In my Statistical Roundup at the start of the series I calculated which team should hold what advantage throughout the series. Here's a look at the series numbers compared to the prediction. "Advantage" now is the actual one and "Prediction" the values of the Roundup.

	DAL	POR	Advantage	Prediction
Efficiencies	112.51	106.28	DAL +6.23	DAL +1.45
Scoring Margin (Points Scored)	560	529	DAL +5.17	DAL +2.70
Points per Game	93.3	88.2	DAL +5.10	DAL +1.35
Points in the Paint per Game	37.0	40.0	POR +3.0	POR +2.65
Fastbreak Points per Game	8.2	12.2	POR +4.0	DAL +1.05
Field Goals Attempted pp100	88.80	88.20	DAL +0.60	POR +3.9
Field Goals Made pp100	40.38	39.98	DAL +0.40	DAL +0.15
Field Goal Percentage	45.48%	45.33%	DAL +0.15%	DAL +2.22%
3-Field Goals Attempted pp100	24.31	20.09	DAL +4.22	DAL +1.5
3-Field Goals Made pp100	9.24	6.03	DAL +3.21	DAL +1.0
3-Field Goal Percentage	38.02%	30.00%	DAL +8.02%	DAL +2.22%
Free Throws Attempted pp100	29.13	25.92	DAL +3.21	DAL +0.4
Free Throws Made pp100	22.50	20.29	DAL +2.21	DAL +0.2
Free Throw Percentage	77.24%	78.29%	POR +1.05%	POR +0.51%
Effective Field Goal Percentage	50.68%	48.75%	DAL +1.93%	DAL +2.97%
True Shooting Percentage	55.36%	53.35%	DAL +2.01%	DAL +2.79%
Free Throws / Field Goals Attempted	25.34%	23.01%	DAL +2.33%	DAL +1.15%
Defensive Rebounding Percentage	75.56%	71.55%	DAL +4.01%	POR +1.25%
Offensive Rebounding Percentage	28.45%	24.44%	DAL +4.01%	POR +1.25%
Steals pp100	6.23	6.83	POR +0.60	POR +1.1
Turnover Percentage	14.47%	13.86%	POR +0.61%	POR +1.71%
Assist Percentage	56.72%	51.26%	DAL +5.46%	DAL +1.32%
Assist/Turnover-Ratio	1.58	1.48	DAL +0.10	POR +0.105
Block Percentage	4.98%	7.06%	POR +2.08%	DAL +0.94%
Fouls pp100	23.51	25.11	DAL +1.60	DAL +2.5

the Mavericks could hold their advantages in the overall shooting categories with a huge edge in 3-point territory while Portland remained the team that took better care of the ball. As expected, Portland scored more in the paint but also held the advantage in Fastbreak Points. Dallas was looking to push a lot in the regular season but figured that against a Portland team a slow pace was the better option. In terms of rebounding I stated in the Roundup that the team which will keep the advantage in their superior area (DAL: Defensive Rebounding; POR: Offensive Rebounding) while improving in the other would win the rebounding battle. Dallas did just that. They held their ground against one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the regular season and were able to improve on the offensive glass themselves.
In the West Dallas still owns the best Efficiency Difference in the playoffs and now also the best Offensive Efficiency among all playoff teams. That's quite impressive. Remember that the Hornets were supposed to be cannon fodder and compared to the Lakers Dallas posted better Efficiency numbers in both categories against a much tougher opponent.

Again we'll move on by comparing the starting units. Note that this time I actually did use the real starting lineup for Dallas. Not the one with Terry.

	DAL	POR Lineups	POR	DAL Lineups	Advantage	Prediction
Efficiencies	95.80	98.59	103.05	103.05	POR +1.39	DAL +4.23
Field Goals Attempted pp100	88.36	91.15	88.33	89.56	POR +0.78	POR +4.2
Field Goals Made pp100	37.20	40.92	39.87	40.48	POR +1.56	DAL +2.2
Field Goal Percentage	42.11%	44.90%	45.14%	48.97%	DAL +0.52%	DAL +4.48%
3-Field Goals Attempted pp100	22.32	9.30	13.49	18.40	DAL +8.97	POR +2.65
3-Field Goals Made pp100	9.30	4.65	6.13	6.75	DAL +2.64	POR +0.45
3-Field Goal Percentage	41.67%	50.00%	45.45%	36.67%	POR 8.56%	DAL +2.00%
Free Throws Attempted pp100	17.67	16.74	21.47	23.92	DAL +1.69	POR +0.1
Free Throws Made pp100	12.09	12.09	17.18	15.34	POR +0.92	DAL +0.4
Free Throw Percentage	68.42%	72.22%	80.00%	64.10%	POR +9.85%	POR +0.33%
Effective Field Goal Percentage	47.37%	47.45%	48.61%	48.97%	DAL +0.14%	DAL +4.73%
True Shooting Percentage	49.83%	50.04%	52.70%	51.48%	POR +0.72%	DAL +4.55%
Free Throws / Field Goals Attempted	13.68%	13.27%	19.44%	17.12%	POR +0.95%	DAL +2.55%
Defensive Rebounding Percentage	72.22%	75.00%	79.52%	76.32%	POR +2.99%	DAL +3.40%
Offensive Rebounding Percentage	25.00%	27.78%	23.68%	20.48%	POR +2.99%	DAL +3.40%
Steals pp100	5.58	8.37	6.75	6.13	POR +1.71	POR +3.3
Turnover Percentage	19.53%	15.81%	14.72%	12.27%	POR +3.09%	POR +3.87%
Assist Percentage	60.00%	52.27%	55.38%	57.58%	DAL +4.97%	POR +0.30%
Assist/Turnover-Ratio	1.14	1.35	1.50	1.90	POR +0.09	POR +0.455
Block Percentage	7.37%	7.14%	6.94%	4.79%	POR +0.96%	DAL +1.69%
Fouls pp100s	26.97	24.18	25.15	23.92	DAL +0.78	POR +1.05

Both units couldn't provide an edge for either team. For Dallas, the starting unit remains a problem. It has a negative Efficiency Differential, has been outscored and outrebounded by Portland and posted an atrocious Assist/Turnover-Ratio of 1.14. That's not a good sign going forward. The team has been haunted by slow starts this season and while DeShawn Stevenson provides a defensive spark early in the ballgame he isn't really the type of guy you'll need to get your offense going. Replace Stevenson with Jason Terry and the team jumps to an Efficiency Differential of 44.25 while shooting 57.63%. The Defensive Efficiency remains at a respectable 105.94. That speaks volumes.

