NBA | Mavs overcome a 24-point deficit
DALLAS - Devin Harris got the record-setting rally started for the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki had the perfect ending that finally put them on top.
Once again, a 24-point lead wasn’t enough for Toronto against Dallas.
Nowitzki hit four consecutive three-pointers in the final 1:41 of the third quarter, when the Mavericks went ahead to stay on their way to a 105-99 victory Tuesday night. It was their largest comeback ever to win a game in regulation.
“Dirk’s stretch is what really put the game away for us,” Harris said.
Only after Harris keyed a 12-0 run right before halftime that cut the deficit in half.
“Devin came in and got us going. We really picked up our energy when he came in,” Nowitzki said. “We were kind of sleepwalking.”
The first of Nowitzki’s clutch three-pointers tied it at 70, then he made another and another. Those three long-range shots came within a minute of each other, and Nowitzki made the last with 1.4 seconds left in the third quarter for a 79-72 lead.
Those were his only three-pointers in the game, all on passes from Jason Terry.
“Jet kept looking for me on the screen-roll,” said Nowitzki, who came in shooting 26 percent from long range. “I’ve been struggling with the three-ball, and when I got the first to go down, I got my confidence going.”
Nowitzki scored 18 of his season-high 32 points in the third quarter, when the Mavs outscored Toronto 38-17. It was their highest-scoring quarter this season and erased a 14-point halftime deficit.
“He stepped up and played better,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said of Nowitzki. “We did a lot of good things, but we just couldn’t hold it together.”
Dallas also overcame a 24-point deficit against Toronto in February 2006, but won that game in overtime. The Raptors have never blown a bigger lead to lose, and now they’ve done it twice against Dallas.
“We were supposed to do a lot better job of trapping Jason Terry and making that kickback pass a little tougher to Dirk,” Chris Bosh said.