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Warriors aim to eliminate top-seeded Mavericks

May 1, 2007 - 3:09 PM Golden State at Dallas 9:30 pm EDT Western Conference first round Warriors lead, 3-1

DALLAS (Ticker) - Baron Davis and the Golden State Warriors look cohesive, confident and nearly unbeatable - everything the Dallas Mavericks were during the regular season.

The Warriors look to complete one of the most shocking upsets in NBA history and close out their Western Conference first-round series against the top-seeded Mavericks when the teams face off in Game Five on Tuesday.

On Sunday, eighth-seeded Golden State stormed back to jolt Dallas, 103-99, and take a 3-1 lead and push the Mavericks to the brink of elimination.

Led by Davis, the upstart Warriors again fed off a playoff-starved home crowd to defeat the Mavericks. Davis scored 33 points, including a remarkable half-court shot at the halftime buzzer for Golden State, which aims to become only the third eighth seed to upset a top seed.

The 1994 Denver Nuggets and the 1999 New York Knicks accomplished the feat in the old best-of-five format.

But if the Warriors were to eliminate the Mavericks, it would be an upset of even larger proportions. Dallas entered the series not only prohibitive favorites to advance but a good bet to make its second straight appearance in the NBA Finals.

Winners of a franchise-record 67 games this season, the Mavericks had three winning streaks of 12 or more games and notched 25 more victories than the eighth-seeded Warriors, who needed to go 9-1 down the stretch just to qualify for the postseason.

But Dallas, which had its 2-0 lead erased by the Miami Heat in last year's Finals, knows it still has a shot.

"The only thing we are thinking about right now is winning our home game," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said.

"Our home crowd is going to be in a frenzy and they're going to be really excited about the game," he added. "We have to win the first, second, third, and fourth quarter and hopefully end up with more points than them at the end of the game in front of our fans that have been loyal to us all year."