DALLAS, TX — For a team with very little margin for error in the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks were all but pronounced dead trailing the Denver Nuggets 55-32 with 3:15 remaining in the first half on Friday night at American Airlines Center.
But a funny thing happened after halftime. Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle went strictly to a zone in the second half, and the Mavs outscored Denver 90-51 from the point the Nuggets held their biggest lead as Dallas prevailed 122-116 in overtime.
“Yeah, we played a lot harder [in the second half],” Carlisle said. “We made some changes because they were playing small and we needed to get more attackers out there. And we made a big run. Of course they answered, got back up eight, whatever it was. But we hung in, we found a way. I give the guys a lot of credit. We’re having struggles right now, but we got to clear our heads and get ready for Sunday.”
Chandler Parsons led Dallas (31-28) with 27 points, 15 of which came in the third quarter, a frame after which Dallas trailed 80-76.
But if there was a player of the game for the Mavs, it was reserve point guard Raymond Felton, who had 16 points, six assists, four rebounds and was plus-30 in nearly 40 minutes.
Felton had just six points through three quarters, but finished with 10 combined in the fourth and overtime, an effort which was crucial in the Mavs getting their 31st win of the season.
“He’s a gamer. He’s a big-game guy. He’s been coming through for us all year in a lot of these instances, but I don’t know if any effort was bigger than tonight’s,” Carlisle said of Felton. “He’s a plus-30 in this game and there were a lot of minuses. And the steal at the end of regulation really was the game-changer. That was a huge play that he made.”
Felton was 4-for-4 from the field in the extra frame for eight points, including two huge layups to help clinch the win for Dallas.
“I just had the will to not lose. We needed this win and wanted to win,” Felton said. “I was taking what the defense was giving me.”
Understandably, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone didn’t have a lot to say in his postgame remarks to the press outside the Denver locker room.
But with a young team like the Nuggets have, this was the sort of disappointing loss that carries with it plenty of lessons, painful ones the Denver players should be able to draw from plenty going forward.
“Well, let’s go back to the second quarter, we’re up by 23, but we allowed that team to close the second quarter on an 18-9 run. I thought that’s where it started to be honest with you,” Malone said.
“And they took all that momentum to end the second into the third quarter. We let their zone really get into our heads — caused us to be very, very passive. We struggled to make shots.”
Dirk Nowitzki also had 20 for Dallas, who resumes its six-game homestand on Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavs are 2-1 during this current run of home games.
Denver (23-36) was 21-of-42 (50 percent) from the field in the first half. But the Nuggets went 22-of-51 (43 percent) from the field after halftime.
The Nuggets were 8-of-23 (35 percent) in the third quarter and 11-of-20 (55 percent) in the fourth, but finished just three-for-eight (38 percent) in overtime, and the big reason why they struggled to find the basket for much of the second half was due to Carlisle’s stifling zone.
“We went to zone but we also started playing harder on defense [after halftime]. Zone is not necessarily a panacea or a cure-all for what ails you at the defensive end, but when we went to it tonight we were more active, we did some good things I think strategically that slowed them down a little bit and we were due to make a run, so it happened and it came at a good time,” Carlisle said.
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