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The longer the Indiana Pacers can keep their starting five on the court, the better chance they have to eliminate the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Indiana’s starting five of Paul George, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and David West has been the most successful five-man lineup in this year’s postseason. It has a better plus-minus, has scored more points and has a better rebounding margin than any other five-man lineup in the playoffs.

In eight postseason games, Indiana's starting five has outscored its opponents by 79 points and outrebounded them by 68.

During the regular season, George, Granger, Hibbert, Hill and West started just eight games together, and the Pacers were 7-1 in those games. They played just 229 minutes together and outscored their opponents by 72 points.

In the playoffs, they’ve already played together for 176 minutes, and the formula continues to be successful.

This postseason, Indiana’s starting five:

• Has more than double the second-chance points (70) of any other five-man lineup. (Second are the Lakers and Magic with 30.)

• Leads all lineups in points in the paint (152) and points off turnovers (58).

• Has outscored its opponents by 56 points in the paint (152-96), has 30 more second-chance points (74-44) and 18 more fast-break points (42-24).

When George, Granger, Hibbert, Hill and West were on the court in Game 3, they outscored the Heat 68-40.

The starting five shot 52 percent from the field (including 6-of-10 on 3-pointers) and outrebounded the Heat 32-15. That lineup held the Heat to 33 percent shooting from the field and 1-of-10 on 3-point attempts. They also outscored the Heat 13-0 on second-chance points.

Every other Pacers lineup was outscored by nine.

Since the 2008 playoffs, only four lineups have finished with a plus-minus that’s been as good as Indiana’s +79. Three of those teams reached the NBA Finals and two won the NBA championship, including the Mavericks’ lineup last year of Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders -- details below.

The Mavericks, the oldest team in the league, pulled all the old man maneuvers out of their bag of tricks to keep up with the young and talented Oklahoma City Thunder Thunder on Thursday.

With the season slipping away, Jason Terry had to try something. So as he dribbled the ball across the court, James Harden on his hip, Terry laid down a flop that contains all the classic elements you would expect from such a seasoned veteran.

Note the subtle headwhip, the way he flings out his left arm as though Harden just stuck him with a cattle prod, how he suddenly loses control of his left foot, dragging it behind him as he tumbles to the hardwood.

Was there a trip wire on the court? Did James Harden's beard exerts mystical gravitational forces that caused Terry to lose his balance?

In technique, this actually looks a lot like an egregious soccer flop, or "dive." But there are no yellow cards for simulating a foul in the NBA.

On the contrary, even though watching Harden reveals he couldn't have possibly fouled Terry, the veteran got the call -- even if the Thunder got the game.

When you see an egregious flop that deserves proper recognition, send us a link to the video so we can consider it for Flop of the Night. Here's how to make your submission:

• Alert HoopIdea to super flops with the Twitter hashtag #FlopOfTheNight (follow us on Twitter here).
• Use the #FlopOfTheNight hashtag in Daily Dime Live.
• E-mail us at hoopidea@gmail.com

