Mavericks 105 - 108 Trail Blazers
Final
  for this game

Mavericks eye fourth consecutive win

Apr 12, 2008 - 2:09 PM Dallas (50-29) at Portland (39-40) 10:00 pm EDT

PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) - The Dallas Mavericks seek their fourth straight win on Saturday when they travel to the Rose Garden to face the Portland Trail Blazers.

With Denver and Golden State closing in fast, Dallas appeared to be slowly dropping from the playoff picture, especially after losing Dirk Nowitzki in the process of losing its third straight game on March 23 to San Antonio. The Mavericks went 2-2 in his absence.

However, when the reigning MVP returned on April 2, the winning began. Dallas downed Golden State that night - giving the Mavericks their first victory against a team with a winning record since the Jason Kidd trade - and went on to win three of its next four contests.

With one win and one Denver loss the rest of the way, Dallas can guarantee itself at least the No. 7 seed in the West.

Their latest triumph came Thursday in a thrilling 97-94 home win against Utah as Nowitzki scored the final three of his 32 points when drilled the game-winning shot from the arc with less than a second remaining.

Portland, which was coming off a home win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, lost for the sixth time in seven contests when it fell 103-86 at Sacramento on Friday.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 15 rebounds for Portland, which was unable to overcome the Kings' 56 percent (43-for-77) shooting from the field.






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