Dallas Mavericks Get the Bride!
The Dallas Mavericks didn't end up as the bridesmaid this year, but got home to take the Bride by winning Season 2010 of AH League V2.0 with a 4-2 series victory over the Indiana Pacers!
Game 4: Mavericks @Indiana
With a 2-1 series lead going into the 4th game in Indiana, the Dallas Mavericks knew they had to win just one game to take full control of the series before it shifted back to Texas.
The Pacers unveiled a "for all the marbles" strategy by putting Troy Murphy at starting C, Gasol at PF, while sliding Kirilenko and JRich to the SF and SG spots, respectively.
The strat paid off in Game 4 as Indiana coralled a series-high 69 boards, 1 more than the Mavs, and force a deadlock at 2 games apiece, heading into Game 5 at Conseco Fieldhouse. Jason Richardson led the team in scoring with 18 points, followed by Evans' 17 off the bench. But it was the team rebounding that helped the Pacers get the W with 6 players hauling at least 8 rebounds each.
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Game 5: Mavericks @Indiana
Game 5 was no different as the Pacers rolled on to crash the boards with their game plan, obliterating the Mavericks, 58-48 in the rebounding contest. However, the Mavericks put on a gritty defense to force a whopping 21 TO's to negate the board advantage of the Pacers, leading to a 118-115 crucial victory at Indianapolis.
Stepen Curry (21 pts) led a balanced attack once again for the Mavs, with 7 players scoring at least 11 points for Dallas. Curry and Billups' incursions to the basket netted them a total of 13 FT attempts, converting 12 of them. The Mavericks won the battle of the 15 foot line 25-18.
JRich once again paced the Pacers in scoring with his 21 markers, while Pau Gasol had a game high 21 rebounds.
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Game 6: Pacers @Dallas
The Mavericks smelled blood once the series went back to Dallas. Both teams went toe-to-toe in the first quarter with Dallas coming out ahead, 29-28. A telling 37-23 flurry in the 2nd quarter was all the Mavericks would need to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
66-51, Mavericks at the half.
From there, GM snohws egged on his wards to put on the continuing pressure, matching basket by basket made by the Pacers in the 3rd and 4th en route to a convincing 123-101 victory in the 6th and final game of the series.
Dwight Howard broke out in game 6, scoring 34 points, while letting Paul Millsap take care of the boards with his 22 caroms (to go along with his 12 markers). Chauncey Billups had 21 pts and 10 assists, while Vince Carter finished off the Pacers with his 17 pts and 14 rebounds.
Chauncey Billups won his first Playoff MVP trophy.
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