DALLAS _ As bad as the Mavericks were well into the third quarter Thursday night _ and they were nailing the lottery-bound look to a T _ they somehow regained respect for themselves and their fans in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Utah Jazz.
With Dirk Nowitzki sending them to the extra period with a wide-open jumper with 2.8 seconds left in regulation, the Mavericks dominated the bonus frame and scraped out a desperately needed 112-105 victory at American Airlines Center.
They had trailed by 21 in the third quarter.
And at times, it didn't even look that close.
But just when it looked like they had no shot at getting back in this game, they suddenly grew a heart, a backbone and a ton of resolve.
"Playing these guys is like a 2-hour, 15-minute dental appointment," Rick Carlisle said of the Jazz.
And the Mavericks were getting drilled for a long time.
So, how did the comeback happen?
It started with Justin Anderson, who didn't even get off the bench against Portland on Tuesday. He gave them a nice boost to start the fourth quarter when he crashed in for Dorian Finney-Smith's missed free throw for a follow slam. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Yogi Ferrell stepped in front of Dante Exum to intercept and his free throws made it 78-72.
"The guys have been fighting all year. We weren't playing well and we weren't fighting hard enough and the guy who changed the game was Anderson," Carlisle said. "We really got juiced during his stretch."
From there, it was a matter of the Mavericks making plays. And it helped that they had the Jazz in the penalty situation for the final 7:42 of the fourth quarter. When Wesley Matthews hit two free throws with 6:16 left, the Mavericks were within 86-85, the closest they'd been since early in the second quarter.
The Mavericks missed several chances to take the lead and, naturally, a referee call played a part. When Matthew stripped Gordon Hayward, it was called a foul by ref Kevin Cutler. What was left of the crowd did not like the call when it saw the replay. Hayward's free throws made it 94-89 with 2:26 left.
Seth Curry, rebounding nicely from his four-point game Tuesday against Portland, converted a three-point play with 1:30 left, driving on a mismatch against 7-2 Rudy Gobert, who had plenty of length but not enough quickness to keep Curry in front of him. After Gobert committed an offensive foul, the Mavericks ran the same play and, again, Curry got by Gobert for a layup that tied the game at 96. Gobert, by the way, fouled out before overtime with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
The Jazz had to call a timeout when Hayward got double-teamed. But they got a dunk from Gobert after the timeout. Then Matthews, whose defense was terrific down the stretch, made a poor pass as the Mavericks were out of control and Gobert got free for another dunk with 21.4 showing and a 100-96 lead.
But it was far from over.
Harrison Barnes and Devin Harris saw to that.
