DALLAS — It's been quite a start to the postseason for both the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, as each team advanced to their sports' respective conference semifinals.
The Mavs closed out the Los Angeles Clippers in Dallas in Game 6 on Friday night of their first-round playoff series. The fifth-seeded Mavericks beat the Clippers for the the first time in three first-round tries over the past five seasons and will open the Western Conference semifinals at the top-seed, Oklahoma City, on Tuesday night.
The Stars, the No. 1 seed in the West, beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to wrap up the first-round series. The Stars now move on to play the Colorado Avalanche in the second round. Game 1 is in Dallas, also on Tuesday night.
But for two franchises that have had plenty of postseason appearances as well as rebuilding periods, when was the last time both teams made it past the first round during the same year? And what was going on during that time period?
Dallas Mavericks (2002-03)
During the 2002-2003 season, the Dallas Mavericks finished the regular season 60-22, second in the Midwest Division and third in the Western Conference. That offseason, the team signed free agents Walt Williams and Raja Bell while Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash were both selected as All-Stars for the Western Conference.
Nowitzki finished seventh in the Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting while bench sparkplug Nick Van Exel finished fourth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting.
The Mavs were matched up with the No. 6 seed Portland Trail Blazers in the first round that season. Dallas was able to win the first three games of that series before the Blazers rallied back and won the following three games, sending the series to a decisive Game 7. At the time, Portland became just the third team to force a Game 7 after being down 0-3.
Behind 31 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks from Nowitzki, the Mavs beat the Blazers 107-95 to win the series 4-3.
In the conference semifinals, the Mavs faced off against the No. 2 seed Sacramento Kings. Dallas lost to Sacramento in the conference semifinals series 4-1 the previous postseason.
The Kings won Game 1 at home 124-113 while the Mavs took Game 2 (132-110) and Game 3 (141-137 2OT). This series would inevitably go to a Game 7, just like the first round, as the Mavs pulled off another Game 7 victory by beating the Kings 112-99 behind 30 points and 19 rebounds from Nowitzki.
By beating the Kings, the Mavs moved on to the conference finals for the first time since 1988. However, that would be as far as the Mavs went as the No. 1 seed San Antonio Spurs won the series 4-2 with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili leading the way. The Spurs would also go on to win the NBA Championship that season.
The Mavs would not return to the conference finals until 2006.
Dallas Stars (2002-03)
In the 2002-2003 season, the Dallas Stars finished the regular season 46–17–15–4 with 245 goals for and 169 goals against. They were first in the Pacific Division and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Dallas also finished the regular season with the most shutouts in the NHL (11) with Marty Turco as the team's goaltender.
During the offseason, the Stars named Dave Tippett as the team’s new head coach. The team had three All-Stars that season: Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Turco.
The Stars were matched up with the No. 8 seed Edmonton Oilers in the first round that season. This was the sixth time in the last seven years, at the time, that these two franchises were matched up in the playoffs.
After losing two of the first three games, Dallas won Game 4, Game 5 and Game 6, behind three goals from Sergei Zubov and Turco only giving up five goals in those final three games.
In the conference semifinals, the Stars faced off against the No. 7 seed Anaheim Ducks. This was the first time these two teams had played each other in the postseason.
The series started off with one of the Stars' longest playoff games in franchise history with Game 1 taking five overtimes to decide the winner. After four scoreless overtime periods, Ducks Right Wing Petr Sykora scored just 48 seconds into the fifth overtime to hand the Stars a gut-wrenching 4–3 loss.
After getting down 3-1 in the series, Dallas rallied in Game 5 and won 4-1 behind two goals from second-year center Niko Kapanen. However, that would end up being the final victory of the postseason for the Stars as the Ducks would win the series-closing Game 6 4-3 thanks to a goal from Ducks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh with 1:06 left in the third period.
The Stars would not return to the conference semifinals until 2008.
What was happening during these postseason runs
While there were plenty of high-level sports games happening in Dallas during this time period, here is a look back at some other notable things happening the last time the Mavs and Stars were both in the second round of the NBA and NHL playoffs.
- The Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Dave Campo after his third straight season with a 5-11 record.
- Alex Rodriguez was playing in his third and final season with the Texas Rangers.
- No Doubt, Sting and Shania Twain performed at the Super Bowl halftime show.
- "Spider-Man" was the highest-grossing film in the United States ($403,706,375) in 2002 and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" ($377,027,325) in 2003.
- Teen Vogue published it first issue with Gwen Stefani on the cover
- Wicked and Avenue Q made their debuts on Broadway
- Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on what would end up being its last flight.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security began its operations