More Dallas Mavericks Information

Dallas registered its first winning season in 1983-84, its fourth season, when the team posted a 43-39 win-loss record and made its first trip to the playoffs. Solid scoring from Aguirre and Blackman helped the Mavericks defeat the Seattle SuperSonics and advance to the conference semifinals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. During the next two years the club posted winning records, and in the 1985-86 season Dallas beat the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs before again falling to the Lakers in the conference semifinals.

With a lineup of Aguirre, Blackman, Harper, Perkins, and center James Donaldson, the Mavericks won 55 games during the 1986-87 season to finish first in the Midwest Division. Aguirre and Blackman again led the team in scoring. Dallas was upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Seattle SuperSonics. The next year Schrempf and Tarpley contributed solid rebounding to the team and the Mavs bested the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets in the first two rounds of the playoffs to earn a place against the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The series lasted seven games with outstanding play from Donaldson, Harper, and Tarpley, but Dallas came up short in the deciding contest.