At last the benches. Again lineups qualify that consist of at least two bench players and are in the Top5 of all bench lineups in terms of possessions played.

	DAL	POR Lineups	POR	DAL Lineups	Advantage	Prediction
Efficiencies	129.63	110.46	107.14	128.14	DAL +20.09	DAL +1.31
Field Goals Attempted pp100	92.43	89.04	93.86	81.45	POR 4.51	POR +1.55
Field Goals Made pp100	47.34	40.58	41.62	40.72	DAL +2.93	DAL +0.45
Field Goal Percentage	51.22%	45.69%	44.34%	50.39%	DAL +5.79%	DAL +1.35%
3-Field Goals Attempted pp100	29.30	23.11	28.34	26.55	DAL +2.20	DAL +2.55
3-Field Goals Made pp100	12.40	7.89	7.97	10.62	DAL +3.58	+/- 0
3-Field Goal Percentage	44.46%	35.12%	27.00%	40.96%	DAL +11.65%	POR +4.80%
Free Throws Attempted pp100	27.61	27.61	20.37	44.28	DAL +11.95	DAL +0.2
Free Throws Made pp100	22.54	21.41	15.95	36.31	DAL +10.75	DAL +0.35
Free Throw Percentage	83.36%	77.74%	70.88%	83.34%	DAL +9.04%	POR +0.80%
Effective Field Goal Percentage	58.85%	50.07%	48.48%	56.63%	DAL +8.47%	DAL +1.50%
True Shooting Percentage	62.57%	54.78%	51.92%	64.07%	DAL +9.97%	DAL +1.50%
Free Throws / Field Goals Attempted	25.45%	23.98%	17.00%	46.70%	DAL +15.59%	DAL +0.65%
Defensive Rebounding Percentage	71.00%	72.62%	68.67%	75.45%	DAL +2.58%	POR +1.35%
Offensive Rebounding Percentage	27.38%	29.00%	24.55%	31.33%	DAL +2.58%	POR +1.35%
Steals pp100	7.89	5.07	6.20	4.43	DAL +0.53	POR +1.85
Turnover Percentage	10.70%	15.22%	15.05%	10.63%	DAL +4.47%	POR +0.85%
Assist Percentage	54.19%	56.94%	43.09%	48.43%	DAL +1.30%	POR +2.15%
Assist/Turnover-Ratio	3.30	1.58	1.38	1.78	DAL +1.06	POR +0.205
Block Percentage	6.18%	5.11%	4.63%	5.80%	DAL +1.12%	POR +1.25%
Fouls pp100s	21.98	20.85	29.23	20.37	DAL +3.87	POR +0.15

Here is how the Mavs got their wins. The most frequently used lineups of Dallas consisting of at least 2 bench players outplayed their opponents by a huge margin. 230-196 (+34). Meanwhile, Portlands bench lineups got outplayed by a huge margin. 121-145 (-24). Note that both starting lineups, as mentioned above, couldn't outscore the opponent. Dallas starting unit was 103-106, Portlands 168-168. So it really came down to these alternate lineups. Dallas virtually leads every category despite Field Goals Attempted. But that's due to the fact that Dallas shot Free Throws at an overwhelming rate.

Take what you want from it but it's pretty clear that the starting unit of Dallas won't decide games anytime soon. Looks like Stevenson got the teammates trust right now and because of Roddy's performance and the matchup it's highly unlikely that he will return into the starting unit in the series against the Lakers. So the team will have to hold their ground defensively until the offensive firepower subs in from the bench.

 

Some interesting side notes to statistically wrap the series up:

• In the possessions without LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland posted an EffDiff of +47.85 (DefEff: 62.56). Dallas shot only 21.15% and was outscored 32-60.
• In the possessions without Gerald Wallace, Portland posted an EffDiff of -23.66 (DefEff: 125.87) and got outscored 108-133.
• With Brendan Haywood on the floor, Dallas posted a team-high +13.21 EffDiff (outscored Portland 231-205) and attempted a series-high 34.56 Free Throws pp100 but hit only 69.12% of them.
• With DeShawn Stevenson on the floor, Dallas posted a team-low in both Offensive (91.47) and Defensive (99.42) Efficiency, attempted a series-low 20.68 Free Throws pp100 and hit only 57.69% of them
• Dirk Nowitzki's impact while on the floor: +26.83 EffDiff; +9.39 FG%; +19.53 3FG%
• Dallas Assist/Turnover-Ratio was only 1.16 with Jose Barea on the floor
• Shawn Marion raised Dallas Offensive Rebound Rate by 16.64% (33.96% with him)
• Brendan Haywood's defensive impact: -3.47 DefEff; -4.64 oFG%; -5.94 o3FG%
• Wesley Matthew's presence raised Portland's 3FG% by 10.75%. Brandon Roy decreased it by 18.08%
• With Jason Terry on the floor Dallas posted a team-high Offensive Efficiency of 120.43