Recap: Trail Blazers 94 at Mavericks 97 F/2OT

Earl K. Sneed recaps the Dallas Mavericks' thrilling double-overtime win Saturday night over the Portland Trail Blazers as the defending champs ran their winning streak to three.

DALLAS — It may have been the hardest test the Dallas Mavericks faced en route to last season’s NBA championship. It was also the end of the Portland Trail Blazers’ season.

Before sprinting to the first title in franchise history, the Mavericks collided with the Blazers in a grueling first-round playoff series that went six games. And after holding off Seagoville native LaMarcus Aldridge and the Blazers last season, the defending champion Mavs welcomed in one of the teams they sent home early Saturday night to the American Airlines Center while looking for a third straight victory.

But as they did in the playoffs last season, the Blazers scratched and clawed in a dogfight once again in an epic double-overtime thriller before the Mavericks (17-11) eventually left their home floor with a 97-94 win.

“It was a battle all night long and I thought it was a physical game. We had to dig deep there and grind it out,” leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki said after the win.

The Mavericks would see a very assertive Aldridge in the early minutes of the opening quarter. But just a night after posting a season-high 33 points in a 104-97 win over Minnesota, his fellow All-Star forward, Nowitzki, showed no signs of slowing down while lifting his team to an early advantage. The lead would eventually reach double figures as Nowitzki’s eight first-quarter points led the Mavs to a 25-14 edge after one.

Dallas wouldn’t slow down when the squad handed the responsibilities over to the reserves in the second stanza as Jason Terry began to take over the scoring duties. After the lead reached as much as 18, however, the Blazers charged back into the game with a 9-1 run. But after the Blazers (15-13) trimmed their deficit to single digits, Brandan Wright’s thunderous two-handed slam got the Mavericks back on track. The reigning titleholders then entered the locker room with a 43-32 lead.

Led by Nowitzki’s 12 first-half points to better Aldridge’s 10 in the first two quarters, the Mavericks’ 50 percent shooting bettered the Blazers’ 33.3 percent. Dallas also held a 24-20 rebounding margin after 24 minutes of play in addition to a 24-16 advantage in points in the paint.

In his second outing since returning from a right calf strain that kept him out of six games, point guard Jason Kidd got the Mavs going with a 3-pointer to open the third period. But Nowitzki would lose his touch in the period while his frustration built, earning a technical foul call after arguing with officials following a foul on a driving and-1 score by Gerald Wallace.

The Mavs would briefly rally around their superstar, however, as newcomers Lamar Odom and Vince Carter drained back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Mavs up 56-42 midway through the period. But the Blazers refused to go away, cutting their deficit to just 61-55 entering the fourth.

After Aldridge cut the lead to just four early in the final period, Terry immediately answered with a timely score at the other end. Odom then lent a helping hand, hitting a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Mavericks up 68-59 while forcing a Portland timeout with 8:37 remaining.

“I thought Lamar Odom played one of his best games of the year tonight. He had great energy, he was attacking and he was into the game,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle explained.

“I think right now it’s important for me to play well to give the big fella’ a break without us falling off too much,” Odom added. “When I say the big fella’ I mean Dirk. He deserves a rest, he deserves to be able to come out the game and the team not fall off too much.”

Aldridge continued to keep his team in the game, though, scoring an athletic and-1 inside to cut the Dallas lead to 68-66 with 6:08 left before Raymond Felton tied the game at 71-all with a three. But after Kidd gave the Mavs the lead right back with a long jumper, he then found a cutting Nowitzki at the rim to put their team ahead by four with 3:54 still on the clock.

The pass-first lead guard continued to man the controls, finding Terry on a backdoor cut before Aldridge answered with a score. Terry then thought he had delivered the dagger, drilling a jumper to make it a 79-75 score in Dallas’ favor with 1:22 remaining. But a score by Jamal Crawford cut the lead to two before a Nowitzki miss and timeout by Portland gave the Blazers 29.7 ticks to tie the game or win it.

“Portland just kept playing all night long,” Carlisle admitted. “Portland got down 18 or whatever it was and they just kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. They kept their concentration even after they got down. You have to give them some credit.”

“Give them a lot of credit, they battled all night long. But we definitely wanted to put them away earlier than what we did tonight,” Terry added.

As they did all game, the Blazers went back to Aldridge and he muscled up a tough shot to tie the game at 81-all with 12.0 seconds for the Mavericks to respond. After a timeout, Carlisle drew up an isolation play for Nowitzki to work against Aldridge. But after milking the clock down to its final seconds, Nowitzki was unable to connect on a jumper of his own, sending the game into overtime.

