the gate, winning 24 out of their first 29 games. However, on December 27, Dirk Nowitzki sustained a knee injury that derailed the Mavericks' momentum. The team's second-leading scorer Caron Butler suffered a season-ending knee injury himself only four nights later. The Mavericks then went on to drop seven of their next nine games, causing serious concern as to who would lead the offense in Nowitzki's absence. However, this injury would prove to only be a temporary setback because Nowitzki only missed nine games and admittedly rushed back to assist the Mavericks' reeling offense. Consequently, they quickly returned to their winning ways. The Mavericks re-invented their defensive reputation around the league during the 2010–11 campaign, mostly in part to off-season acquisition Tyson Chandler (who was later named to the All-Defensive Second Team). The Mavericks battled the San Antonio Spurs all season long for the division title, but instead settled for the 3rd seed, with a 57–25 record. The Mavericks had a lousy reputation of struggling during the playoffs; many predicted them to be eliminated in the first round against the six-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Yahoo! Sports analyst Adrian Wojnarowski even went so far as to predict a sweep for the Trail Blazers. The Mavs won Games 1 and 2 on their home floor in convincing fashion. However, upon their arrival at the Rose Garden in Portland, problems began to arise. After dropping game three to Portland, the Mavericks blew a 23-point fourth-quarter lead in game four to allow Portland to tie the series at two games apiece. The whispers then began to re-surface that the Mavericks would let another impressive regular season go down the drain. The Mavericks then responded, posting back-to-back wins to oust the Blazers in six games. They then met the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-finals. This series would be the first and only time that Kobe Bryant met Dirk Nowitzki in a playoff series and was expected to be extremely competitive; however, it did not prove the case. The Mavericks shocked the NBA world by winning the first two games in Los Angeles, heading back to Dallas. They then won a thrilling game three in Dallas, courtesy of 32 points from Nowitzki in a 98–92 victory. The Mavericks then provided the perfect "exclamation point" crushing the Lakers in Game 4 by a final score of 122–86. In that game, Jason