NBA PLAYOFFS — GOLDEN STATE – DALLAS

No brooms on the basketball court at Dallas’ American Airlines Center Tuesday night, only a 16-minute delay when rain leaked through its roof to cause a stoppage of play right after halftime.

After the court a few steps from the team sidelines was wiped down and the roof was repaired to contain the heavy rain, game 4 of the National Basketball Association Western Conference championship continued and the Mavericks avoided being swept by the visiting Golden State Warriors with a 119-109 success, Golden State sharpshooter Stephen Curry did his usual dance steps with a teammate regardless of being at another venue.

No matter, the Warriors still need only one more victory as they now returned home for game 5 of the best-of-7, and this winner gets to face the Eastern Conference survivor with the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics now tied at two games apiece.

Led by leading scorer and bundle of versatility Luka Doncic who earlier in the day was named to the All-NBA First Team, Dallas broke away to an early lead that grew to 29 points before Golden State trimmed it to single digits in the final minutes.

Doncic wound up with 30 points, 14 points and nine assists.

“You got to finish the game,” said the Serbian. “A win is a win and we needed it to keep our season alive.”

The 6-foot-8 Doncic was 10-for-26 shooting from the field and got plenty of help from his supporting cast. It was the 10th double-double in his last 14 games of the post-season following being contained in game 3 by the scrappy Warriors’ defense.

But this time, it was all clear for Doncic and teammates Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith. The latter turned in 23 points that included four 3s, and Bullock added 6-of-10 shooting and all came on 3s. Then there was Jalen Brunson contributing 15 points and Maxi Kelber tallied 13 points, made good on a pair of 3s before halftime, and was 5-for-6 shooting overall.

“Everybody in our locker room felt like we had more basketball to play,” said Finney-Smith, “and we just wanted to get the win any way, which is why we came out desperate in the first half.”

The setback snapped Golden State’s nine-game winning streak in Western Conference finals games, though it is still firmly in control of this series that heads back to California for game 5 on Thursday night.

“Look, we’re playing a very good team,” said Dallas head coach Jason Kidd, who while playing for the then-New Jersey Nets gained NBA back-to-back finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs and lost both times. His lone NBA title came in his return to the Mavericks’ lineup in 2011, with owner Marc Cuban making him his first draft choice after Kidd’s All-America days with the University of California.

Said Cuban after once stellar point guard Kidd coached his franchise to a surprise best-of-7 conference quarterfinals win over conference top-seed Phoenix Suns: “I liked Jason as a player and as a coach. I was happy to draft him, sign him twice to play for me, and also to be my head coach. He is a great leader and a player’s person.”

As for Curry, a high-scoring showboat, he came up with 20 points before replaced by his head coach Steve Kerr in the fourth quarter and returned with 3:22 left after Golden State cut the 29-point gap to 110-102, but it never got closer for him or the other starters who returned to the floor.

“Just made the decision to see if we could off a miracle,” Kerr said, “but it wasn’t meant to be. Dallas was great tonight. It deserved to win. This is the conference finals. This is how it’s supposed to be.”

Curry agreed.

“It was almost like an ego win (for Dallas),” he said. “You came out and really had nothing to loss, so that confidence began early, and we didn’t do anything to slow it down, and that’s when the avalanche starts. So you tip your hat to them.”

Kidd, a true gym rat who loves the game, doesn’t panic, even if no team has ever bounced back from an 0-3 deficit. In fact, only three of the 146 teams to fall into that deep hole have even been able to force a seventh game. The Mavs have been swept in a best-of-7 only once in 34 such series, and that was in the first round against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 playoffs, the year after Dallas won its only NBA championship behind the leadership of the 6-4 Kidd.

The Warriors didn’t lead much, the last time at 31-29, but then they scored only one basket for the next six minutes and a 3-ponter by Davis Bertans brought the Mavericks the lead for good and included a 62-47 advantage at the intermission.

“Well, at least Golden State didn’t bring any brooms,” Kidd said, “and at least we’re still playing as I return to where I played college ball and happy to be coaching Marc Cuban’s team at this stage.”

FATAL NOTES: A moment of silence came just prior to halftime hours after an 18-year-old male gunman opened fire at a Texas elementary school some 375 miles south of Dallas in the small town of Uvalde, which is west of San Antonio in the southern part of the state. The report had 19 children and two adults killed.

The moment also recognized a teacher-coach from Palestine, Tx., who was killed when his car was hit by a wrong-way driver when traveling just more than 100 miles from game 3 on Sunday night. Two students with him were injured.