Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 32 points as the Dallas Mavericks rallied to defeat the Toronto Raptors 105-99 in front of 20,272 at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.
Dallas trailed by as much as 24 points, but Nowitzki keyed a remarkable comeback with four consecutive three-point baskets in the final 1:41 of the third quarter.
Andrea Bargnani (7) is defended by Dirk Nowitzki in Tuesday's loss.
(Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)
"He stepped up and played better," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said of Nowitzki, the most valuable player in the NBA last season.
"We did a lot of good things. We just couldn't hold it together."
Nowitzki's first of four straight treys tied it at 70-70, and the last put the Mavericks ahead 79-72 heading into the fourth.
"I have been struggling with the three-ball," he said. "But when I got the first to go down, I got my confidence going."
"We were supposed to do a lot better job of … making that kickback pass a little tougher to Dirk," Raptors centre Chris Bosh said.
Dallas outscored Toronto 38-7 in the third, with Nowitzki netting 18 points.
"Dirk's stretch is what really put the game away for us," Mavericks guard Devin Harris said.
Ask Nowitzki, though, and he felt Harris sparked the comeback by engineering a 12-0 run late in the second half.
"We really picked up our energy when he came in," Nowitzki said. "We were kind of sleepwalking."
"They just jumped on Devin Harris's back," Bosh said.
Harris and Jason Terry finished with 19 points apiece for the Mavericks (8-2), who improved to 6-0 on homecourt.
Josh Howard had 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds.
"We kept chipping away," Harris said. "Obviously, we knew we would make a run — it is nothing new for us."
Bosh poured in a season-high 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Raptors (5-6).
Andrea Bargnani scored 20 points followed by Jose Calderon with 14 points and a game-high six assists.
T.J. provided 13 points and five assists, but sat out the final 16 minutes because of a stinger sustained when he took a knee to the chest trying to draw a charge against Howard.
"Josh exploded into me and I took the full hit," Ford said. "It is not that serious.
"There is a pain and a tingling feeling in my left arm. But it is calmed down right now."
Anthony Parker had 11 points, and rookie Jamario Moon matched Bosh with 12 rebounds in a losing cause for Toronto.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
More Basketball Headlines »
- Trail Blazers win 11th in a row
- The Portland Trail Blazers extended their NBA season-high winning streak to 11 games with an 89-79 Christmas Day victory over the visiting Seattle SuperSonics.
- Bryant, Lakers outshine Nash, Suns
- Kobe Bryant poured in a game-high 38 points and added seven assists to propel his Los Angeles Lakers past Victoria native Steve Nash and the visiting Phoenix Suns 122-115 on Christmas Day.
- LeBron, Cavaliers beat Heat
- LeBron James scored 25 points and dished out 12 assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 96-82 win over the visiting Miami Heat in a Christmas Day showdown.
- Bulls fire coach Scott Skiles
- The Chicago Bulls were in a less than festive mood Monday, firing head coach Scott Skiles on the day before Christmas.
- Kobe Bryant youngest to hit 20,000 points
- Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant Sunday became the youngest NBA player to reach 20,000 points.
More Sports Headlines »
- Leafs lose Islander game, Toskala
- Mike Comrie scored with nine seconds left in overtime as the New York Islanders topped the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in a game where both clubs resorted to using their backup goaltenders.
- Senators cool off surging Sabres
- Dany Heatley notched three points — including an empty-net goal — for the Ottawa Senators as the Eastern Conference leaders snapped the Buffalo Sabres' six-game winning streak with a 5-3 road win Wednesday night.
- Tavares scores twice in Canada's opening win
- John Tavares scored twice in his world junior championship debut and goaltender Jonathan Bernier earned the shutout as Canada opened the tournament Wednesday with a 3-0 win over host Czech Republic.
- Leclaire records 7th shutout for Columbus
- Pascal Leclaire made 21 saves for his league-leading seventh shutout and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Atlanta Thrashers 2-0 on Wednesday night.
- Capitals reward Boudreau with win
- Washington's grinders outlasted the league's top point-getter as the Capitals scored late to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Sports Features
- NBARaptors Basketball
- Sun, Jan. 6 at 1:00 pm ET: Cleveland at Toronto
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles