By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Nov 9 2007 3:09AM
Dallas 120, Golden State 115
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 8 (AP) -- Baron Davis lined up a straightaway 3-point shot to tie it in the waning seconds, and the Golden State crowd rose while the Mavericks' hearts sank.
From Dirk Nowitzki to the peanut vendors, everybody assumed the man who became a Bay Area folk hero with his dynamic playoff performances against Dallas last spring would hit another magical shot to hurt the Mavs.
"We gave Baron a look like that, and it looked like he was going to get it,'' Nowitzki admitted.
But Baron blew it, and the Dallas Mavericks fled Oracle Arena with a 120-115 victory over the winless Golden State Warriors on Thursday night -- and a bit of hollow revenge from their historic playoff defeat in the same arena they finally silenced.
Nowitzki scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, while Jason Terry and Josh Howard both had 24 points as the Mavericks snapped a five-game regular season losing streak against an opponent that always brings out the worst in one of the NBA's best franchises.
Until Davis' 3-point attempt clanged off the front of the rim with 4 seconds to play, the Mavericks were all but expecting a calamity. They lost three games in Oakland last spring in front of frenzied crowds as Davis led the eighth-seeded Warriors to the NBA's first upset of a top-seeded opponent in a seven-game series.
"We're always going to look at how that season ended,'' Nowitzki said. "That won't leave us, but this is a young team, and our team may still have its time.''
With a whole lot less at stake Thursday night, the Mavericks needed strong efforts from every veteran to hang on against an 0-5 Golden State team with 10 players in uniform. No matter the circumstances, the Mavs finally moved their biggest mental block a few inches.
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