No Dirk, no problem for the Dallas Mavericks who finished a four-game road trip with a 107-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks thanks to the heroics of their leading scorer, Monta Ellis.
The Mavericks decided to rest their superstar after playing a season-high of 41 minutes the previous night against the Chicago Bulls and suffering back spasms during the game. Al-Farouq Aminu got the start at power forward in place of Nowitzki.
Before the game, Nowitzki addressed the decision to sit him out for this game to rest his legs. “Really, looking at our schedule, we’ve got the most games in the Western Conference and we’ve still got six games in nine days coming up. We’ve got some tough games and got a back-to-back next week that I obviously plan on playing, so it was for the best, especially after double OT last night, to just take a night off and rest and get ready for Friday for myself. But this is a scary game. They’re playing very well. This is one of the surprise teams, and I’m a little worried.”
The Bucks came into the game riding a two-game losing streak and played with a sense of urgency early on. They came out surging offensively throughout the first half, as they scored 64 points while shooting over 60 percent from the floor en route to a seven-point lead at halftime. Brandon Knight led the way for the young Bucks team, scoring a game-high 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
The Mavericks went to a zone defense to start the second half that helped cool off a hot Bucks team and allowed them to get back into the game. Monta Ellis also began to attack the basket aggressively, but it was Aminu that gave the Mavericks the lead at 69-68 before Jameer Nelson made a three-pointer to cap off a 13-0 run, making it 72-68 halfway through the third quarter.
The Mavericks went into the fourth quarter with a 80-78 edge, but Jared Dudley would quickly swing the momentum with 2 three-pointers, giving the Bucks the lead, 86-80.
The Mavericks wouldn't regain the lead until 1:34 left in the game after a Monta driving layup that made it 100-99. From there, Ellis and Knight would exchange buckets to make it 104-103 with 32.9 seconds left. On the ensuing Bucks possession, Knight would be called for an offensive foul that resulted in Richard Jefferson making one of two costless throws, pushing the lead to 105-103.
Knight would have a chance at redemption and swished a deep two over center Tyson Chandler to tie the game at 105-all with 8.9 seconds left. But Ellis still had one more heroic moment in him, as he would spin away from O.J. Mayo and sink a fade away jumper as time expired.
Scoring 23 points on 11-of-26 shooting, Ellis added seven assists to boot while leading the Mavs to the win. Tyson Chandler added 18 points inside and a monster 20 rebounds. Meanwhile, Parsons scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out four assists. Nelson and Aminu finished with 13 points apiece, and Harris scored 10 points off the bench.
Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova didn't play tonight and has been ruled out at least four games after an elbow to the face left him with a nasal fracture and concussion-like symptoms in Tuesday night's loss at Cleveland. The team said Ilyasova also showed symptoms of a mild concussion.
The Mavericks will now head back to Dallas for Friday night's contest with the Phoenix Suns, riding a five-game winning streak.
