Over the past two games, the Dallas Mavericks revealed their own version of March Madness. And it was the
same player who delivered the dramatics.
Spencer Dinwiddie took a pass from Luka Doncic and drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Mavs a thrilling 113-111 triumph over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center. In stunning the sellout crowd of 17,981, Dinwiddie’s game-winner gave the Mavs their eighth victory in their last nine games as they increased their record to 43-26.
It also was the second straight game Dinwiddie walked off the court with a game-winner, as his three-pointer with nine seconds left in Boston this past Sunday provided the Mavs with a 95-92 victory over the Celtics. In fact, Dinwiddie is now tied with Denver’s Nikola Jokic for the second most go-ahead baskets in the last 10 seconds of a game over the past five years with six. (DeMar DeRozan leads the NBA in that department with seven).
In pulling a victory from the jaws of defeat, the win enabled the Mavs to stay a perfect 3-0 on this brutal five-game road trip, which continues Friday night in Philadelphia. They ran down the Nets after rallying from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit and they remain tied with the Utah Jazz for the Western Conference’s No. 4 seed.
The Mavs, in addition, left Brooklyn letting the rest of the NBA realize what they realized after the Boston game. And that is, Doncic knows he doesn’t have to take the game-winning shot in order for the Mavs to walk away with a victory.
In this case, Kevin Durant drained a three-pointer to put the Nets ahead, 111-110, with just 10 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, the Mavs brought the ball up the floor from the backcourt, and Doncic was stationed one-on-one with Nic Claxton.
But as the clock was swiftly winding down, Durant left Dinwiddie and ran over and doubled Doncic and forced the ball out of his hands. Using his superb basketball IQ to make the right play, Doncic tossed the ball to Dinwiddie, who hurled in the three-pointer as time expired and was subsequently mobbed by his teammates.
“It’s a credit to him,” Dinwiddie said, referring to Doncic. “He’s the superstar — he could have done whatever he wanted.
“You’re well within your rights to shoot the ball and go for that.”
Doncic, though, had other ideas.
“If they’re going the double, somebody is going to be open,” Doncic said. “He’s been playing like an All-Star.”
It was the 11th game-winning field goal in the final minute of a game during Dinwiddie’s career, but it’s the first time he’s nailed a game-winning basket as time expired. It capped a night where Dinwiddie – he played for the Nets from 2016 until they traded him to the Washington Wizards last summer – scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.
The night was additionally capped when the Mavs got solid productions from Jalen Brunson (18 points, five rebounds) and Dwight Powell (12 points, six boards), and when they also held Durant to just 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting. It all added up to the Mavs collecting their NBA-high 15th victory of the season when they’ve trailed by 10 or more points.
“I think our growth all season on this journey, you can see our team is growing and maturing and trusting and having fun,” coach Jason Kidd said. “I thought we missed a big part of our heart and soul tonight. (Guard) Theo (Pinson) just had a baby, so our energy was kind of down, but I thought the rest of the guys tried to kind of pick it up.
“But what a great game to watch to see and watch the stars. Durant does what he does. He made the three. Even though we knew that was coming – we couldn’t guard it. But I thought our mental, we didn’t blame anybody, we didn’t lose focus and we delivered when we had to.”
The Mavs delivered because Doncic was the tactician who had the Nets running around in circles, and he promptly finished the game with 37 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Doncic poured in 24 of those points in the first half as he had the crowd spinning in their seats and wincing at his super human theatrics.
In explaining his three-point dagger on the game’s final play, Dinwiddie said: “I was on the right side, Luka got the switch he wanted and he was going to operate, they sent 
the double, and he passed out of the double. Because Luka was kind already on the right side of where the floor was to me, (Nets guard Goran) Dragic kind of shot through the passing lane so I couldn’t do the one more pass to Doe-Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith) in the corner.
“And time was up, so I just took the shot that we had.”
It was the shot heard around the NBA world as the Mavs won for the 27th time in 35 games since Dec. 31, trailing only the Phoenix Suns, who are 28-7 during that time span. It also showed the resiliency the Mavs have in never believing a game is out of hand.
