Green’s career night is top takeaway from 98-97 loss to Nuggets

The texture of Sunday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets completely changed based on what transpired at the end of the first half.

Or, was that at the beginning of the third quarter?

Confused? So are many others who saw the Mavs tangle with the Nuggets for the second time in three days.

On Sunday, point guard Luka Doncic drilled a high-arching three-pointer at the buzzer that brought the crowd to its collective feet and gave the Mavs what they thought was a 59-52 lead at the half. But sometime after Doncic did the shimmy and both teams exited the American Airlines Center court, word came down from the NBA replay headquarters in New Jersey that Doncic had stepped out of bounds with two seconds remaining in the second quarter.

That nullified Doncic’s three-pointer and the momentum it gave the Mavs. It also meant when the two teams returned to the court, they had to finish playing the final two seconds of the second quarter before they could start the third quarter.

With that, the Nuggets brought the ball inbound, and Vlatko Cancar drained a dramatic three-pointer way past the midcourt line, bringing Denver officially within 56-55 of the Mavs and setting them off on their 98-97 win over the Mavs.

That six-point swing swung the momentum Denver’s way, and crew chief Sean Wright tried to explain the confusion of the plays in question to a pool reporter.

“There are two parts to this play,” Wright said. “The first part is rule 13 instant replay, Section I A.1 – a field goal made with no time remaining on the clock at the end of any period.

“And within that trigger we have a reviewable matter which is Section II A.2 – whether the shooter committed a boundary line violation or the ball touched out of bounds prior to entering the basket.  The video showed his heel on the line when he shot it.”

So, the final two seconds of the second quarter was played after intermission primarily because both teams had already gone to the locker room?

“That’s the reason why,” Wright said. “What happened was, at the time of the violation there were two seconds left.

“Rather than trying to pull everybody back, we started with the two seconds when we come back out and then immediately play after that.”

With that, here are the three takeaways from the Mavs’ 98-97 loss to the Nuggets.

GREEN WITH ENVY: Josh Green has patiently waited a little over two years to have a game like the one he had Sunday night. He tallied a career-high 23 points off the bench in 30 minutes. Green wound up a robust 8-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from three-point range. He also connected on his first eight shots, including his first six three-pointers.

BERTANS WAS BALLING: In his first extended playing time of the season, Davis Bertans showed why his outside shooting was sorely missed. In a season-high 14 minutes of playing time, Bertans poured in a season-high 15 points. That includes going 5-of-7 from the field (and 4-of-5 from three-point territory). Before Sunday, Bertans was 1-of-5 from the field and had three points in seven total minutes this season. He missed the first 13 games of the season with a right knee effusion.

BONES DID IT: Nuggets guard Bones Hyland came off the bench and had the game of all games for his team. Hyland scored a career-high 29 points. Along the way, Hyland was 10-of-21 from the field, 3-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc, and also found time to distribute six assists.

Twitter: @DwainPrice