• J.A. Adande joined Baron Davis on the campus of UCLA, where the Cavs point guard will try to maintain a GPA, not a PER. At Hardwood Paroxysm, Holly MacKenzie shares a story about how, several seasons back, Davis blew her off in a locker room in Seattle, only to track her down later on in the tunnel to make amends: "[Davis] taught me a lesson: players can be cranky, and sometimes you’ll approach them after a bad loss or performance when they’re angry or bitter or caught up in something. But often times, how someone treats you on that single occasion isn’t a fair representation of who that person is."
• Davis coached LeBron James in a Drew League game on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports: "[Drew League director Dino] Smiley said many fans tweeted and sent text messages about James’ arrival. 'Every edge' of the court in the tiny gym, Smiley said, was packed. Smiley said the gym doors were eventually closed shut during James’ game by law enforcement officers, who told fans if they left they couldn’t return"
• Thunderground Radio evaluates how Sam Presti fared in 2010-11. Was the Perkins-Green trade necessary? Can Reggie Jackson make an impact in the backcourt?
• Blake Griffin is a monster and, barring injury, projects to be a indomitable franchise player. For the Clippers, that's the easy part. The more elastic variable for the team is Eric Gordon. If the Clippers aren't able to land a marquee superstar, could they still be a force in the West with Gordon as their featured perimeter threat with Griffin down low, provided DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe continue to grow? Nick Flynt of ClipperBlog takes a look.
• What happened to the Trail Blazers after they broke up their Finals core in 1993? A retrospective from Blazers Edge.
• I'm a sucker for any basketball post that prominently features Bob Walk, who pitched for the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. A pitcher named Walk would the equivalent of a hoopster named Travel. But the thrust of the Negative Dunkalectics' post by Chris George is not the dubiously-named Walk, but the playing career of Warriors head coach Mark Jackson: "Mark Jackson was a comparatively small and non-athletic man, largely informed by a street game, who managed to use a few moves over and over again to put up much better numbers than he 'should' have. The combination of the back down, the baby hook, the no-look passes, the teardrop, and the push shot made him one of the most frustrating point guards of his era, even if he never had the ability to be a true star."
• Jason Terry delivered the first pitch at Sunday's Texas Rangers game to Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler. Dirk Nowitzki via Twitter: "Was jet's first pitch at rangers game better than mine? Didn't anyone see it? Let me know."
• Who is Manuel Velez Pangilinan? He's the very wealthy, very influential guy behind the pair of exhibition games at Araneta Coliseum in Manila between a slew of NBA stars and standouts from the Philippine Basketball Association. The two games were standing room only and tickets on the secondary market ran as much as four times face value.
• The WNBA named its 15 best players ever. Ball in Europe follows with its 15 best Euroleague women players in history.
• Hakeem Olajuwon, Marco Belinelli and Hedo Turkoglu: Each initially excited Raps fans when he signed on the dotted line, only to fall way short of expectations. For good measure, five Raptors draft picks that raised eyebrows.
• Six years prior to putting on a Raptors jersey, Olajuwon logged 39 points and 17 rebounds in the Game 6 clincher of the 1995 Western Conference finals against the Spurs. NBA Off-Season presents another in their Lockout Classics series.
• If Kobe Bryant is Derek Jeter, then Derek Fisher is Jorge Posada. Does that make Robert Horry Scott Brosius?
• Look out, Monday. Wes Matthews is in mission mode.
• Kings big man Jason Thompson: "Congrats to the NFL on ending their Lockout....NOW its OUR TURN!!!!"

The Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA championship behind 27 points from Jason Terry and 21 points and 11 rebounds from Dirk Nowitzki. The latter took home the Finals MVP award after averaging 26 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in the series.

Nowitzki is the 11th player in NBA history with at least 10 NBA All-Star appearances, an MVP award and a Finals MVP award. Seven of the other 10 are members of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the other three -- Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant -- are near-locks to be enshrined once they are eligible.

Although Nowitzki was outscored by a teammate off the bench in the clinching game, he still scored 10 in the fourth quarter and played well the whole series when it mattered most.

Only O’Neal and Michael Jordan averaged more points in the fourth quarter in the NBA Finals in the past 20 seasons.

Terry struggled in the first three games of the series and went scoreless when guarded by LeBron James in the fourth quarter. Then he questioned whether James could guard him for the entire series and went about proving himself right. He increased his scoring by nearly 50 percent and nearly tripled his fourth-quarter scoring output in the final three games of the series.

Terry’s 368 points were the most by a bench player in a single postseason in the past 25 years, and his 18 points per game was the highest in the NBA Finals for a player who didn’t start a game since Freddie Brown averaged 19.1 for the Sonics in 1978.

While Nowitzki shined, Miami struggled late in games.

The Mavs outscored the Heat 75-49 in the last five minutes of the six games, nearly doubled their rebounding total (29-15) and forced 14 turnovers while committing just six of their own.

In fact, Nowitzki scored as many fourth-quarter points by himself as James and Dwyane Wade combined in the series. In crunch time -- defined as the last five minutes of the game with the score within five points -- he outscored the entire Miami roster.

