The Denver Nuggets heartbreakingly fell to the Dallas Mavericks, but wow, what a game.
The Nuggets lost, 107-105, on Sunday afternoon. Denver is now 47-21 on the season and is half a game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The game was lost on an incredible game-winner from Kyrie Irving. Irving would finish with 24 points, and Luka Dončić had a game-high 37 points.
Jamal Murray led Denver in the scoring department with 23 points and 7 assists. Michael Porter Jr. also pitched in 20 points and 7 rebounds.
Denver lost the rebounding battle, 59-37. The 59 rebounds the Nuggets allowed to the Mavericks are the most they've given up in a game this season. They also allowed 21 offensive rebounds, another season-high. 14 of those offensive boards occurred in the second half.
Porter Jr. was a walking highlight in the first half, hitting a tough stepback three and slamming home a ferocious poster dunk for 15 points. Luka Dončić was an unstoppable force, too, in the first 24 minutes and scored 23 points, getting downhill at will and catching fire on his stepback jumper in the second quarter. However, Jokić and Gordon's unstoppable chemistry near the rim helped Denver enter the halftime break ahead, 61-58.
The game started getting away from the Nuggets when they gave up 7 offensive rebounds in the third quarter and 5 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. That put Denver in a 13-point hole with 6 minutes remaining. But then, the Nuggets caught fire and got 3 made three-pointers for Murray, Caldwell-Pope, and Porter Jr. to make it a 4-point game.
Denver started attacking Dončić late in the game. Jokić floated a hook shot over him, and Murray hit a pull-up three-pointer in his grill while attacking Luka on an island to give Denver a 3-point lead.
But then Dallas tied the game after Dončić hit a three-pointer out of a timeout set. Murray just barely missed a midrange jumper on the other end, leaving Dallas with 2.8 seconds to make something happen.
Maxi Kleber inbounded the ball to Irving, who took two dribbles, looked up at the clock, and took an off-hand 20-foot hook shot over the outstretched arms of the 7-footer, Jokić.