It's a great day to be a Mav fan..

[mavs>spurs2]

Close-out special: Dallas Mavericks oust Spurs, 106-93

10:25 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

SAN ANTONIO – It will go down in the history books as an upset, the No. 6 seed beating the No. 3 seed.

But if the Mavericks have anything to say about it before they are done, their playoff take-down of the San Antonio Spurs will be remembered as the first step in a longer journey.

"We're not finished yet," Jason Terry said.

That feeling wafted through a feel-good, but not overly jubilant, Mavericks' locker room after they punished the Spurs, 106-93, at AT&T Center to win the first-round playoff series, 4-1.

The Mavericks finished off the four-time champions over the last decade with the first dominant performance in the series by Dirk Nowitzki (31 points, nine rebounds) and a lot of help from his friends.

They will be heading to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2006. They will face either Denver or New Orleans. The Nuggets own a 3-1 lead in that series.

"I'm happy for our players," coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's been a turbulent year, but a lot of things happened at the right time.

"Josh Howard's health was a big part of that. He was probably our MVP of the series."

Howard capped a 10-day run of big efforts with 17 points and eight rebounds on Tuesday. He also had three steals as the Mavericks played better defense than the Spurs' 52-percent shooting would suggest.

Howard was one of six Mavericks – including all five starters – scoring in double figures.

"I didn't do anything special to get my game going," he said. "In the playoffs, you can't come in with your 'C' game. You have to bring your 'A' game."

The Mavericks had not done that the last two years, when they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

"This is our best basketball of the year," Erick Dampier said. "That's a big key for us, to be playing well at the right time."

Added Jason Kidd, who had 23 assists and only three turnovers in the series: "It's a relief."

Even San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said the best-of-7 series proved who deserved to advance in the playoffs.

"They're a better team than we are right now," he said. "We made runs, but every time we got back into the game, they made more big shots. That's why they won the series."

The Mavericks had more players playing well throughout this series than the Spurs did. With Manu Ginobili out for the Spurs and the Mavericks getting contributions from Howard, J.J. Barea, Kidd and Dampier as well as Nowitzki, the Spurs simply did not have enough weapons. That much was obvious in the clincher. The Mavericks never trailed and led by as many as 16.

The Mavericks had ridden Nowitzki and all his helpers to a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter. They knew the Spurs would make a strong push down the stretch, but it never really came.

Jason Terry canned a couple of 3-pointers, then Dirk took the baton and sank a pair of mid-range jumpers. All the while the Mavericks kept the lead in double figures, as if they were a bulldog holding onto a pants leg.

On several occasions, the Spurs got within 10, but each time the Mavericks responded with a score. When Terry hit a jumper and two free throws, the lead was 98-86 with under 2:30 to go and the Spurs knew they were beaten.

It was one of the vintage performances for the Mavericks, who will be rewarded with several days of rest before the next series begins.

I don't care what anyone says. When I'm feeling down, all I gotta think about is how the Mavs put out the hated Spurs 2 times now, and suddenly my day just got a whole lot brighter . Lebron or Kobe may win the championship, but at the end of the day I'm proud of the boys in blue for making the best of things and salvaging what could have been a disastrous season. This offseason we definitely need to make some moves, but when it's all said and done when I'm having a bad day, at least I can think to myself "Well at least my 's still big, and the Mavs beat the Spurs!" Suck on that Blake, init2winit, and all you other Spur s. Props to those of you who displayed good sportsmanship, may your team retool and get healthy again this offseason

[dirk4mvp]

Where's that bag spurfaninla who put me on ignore in the chat last night? Have fun on your fishing trip

[mavs>spurs2]

I think the whole chat had mav fan on ignore by default. I said something to baseline bum twice and he never responded, and I didn't even say anything to piss him off . There there spur fan

[IronMexican]

LMAO Spurs

[stretch]

lol spurs

[spursncowboys]

What is funny is when the Spurs beat the Mavs in the PO, they finish it with a Championship. The Mavs, with all the ref help in 06 still lost to Miami. Haha. So proceed with the gloating and have fun with your parade for the first round.
Mavs>Spurs.... 4 rings>0 rings.....
hopefully you can obtain some class with this, much like the Spurs (ex. Spurs got hosed by the refs and never once blamed them when they lost in 06. The Mavs put their choke job on the bad call in favor of flash)
Also your owners classless firing of The greatest coach in Mavs history -Lil General Avery Johnson.
in closing, good luck next round I hope you make it compe ive and hopefully Josh Howard Doesn't get pulled over after the club.

