Mavericks Try to Profit Off Late Surge, Run Headfirst Into a Wall

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After trailing by as many as 21-points, the Dallas Mavericks had managed to transform water into wine by turning Saturday night’s match up with the Washington Wizards into a one-possession game with 32.4 seconds left in the fourth. For the entire night, the home team was tormented endlessly by Otto Porter Jr and John Wall, both of whom put up impressive numbers – Porter Jr. posting a career-high 28 points and Wall with his 10th double-double of the season and 26 points – and were key to snapping the Wizards’ 11-game losing streak against the Mavericks. They trailed by 14 points with two minutes left, but after going on an impressive 13-0 run, there was new life in their eyes at that 32.4 second mark.

J.J. Barea was fouled and sent to the FT line, where he sank both, cutting the Wizards’ lead to just one single point with 4.4 left. The Mavs had one time out remaining, but Mavs coach Carlisle decided not to take it at a particular time, which meant that the chessmaster had another, more obvious, plan in mind: foul DC, sent them to the FT line and have one of his boys sink a trey, thus tying the game and sending it into overtime. It was Wall who was fouled at 3.7 seconds, so the sinking of the two free throws would clearly be inevitable.

The Mavs rebounded and got the ball into the hands of veteran Dirk Nowitzki, who missed at the buzzer.

“They played better than us,” Coach Carlisle said following the game after being asked how his team falls behind after two days rest against a team who was on the second game of a back-to-back. “They’re relatively young and they have a lot of skilled guys out there. We allowed them to get into an unbelievable shot-making grove.”

Despite dropping their third straight home game, Barea tallied a season-high 21 points while Raymond Felton recorded his second career triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists.

“I’m concerned. I’m concerned when we’re winning. In coaching, you have to find reasons to be concerned.” Carlisle expressed.

Dallas hopes to snap their losing streak at home on Monday night when they face off against former Mav Tyson Chandler and his visiting Phoenix Suns.