Mavs Top Blazers In Double OT
DALLAS (Sports Network) - Delonte West scored six of his 10 points in the second overtime period as the Dallas Mavericks took a 97-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at American Airlines Center.
Dirk Nowitzki scored a team-high 20 points for the Mavericks, who led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before allowing Portland to claw its way back into the game.
Jason Terry added 19 points off the bench in Dallas- third straight win.
LaMarcus Aldridge netted a game-high 33 points for the Blazers, including the game-tying bucket with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Aldridge also pulled down 12 rebounds, while Jamal Crawford contributed 19 points for Portland, which dropped its third game in four tries.
"I thought our guys fought tonight to get themselves back into the game, and to give ourselves a chance to win the game," Portland head coach Nate McMillan said. "We have opportunities, and we-ve had them all season long where you-ve got to make plays, you-ve got to make shots, you-ve got to get stops, and, again, tonight we don-t make shots when we have the opportunity."
Dallas held a 43-32 lead at the half, but after a Jason Kidd three-pointer put the Mavericks ahead by 14 points, Portland recorded a 10-2 run to close the gap to 48-42.
The Mavericks, though, responded with eight straight points, capped by back- to-back treys by Lamar Odom and Vince Carter, to regain their 14-point lead.
But the Blazers would not go away, battling back with a 13-5 spurt to cut their deficit to single digits, 61-55, at the end of the third.
Dallas stretched its lead to nine, 68-59, early in the fourth before Portland stormed back again.
Seven straight points by Aldridge cut the Mavs-lead to two, and after Brendan Haywood made 1-of-2 free throws for a 71-68 Dallas lead, Raymond Felton dropped in a game-tying three-pointer with less than five minutes left in the fourth.
Dallas then held an 81-77 advantage with a minute remaining, but Crawford brought the Blazers within two with a driving layup. Nowitzki missed a long two-pointer at the other end, and coming out of a timeout with 29.7 seconds remaining on the clock, Aldridge-s turnaround jumper from the right elbow rattled in to tie the game at 81 with 12 seconds to go.
Nowitzki had a chance for the game-winner on the ensuing possession, but his jumper from the right of the foul line rimmed out at the buzzer, forcing overtime.
Nicolas Batum sank a jumper to open the extra period, giving the Blazers their first lead of the game.
That lead increased to 85-81 on a Crawford bank shot before Dallas scored six straight points to regain the lead as Portland missed its next five shots from the floor.
But an Aldridge hook shot from inside the paint tied the game at 87 with 24.9 left, and Nowitzki-s pull-up jumper from the left baseline bounced off the back of the rim at the other end.
Crawford-s three at the buzzer off an inbounds pass was no good to move the game into the second overtime period.
West then replaced Kidd on the floor for the second overtime and scored Dallas-s first six points to put the hosts on top, 93-89.
"The coaches have shown a lot of trust in me, putting me in in tense situations like that," said West.
Portland managed to tie the game at 93 with less than two minutes to go, but Haywood-s putback with 45.3 seconds left in the second overtime put the Mavs on top for good, 95-93.
Crawford-s game-tying field goal try on the other end was no good, and Nowitzk nailed a fadeaway jumper from the foul line with 16.5 seconds remaining to give Dallas some cushion.
Dallas opted to foul Wesley Matthews on Portland-s next touch. He made the front end of two foul shots before missing the second. A scramble for the rebound ensued, resulting in a jump ball.
The Blazers grabbed possession, but Crawford-s off-balance potential game- tying three at the buzzer banked wide off the backboard, sealing the win for the Mavericks.
A back-and-forth opening three minutes resulted in an 8-8 tie before an 8-0 spurt by the Mavericks gave them a 16-8 advantage.
After trading baskets over the next 2 1/2 minutes, Dallas closed out the first with a 7-2 swing and carried a 25-14 lead into the second quarter.
The Mavs carried the momentum into the second, opening the frame with a 9-2 run to stretch its lead to 34-16.
Portland battled back with a 14-5 run to cut the deficit to 39-30 on Gerald Wallace-s three-point play, but Dallas recorded four of the final six points of the half and held a 43-32 advantage at the break.
Game Notes
Dallas improved to 10-5 at home, while Portland fell to 4-10 on the road...The Trail Blazers have dropped six straight games in Dallas...The Mavericks turned the ball over 23 times, resulting in 23 points for Portland...Dallas had 13 points off 15 Portland giveaways...Portland went 3-for-20 from three-point range...Dallas went 6-for-19 from beyond the arc.
