For the lion’s share of Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t crack through the wall the Portland Trail Blazers put in their path.
Then, with less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Mavs came out roaring like a lion.
Trailing, 109-99, with 4:33 remaining in the game, the Mavs switched to another gear on both ends of the court and proceeded to pull out a dramatic 117-111 triumph over the Blazers at American Airlines Center.
On a night when the Mavs were hosting their 18th annual Seats For Soldiers game, they aggressively scored 16 unanswered points down the stretch and finish this contest on a blistering 18-2 run in padding their won-loss record to 22-16. In a game that started an hour early because of the inclement weather conditions, the Mavs also started slow, but finished fast in dusting off the Blazers and winning for their second straight game.
Coach Jason Kidd described the way his team hung in and rallied at the end as a form of “grit” and “patience” that was very much needed.
“I thought they stayed together,” Kidd said. “It didn’t start off well. We had some good looks — they just didn’t go down.
“Portland is playing extremely well, but I thought the team stayed together and played 48 minutes and we found a way to win 
there in that fourth quarter.”
It was a character game of sorts for the Mavs, who played without their superstar backcourt of Luka Dončić (left calf strain) and Kyrie Irving (lumbar back sprain), but always stayed within manageable striking distance of the Blazers.
Dereck Lively got the comeback started with a three-point play, Spencer Dinwiddie followed with a free throw, and P. J. Washington knocked down two charity tosses. Lively then nailed two more free throws, and Washington added another pair of freebies to tie the game at 109 with 2:26 left.
From there, Washington gave the Mavs just their second lead of the night when he buried a corner three-pointer for a 112-109 lead with 1:58 to go. Shortly afterwards, Anfernee Simons misfired on a three-pointer and Toumani Camara missed a short jumper for Portland, and guard Quentin Grimes completed a three-play play to increase the Mavs’ lead to 115-109 with 31.8 seconds remaining.
During this entire comeback by the Mavs, the Blazers were 0-of-6 from the field and committed two turnovers, including one when Simons turned it over while being heavily guarded by Grimes near midcourt.
“He’s about winning,” Kidd said of Grimes, who had 13 points and five rebounds. “He’s about his teammates and being able to make plays.
“The offensive side will be talked about there at the end. But I thought the defense of picking up Simons and getting that turnover there late in the game was huge.”
Camara finally stopped the bleeding for the Blazers when he scored with 26.6 seconds left as Portland inched to within 115-111 of the Mavs. But Dinwiddie ended the night’s scoring when he dropped in two free throws with 10.5 seconds left.
“Really, it was just staying together as a unit and not letting the calls or the missed shots affect us,” said Jaden Hardy, who tallied 18 of his season-high 25 points in the first half. “I feel like we did a great job of that today – leaning on each other.
“I feel like during that (18-2) stretch we did a good job of communicating with each other and just bringing good energy, and I feel like we just fed off the energy that we were bringing out there. We were just trying to play some aggressive defense, and just running out in transition and getting easy buckets.”
Lively played a major role in the comeback as he finished with a season-high 21 points, a career-high tying 16 rebounds and three blocks. He was such a menace in the middle that the Blazers were often flustered just by his mere appearance down low.
“If they’re going small, I just try to punish them on the glass, which is how I should,” said Lively, who was 9-of-13 from the field. “Even if they go big, just the little tip-out plays, boxing out their bigs and trying to get in position early (is huge).
“(I’m) just doing the little things before the shot goes up, or to get a rebound or to get a better position to put the ball back in the rim or to get the offensive rebound for us to get another possession.”
It was an impressive performance by Lively, who played a season-high 35 minutes.
“D-Live played a lot of minutes there in that second half,” Kidd said. “I thought he was great on both ends, and then being able to rebound the ball.
“But also when they went small, being able to get to the free throw line and knock them down (was pivotal).”
Washington, in addition, stepped to the forefront and helped settle the Mavs when things weren’t going well.
“He’s our leader,” Kidd said. “Guys look to him to help, and he’s not afraid to say something. When you’re
hearing something positive when things aren’t going well, that tends to help.
“If you have a teammate that is out there that believe that things will turn (if you) just stay the course, he’s been huge in that department for us all season. But he’s been really big with our two quarterbacks out.”
The Mavs started off as cold as the weather outside as they missed 12 of their first 13 shots and fell behind, 14-4, with 5:38 remaining in the opening quarter after a three-pointer by Scoot Henderson. Grimes came off the bench to inject some energy into the Mavs with the eight points he scored in the first quarter, which ended with Portland up, 28-20.
The Mavs were just 7-of-22 from the floor – 2-of-7 from three-point range – in the first quarter, as they looked out of sync. It was a first quarter that was highlighted by center Daniel Gafford racing three-quarters of the length of the floor to chase down Henderson and block his layup attempt.
It was Gafford’s first game back after he missed Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers after he sprained his left ankle Monday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Hardy provided a spark in the second quarter with four three-pointers which kept the Blazers from totally getting away from the Mavs. Portland mounted as much 
as a 58-48 lead with 1:12 left in the second quarter following Camara’s second three-pointer.
But Lively’s alley-oop dunk off a pass from Dinwiddie, and a three-point play from Washington trimmed the Mavs’ deficit to 58-53 at the half.
The game was moved up an hour early because of the bad weather conditions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
“Both teams agreed to move the game up,” Kidd said. “It was talked about this morning.
“Everybody was in agreement the game should be moved up. And hopefully Portland can get out of here safe.”
Did tipping off an hour early disrupt the players’ routine?
“As players, (they) can adjust to times,” Kidd said. “Guys will adapt.
“Instead of postponing the game, both teams are here. The league believed in playing the game if both teams are here.”
Portland led by 12 late in the third quarter, and 89-81 entering the fourth quarter when they still maintained controlled of the game. But with less than five minutes remaining in the game, something clicked, and the tea leaves turned in the Mavs’ favor.
“We have a very deep roster and a lot of guys that can go get a bucket,” Hardy said. “We just lean on each other.
“Just us leaning on each other and talking to each other and staying as a unit, I feel like that’s what happened.”
Washington was huge for the Mavs with his 23 points, 14 rebounds and three steals. Dinwiddie contributed 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Naji Marshall tallied 11 points on 5-of-9 shots.
The Blazers were paced by Simons (22 points), Shaedon Sharpe (22 points, eight rebounds), Henderson (20 points), Donovan Clingan (11 points, 11 rebounds), and Camara (11 points).
Still, when all seemed lost for the Mavs, they picked themselves up by their bootstraps and treated those fans who braved the inclement weather with the win on a night when they ran their Seats For Soldiers record to an impressive 16-2.
“It’s just trusting the pass and trusting the person behind you,” Lively said. “There’s been a lot of times where we might start off slow, we might start off hot, and then we go cold.
“But it’s just sticking together, re-driving (and) getting the ball in the paint, so we can either find good shots at the rim, good shots around the arc and just trust the pass. I feel like no matter if we miss or make the shot, there’s always going to be the same mentality going into the next play.”
And that same mentality helped the Mavs pull a victory from the jaws of defeat.
X: @DwainPrice
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