Field Level Media
Apr 3, 2018
Dennis Smith Jr. led a balanced Dallas scoring attack with 18 points in the Mavericks' 115-109 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.
Six players scored in double figures -- including Harrison Barnes, J.J. Barea and Yogi Ferrell with 15 points apiece -- for the Mavericks, who had lost eight of their previous nine games.
Damian Lillard scored 29 points and was 15 of 15 from the free-throw line for the Trail Blazers, who had won in 17 of their previous 20 outings.
Barea scored all 15 of his points on 6-or-7 shooting to guide Dallas to a 50-49 halftime lead. Lillard had 13 points for Portland at intermission.
The Mavericks increased their advantage to 63-55 early in the third quarter. Dallas carried an 82-78 edge into the final period.
Dallas led 96-90 midway through the fourth quarter. Portland's Evan Turner sank a pair of free throws to cut it to 96-92 with 5:34 remaining. Max Kleber hit a 3-pointer and Yogi Ferrell sank a jumper for the Mavericks made it 101-92 with 4:04 left.
Portland's CJ McCollum scored on a drive to cut the margin to 101-94 with 3:33 to play. Kleber hit another trey to make it 104-94 with 3:10 to go.
Jusuf Nurkic split a pair at the line to slice it to 104-95 with 2:58 remaining. Lillard followed with two free throws to get Portland to within 104-97 with 2:21 left. Salah Mejri made 1 of 2 at the line to make it 105-97 with 2:06 to go.
Lillard hit two more foul shots to bring Portland to within 105-99 with 1:45 to play. Smith's dunk gave the Mavericks a 107-99 lead with 1:23 left. Lillard made three more at the line to cut it to 107-102 with 1:09 remaining.
Smith scored on a drive to push the Mavericks' advantage to 109-102 with 49 seconds left. Shabazz Napier was 1 for 2 at the line to make it 109-103 with 43.7 seconds to go. Kleber's free throw improved Dallas' lead to 110-103 with 38.9 seconds on the clock.
McCollum's driving bank shot made it 110-105 with 33.1 seconds left. Aaron Harrison made a pair at the line and it was 112-105 Dallas with 29.5 seconds to go.
Turner's layup cut it to 112-107 with 16 seconds remaining. Barnes clinched it with a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds to play.
The Blazers and Mavericks went into the second quarter in a 22-22 tie after a sluggish first 12 minutes.
Dallas scored the first nine points of the second period to go ahead 31-22. Portland responded with a 13-4 run to tie it at 35-35. Dirk Nowitzki's 3-point shot gave the Mavericks a one-point lead at the break.
--Field Level Media