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)