[Basketballgirl25]

have fun with your little run mav fans, could be the last time Kidd is a mavs from articles I've read so take it all in just in case, or actually don't take it all in Kidd isn't always good at saying the right things, he lies about things all the time over the years I watched him as a Net and bet he still does. Good Luck vs Nuggets, but I don't think it will be as easy as the Spurs, I think Nuggets will be a whole lot tougher unless mavs just collapse then it will be easy

[dirk4mvp]

have fun with your little run mav fans, could be the last time Kidd is a mavs from articles I've read so take it all in just in case, or actually don't take it all in Kidd isn't always good at saying the right things, he lies about things all the time over the years I watched him as a Net and bet he still does. Good Luck vs Nuggets, but I don't think it will be as easy as the Spurs, I think Nuggets will be a whole lot tougher unless mavs just collapse then it will be easy

Thanks for this incoherent piece of post. What's Devin Harris doing now?

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

have fun with your little run mav fans, could be the last time Kidd is a mavs from articles I've read so take it all in just in case, or actually don't take it all in Kidd isn't always good at saying the right things, he lies about things all the time over the years I watched him as a Net and bet he still does. Good Luck vs Nuggets, but I don't think it will be as easy as the Spurs, I think Nuggets will be a whole lot tougher unless mavs just collapse then it will be easy

lol pretend Nets fan trying to piss Dallas fans off.

[I. Hustle]

At the end of the day the Spurs will still be the '09 Southwest Division Champs and the Mavs will just be the Mavs. Yeah the division le didn't get us anywhere but beating us isn't going to get you guys anywhere either.

[j-money24]

lol mavs
lol spurs

[IronMexican]

How did that Scola trade work?

[KSeal]

At the end of the day the Spurs will still be the '09 Southwest Division Champs and the Mavs will just be the Mavs. Yeah the division le didn't get us anywhere but beating us isn't going to get you guys anywhere either.

[gmanrulz]

haha mavs celebrating beating spurs without ginobili. Celebrate when you win a championship, which will be never

[mavs>spurs2]

You guys mad?

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

haha mavs celebrating beating spurs without ginobili. Celebrate when you win a championship, which will be never

lol fan acting like the team's championship is a personal achievement.

[mingus]

they need at least one ring to even belong in the same sentence as the Spurs ...

[mavs>spurs2]

they need at least one ring to even belong in the same sentence as the Spurs ...

See 2006

[mingus]

See 2006

did the mavs get a Larry O'brien for that ? ...

all mavs fan has is false sense of accomplishment .

[mavs>spurs2]

did the mavs get a Larry O'brien for that ? ...

all mavs fan has is false of accomplishment .

Everyone knows the Mavs got screwed. For all intensive purposes, we're the 2006 champions to everyone not named David Stern.

[Spursfan092120]

Perfect example. Spurs lose...they make a congrats Mavs thread (me). Mavs win, the fans STILL talk . Sounds like someone needs to get the sand out of their vagina. Talk all you want, but last time I checked, you're not done..2nd round is next. And beating the Spurs isn't the championship...you still have a LOT of work to do. So be a man, give respect, and move on. Talking about the Spurs isn't going to do a damn thing about round 2.

[mingus]

Everyone knows the Mavs got screwed. For all intensive purposes, we're the 2006 champions to everyone not named David Stern.

okay ...

[Spursfan092120]

I don't care what anyone says. When I'm feeling down, all I gotta think about is how the Mavs put out the hated Spurs 2 times now, and suddenly my day just got a whole lot brighter . Lebron or Kobe may win the championship, but at the end of the day I'm proud of the boys in blue for making the best of things and salvaging what could have been a disastrous season. This offseason we definitely need to make some moves, but when it's all said and done when I'm having a bad day, at least I can think to myself "Well at least my 's still big, and the Mavs beat the Spurs!" Suck on that Blake, init2winit, and all you other Spur s. Props to those of you who displayed good sportsmanship, may your team retool and get healthy again this offseason

If beating the Spurs is all you care about, you have no respect for your team. Congratulations if beating the Spurs is your le...but at the end, beating us means absolutely nothing. Because in the end, if/when the Nuggets or Lakers take you out, you won't be remembered...at all. Spurs will..we're the division champs. We'll be in the record books. You'll just be another team that got eliminated. And it will remain that way until you win a le. But if beating the Spurs is enough for you...I feel bad for you.

[Spursfan092120]

Everyone knows the Mavs got screwed. For all intensive purposes, we're the 2006 champions to everyone not named David Stern.

hilarious. You really call choking 4 games in a row getting screwed? Come on dude...man up. We could say we got screwed in this series too..officiating was horrible. But the truth was, we got outplayed...just like the Mavs did in 06.

[Ghazi]

Given teh way this season played out I really can't feel bad what happens from here on out, unless we get swept or dominated in an embarassing fashion

1. we started 2-7
2. we had 5 game loss streak/4 game loss streak
3. looked like 9th place team in mid January
4. looked like 8th place team up until last week of season

So given that the expectations were low during regular season, I can't feel bad no matter what happens from here on out.