James went 0-for-7 from the field and went scoreless during crunch time in this series and didn’t even attempt a free throw.

That continued a pattern of decreasing aggressiveness -- he averaged 8.4 free throws per game during the regular season and 9.1 in his first three postseason series. In the NBA Finals, he averaged just 3.3 free throws per game and never had more than four in a single game.

In 86 previous postseason games, James had never come close to attempting so few free throws in any six-game span. In his playoff career, his teams are 4-9 when he attempts four or fewer free throws and 52-27 when he takes five or more.

Prior to the 2011 NBA Finals, under the current 2-3-2 format (which began in 1985) in the NBA Finals, when a series was tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 won the series 100 percent of the time (11-0). The Miami Heat became the first team in NBA history to win Game 3 under those circumstances and lose the NBA Finals.

For the first time in NBA history, the Larry O’Brien Trophy is headed to Dallas.

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat 105-95, becoming the fourth franchise in the past 20 postseasons to claim their first NBA title (2006 Heat, 1999 San Antonio Spurs and 1994 Houston Rockets).

They became the fifth team to win the NBA title as a No. 3 seed or lower since the current NBA playoff format began in 1984.

Jason Terry led the Mavericks with a game-high 27 points off the bench, scoring 19 in the first half.

Terry tied for the most points off the bench by a player in a series-clinching NBA Finals win since the NBA-ABA merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Manu Ginobili had 27 points when the Spurs beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (and LeBron James) in 2007.

Despite shooting 9-of-27 from the field in the series clincher, Dirk Nowitzki finished with 21 points including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Such efforts down the stretch, in addition to his overall performance for the series, earned Nowitzki the NBA Finals MVP. Nowitzki is just the fourth player born outside the U.S. to win the Finals MVP.

Nowitzki entered this postseason having scored 22,792 points in the regular season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the fourth-most by a player at the time of his first NBA title, trailing only Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, and West.

LeBron James led Miami with 21 points and Dwyane Wade added 17 points, but the two combined for 11 of the Heat's 17 turnovers.

For the series, James and Wade combined for 62 fourth-quarter points. Nowitzki, by himself, scored a total of 62 points in the fourth quarter of the series.

While James had a better showing in the fourth quarter in Game 6 than in previous games, his overall scoring was still well below his standards.

He finished with a 17.8 scoring average for the series, 8.9 points worse than what he averaged during the regular season (26.7).

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 8.9 points per game differential is the largest dropoff from the regular season to the NBA Finals in NBA history (among players who averaged at least 25 PPG during the regular season).

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle improves to 11-3 all-time in potential series-clinching games, the best record in such games in NBA history (min. 10 games).

Carlisle joins Pat Riley (1982 Lakers) as the only coaches in the last 30 seasons to win an NBA title in their Finals coaching debut with a team that had a worse regular season record than its opponent.

And at 38 years old Jason Kidd became the second-oldest player to start in and win the NBA Finals. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was older. He won in 1987 and 1988 with the Lakers at ages 39 and 40.

Kidd and Nowitzki become the fifth and sixth players in NBA history to win their first NBA title after already making 10 or more All-Star teams.

The others? Jerry West, Kevin Garnett, Oscar Robertson and Elvin Hayes.

Following a 16-5 run that gave them a four-point lead with under five minutes remaining it appeared that the Miami Heat would be heading back to South Beach with a commanding 3-2 series edge.

However, as they have shown time and again this postseason the Dallas Mavericks refused to quit and they finished Game 5 on a 17-4 run to push the Heat to the brink of elimination.

It was all about execution down the stretch as the Heat turned the ball over three times on their final 10 possessions while going 1-for-6 from the field. The Mavericks were 4-for-6 down the stretch and made each of their last three 3-point field goal attempts as part of the game-ending run. In each of their three wins this series the Mavericks have overcome a late fourth quarter deficit.

After enduring an offensive struggle in the first four games of the series -- the teams combined to average 88.4 points per game on 42.1 field goal shooting entering Game 5 -- both squads shot over 50 percent from the field and eclipsed the 100-point mark in the NBA Finals for the first time this series.

