NBA playoffs: Blazers advance; Raptors and Mavs force 7th games

PORTLAND — A weight has been lifted off Rip City.

For fans, it’s been a long time coming.

Ellis nearly threw the game way for Dallas with the Mavericks up two, but San Antonio was unable to take advantage of his mental error. He threw a pass out of bounds with 1.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, giving San Antonio the final possession of the game. The Spurs came up empty handed, however, and Dallas escaped an incredible fourth quarter with the victory.

The Mavericks held a six-point lead at halftime, but San Antonio outscored Dallas 29-18 in the third quarter. Dallas took back the lead late in the fourth quarter following big plays for Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki and DeJuan Blair. Nowitzki finished the night with 22 points.

The Raptors fought to get within striking distance through the second half, cutting a once-26 point lead down to 10 points, but the Nets avoided the collapse. Brooklyn kept its double-digit lead through the fourth quarter as the Raptors failed to connect on multiple attempts to make it a three-possession game.

Presenting the latest chapter in the NBA Playoffs’ half-assed inter-team rapper beef! Both former Nets part-owner Jay-Z and Raptors ambassador Drake are at Barclays for Game 6. The Nets issued a vaguely threatening tweet when they learned Drake would be in attendance:

How did they show him?

This may come off New-York-exceptionalist, but a lot of us over here in the city of many sports teams and the Post and the Daily News and all that laughed when that “Mr. Unreliable” Oklahoman headline caused such an uproar. Well, I guess it’s not exceptionalist to say New Yorkers can be super mean to athletes. Example:

Yeah, Deron Williams has been struggling against the Raptors, but that’s no way to show him some support before Game 6. I will admit that “Identifying Characteristics: Messed up tattoo on right arm” is totally fair.

Three games highlight the NBA’s Friday night in the playoffs, with three teams looking to advance to the second round. Let’s check out the action.

7 p.m. ET (ESPN 2)

Harden has had a particularly difficult series. The Rockets star guard is averaging 25.4 points per game, but is shooting just 34.7 percent from the field and is jacking up three-pointers at an alarming rate.

But the Rockets still aren’t in control of this series. The Trail Blazers have been good at home all year, and if they are able to make some adjustments to stop Lin or get Aldridge going on the block, they could easily wrap up their first playoff series in 14 years.

That turned the tide in what’s been a surprisingly sloppy series for San Antonio after finishing the regular season with a league-high 62 wins. Parker scored 23 points and had five assists as the Spurs shot an impressive 50 percent from three for the game.

The Mavericks are in an unenviable position, having fought so valiantly to steal a game from the Spurs on their home court in Game 2. Dallas has the benefit of playing its elimination game in front of its own fans, which should help against the dominant Spurs.

Surprisingly, Brooklyn hasn’t been able to keep the Raptors off the glass in its three losses. On Wednesday, the Nets’ offense was too little, too late as they waited until the fourth quarter to score 44 of their 113 points.

If Brooklyn wants to survive and rally toward the championship that its veteran-filled team is built for, it will need to find a way to lock down on the Raptors from the three-point line and keep them off the glass.