Photo Courtesy: Michael Kolch
The Dallas Mavericks were looking to stay alive and avoid getting swept by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. They were under tremendous pressure being down 0-3 after three heart-breaking games, and being without Chandler Parsons and Rajon Rondo. This series was nothing but a disaster for the Dallas Mavericks.
But Sunday night, Dallas played very well and won the game 121-109. Houston dominated the first half of the game, but then they had a problem. And Dallas took advantage…
The first quarter started out smooth for the Mavs. Dallas was able to make their shots most of the time, but did miss a few three-pointers and played very sloppy on defense, which have been big problems for the Mavs this entire series. With the Mavs struggling, Houston did what they did best and took advantage. Dallas was trailing Houston 34-25 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was when Dallas began to have momentum. After being down by ten after the first four minutes Dallas was able to catch up to Houston with three-point shots from Monta Ellis, Al-Farouq Aminu and Charlie Villaneuva. With three and a half remaining, Dallas was in the lead. At the end of the first half Dallas was ahead of Houston 61-53.
The third quarter could not have gotten any better for the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas, all of a sudden, was powerful on offense and Houston had shooting and defensive problems. There was a lot of frustration for Houston during the third. Dallas had their best quarter in the series, and had a commanding 94-75 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter had Mavs fans holding their breath as Houston was not going to give up. Houston began to catch up with Dallas, but Dallas was able to somehow hold on and get their first win in the series and stay alive. Dallas is now down 3-1 and must win the next game to bring the series back to Dallas. No team has come back from a three-game deficit to win a series, but Dallas will try to become the first team to do so.
Game 5 will be Tuesday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Tipoff at 7:00 pm CT.
