Trail Blazers 97, Mavericks 92
Wesley Matthews scored a playoff career-high 25 points and Brandon Roy broke out of his funk with 16 points as the Portland Trail Blazers earned a 97-92 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series Thursday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points and Andre Miller had 16 and seven assists for sixth-seeded Portland, which will try to even the series at two games each Saturday at the Rose Garden.
Jason Terry scored 29 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including 5 of 7 3-pointers, for third-seeded Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points and eight rebounds.
After going scoreless in just eight minutes of Game 2 on Tuesday, Roy said he was disappointed at his lack of playing time and thought he deserved better treatment. He apologized earlier Thursday and bounced back in a big way, making 6 of 10 shots in 23 minutes.
Matthews scored 16 of Portland's first 22 points. He made 8 of 12 shots, including 4 of 6 from the arc.
Nowitzki, who had led fourth-quarter charges by the Mavericks in the first two games, missed seven shots in a row before canning an 18-footer midway through the quarter. He finished with nine points in the period.
The Mavericks got just 19 points from their starters other than Nowitzki.
A late surge by Dallas was stalled when Jason Kidd's long shot was ruled a two-pointer, cutting the deficit to 95-92 with 12.9 seconds left.