Sports / Basketball
Warriors one win away from upset of Mavs
(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-30 13:34
Baron Davis bedeviled the Mavericks one more time -- and now his crazy,
carefree Golden State Warriors are one win away from a historic playoff
upset.
Davis had five of his 33 points and two key assists in the final 3 1/2
minutes, and the Warriors roared from behind for a 103-99 victory Sunday
night to take a 3-1 lead over the NBA's best team in their first-round
playoff series.
Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, left, of Germany, dunks in front of
Golden State Warriors' Al Harrington in the first quarter of an NBA
Western Conference first-round basketball playoff game in Oakland,
Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2007. [AP]
Jason Richardson scored 22 points and Stephen Jackson added 19 for the
Warriors, who could become just the third team in league history to knock
off a No. 1 seed in the opening round.
Only the Denver Nuggets (1994) and the New York Knicks (1999) have won a
playoff series as a No. 8 seed -- and both did it in the old best-of-five
format.
The Warriors are an even more unlikely candidate as a 42-40 club that
didn't make the playoffs until the final day of the regular season -- but
Golden State has a hold on Dallas, winning eight of the clubs' last nine
meetings and surging to this victory after trailing by seven points with
6 1/2 minutes left.
Game 5 is Tuesday night in Dallas, where the Mavericks went 36-5 in the
regular season, but blew the series opener.
Jerry Stackhouse scored 24 points and kept Dallas ahead for most of the
second half, but the Mavs' offense tightened up as soon as the Warriors'
incredible point guard took charge.
Davis -- who banked in a 3-pointer from midcourt at halftime -- hit
Jackson for an open 3-pointer, then made a driving layup in traffic to
put Golden State ahead 91-90 with 2:35 left.
After Stackhouse airballed a 3-pointer and Andris Biedrins dunked on
another pass from Davis, the Mavericks fell apart with a turnover and a
traveling violation before Davis coolly drilled a 20-footer with 57
seconds left. Matt Barnes thought he put it away for the Warriors with a
3-pointer from the sideline, but Dirk Nowitzki hit back-to-back
3-pointers in the final 14 seconds to keep it close.
Davis missed a free throw with 3.2 seconds left to give Dallas one last
shot -- but Devin Harris threw the inbounds pass straight to Golden
State's Mickael Pietrus, sparking the crowd to deafening cheers from the
sellout Oakland crowd. Pietrus finished with 16 points.
Josh Howard scored just two of his 22 points after halftime, and Nowitzki
had 23 points and 15 rebounds in another less-than-most-valuable
performance -- much to the delight of Golden State's jeering fans.
Golden State put the top-seeded Mavericks in an early hole in the series
with two quick wins, including an 18-point triumph in Game 3 with a
raucous crowd enjoying Oakland's first home playoff game in 13 years.
Jason Terry and Stackhouse called a players-only team meeting Saturday,
the Mavericks' first such gathering since last season's NBA finals.
The Oracle Arena rematch wasn't nearly as one-sided -- but the Warriors
had all the fourth-quarter poise that the defending Western Conference
champions have inexplicably lacked.
There's fire in this series, all right -- and it's all on Golden State's
side.
Golden State Warriors' Baron Davis, left, fights for a rebound along with
Dallas Mavericks' DeSagana Diop, of Senegal, during the first half of an
NBA Western Conference first-round playoff basketball game in Oakland,
Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2007.[AP]
Howard, who praised the players meeting, scored 14 points in the first
quarter as Dallas largely controlled the tempo. But Golden State got 10
points and a spectacular blocked shot from Pietrus, then finished the
first half on a 15-7 run capped by Davis' extraordinary 3-pointer.
After Nowitzki completed a three-point play with 1.1 seconds left, Davis
launched a one-handed shot from a step beyond midcourt near the scorers'
table -- and it banked hard off the glass and in, setting off a deafening
roar for the tie.
Dallas jumped ahead in the third quarter, but Davis tied it again going
to the fourth with another otherworldly play, stealing a Dallas pass and
driving for a two-handed fingertip dunk with 1.2 seconds left.
But the Mavericks had some theatrics in store as well: With the shot
clock dwindling, Stackhouse banked in a 32-footer with 8 minutes to play,
giving Dallas a five-point lead. The Mavericks led by seven points with 6
1/2 minutes left before Davis keyed the Warriors' comeback.
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