The Dallas Mavericks had one of their most exciting finishes to a game all season when they pulled out an unlikely 113-111 road win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Dallas needed last-second heroics to pull out the win after Brooklyn’s All-Star Kevin Durant gave the Nets a one-point lead on a three-pointer with ten seconds left.
Usually, the Mavericks go to Luka Doncic in clutch moments, and Brooklyn knew that. After a Dallas timeout, Doncic dribbled the ball up the court and attempted to go to his favorite spot on the left-wing. The Nets sent a double-team his way to force the ball out of Doncic’s hands. He dribbled for a few seconds in the face of the two defenders, then passed the ball to his right to Spencer Dinwiddie, who immediately shot a three-pointer as time expired.
The shot rattled in and the entire Dallas team, including team owner Mark Cuban, rushed onto the Brooklyn court in celebration. Dinwiddie ran across the court to celebrate with Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison, who acquired him at the trade deadline from the Washington Wizards as part of the Kristaps Porzingis deal.
“We knew the double team was going to come, and then the spacing, we talked about it,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said of what the team spoke about during the timeout after Durant’s go-ahead three. “The spacing was good, and he found Spencer again in that slot. This time Spencer didn’t waste any time shooting.”
Dinwiddie previously played in Brooklyn from 2016 to 2021, where he made a name for himself and had the best years of his career. His success in Brooklyn led to a big contract with the Wizards.
Dinwiddie is still friends with many in the Nets organization.
“It’s like sticking it to your cousin versus, like, being vengeful for an enemy,” Dinwiddie said.
Wednesday’s was the second consecutive game that Dinwiddie has knocked down the game-winner; three days before, he connected on a three-pointer to give Dallas the lead with nine seconds left in their win against the Boston Celtics, also on an assist from Doncic. This is the first time in Dinwiddie’s career that he has made the winning shot in consecutive games, joining Chicago’s All-Star DeMar DeRozan as the only other player to do that this season.
“Same as Boston,” Doncic said. “That’s it.”
Doncic finished with 37 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists in the Mavericks’ eighth win in nine games. Dinwiddie scored 22 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter. Dinwiddie excelled in the final quarter, making 4-of-6 shot attempts, 2-of-3 from three-point range, and 5-of-5 free throw attempts.
Still, the win seemed unlikely when the Mavericks entered the fourth quarter trailing 91-79. Durant immediately made a basket to extend the lead to 93-79. Then, the Dallas defense tightened, allowing only one made shot over the next four minutes. The Mavericks went on a 15-2 run and brought their margin to just one point, after a Dinwiddie three-pointer with 7:53 remaining.
Brooklyn re-extended their lead back to six, but then Dallas scored eight straight points to take a 104-102 lead with 3:08 remaining after two Maxi Kleber free throws. Dallas was on target all night from the free-throw line making 19-of-19 attempts.
The two teams traded baskets back and forth, and Durant tied the game at 108 on a mid-range jump shot with under a minute to go. Doncic answered to put Dallas ahead 110-108 with 22.7 seconds left with a tough turnaround, one-legged fadeaway jumper. Durant answered with the three-pointer, and then Doncic assisted Dinwiddie for the game-winning shot.
“He made another big shot. That’s just a lot of trust, but the hard part was making that shot, and Spencer’s not afraid of the moment,” Kidd added. “It helps our team when there are multiple guys out there who are not afraid to take that shot.”
The win puts Dallas 17 games above .500 (43-26) and keeps them in a tie with the Utah Jazz for fourth place in the Western Conference.