The difference though was behind the arc as the Mavericks made 13 3-point field goals, tied for the second-most all-time in an NBA Finals game, doing so on just 19 attempts.

The 68.4 percent shooting from 3-point range was the third-highest in an NBA Finals game over the last 20 postseasons in which a team attempted at least 15 3-point field goals.

The Mavericks also won despite being outrebounded by 10. They are the first team since the 1998 Chicago Bulls to win an NBA Finals game despite allowing an opponent to shoot at least 50 percent from the field and have a -10 rebounding margin.

Dirk Nowitzki was stellar again leading the Mavericks with 29 points and Dallas' supporting cast came up huge, especially its guards.

Jason Terry (21 points), JJ Barea (17) and Jason Kidd (13) each set series highs in points. According to Elias the trio of guards became the first set of teammates to each have 10 points, five assists and three 3-pointers in an NBA Finals game.

Terry in particular was huge in the fourth quarter as all eight of his points in the final frame came in the last 3:23 of the game. After getting called out following Game 3 for struggling in the fourth quarter, in part due to being defended by Lebron James, Terry has outscored James 16-2 in the fourth quarter of Games 4-5. Overall he scored eight points when guarded by James in Game 5, including making two key 3-pointers down the stretch.

Speaking of James, he rebounded off his playoff-low eight-point performance in Game 4 to notch his first career triple-double in an NBA Finals game, becoming the fifth player in the last 25 seasons to record a triple-double in the NBA Finals and lose.

A main reason the Heat lost Game 5 was they were at their worst when the 'Big Three' were on the court together. When James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were on the floor at the same time, Miami was outscored by 14 points.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to yet another comeback win in the playoffs. Dallas trailed by 4 points entering the final quarter, but closed the game on a 21-9 run to even the NBA Finals at two games apiece.

This was the sixth time this postseason that the Mavericks won a game in which they trailed entering the final quarter. The Elias Sports Bureau reports that it’s the most comeback wins of that kind by a team in a single postseason since the 1989 Pistons, who also had six en route to the NBA title.

The Heat made just three field goals in the final 9:58 of the game, and missed their last nine field goal attempts from beyond 15-or-more feet in the final 10 minutes. That is the most misses by Miami without a make from this range in the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter/overtime this season.

Nowitzki went just 2-for-6 from the field in the fourth quarter, but made all six of his free throws to lead the Mavericks down the stretch. Dirk did miss an earlier free throw attempt in the third quarter, ending his streak of consecutive free throws made this series at 26. According to Elias, that was the longest streak in a single Finals series since Clyde Drexler made 28 straight in 1992.

One of the big story lines heading into Game 4 was the comments made by Jason Terry and how LeBron James would guard him in the fourth quarter. Terry backed up his talk and nearly outscored the Heat's Big Three by himself down the stretch. Terry had 8 points in the final quarter and didn't turn the ball over while Wade, James and Bosh combined for 9 points and five turnovers.

James finished with 8 points, the first time in his 90 career playoff games that he was held to single-digit points. His teams are now 0-7 when he scores 15 points or fewer in a postseason game. James attempted just one shot in the fourth quarter and failed to score despite playing all 12 minutes. This is just the second time he’s failed to score in the final period of any playoff game.

Dirk’s dominating performance and LeBron’s disappearing act in the fourth quarter this game continues a trend from the entire series. Nowitzki has now outscored James 44-9 in the final period, making as many field goals as James has attempted while making six times as many free throws.

Has this been the most exciting Finals ever? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is just the third NBA Finals to have three straight games decided by three points or fewer. The only others were in 1947 and 1948 -- the first two Finals series ever played.

The series is now tied at two and Game 5 in Dallas Thursday night looms large. In NBA Finals history, the Game 5 winner of a tied series goes on to win the series 73 percent of the time (19-7).

Because of his lack of scoring, much has been made about how ineffective LeBron James has been in the fourth quarter of the NBA Finals. However, as James pointed out, his contributions have been made with his defense and playmaking.

