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 third seed, with a 57–25 record. However, due to the Mavericks reputation as playoff chokers, many predicted them to be ousted in the first round against the sixth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers. Yahoo! Sports analyst Adrian Wojnarowski even went so far as to predict a sweep for the Trail Blazers. The Mavs entered the postseason as the third seed and despite toting a 57–25 record, were predicted by the media to be ousted by the injury-riddled Trail Blazers. The Mavericks won games 1 and 2 on their home floor in convincing fashion, however upon their arrival to 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 were going to allow another impressive regular season to 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 Semifinals. This series was the first time that Kobe Bryant had met Dirk Nowitzki in a playoff series and was expected to be extremely competitive; that however did not prove to be the case. The Mavericks shocked the NBA world by winning the first two games in Los Angeles, and took a 2–0 lead 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 mark, crushing the Lakers in game 4 by a score of 122–86. In that game, Jason Terry set an NBA playoff record with nine three-pointers with just one miss, ousting the Lakers in a four-game sweep. The Mavericks then met the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. Dirk Nowitzki set the tone in the series in game one with a 48-point performance, with the Mavericks taking game 1 by a score of 121–112. The Thunder then responded with 106–100 victory in game 2. The Mavericks then won the next three games, including a 15-point comeback in game 4, to take the series in five games. The