ball and shoot 3-pointers” and credited Johnson for helping round out his game during the last two years.

“Once you’re at this stage, I think everything that you’ve put into it comes through your mind – all the hard work, all the hours you put in,” he said. “It’s just very fulfilling.”

Nowitzki started playing basketball when he was 13. A few years later, he began working with Holger Geschwindner, the captain of West Germany’s 1972 Olympic team. Their plan to get him into the NBA was creating a 7-footer who could shoot 3s.

Once they succeeded, they kept tinkering, adding skills every year. Even after turning Nowitzki into an All-Star and now an MVP, they’re still building. He leaves Wednesday for about a month of traveling, then he’ll head back into the basketball laboratory.

“I still feel like there’s a lot I can pick up,” said Nowitzki, who turns 29 next month.

The one thing he can’t change for at least a year is his growing reputation for playoff failure.

“I understand there are a lot of stars in history and present who are great players and never really won a championship. As of now, I’m in that category,” Nowitzki said. “The only good thing is … I feel like I’m in the prime of my career. Hopefully I’ve got a lot of great postseason runs left.”

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AP Sports Writer Bob Baum in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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