Five games remained coming into tonight, and the Portland Trail Blazers were one of the two remaining playoff teams the Mavs had to face. Dennis Smith Jr. got Dallas on the board with a pull-up jumper, but the first quarter signaled the return of J.J. Barea. In about nine minutes, Barea scored 11 points and made all three of his triples. He single-handedly kept the Mavs in the the opening quarter that saw six lead changes. The Mavs and Blazers were all tied up at 22 through one.
The Mavs opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run, but the Blazers evaporated that lead as quckily as it appeared, tying the game at 35 with a little under seven minutes to play in the quarter.