In the fourth quarter of the finals, James has scored 9 points compared to Dwyane Wade’s 23. That discrepancy has led to the argument that Wade has been far more effective late in games. However, James also has five fourth-quarter assists that have led to 12 points. Looking at Points Created, James has accounted for just 8 fewer points than Wade on the offensive end. (Wade has three fourth-quarter assists that have led to 6 points.)

But what about the defense? Synergy Sports video tracking looks at the number of times Player X guarded Player Y and can determine how many points were scored in a given matchup.

As Dirk Nowitzki said on Monday: "They keep sticking him on Jet (Jason Terry) in the fourth quarters and he's been doing a good job ... "

The numbers agree.

In the fourth quarter, James has been Terry’s primary defender on seven plays, holding him to zero points on 0-of-5 shooting. James also has been effective on others (Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd), allowing a total of 5 points on 10 plays.

The first graphic (above) is a postseason breakdown of plays, points and points per play averaged by notable Mavericks leading into the Finals.

The second graphic breaks down of the number of plays in which James spent as the primary on-ball defender. Taking each player’s average points per play and multiplying it by the number of plays in which they were guarded by James, we get an expected number of points equal to 8.61.

Since James has allowed just 5 points, his fourth-quarter defense has saved Miami 3.61 points. Wade has saved 2.59 points. In other words, James has been a point more valuable on the defensive end of the floor.

By taking into account James’ value as a facilitator and defender, James’ worth in terms of Net Points is 24.61, compared to 31.59 for Wade. Although the concept of defensive points saved is admittedly rough, it helps quantify a player’s contributions on the defensive end of the floor.

In a game that featured four lead changes and nine ties, the Miami Heat went ahead for good on a Chris Bosh jumper with less than 40 seconds to play to hang on to an 88-86 Game 3 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Bosh finished with 18 points as the Dallas native finally won a game in Big D after eight previous losses there. It was just the Heat's second win in their last 13 trips to Dallas including the regular season.

Dirk Nowitzki led all scorers with 34 points, including the final 12 for Dallas. He tied the game at 86 with a jumper with 1:40 left, but the Heat would not allow the Mavericks to score again forcing a turnover and two missed shots on Dallas' final three possessions. One of those misses was the potential game-tying field goal by Nowitzki as time expired.

In the final period, Nowitzki did not get much help from his teammates. Jason Terry was 0-for-4 from the field in the fourth and Shawn Marion did not attempt a field goal despite playing all but four seconds in the quarter.

Nowitzki has made all 24 of his free throws in this year's NBA Finals, including 9-for-9 from the line in Game 3. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the longest streak of consecutive free throws made to begin an NBA Finals since Reggie Miller made his first 25 shots from the line during the 2000 Finals.

Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 29 points and 11 rebounds, making eight of his 12 field goals within five feet. Wade leads all players this postseason with most field goals made from that range.

The Mavericks bench scored just 25 points, the third time this series it has been held to fewer than 30 points. Dallas is now 10-12 this season when its bench scores 29 or fewer points compared to 60-18 when scoring 30 or more.

The Heat are now 27-15 this season when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combine to score between 60 and 74 points. They scored 64 on Sunday.

Miami is two wins away from its second title in the last six seasons and history is on the Heat's side. Since the NBA Finals went to the 2-3-2 format beginning in 1985, (when the series has been tied, 1-1) the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the championship all 11 times.

The Dallas Mavericks ended the game on a 22-5 run, holding the Miami Heat to 1-for-10 shooting over the final 6:19. The Mavericks made nine of their final 10 shots covering the same span.

Dallas is the first team to win an NBA Finals game after trailing by 15 points in the fourth quarter since June 14, 1992, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Portland Trail Blazers (according to Elias).

Through three quarters, the Heat were 17-for-26 from inside 15 feet, with Dwyane Wade going 10-for-11. In the fourth, they stopped going inside, attempting just four of their 18 shots from inside 15 feet. Over the final 6:19, Miami attempted only one shot from that range, a missed layup by LeBron James.

