News / Sports
NBA Scores: Dallas Mavericks Knock Off Portland Inch Closer to Top Seed
Jason Terry scored 29 points, Devin Harris added 18 and the Dallas Mavericks (63-13) shot 50 percent from the field in their 86-74 victory over the Portland Trailblazers (31-45) on Saturday night.
The win moved the Mavericks one step closer to clinching the top seed in the Western Conference playoff picture. Dallas just needs one win or a Phoenix Suns loss to guarantee home court advantage throughout their playoff run.
Both Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse remained on the bench for the Portland game and Dirk Nowitzki played just 26 minutes, scoring 11 points on 4-10 shooting.
Nine of Nowitzki’s points came in the first quarter as Dallas opened up a 26-21 lead after one.
Terry, who scored 11 in the first quarter, added another 11 in the second as the Mavericks took control of the game. Portland went scoreless for nearly five minutes in the quarter which allowed Dallas to turn a five point lead into a 42-27. After Portland broke the 10-0 run with a Raef Lafrenz jumper Dallas went on another run and scored nine straight. By the end of the half the Mavericks were up 51-33.
Harris scored eight for the Mavericks in the third quarter and Portland could never get within 14 of Dallas.
The fourth quarter was just a formality as Dallas controlled the period from beginning to end to beat the Trailblazers for the third time this year.
