The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks are playing in Game 4 of their NBA playoffs series on Monday night and the matchup from American Airlines Center is a huge one for the Mavs and it's on TNT on TV starting up at 9:30 pm ET and comes as Dallas is up 2-1 in the series and they can take a commanding lead in the west postseason with a victory after Vince Carter and his heroics over the weekend.
The Mavericks have played the Spurs tight in this series and that came into play big time on Saturday, as Carter was able to hit a three at the buzzer to get the win and now the Mavs have the chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead against the Spurs. San Antonio was the best team in the NBA this season and they had the top record and the number one seed in the west and now they are in danger of losing to the eighth seed. The Mavs know all about that, as it happened to them once with the Warriors and now Dirk and company have the chance to return the favor to another team.
The series has played out as many thought it could if the Mavs played fast and Monta Ellis ended up leading the team with 29 points on Saturday and now they have the chance to push their lead. The Mavericks and Grizzlies played at the end of the regular season to see who would be in that final spot and the Mavs fell into it after losing to Memphis and now that has looked like a great move, as they have the chance to push the Spurs back against the wall with Game 5 coming later in the week.
This could be the final run to the finals for the Big 3 in San Antonio and while Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have played well in this series, they have plenty more they can do and they will need to keep the team together on Monday night. The Mavs got 29 points from Ellis and 10 rebounds from Samuel Dalembert and they also got nine assists from Jose Calderon and now the team has the chance to really press, as the Spurs got 22 points from Duncan and 13 rebounds from Tiago Splitter in the game.
The difference in the final quarter was just two points and the Mavericks made their move in the second quarter, as they outscored the Spurs by 12 and that became a factor at the end of the game and now they have a 2-1 lead in the series. The Spurs were one of the most consistent teams in the NBA this season and that will have to come up on Monday, as they can't let the Mavericks have their way with outside shooting and both Parker and Ginobili will have to step up. The Spurs made a run to the finals last season and now they have the chance to do it again, but if they can't get past the Mavericks the team will have to wonder what went wrong in the series.
Check here for the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks live coverage from TNT.
