The Golden State Warriors shocked the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks 97-85 on Sunday in the opener of their National Basketball Association Western Conference first-round playoff series.

It wasn't the only surprise of the night in Texas, as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Spurs in San Antonio 95-89, while elsewhere in the West the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 95-87.

In Dallas, Baron Davis had 33 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists as the Warriors beat the Mavericks, who had posted the best record in the NBA in the regular season.

Stephen Jackson scored 12 of his 23 points in the first quarter and Jason Richardson added 13 for Golden State, which despite its lowly No. 8 seeding was the only club in the league to sweep Dallas in the regular season.

The Warriors have now won seven of their last eight meetings against the Mavericks overall.

"We're a good team," Davis said. "We've just got to keep it up. We're hungry. We've got nothing to lose."

In a surprise move, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson inserted Devean George into the starting lineup in place of center Erick Dampier to try and match up with Golden State's quicker starting unit.

The decision backfired, however, as the Warriors held the Mavericks to just 29 percent shooting from the field for a 38-38 tie at halftime.

Davis took over in the third quarter, netting 19 points - including 3-of-3 from 3-point range - as the Warriors carried a 72-66 advantage into the decisive quarter.

Dallas closed within 80-78, but would get no closer as Davis' jumper sparked an impressive game-ending 17-7 run, highlighted by Davis' drive and kick to Jackson for a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.

Josh Howard recorded 21 points and 13 rebounds and Devin Harris scored 19 for the Mavericks, who shot 35 percent overall.

Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki, a leading Most Valuable Player candidate, scored just 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

"Fortunately for us, it's not a one-game series," Johnson said. "We're a team that normally responds really well after losses, and we're going to have to do that now."

Warriors coach Don Nelson was pleased, but stressed that there was still a lot of work to be done.

"It's just one game, and it looks like it'll be a long series," he added.

No illusions

Likewise, Denver's Allen Iverson was under no illusions as to what the Nuggets could expect in the rest of their series with the Spurs.

"We know what kind of series this is," Iverson said. "We know what kind of team they are. They're a great team, a well-coached team that has a lot of pride. They're not going to just give up. They want to win a championship just like we want to win one."

Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 61 points as the Nuggets used a decisive fourth-quarter run to seal the win.

Nene had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who carried their impressive play in the season's final month into the postseason.

Denver set a franchise mark for wins in April with 10 while dropping just one game during that time.

Trailing by three points with 7:58 left in the final period, the Nuggets went on a 15-2 run - capped by Nene's layup with 3:27 remaining - to make it 87-77. The Spurs then went on one last spurt, a 12-4 burst capped by Tim Duncan's jam to make it 91-89 with 18 seconds left.

"There are no excuses," Duncan said. "Bottom line, they played better than us. We got to positions and took shots that we wanted to take, and they didn't go down for us. Hopefully, we can change that next game and hopefully knock out those shots."

In Phoenix, Brazil's Leandro Barbosa scored 26 points and Amare Stoudemire added 23 to lead the Suns to a game one win over the Lakers, despite 39 points from Los Angeles superstar Kobe Bryant.

Barbosa hit 10-of-22 shots from the field and scored 15 of his points in one five-minute stretch.

"We couldn't keep him in front of us," Bryant said. "Whether it was screen-and-rolls or transition, we did a terrible job keeping him in front and he really energized them."

(China Daily via AFP April 25, 2007)