The Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls needed double overtime to decide a winner in what could be labeled as the game of the year in the NBA thus far this season. Monta Ellis put on quite a show for the fans at the United Center, as he led all scorers with 38 points.
The Mavericks ended up winning, 132-129, and improved to 3-0 on their current four-game road trip. There were a number of big shots in this game that on any other given day would have sealed it for either team but on this night, one big shot just simply wasn't satisfactory.
After a close first quarter of play, the Mavericks would take the lead, 30-28, early in the second quarter behind the aggressive play of Chandler Parsons, who led the team in scoring at halftime with 14 points. The Mavs would keep the lead until late in the fourth quarter, as the Bulls rallied behind Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol.
The Bulls had a chance to put the game away with 14.3 seconds left, but Jimmy Butler would miss one-of-two costless throws to give the Mavs a chance to tie. With the Mavericks down three, Monta Ellis drove to the basket for an easy two with 4.6 seconds remaining. The Bulls would then call a timeout, and Pau Gasol was fouled on the ensuing play and calmly made both of his costless throws. Without a timeout remaining for the Mavericks, Ellis ran up the floor and baited Kirk Hinrich to foul him, as he went up to attempt a three-point shot with a second left on the clock. Ellis went on to make all three costless throws and sent the game into overtime.
In the first overtime period, it was more of Ellis leading the Mavericks attack along with Dirk Nowitzki, who seemed to shoot himself out of his funk by hitting a couple of key jump shots.
With Nowitzki staying on the attack and keeping the Mavs even in the extra period, Harris lent some help while driving for a score to put the Mavericks up, 114-112, with 2:11 on the game clock. Nowitzki and Gasol then exchanged scores before Parsons’ three put the Mavericks in front, 119-116.
Still, the Bulls continued to stay close before Ellis’ lefty layup beat the shot clock, giving the Mavericks a 121-118 edge. However, the Bulls had 7.3 seconds to respond after Ellis missed an opportnity on the other side of the floor. Derrick Rose then went on to electrify the arena, as he banked in a three-point shot one-handed at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime.
With the momentum being swung in Chicago's favor, Ellis took it upon hiself to stay aggressive with back-to-back scores in the second overtime. Gasol answered the challenge and kept the Bulls close before tying the game at 127-all with a mid-range jumper with 1:31 remaining.
Joakim Noah put the Bulls ahead by two with one minute left but, as he had done all night, Ellis came through again with another big bucket, a three-pointer from the top of the key with 39.9 seconds left to put the Mavs up one. Dallas extended the lead to three after two made costless throws by Parsons with 8.7 seconds remaining. Derrick Rose attempted to play hero one more time but this time, his three-point attempt would come up short, largely due to tight defense by Richard Jefferson.
Ellis led five Mavericks in double figures, scoring 38 points on 16-of-35 shooting. Parsons added 24 points, Nowitzki pitched in 22 points, and Harris added 20 points off the bench, giving the Mavericks four players with at least 20 points for the first time since January 25, 2011. Barea also added 13 points in a reserve role.
Gasol led five Bulls in double figures with 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting to go with 14 rebounds, but the Mavericks’ 46.1 percent shooting bettered the Bulls’ 45.6 percent, overcoming Chicago’s 52-46 rebounding edge to go along with 17 points off the home team’s 18 turnovers.
It's worth noting that Dirk Nowitzki seemed to be bothered with back spasms throughout the game and even left the first half early in order to get it checked out. He could be seen stretching it out on the sideline with a foam roller and will be interesting to see how the Mavericks approach their star's minutes in the upcoming contest against the Bucks. The Mavericks will now travel to Milwaukee to wrap up their four-game road trip, as they look to make it a clean 4-0 sweep.
