The sports world may be focused on the Final Four in Arlington this week, but Tuesday night’s NBA game in Dallas provided early fireworks for the fans. Forty-eight minutes of basketball wasn’t enough for the Warriors and the Mavs, and overtime proved to be just as thrilling.
With 51.8 ticks left in OT and the score at 118-117 in favor of Golden State, the Mavs inbounded the ball. Dirk Nowitzki made the extra pass to Jose Calderon, who nailed a three-pointer to put Dallas up two. On the next possession, the Warriors responded with some good interior passing culminating in a Jermaine O’Neal dunk to tie the game at 120 with 28.5 seconds left.
O’Neal followed up his dunk by coming up with a questionable (Mavs argued goaltending) block of Monta Ellis‘ layup attempt at the rim. With less than 15 seconds left and the score still squared up, Stephen Curry quickly brought the ball down the court and ate up time by toying with Calderon with his dribble. Curry finally made his move of a step-back 21-foot jumper that splashed through the net with 0.1 left on the clock.
The Mavs advanced the ball, but came up short on a tip-in lob — the only way to score with that much time remaining.
Tuesday’s 122-120 loss places the Mavs a half-game back of Memphis and Phoenix for the last two seeds in the Western Conference. Nowitzki finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds while Steph Curry posted 23 points and 10 assists, including the jumper that won the game.
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