One would think that if your team gets called for three technical fouls and one of your better players gets ejected, then your team would implode somewhere along the way – eventually.  But the Dallas Mavericks had other plans; specifically, Josh Howard was called for a flagrant foul and was subsequently ejected and Dirk Nowitzki was called for a technical foul, as well.  But because the Mavericks are a veteran team, they were able to get over this as their mental acumen got them over the hump in the end as Dallas was able to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday 102-94 at The Rose Garden.

Both teams shot very well in the first half as Dallas shot 58% while Portland shot 55%; the Trail Blazers led early on 10-2, but Nowitzki would score 12 of his team’s 14 points and the Mavericks would open up a 9-point lead.  They would pad their advantage to 10 at 51-41 when Portland’s Rudy Fernandez hit a 3-pointer and Steve Blake would score 7 points.  But Dallas would go into halftime leading 59-55.

Nowitzki would pick up his fourth foul in the third quarter, picking up a technical foul along the way; the Blazers would take advantage as they would take a 67-66 lead on a jumper by LaMarcus Aldridge.  Things got a bit more interesting when Howard would get whistled for a flagrant foul on Portland’s Joel Przybilla and would get tossed seconds later; as a result, the Trail Blazers would go into the final period with an 80-77 advantage.  But Dallas would take over in the fourth quarter as they outscored Portland 25-14 to ice the win.

Dallas’ high scorer was Nowitzki with 30 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while Jason Terry scored 19 (including 3 treys) with 3 assists; Howard added 15 with 2 rebounds while Jason Kidd – while scoring only 6 points – grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 10 assists.  Portland was led by Brandon Roy with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Blake added 14 with 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.  Dallas (17-11) plays again on Friday when they face the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City while Portland (18-12) hosts the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.