Here’s our takeaways from Friday’s 120-112 victory over Portland.
It’s good to be home – for a change: The Mavericks’ home woes have become evident to everybody, but they won for the second time in a row on the American Airlines Center floor and did so by persevering in the fourth quarter when Portland chopped the lead that reached as much as 17 points down to four. They made shots when they needed to and got key stops to stall the Blazers’ attempted rally. While the Mavericks’ 13-10 home record remains worse than all other current Western Conference playoff teams except Memphis, at least they have shown some gumption on the home floor in the last two games.