Mavericks 89, Trail Blazers 81
A sluggish Dirk Nowitzki came alive in the fourth quarter for 18 of his 28 points, and Jason Kidd scored 24 as the Dallas Mavericks earned an 89-81 victory over visiting the Portland Trail Blazers in a defensive Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night.
Nowitzki had a poor shooting night (7 of 20) but made all 13 free throws and had 10 rebounds.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points for Portland, while Andre Miller scored 18 and Marcus Camby had 18 rebounds.
Portland used a 15-5 run to take a 72-66 lead with 6:07 remaining, but the Mavericks came back behind Nowitzki with a 14-4 run for an 80-76 lead.
Dallas went 0 for 10 during a stretch of the third and fourth quarters as Portland took control. The Mavericks went without a field goal for 11 minutes until Kidd, 6 of 10 on 3-pointers, sank a 20-foot jumper.
Nicolas Batum added 14 off the bench for Portland, which was just 2 of 16 from 3-point range (including 1 of 7 for Batum). Dallas held Gerald Wallace scoreless until the third quarter and he finished just 4 of 13 for eight points.
Game 2 will be Tuesday night in Dallas.