“We’re used to close ballgames and being a veteran team doing what we have to do to get a win,” Terry said. “You would have liked to have seen us kind of close things out, but it didn’t happen.”

In the extra period, Nicolas Batum opened the scoring by giving the Blazers their first lead of the night. Down two, Nowitzki switched from scorer to facilitator, finding Shawn Marion at the rim to tie the game. Marion then secured a defensive rebound and made two free throws to briefly put the Mavs back in front before Aldridge answered again at the other end, forcing a timeout by Carlisle with the game tied and a chance to win with 23.9 seconds remaining.

Again, the ball would go to Nowitzki, but as was the case at the end of regulation he couldn’t navigate a shot over Aldridge into the net, with the Blazers grabbing the rebound and calling timeout with 2.0 seconds on the clock. This time, however, it would be Crawford that missed an opportunity to be the hero, missing a three as the game headed into a second overtime.

Opening the second extra period with a lineup of Delonte West, Terry, Marion, Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood, Carlisle looked for a different result. But after West and Felton exchanged scores, the game remained even until the Mavs’ new addition hit back-to-back jumpers in place of Kidd to put the Mavs up 93-89 with 2:55 left to close the Blazers out.

“The guy stays ready and he’s a money player,” Carlisle said of West. “He’s had that reputation ever since he’s been in the league. We had been battling pretty good but we needed a lift. J-Kidd was at his minutes ceiling for tonight. [West] was the guy. The first play of overtime we draw up a play and he winds up with the shot that got us going. He did good things defensively and he was big at both ends.”

But after a pair of free throws by Crawford, the Blazers found a way to fight to a 93-all tie with 1:37 still left after yet another shot by Aldridge. Still, after a series of misses, Haywood gave the Mavs another two-point edge on a tip-in with 45.3 remaining. Nowitzki then did what he failed to do at the end of regulation and again in the first overtime, hitting a jumper over Aldridge to put the Mavs ahead 97-93 with 16.5 left.

“You can’t give me two looks. I should have made the first one, really, at the end of regulation going right, great stepback, great look,” Nowitzki confessed. “To me, it was right on line and I thought actually it was going in, but that’s basketball. Sometimes you get the bounce, sometimes you don’t. It was a little long and bounced out. The second one wasn’t that great of a look. I took probably one or two dribbles too much, ended up on the baseline and that was a tough look there. … I finally got one.”

After Wesley Matthews split a pair at the foul line, the Blazers were down to a desperation three attempt by Crawford to tie the game. But the shot hit all glass as time expired, securing the Mavericks a three-game winning streak.

Finishing 7-of-20 from the field, Nowitzki scored 20 points to lead the Mavs while Terry added 19 off the bench. Marion added 14 points and both West and Odom pitched in 10 points in reserve roles.

Meanwhile, Aldridge totaled a game-high 33 points to go along with 12 boards. Crawford also registered 19 points while matching Terry in the battle of the reserves.

“Again, they’re a tough team. Aldridge obviously showed you why he’s an All-Star tonight, they’ve got a great bench with Jamal Crawford and they’re a tough matchup. But we did a great job tonight and came away with the victory,” Terry concluded.

The Blazers also remained in the game by turning 23 Dallas turnovers into 23 points at the other end, surrendering only 13 points off their own 15 giveaways. Still, the Mavs moved to 2-0 in overtime games and 7-3 on the second night of a back-to-back this season.

"Right now, we have to do better with the turnovers. Right now, we are doing some things that are just uncharacteristically weird out there,” Carlisle said.

But the Mavericks finished the game outshooting the Blazers, 46.4 percent to 37.1 percent, in addition to a 57-46 rebounding margin led by Marion’s 12 boards and 10 more from Haywood.

The Mavs will now take Sunday off before returning to action when they host All-Stars Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers at the American Airlines Center Monday night. The Clippers lead the season series after a 91-89 win in L.A. on Jan. 18. The game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.

“We’ve still got a long ways to go,” Nowitzki said while looking ahead. “[The Clippers] beat us there a couple of weeks ago on a last-second shot. They’re obviously very athletic and they’re led by one of the best point guards in this league. [Paul] can score, he can pass, he can hurt you a lot of ways. So, another tough test, but we want to get back to protecting our home court.”

Single-game tickets are on sale and available at the American Airlines Center North Box Office, online at mavs.com, via phone by calling 214-747-MAVS or 1-800-4NBA-TIX and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Wal-Mart, Simon Mall in Garland and the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano).

Dr. Pepper Family Nights are here! Plans include four Mavs tickets and four McDonald’s extra value meals, starting at $49. Visit mavs.com or call 214-747-MAVS for a schedule of games and to purchase tickets.