Dirk Nowitzki scored the Mavericks’ last nine points, going 4-for-5 from the floor, and scored or assisted on 12 of their last 14 points. Jason Terry scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs shot 54.3 percent (19-for-35) when Nowitzki had a touch on the possession, including 77.8 percent (7-for-9) in the fourth.

Chris Bosh got the call to guard Nowitzki on the final Mavericks possession. In Game 1, Nowitzki was 0-for-2 when guarded by Bosh, but that changed in Game 2. Nowitzki was 2-for-2 and scored six points -- including the game-winning field goal -- with Bosh defending.

It’s the fifth time this postseason Dallas has won after trailing through three quarters, tied for the most over the past 15 seasons (2010-11 Heat and 2002-03 Mavericks).

Three times during this postseason a team has come back from a deficit of 15 points or more. According to Elias, it occurred just once in the previous 10 NBA postseasons; in 2002 the Boston Celtics came back to beat the New Jersey Nets.

Wade finished with 36 points, the fifth time in his past six NBA Finals games with at least 35 points. Entering tonight, the Heat were 11-0 in playoff games in which Wade scored 35. Wade had 13 of Miami's 34 field goals.

James scored 20 points, but didn't make a field goal in the fourth quarter, going 0-for-4, including 0-for-2 from three-point range. His only two points came from the free throw line.

The Dallas Mavericks have won seven straight postseason games, with their last loss coming in Game 4 of the first round against the Trail Blazers -- nearly a month ago. The Mavericks are 6-0 at home this postseason; they have won nine straight home games including the regular season and last lost at home on April 6 to the Nuggets.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are just 2-4 on the road in this postseason, but are 6-1 at home. They are allowing 106.3 points per game (-3.1 PPG margin) on the road and just 95.3 at home (+8.8).

The story in Game 1 involved Dirk Nowitzki. The Thunder fouled Nowitzki 16 times, sending him to the line 24 times. Nowitzki made all 24 free throws, the most in a game without a miss in the history of the NBA (regular or postseason).

Seven different players picked up at least one foul on Nowitzki, including Serge Ibaka, who got all five of his when guarding the Dallas star.

It was clear from the start that the Mavericks’ plan was for Nowitzki to be aggressive. In three of the four quarters, he took his first shot attempt within the first 63 seconds. In the second quarter, his first shot took just over three minutes.

Nowitzki was very effective in post-up situations, primarily posting up on the right block. In 15 plays on the right block, he was 6-for-8 from the field, drew six fouls and committed just one turnover.

Somewhat lost in the hoopla surrounding Nowitzki’s performance and the Mavericks’ Game 1 win was a pretty good effort by Kevin Durant. He was 10-for-18 from the field and 18-for-19 from the free throw line, scoring 40 points.

Look for Oklahoma City to get their superstar moving Thursday. Durant scored 1.15 points per play when he was static -- which includes isolation plays, post-ups and spot-ups -- but was even better when on the move. In transition, coming off screens and on the pick-and-roll, he scored 1.41 points per play, making seven of his 11 field goal attempts while moving.

The other Thunder star, Russell Westbrook, really struggled in Game 1. He was 3-for-7 from the field from six feet and in; from beyond six feet, Westbrook missed all eight shots.

It’ll be interesting to see how often Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins are on the court together in Game 2. Oklahoma City was outscored by 19 points when that combination was on the court in Game 1.

The game-changers in Game 1 for the Mavericks were Nowitzki and Jason Terry. When that combination was on the court in Game 1, Dallas was +18, the best plus/minus for any two-man combination in the game.

The Dallas Mavericks rode the hot shooting of reserves Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic as they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to finish off a four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions.

Terry (32 points), Jose Juan Barea (22) and Stojakovic (21) led a Mavericks bench that made 17 3-point field goals and matched the entire Lakers team with 86 points.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this marked the first time since the NBA merger that a team had three players score at least 20 points off the bench in any playoff game.

The Mavericks bench was the story of the series as they outscored the Lakers reserves by 109 points in the four games.

Dallas also took advantage from beyond 3-point range as they tied an NBA playoff record in Game 4 with 20 3-point field goals made. Only the 1996 Seattle SuperSonics made as many 3-point field goals in a single playoff game.

For the series, the Mavericks made 49 3-point field goals, an NBA record for a four-game playoff series. L.A. made just 15 three-point field goals, and went just 4-for-31 from three-point range in the fourth quarter during the series.

Dallas did most of its damage off of catch-and-shoot jumpers, according to game-tracking. The Mavericks hit 18-of-30 jump shots without taking a dribble in Game 4.

The alarming part for the Lakers is more than one-third of those shots came from Mavericks shooters who were unguarded. The Mavericks made 8-of-11 field goal attempts, all coming from 3-point range, when left unguarded by Lakers defenders.

The 36-point loss for the Lakers marked the fourth time the franchise lost a playoff elimination game by 30 points. Three of those four losses have come since 2006.

The game got out of hand for the Lakers in the second quarter when they were outscored 36-to-16. Entering Game 4, the second quarter was the only one the Lakers had been outplaying the Mavericks, entering Sunday's series clincher with a +21 point margin.

Kobe Bryant finished off a disappointing series with just 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field. Game footage showed only two of those shots came from within five feet of the basket, and Kobe missed both.

Bryant appeared to show some fatigue from all the games he has accumulated the past few years, settling mostly for jumpers throughout the series. Only seven of his 83 field goal attempts came from within five feet of the basket, generating only four points.

In the first round against the New Orleans Hornets, Bryant found it much easier to get into the paint, scoring 30 points while making 60 percent of those attempts within five feet.

He finished the 2011 postseason averaging just 22.8 points, his lowest postseason average since the 2000 playoffs.

This marked just the third time Kobe has been on the wrong end of a four-game sweep, and the seventh time the Lakers were swept in a seven-game series in franchise history.

Since Kobe Bryant became a regular starter for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1998–99, the Lakers have fallen behind 2–0 in five previous playoff series. The Lakers were 4–1 in the pivotal "must-win" third games of those series with Bryant leading with way with 32.4 points per game.

Friday it was a different story as the Lakers fell to the Dallas Mavericks marking the first time the Lakers have trailed 3-0 in a best-of-7 series under Phil Jackson.

Dirk Nowitzki finished with 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor as he notched his 10th straight playoff game with 20-plus points. Nowitzki feasted on Pau Gasol offensively as 27 of his 32 points came while being guarded by Gasol. This continued a series-long theme as Nowitzki is now 16-of-19 from the floor for 40 points against Gasol in the series.

The Mavericks bench once again outscored the Lakers bench, this time 42-15, led by Jason Terry (23) and Peja Stojakovic (15). Stojakovic contributed 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Speaking of the fourth quarter, the Mavericks outscored the Lakers 20-7 in the final five minutes of the game. For the series, the Lakers have now been outscored by a combined 27 points in the fourth quarter.

As mentioned above Bryant has averaged over 32 points per game in Game 3 when trailing 2-0. Friday he had just 17 points, which is tied for his second-lowest output this postseason. Andrew Bynum was the lone bright spot as he led the Lakers with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but finished with just three points in the fourth quarter.

Phil Jackson and the Lakers not only find themselves in a huge hole, but also in very unfamiliar territory. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that this is the first time in 65 playoff series as a head coach that Jackson has lost the first three games of a postseason series. Game 4 is Sunday in Dallas and the Lakers will try to avoid becoming the sixth defending champion in NBA history to get swept in a best-of-7 series (2007 Miami Heat, 1996 Houston Rockets, 1991 Detroit Pistons, 1983 & 1989 Lakers).

And in case you were wondering, none of the 98 NBA teams to trail a series 3-0 have come back to win.

With the NBA playoffs beginning Saturday, here are some nuggets to get you ready for the playoffs in the West:

1 San Antonio Spurs vs 8 Memphis Grizzlies
(Split season series 2-2)

• This is the 14th straight season the Spurs are in the playoffs, the longest active streak in the NBA.

