The Mavericks were rewarded with a day of rest and while they waited to see if the Denver Nuggets could close out New Orleans late Wednesday night to set up the conference semifinals match, the Mavericks could reflect on their first playoff series win since 2006.

"It's a relief," said Jason Kidd. "Over the course of a long regular season, this team has seen it all. We did our job and won the series.

"But now we have to focus on Denver or New Orleans. If you win in the first round, only to lose in the second, you haven't accomplished anything."

OK, so much for reflecting.

But the Mavericks did accomplish plenty in their 4-1 first-round win. For a team coming off back-to-back first-round losses, moving on is big. And the road to the NBA's version of the Elite Eight was paved with many highlights.

*Josh Howard put his achy ankle and any ghosts of playoffs past behind him to come up with a sterling series.

He averaged 18.8 points and shot 49 percent for the series. His 25-point effort in Game 1 put the Spurs on their heels for the entire series.

And, of course, Howard's robust play made the absence of Manu Ginobili even more telling for the Spurs.

*Erick Dampier never followed through on his pledge to flatten Tony Parker. He didn't have to.

Just giving that impression supplied the Mavericks with an emotional edge that lasted the entire series. It didn't hurt that Dampier had probably the best playoff series of his career. The numbers might not suggest it (8.2 points, 8.2 rebounds), but he was a huge force in the paint and had double-doubles in the first and close-out games.

*Jason Kidd had perhaps the most impressive number of the series: three.

That's how many turnovers he had in five games. Tony Parker had seven in Game 5 alone and 21 for the series.

Kidd is the only player who could challenge Howard as the MVP of the series. He was stellar throughout. And that comes from the people who know him best.

"I can't say enough about what Jason Kidd means to this team," said Jason Terry. "If you can't rally around a guy like that - a veteran, a leader, a hall of famer - and play hard for him, then you don't belong in this league. There is a guy that's playing for more than just a first-round win."

*Rick Carlisle seemed to push all the right buttons and had the Mavericks a step ahead of the Spurs throughout the series.

He called timeouts when they needed to be called, and the Mavericks always seemed to run a productive play when play resumed.

The game plan was spot-on.

*J.J. Barea and Brandon Bass anchored the bench as Terry was suffocated by the Spurs' defense until Game 5.

Barea blinded the Spurs with his speed, and the way he and Bass teamed for 27 points in Game 1 foiled the Spurs' defensive strategy against Dirk Nowitzki and Terry.

To have two young players step up in the playoffs like that will have huge benefits on their confidence in the second round and the coming seasons. The same goes for Antoine Wright.

That the Mavericks were able to wipe out the Spurs in five games with Nowitzki not scoring more than 20 points until the clincher speaks volumes about the way they are playing as a unit with some of the best ball movement and player movement of the season.

Not bad for a team that came into the season with a new coach, a point guard still trying to fit in and more questions than a college finals exam.

"Patience," Kidd said. "That's the key for us. "As much as we wanted it to happen last year, it didn't. It shows the character of this team to be patient and come back and put ourselves in this position. We got four big wins and now it starts over."

FIND THE RESULT of Wednesday night's late New Orleans-Denver game and get live updates on our Mavs blog. dallasnews.com/sports

LATE WEDNESDAY

DALLAS 31 21 30 24 - 106

SAN ANTONIO 20 28 19 26 - 93

DALLAS Min FG

M-A FT

M-A Reb

O-T A PF PTS

Totals 240 38-74 20-25 10-40 20 18 106

Howard 36:57 6-11 4-4 3-8 1 2 17

Nowitzki 41:55 11-17 8-8 2-9 3 2 31

Dampier 40:39 4-6 3-7 4-12 1 4 11

Kidd 41:14 4-11 0-0 1-3 5 4 12

Barea 26:05 3-9 3-4 0-5 5 1 10

Terry 32:58 7-14 2-2 0-2 4 2 19

Bass 12:54 3-6 0-0 0-1 0 3 6

Hollins 0:32 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Wright 6:46 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Pct.: FG .514, FT .800.

3-point goals: 10-20, .500 (Kidd 4-9, Terry 3-5, Nowitzki 1-1, Barea 1-2, Howard 1-3).

Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 11 (17 PTS).

Blocks: 2 (Dampier, Howard).

Turnovers: 10 (Howard 4, Dampier 2, Nowitzki 2, Barea, Bass).

Steals: 8 (Howard 3, Kidd 3, Barea, Nowitzki).

Technical Fouls: None.

SAN ANTONIO Min FG

M-A FT

M-A Reb

O-T A PF PTS

Totals 240 39-75 12-19 9-33 19 24 93

Bowen 21:49 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 2 3

Duncan 41:11 14-21 2-6 2-8 1 1 30

Bonner 10:38 1-4 0-0 0-3 0 0 2

Parker 44:58 11-21 4-4 1-4 12 5 26

Finley 32:48 4-9 1-2 2-4 3 2 9

Thomas 22:00 2-3 2-2 1-5 0 4 6

Mason 12:03 0-2 1-2 0-1 1 1 1

Udoka 21:53 3-4 0-0 1-2 0 5 7

Hill 32:40 3-8 2-3 2-4 0 4 9

Pct.: FG .520, FT .632.

3-point goals: 3-16, .188 (Bowen 1-2, Udoka 1-2, Hill 1-3, Mason 0-1, Bonner 0-2, Finley 0-2, Parker 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Team Turnovers: 11 (17 PTS).

Blocks: 5 (Duncan 2, Thomas 2, Hill).

Turnovers: 10 (Parker 7, Finley, Thomas, Udoka).

Steals: 5 (Hill 2, Bowen, Duncan, Finley).

Technical Fouls: None.

A: 18,797 (18,797). T: 2:28. Officials-Monty McCutchen, Ron Garretson, Greg Willard.