Mavericks vs Nuggets Final Score: Dallas shocks Denver, 107-105

The Dallas Mavericks shocked the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon, winning on the back of a Kyrie Irving buzzer-beating left-handed skyhook, 107-105. Luka Doncic led Dallas with 37 points and nine rebounds, while Kyrie scored 24, dished out nine assists, and grabbed seven rebounds. Jamal Murray led Denver with 23 points.

Luka and Irving went to work early, scoring or assisting on the first 10 points of the game, forcing an early Denver timeout. Denver stormed right back, pushing right through flimsy perimeter defense and forcing the issue at the free throw line. The Mavericks went cold after a hot start and coach Jason Kidd had to call a timeout after an easy Nikola Jokic lay-in pushed the Denver lead to four. Dallas found some offense out of the timeout but couldn’t stop the Nuggets offense. Denver coach Michael Malone picked up a technical towards the end of the quarter, arguing in defense of Jokic. The Mavericks managed to hang around, trailing the Nuggets 34-30 after one period.

Dallas quickly took the lead to start the second only for the Nuggets to rally right back. Luka Doncic found his three-ball mid-quarter, hitting two on back-to-back possessions after missing his previous four. The squads traded baskets much of the frame, with Dante Exum resuming his role as bench sparkplug in a beneficial way for Dallas. But Denver squeaked head before the half, taking a 61-58 lead after two periods.

The Nuggets pressed ahead in the third, with the threat of Jokic causing the Mavericks continued problems at the rim and in space. After the Nuggets took a 70-65 lead on a transition three, Dallas called a timeout to settle the team down. The Mavericks responded with a 9-0 run with buckets from four different Mavericks. Dallas closed the quarter in spectacular fashion, with some strong defense from the entire unit and great shot-making from Kyrie Irving. Dallas took an 84-79 lead into the final frame.

The Dallas defense kept apace to start the fourth and the offensive rebounding from the Mavericks started to take a toll on the Nuggets. Denver called an angry timeout following a Gafford putback, with Michael Malone imploring his team to grab a rebound. Denver pulled back within six points on two occasions only for the Mavericks to respond with big shots. Dallas looked to be running away with the game, leading by as many as 13 before back-to-back Nuggets threes made it a game again. Kidd opted for a defensive line up that scored just four points in the final six-plus minutes of the game as Denver slowly worked back in the game, then took the lead on a Murray three with 27 seconds left. Luka wasn’t done yet though, drilling a three to tie the game. Dallas ended up with the last play of the game with Kyrie Irving hitting the walk-off left-handed sky hook to win the game! Dallas wins 107-105.

Bullying the bullies

The Dallas Mavericks absolutely took the fight to the Nuggets on Sunday and it paid off in all the right ways. Dallas isn’t exactly a team known for it’s bully-ball efforts, but any time you can grab 21 offensive rebounds (15 more than Denver) and push the defending champs around in the paint to the tune of 62 paint points to 38, you have to do it.

The effort and intensity were so clear after the first quarter when Denver scored 34 points. The Mavericks held Denver to 27, then 18, then 26 to close this game and it was really fun to watch that kind of gritty game from a Dallas team that has often relied on their scoring to win the game.

Kyrie and Luka work together, period

The halftime show was filled with the typical drivel from NBA talking heads who don’t watch the games or look at the data, politely lambasting Doncic for not sharing enough with Irving. The data on these two is GREAT—they have an offensive rating together of 118.4, which is really freaking high. The defense is usually the question and both guys played locked-in defense against the Nuggets and what do you know, they won the game!

Also, that Kyrie Irving shot! That’s one of the wildest game-winners I have ever seen! Let’s look at it again. And again. And again.

The closing line up Dallas used was frightening

And it wasn’t scary in a good way. I am just delighted that the Mavericks won, but after getting up 98-85 on a Luka Doncic lay-in at the 6:50 mark of the fourth, Dallas scored just FOUR points over the next 6:20. Maxi Kleber has scored 11 points in his last 163 minutes of basketball. Teams are not defending him. I get that they’re going to use him some still, but if the offense isn’t scoring, whatever he’s providing on defense doesn’t matter.

That’s really, really, really bad and it nearly cost them the game. Had they lost the game, that lineup and the decision to stick with Maxi Kleber while going iso on offense would have been the main talking point. I’m glad it’s not.

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