• Game tape shows us this could be a battle of strength vs strength. San Antonio is one of three teams that held opponents under 13 transition points per game this season. Memphis is 24-12 in its last 36 games largely due to their outstanding play in transition where they have outscored opponents by 150 points.

• The Grizzlies franchise not only has never won a playoff series, it has never won a playoff game. In three playoff trips, the Grizzlies were swept each time. According to Elias, the Grizzlies’ 12 losses before its first win are an NBA postseason record. The previous record was six held by the Nets.

2 Los Angeles Lakers vs 7 New Orleans Hornets
(Lakers won season series 4-0)

• One and done? Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher are 27-0 in the postseason when winning game one.

• Elias tells us since the NBA playoffs expanded to 16 teams during the 1983-84 season, four teams that were swept by their opponent during the regular season were able to pull off the victory in the postseason.

• Chris Paul is the only player in NBA history with career averages of 20 points per game and 10 assists per game in postseason play (21.9 PPG, 11.0 APG in 17 games)

3 Dallas Mavericks vs 6 Portland Trail Blazers
(Split season series 2-2)

• The Mavericks are in the postseason for the 11th straight season, joining the Spurs as the only active teams with double-digit streaks. In three of their last four trips to the postseason, Dallas has lost in the first round, including twice as the higher seed (2007, 2010).

• Game footage shows the combination of Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry has scored the second-most points (1,385) in the fourth quarter/overtime of games this season.

• The Trail Blazers have lost six consecutive postseason series, the longest active losing streak in the NBA. Their last series victory was the 2000 Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz.

4 Oklahoma City Thunder vs 5 Denver Nuggets
(OKC won season series 3-1)

• Oklahoma City was tied for the third-youngest team in the NBA this season according to average age (25.4 years). However the Thunder has 208 combined games of playoff experience thanks to the addition of Kendrick Perkins (68 playoff games).

• Since the Carmelo Anthony trade, the Nuggets have picked up the pace on offense. In its last 24 games, Denver is averaging over 20 transition points per game, and outscoring opponents by 8.3 transition points per game.

• How important is Game 1 of this series? George Karl is 0-10 in any best-of-seven series in which his team loses Game 1.

The Miami Heat may not be in the NBA’s elite just yet.

A loss to the Boston Celtics dropped the Heat to 1-6 against teams with the top six records in the NBA (Celtics, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks).

A major issue for the Heat has been their inability to score on the fast break. They’ve averaged only nine fast-break points per game against top-6 teams, but 15.1 points against all other opponents. They managed only seven against the Celtics on Sunday.

A key and unusual moment in Sunday's loss was LeBron James missing one of two free throws with :12.5 left in the game while the Heat were trailing by two points. Entering Sunday's game, James was 20-for-20 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, with less than 1:00 left and the score within five points. No other NBA player had a perfect percentage with as many attempts this season. Next on the perfect list is Jason Terry, who is 16-16.

The Heat have now lost 13 of 14 to the Celtics since the start of the 2007-08 season (the first year that the Celtics had Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce). The only team whom they are worse against is the Mavericks (0-8).

The Celtics won despite Pierce going 0-for-10 from the field. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the first time the Celtics have won a game in which they had a player go 0-for-10 or worse from the field since Gene Conley (who played in both the NBA and Major League Baseball) went 0-for-10 in a 120-114 win against the Syracuse Nationals on March 4, 1959.

Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers and won their first road game of the season, snapping an 0-25 start on the road. The 25-game road losing streak was the third-longest to start a season in NBA history.

The Cavaliers, who were looking for their first win streak since November, failed to string together consecutive wins. Each of the six times they have won a home game this season, they’ve dropped their next game, and are 2-7 overall following a win this season.

The other big matchup of the day was between the 2008-09 NBA Finals participants. The Orlando Magic snapped the Lakers' four-game win streak and snapped their own eight-game losing streak to teams with records greater than .500. Their last such win came on January 8 at the Mavericks. The Magic were led by Dwight Howard who notched his ninth 30-point, 10-rebound game of the season. Only Blake Griffin (10) has more.