DALLAS _ A Sunday night of wild scoring swings came down to a white-knuckle fourth quarter and then, whittling it further, a dramatic and controversial finish.
Here's how Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle put it after Portland's 121-119 victory at American Airlines Center: "This is a game that came down to one stop and one score and one challenge."
A coach's challenge, that is, by Portland's Terry Stotts _ a wise use of a rule the NBA enacted this season, similar to the NFL's coach's challenge.
Dallas trailed 120-119 when Luka Doncic missed a step-back 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. Dorian Finney-Smith rebound for Dallas and was fouled by Damian Lillard.
At least that was the call on the floor. But Blazers coach Terry Stotts challenged the call. The referees determined that Lillard got all ball. By rule, since the play technically was dead when the whistle blew and neither team had possession, a center-court jump ball was called.
Having 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis on the court figured to a godsend for Dallas. Porzingis got the tip, all right, but tapped the basketball too hard, toward Portland's end of the court, where Kent Bazemore gathered the ball just before it went out of bounds and got fouled by Jalen Brunson with 5.5 seconds left.
Bazemore made the first free-throw and missed the second. Dallas, with no timeouts left, could only get off a Tim Hardaway Jr. 31-footer, which missed.
"I really didn't think it wasn't a foul," Finney-Smith said. "But it is what it is. They overturned it and we've got to deal with it.
"I mean, he fouled me on the rebound. "(Then) he slapped down, he had to come across my arm. And he also had his right hand on my hip. They're the same calls they (the Blazers) get. I just probably should have sold it more."
Tweeted Mavericks owner Mark Cuban: "I'm a fan of the nba challenge rule, but if a play is overturned and they don't show the replay that justifies overturning a call along with an explanation then it's going to have real problems. From the angles we saw in arena it looked like a clean strip but body contact first."
Then a follow tweet: "Fans in our arena have no idea why the foul was overturned. That's not the way this should work."
On Carlisle's 60th birthday, the previously unbeaten Mavericks got a dose of how difficult the Western Conference will be by facing the reigning conference finalist Blazers.
Dallas jumped to a 19-point first-half lead, with Kristaps Porzingis (32 points) and Luka Doncic (29 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists) well on their way to big nights.
But the Blazers rallied behind CJ McCollum (35 points) and Damian Lillard, the latter of whom scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half.
Dallas (2-1) was looking to start 3-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season, it started 4-0.
"We were just a little too volatile, it comes down to that," Carlisle said.
Unlike the season's first two games, when they fell behind Washington by six and by 16 at New Orleans, the Mavericks got off to a strong start Sunday, making five of their first six shots and taking a 17-7 lead.
Then it became a game of big runs. Dallas broke a 25-25 tie by scoring 18 straight; the Blazers went on a 20-5 spree and Dallas a 11-1 run to take a 71-59 halftime lead.
