Dallas Mavericks beat Portland Trailblazers to set a clash with Los Angeles Lakers – NBA Update
Dallas Mavericks have booked a date with Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semi-finals, with a 103 – 96 win over Portland Trailblazers. In a tough game that had plenty of ups and downs, both teams gave a good account of themselves at the Rose
Garden.
Gerald Wallace was huge for the Trailblazers, as he came up with 32 points and LaMarcus Aldridge provided strong support with 24 points. Wesley Matthews also chipped in with 19 valuable points.
With the players three leading the charge, Portland stormed into a 12-point lead in the first quarter. Portland were determined to take the series back to Dallas and pulled no punches in the early going.
However, Dallas hit back in the 2nd period outscoring the Trailblazers 33 – 16 in a big quarter, as they refused to be intimidated by Portland’s all-action start. The quarter included a devastating 19-4 run by Mavericks. They ended the second
quarter with a lead of 9 points at 52-43.
Dallas were led by Most Valuable Player candidate, Dirk Nowitzki, who had a game high 33 points, including some clutch shots in the end. Jason Terry was the other big performer of the night, with 22 points.
Next two quarters were fairly even with both teams matching each other on most fronts. The battle of the boards went to Trailblazers with a minimal 41-39 margin. The run of 19-4 by Dallas in the second quarter, however, proved out to be the big factor as
Portland never took the lead again.
Dallas seemed to have an answer whenever Portland got close to them. When Portland got on a mini-run of 6-0 to cut the lead to a single point, Wallace dunked to make the score 85-86, as the sell-out crowd at the Rose Garden erupted. They could sense that
the team needed just one more push, to break Dallas.
However, Dallas has some big players on their roster who stepped-up when the game was on the line. Jason Kidd, who had 7 points in the game, found Terry who drained a big 3 pointer to silence the crowd. Terry then hit a jumper, as Dallas stretched the lead
back to 6 points.
With the game entering its’ final stretch, Portland Trailblazers threw everything they had at Dallas. The Mavericks then put the ball in the hands of Dirk Nowitzki, as he hit 8 consecutive clutch free throws to see out the game.
Dallas won a tough away game and showed their pedigree against a good team and a hostile crowd. The win will certainly boost their title credentials, as they have set up a mouth watering clash with Los Angeles Lakers in the Eastern Conference semi-finals,
which are set to begin on Monday.
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