The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets entered Friday night’s matchup with a 1-1 NBA Cup record and looking to take control of the Wild Card in the Western Conference. Denver got big news when Nikola Jokic returned to the lineup after missing the last three games while the Mavs were without Luka Doncic.
With Doncic out of the lineup, Dallas started Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II, while Denver rolled with Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Peyton Watson and Jokic.
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It was PJ Washington and Quentin Grimes’ early showing, with Dallas clearly making a concerted effort to get Washington involved early, thinking he had an advantage over Peyton Watson. Grimes and Washington had 16 of the Mavs’ first 22 points. Denver showed Kyrie Irving two defenders every time he touched the basketball, so he got the others involved.
After the Mavs jumped out to a 20-9 lead, Denver clawed their way back in and cut the lead to 22-18. Naji Marshall got going as his elite finished in the paint, scoring six points within a few minutes to push the Mavs’ lead back to eight. However, in the final minute of the quarter, Nikola Jokic had a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two as Dallas took a 33-31 lead into the second quarter.
After some questionable foul calls against Denver, Dallas took advantage of some momentum to extend the lead back to nine early in the second frame. Denver was always going to fight back, but they could never get over the hump to take the lead.
Thanks to some late shot-clock magic from Naji Marshall, an and-one from Kyrie Irving, and some hustle attacking the basket, the Mavericks took a lead as large as 19 points late in the first half. While Jokic was doing Jokic things for the Nuggets, no one else could really get going, and the Mavs took a 73-53 lead into halftime.
Jokic had 19 of those points on 8/14 shooting, while Christian Braun had 10 points on 4/6 shooting. The rest of the Nuggets had just 24 points on 24-06 shooting. That was the biggest reason why Dallas took such a big lead into the break. It also helped get 32 points off their bench, allowing them to outscore Denver 40-22 in the second quarter.
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Michael Porter Jr. started making some shots in the opening minutes of the second half, riding one of his patented heaters to cut the Dallas lead to 12 midway through the period. Denver lacked energy in the first half, but that wasn’t the case in the third quarter, as Dallas’ starters seemed out of breath from the pace of the game.
A Dallas timeout didn’t phase Denver as they continued to chip away at the lead, cutting the lead to three after a 27-6 run. The Mavs made bad shots and ran a bad offense, while everything looked easy for the Nuggets. Through the first nine minutes of the third quarter, Dallas shot 6/19 from the floor, while Denver was 12/18. That’s a surefire way to erase a clue.
The Mavericks stabilized things a bit and held a 95-89 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the road to a win looked much more difficult than it did at halftime. Naji Marshall played great basketball for the Mavs, making three 3-pointers in a game for the first time since he was a Pelican and delivering his usual reliability in the paint.
Russell Westbrook, of all players, buried back-to-back triples to start the fourth quarter and cut the lead to four with Nikola Jokic on the bench. Then, former Mavericks DeAndre Jordan was on the receiving end of a lob to cut the lead to two. By the time Jokic checked back in with seven minutes to go, Dallas had just a four-point lead and was one of the few players with a positive plus/minus.
Westbrook hit another three-pointer on free throws by the Mavs to cut the score to three, then Jokic hit a running shot to cut the score to one with six minutes to go. Denver would take its first lead of the game on their next possession with a corner three from Peyton Watson, after completely erasing a 24-point lead.
Denver would go up five with three minutes left with a Peyton Watson dunk as Dallas’ offense looked lifeless. PJ Washington would tie the game with two minutes left on a nice drive and then an and-one in transition to the next series.
Lively had two blocks on what looked like easy shots to tie the game, and then Quentin Grimes gave the Mavericks the lead again on two free throws while fighting for a loose ball. PJ Washington attacked a mismatch against Jamal Murray on the next possession to extend their lead to four with 49.7 seconds left.
Jokic cut the lead to two with 41 seconds left on a surprisingly easy basket considering how close the game was, one-on-one with Washington. This allowed Dallas to put the game away, something they couldn’t do when these two teams played a few games ago. Naji Marshall put in a runner as the shot clock expired and extended the lead to four with 18.8 seconds left.
Dallas decided to put Russell Westbrook at the free throw line with 13.7 seconds left on the game clock. He bricked the first off the front of the rim, and the second was an intentional miss off the back of the rim, leading to an offensive rebound from Jokic. He handed it off to Jamal Murray, who banged it in to cut the lead to one.
Kyrie Irving hit two free throws in seven seconds; Then they fouled Jamal Murray with 4.2 to go. Murray hit the first and deliberately tried to miss the second, but he accidentally put it in, bringing the lead to one.
PJ Washington went to the line next with 3.8 seconds left and hit both. He would then steal the inbounds pass and the game would be over, with Dallas winning a thriller, 123-120. Dallas now moves to 2-1 in the NBA Cup, putting them in prime position to clinch the Wild Card and advance to the Knockout Stage.
Naji Marshall was incredible for the Mavs, scoring 26 points on 11/15 shooting off the bench. Seven different Mavericks scored in double figures, demonstrating another all-around effort for Dallas. PJ Washington had a very strong night (22 points, 13 rebounds and three steals), Kyrie Irving wasn’t far behind (19 points, six assists, six rebounds), Quentin Grimes had 14 points, Daniel Gafford had 13, Dereck Lively II had eleven, and Spencer Dinwiddie had ten. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this win, even with Luka Doncic out, was that Dallas was able to pull out a victory with Klay Thompson not scoring a single point and shooting 0/8 from the field.
Nikola Jokic was great in his return, with just 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. After not getting much help in the first half, he got it in the second half. Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun each had 17 points, Russell Westbrook 16, Peyton Watson 15 and Jamal Murray 14. Denver also shot 15/29 from three-point range in this game.
The Nuggets had never won a game in franchise history when trailing by 20 points or more at halftime. In this one they had a chance to do that, but Dallas ended up making enough plays.
The Mavericks have a long flight before playing the Miami Heat in South Beach on Sunday night.
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