SEATTLE – Just when the Seattle Sonics seemed to have thrown ice water on the hot shooting of Dirk Nowitzki, his Dallas Mavericks teammate cooled off Seattle’s hopes of an upset.
Antoine Walker’s 20-foot baseline shot as time expired Tuesday night made up for Nowitzki’s two missed free throws and gave the Mavericks a 118-116 win over the Sonics at Key Arena.
In a battle of two of the NBA’s best offenses – not to mention two of the worst defenses – the show was everything it was expected to be. Nowitzki scored 43 points on 16 of 22 shooting but missed two free throws with 21.8 seconds remaining and the score tied at 116.
The Sonics (22-21) had a chance to win the game on the final possession, but Ray Allen’s layup attempt was partially blocked by Dallas’s Michael Finley with two seconds left. The Mavericks called a timeout, inbounded the ball with 1.6 seconds on the clock, and Walker hit a shot from the corner just in front of the Sonics’ bench to win the game and extend the Mavericks’ streak to nine consecutive victories.
“Go figure that Dirk would have a night like he had, and then miss two free throws so we would have to win at the buzzer,” said Walker, who had 17 points.
Walker was an unlikely hero in that it seemed to be Nowitzki’s night. Nowitzki hit eight of his first nine shots from 3-point range before missing his final two attempts from beyond the arc. His 43 points were a season high, while the eight 3-pointers were a career best.
Seattle kept pace for most of the game behind a few stars of its own. The most obvious was Rashard Lewis, who nearly matched Nowitzki’s shooting production en route to a team-high 30 points. Lewis shot 9 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 9 behind the 3-point arc.
The Sonics also got a boost from Antonio Daniels, who scored 21 off the bench, and Vitaly Potapenko, who had 16 points in his second start of the season.
Seattle shot 54 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc to stay in the game despite a nine-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.
Allen had 20 points, but couldn’t hit the biggest shot of the night. He had the ball at the top of the key with 10 seconds left, dribbled to the right side of the basket, and tried to get off a shot despite tight defense from Finley.
“The move I made, he crowded me when I jumped,” Allen said. “In any other situation, I would have expected a foul. I didn’t convert.”
Many of the Sonics, including coach Nate McMillan, were questioning the officiating after the game. The biggest call may have come with 58 seconds remaining, when Nowitzki went in for what looked to be an uncontested layup and got fouled hard by Potapenko.
The Sonics’ center was called for a flagrant foul, although McMillan and teammates maintain that he was going for the ball. Nowitzki hit both free throws to pull within 114-113, then Steve Nash answered a pair of Lewis free throws by hitting a 3-pointer with 36 seconds left to tie the score at 116.
Lewis missed a layup on the other end, then fouled Nowitzki on the rebound with 21.8 seconds left to set up what looked to be the crowning achievement of Nowitzki’s night. But the Mavericks’ star missed both free throws, only to get bailed out by his teammate.
From the first quarter, both teams had hot hands. The Mavericks’ offense was a little slower out of the gate, but it caught up quickly. After missing its first six shots and falling behind 12-4, Dallas found its stroke and took a 33-26 lead through one quarter.
Seattle came back and took a halftime lead when Daniels hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 61-58 advantage.
Nowitzki continued his assault in the second half, especially during a third quarter in which he was 5 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. Dallas went ahead 97-88 early in the fourth quarter and appeared en route to its ninth consecutive win.
But Seattle chipped back into the game behind solid shooting.
“Our execution for the most part was pretty good. We made some shots,” McMillan said. “But we lost Nowitzki a few times in transition, and he was on fire. Then it came down to loose balls and making shots at the end, and they made the last shot.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