Meanwhile, Durant was second-guessing himself for leaving Dinwiddie to go double Doncic.
“I thought it was an opportunity for us to get the ball out of Luka’s hands,” Durant said. “It’s three seconds on the clock and he had to rush a pass and they rushed a shot.
“I put the probabilities on (Dinwiddie) making that shot was pretty low, but he made a great shot. Like I’ve been saying, it’s a make of miss league. If he misses that, it’s great defense by us. But that’s why he gets paid $20 million a year – to make those shots. You’ve got to give him credit.”
Nets coach Steve Nash definitely gave Dinwiddie credit.
“It was a big play,” Nash said. “I thought we guarded it perfectly – got the ball put of Luka’s hands.
“Hard, hard contest, awkward shot, and it happened to go in, so I was proud of the guys. Great fight. They made a big play to win it.”
The Mavs entered the game allowing the fewest points in the NBA, and showed why their defense has been exceptional this season. While Durant was frustrated because the Mavs were double-teaming him and forcing the ball out of his hands almost as soon as he got it, the strategy by Kidd worked.
“We weren’t going to try to let (Durant) play at all tonight,” Kidd said. “The guys, again, I give them credit, because it’s easy to see other guys scoring the ball, and sometimes you take that ‘I mentality’ like “my guy is scoring.’
“But again, it’s the growth of our trust that our guys have with the coaching staff or the game plan. Everyone stayed the course and we just tried to make it as hard as possible on KD and not let him play. We felt that we wanted someone else beat us tonight. Again, they were in position – (Durant) made the go-ahead basket — but we found a way to win.”
For the Mavs, the win exacted revenge for a 102-99 loss to Brooklyn in Dallas on Dec. 7 when the Nets overcame a 17-point deficit in the third quarter. Wednesday’s victory snapped Brooklyn’s four-game winning streak as the Nets fell to 36-34.
With Dragic scoring 14 of his points in the second quarter, the Nets built a 12-point lead. However, Doncic tallied 12 consecutive points – a few of them of the dazzling variety – to get the Mavs back in the game.
A three-pointer by Josh Green got the Mavs within 59-58 of Brooklyn with 1:46 remaining in the first half. The Nets went on to lead, 61-58, at intermission.
The Mavs didn’t have to worry about dealing with either Nets guard Kyrie Irving or forward Ben Simmons, since both players sat out Wednesday’s game. Irving – he scored 60 points Tuesday night in Orlando – can only play in games outside of the state of New York because of New York City’s mandate forbidden employees of private employers to work at their workplace.
Simmons, meanwhile, joined the Nets in last month’s blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia76ers, but hasn’t played in a game since June 20. Nets coach Steve Nash said Simmons had an epidural shot in his back earlier this week, and there is no timetable for when he’ll be able to play.
Meanwhile, in becoming the seventh Mavs player since the 196-’97 season to nail a game-winning buzzer-beater, Dinwiddie was able to put some sad faces on the franchise that traded him to Washington last summer after his 2020-21 season with the Nets ended following just three games when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament.
Also, in the midst of Wednesday’s celebration, Dinwiddie sought out Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, who shipped Kristaps Porzingis and a protected second-round pick to the Wizards last month for Davis Bertans and Dinwiddie.
“I saw Nico, then I had more of an appreciation type of vibe,” Dinwiddie said. “That’s why I went over and celebrated with him because he
pulled the trigger and made the trade.
“It’s no secret. My reputation wasn’t the greatest coming in.”
But it’s the greatest now. And the Mavs, who surpassed last season’s win total of 42 victories, are going to ride that wave all the way to Philadelphia.
“We’ve got a great group of young men in there who believe that they can win no matter what the score is, and we’ve gotten better at it,” Kidd said. “If you want to win at the next level you’ve got to be able to deliver, and hopefully we understand what it takes to do that.
“But I think we’ll grow. We’re not done with this road trip. We head to Philly now, but again this is another big win for us.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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