2010 NBA Playoffs: One More to an Oust?

When my sister told me the Spurs are 2-1, I was like, "Yeah, it's on!"

And I was not mistaken, the San Antonio Spurs won the two home games, putting the Dallas Mavericks on the verge of a first round elimination. The Mavs had an 11-point lead during the first half of the fourth game, which continued down to 14 points. But the Mavs began to miss shots and the stopping the Spurs' Big Three isn't helping. In fact, stopping the Big Three had very little advantage to them because George Hill was the biggest trouble.

Hill led the Spurs with 92-89 win, racking up 29 points and displaying a classic playoffs game. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker had 31 points combined. The very physical game between this Texas rivals left bruises, fouls, but it was the pressure looming for the Mavs' elimination who's going back to Dallas to hopefully seal Game 5 as theirs. “We’re not looking at three straight. We’re just looking at Game 5 and that’s as far as we can look,” said Mavs point guard Jason Kidd. Dallas is now the ninth team to recover from a 3-1 deficit in NBA history.

Now, the trouble is...

For the Spurs, an outraged crowd will be waiting at the American Airlines Center. Will Hill continue to play as he did on Game 4? Will the Big Three be able to come back with more than the 31 combined points they had at the AT&T?

For the Mavs, a looming oust from a 7th-seed team which is unfortunately their long-term Texas rival. They're the best NBA road team, but this is no road game --- this is a home game, an plus for them actually. But just one more loss and they're out of the playoffs.