Blazers vs. Mavericks
2010-11 season series: 2-2
Dec. 15 — at Mavericks 103, Blazers 98
Jan. 4 — at Mavericks 84, Blazers 81
March 15 — at Blazers 104, Mavericks 101
April 3 — at Blazers 104, Mavericks 96
It’s not easy to evaluate the significance of the four games Dallas and Portland have played against one another this year, and in many ways, it may be best not to. The Mavericks won the first two, both of which took place in Dallas, although the second half of the initial meeting is when Aldridge began the best two-month stretch of his career. He had 35 points that night, and is averaging 27.7 against the Mavs this season. Dallas’ second win came sans Dirk Nowitzki.
The Blazers are 2-0 against the Mavs at the Rose Garden, both games occurring after the acquisition of Gerald Wallace. In the first of the aforementioned wins, Brandon Roy scored 21 points in 27 minutes including 10 straight in the second half. In the second win, Dallas was without Tyson Chandler, was playing the second half of a back-to-back, and was on the final game of a six-game road trip. That level of production from Roy, along with that level of fatigue from the Mavericks, will not likely come into play in this series.
Playoff history: The Blazers and Mavericks have met three times in the playoffs — each time in the first round. Portland won two of the three series, first beating Dallas 3-1 in 1985 before losing to the Lakers in the conference semifinals, then winning 3-0 in 1990 before falling to the Pistons in the NBA Finals, and most recently losing 4-3 in the 2003. The Mavericks reached the conference Finals that year before the Spurs beat them 4-2.
