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Warriors close out Mavs, have place in history


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Golden State Warriors v Dallas Mavericks, Game 1
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The Warriors hadn’t won a best-of-seven series in 31 years, since beating Detroit in a first-round series in 1975-76 — the year after winning their only NBA championship in California. Golden State had lost its last five best-of-sevens and hadn’t won any playoff series since beating San Antonio 3-1 in the first round in 1990-91.

Johnson brought his team back to California immediately after Game 5 so the Mavs could get more comfortable in the Warriors’ raucous confines, while Golden State spent the night in Dallas.

Dallas’ first seven made field goals were 3s, 4-of-6 from Stackhouse in the opening period, and the Mavs were 0-for-14 from 2-point range before Jason Terry’s jumper at the 11:22 mark of the second quarter.

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“Great regular season, but a disappointing finish in the playoffs,” Terry said. “We all take fault in our mistakes, but you have to give credit where credit is due. That’s a hot team.”

Barnes earned his first start of the series over Monta Ellis and played through a pulled right hamstring, just like Davis.

The Mavs, who lost in last year’s NBA finals, became the first time to win 65 games and fail to win at least one playoff series. Even worse, it came against Nelson, who spent 10 seasons helping taking Dallas from among the league’s worst teams to one of the best.

“This is not like last year was,” Cuban said. “Losing the finals was really painful. This is just the first round.”

Notes: The NBA fined Richardson $35,000 for improper interaction with a fan during Game 5 in Dallas. Richardson had a heated verbal exchange with the fan after missing a shot and falling out of bounds with 21.9 seconds left in the Warriors’ 118-112 loss. The fan reportedly filed a complaint with NBA security. ... The fans booed Cuban when he came out before tipoff.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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