After trailing for most of the night, the Dallas Mavericks ended Thursday's game on a magnificent 18-2 run en route to rallying for an electrifying 117-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at American Airlines Center.
This was the second win in a row for the Mavs and padded their record to 22-16, while Portland dropped to 13-24.
In pushing their record to 16-2 on their annual Seats For Soldiers game, the Mavs trailed, 109-99, with 4:33 remaining. But in displaying the energy and effort coach Jason Kidd has commonly talked about, the Mavs rattled off the ensuing 16 consecutive points and won a game that seemingly was about to slip away from them.
Jaden Hardy led the Mavs with a season-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shots, P. J. Washington collected 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Dereck Lively II finished with a season-high 21 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. Also for the Mavs, Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, Quentin Grimes had 13 points and five boards, and Naji Marshall scored 11 points.
The Blazers were paced by Anfernee (22 points), Shaedon Sharpe (22 points, eight rebounds), Scoot Henderson (20 points), Donovan Clingan (11 points, 11 rebounds), and Toumani Camara (11 points).
It was a character game of sorts for the Mavs, who played without their superstar backcourt of Luka Dončić (left calf strain) and Kyrie Irving (lumbar back sprain), but always stayed within striking distance of the Blazers.
Lively got the comeback started with a three-point play, Dinwiddie followed with a free throw, and Washington knocked down two charity tosses. Lively nailed two more free throws, and Washington added another pair of free throws to tie the game at 109 with 2:26 left.
Washington then gave the Mavs just their second lead of the night when he buried a corner three-pointer for a 112-109 lead with 1:58 to go. Shortly afterwards, Simons misfired on a three-pointer and Camara missed a short jumper, and Grimes completed a three-play play to increase the Mavs' lead to 115-109 with 31.8 seconds remaining.
During this entire comeback by the Mavs, the Blazers were 0-of-6 from the field and committed two turnovers, including one when Simons turned it over while being heavily guarded by Grimes near midcourt.
Camara finally stopped the bleeding for the Blazers when he scored with 26.6 seconds left as Portland inched to within 115-111 of the Mavs. But Dinwiddie ended the night's scoring when he dropped in two free throws with 10.5 seconds left.
In rewarding the fans who braved inclement weather conditions to attend the game, the Mavs turned 16 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points and out-rebounded the Blazers, 53-43.
The Mavs started off as cold as the weather outside as they missed 12 of their first 13 shots and fell behind, 14-4, with 5:38 remaining in the opening quarter after a three-pointer by Henderson. Grimes came off the bench to inject some energy into the Mavs with the eight points he scored in the first quarter, which ended with Portland up, 28-20.
The Mavs were just 7-of-22 from the floor - 2-of-7 from three-point range - in the first quarter, as they looked out of sync. It was a first quarter that was highlighted by center Daniel Gafford racing three-quarters of the length of the floor to chase down Henderson and block his layup attempt.
It was Gafford's first game back after he missed Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers after he sprained his left ankle Monday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
On the flip side, the Blazers converted 11 of their 28 shots in the first quarter and were 6-of-13 from downtown.
Hardy sparked the Mavs in the second quarter with four three-pointers which kept them within shouting distance of the Blazers. Hardy tallied 18 of his points in the first half.
Portland mounted as much as a 58-48 lead with 1:12 left in the second quarter following Camara's second three-pointer. But Lively's alley-oop dunk off a pass from Dinwiddie, and a three-point play from Washington trimmed the Mavs' deficit to 58-53 at the half.
The game was moved up an hour early because of the bad weather conditions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
"Both teams agreed to move the game up," Kidd said. "It was talked about this morning.
"Everybody was in agreement the game should be moved up. And hopefully Portland can get out of here safe."
Did tipping off an hour early disrupt the players' routine?
"As players, (they) can adjust to times," Kidd said. "Guys will adapt.
"Instead of postponing the game, both teams are here. The league believed in playing the game if both teams are here."