Mavs 115, Bucks 113 in OT: Dirk Makes The One-Legged Euro Lean-Back And Says, 'I'm Proud Of This Team'

  The two above-the-marquee names for Monday’s Mavs-at-Bucks meeting – a situation in which Dallas came in with a 5-22 record and therefore rarely milks a win out of The Dairy State – were, of course, the NBA’s two Conference Players of the Week.

  In this corner: Western Conference POW Dirk Nowitzki, his early season hopped up by that 40-point game against Utah on Nov. 3 in which Dirk dominated the fourth quarter with 29 points.

  In that corner: Eastern Conference POW Brandon Jennings, who made his bid to lock up the Rookie of the Year Award on Saturday night when he beat Golden State with a 55-point effort that featured his domination of the third quarter when he scored (you guessed it) 29 points.

    The determinant in Dallas’ 115-113 OT victory? On Jennings’ game-winning try, he made a crazy decision. But on Dirk’s game-winning try, he made a crazy make.

    “It was a little lucky that it dropped it,’’ said Dirk of his final-possession One-Legged Euro Lean-Back from 19 feet, which bounced on the iron and then caromed high off the backboard before finally going down. “It hit the rim and hit all over the place. It seemed like it was in the air forever … but we deserved this win.’’

    But first, a note of appreciation for the two aforementioned players. In that memorable quarter against the Jazz, Nowitzki forged a monumental comeback by making seven of his eight shots, with 14-of-14 from the line. By the time Dirk was done, the Mavs had a 27-point turnaround and a win.

    The little Bucks rookie, Jennings, may have topped that (though his work did, after all, come against a Nellie defense). The kid didn’t score at all in the first quarter but got his 55 on the strength of that third period in which he made 12 his 13 shots, was 4-of-5 from the arc, made a free throw, didn’t commit a turnover and single-handedly outscored Golden State 29-26 to turn the Bucks’ eight-point halftime deficit into a nine-point lead.

   No less an authority than Basketball Prospectus suggests that Brandon Jennings may be the owner of the most efficient NBA quarter ever played. 

   No less an authority than me suggests that nobody had been more dominant in the clutch than Dirk was that night against Utah.

   So there’s your game set-up.

   Who was going to stop these guys?

   Who was going to top these guys?

    For the Mavs, it wouldn’t be Josh Howard (ankle in mothballs), it wouldn’t be Erick Dampier (he left the Detroit-area hospital and was with the team in Milwaukee but didn’t dress and no, we still don’t know the nature of his illness) and it wouldn’t be Shawn Marion (who twisted his ankle in the early going and retired at halftime).

    It really did in many ways come down to Jennings vs. Dirk, and their last-second OT tries. But Dallas, trying to survive the tail end of a B-2-B, also dipped into every resource to support its star. For instance:

    *In his second start of the year and his second start in as many nights, center Drew Gooden posted a second double-double, this time with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting with 14 rebounds. Gooden started especially hot with 12 points in the first quarter and kept showing his strength on Dallas’ second-to-last possession of  overtime when he craftily tipped in a Dirk miss at :27 to tie it at 113-all.

     This wasn’t shot-hunting Gooden; this was “the physical enforcer’’ he promised to be when he arrived here this summer.

     “Gooden’s been huge the last two nights,’’ coach Rick Carlisle said. “When the opportunity’s knocked, he’s been ready. He put together two monster nights in terms of his activity. I’m happy for him because it’s been a challenging transition for him a new team, and coming off the bench, which is new for him. I’m really pleased for him.’’

    *In his fourth start of the year, rookie guard Roddy Beaubois was given the unenviable task of shadowing Jennings. Now, Roddy doesn’t have Jennings’ hype (or his 55-point game, or, to this point, his opportunity to learn on-the-job) but does share some of the Bucks star’s special electricity. French Cuffs started and during select spurts during the first three quarters seemed very worthy of the assignment. Roddy hit a 3, he was on the business end of one of his signature alley-oop dunks, and he cleverly blocked a Jennings bomb attempt.

    But then came a surprise: Carlisle pulled Beaubois from the game with 3:42 left in the third (in favor of JJ Barea) and that should’ve been the end of it. But when Dallas was forced to begin another quarter, I guess it needed its momentum-grabbing starter at the 2-guard.

   So Roddy opened the overtime period. … and he never came off the floor again.

    In addition to scoring 12 points for the game, he did that special thing that we all saw on the film of him from France: He can block your shot as a face-up defender. And when with 3.5 seconds left in OT and the score tied Jennings opted unwisely to rise for a 3, Roddy decided to rise with him.

     “He brings something different to our team,’’ said Carlisle of Beaubois, who got a piece of the shot (but wrongly hasn’t yet been credited with a block.) “It’s a different kind of athleticism. A different feel for the game. He’s been doing things offensively, but that was a great defensive play.’’

    That play tells two stories about rookie guards:

    One, the pains a team experiences when it plays kids like this. Why in the world did Jennings (terrific overall with 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists) settle for a 25-footer with the score tied and a defender in his face?

   Two, the joys a team experiences when it plays kids like this. I chronicled on Monday morning (see: “Roddy Beaubois Does Card Tricks’’) how Beaubois is slowly closing the gap between himself and JJB. You see it again in the boxscore, Barea logging 26 minutes but Roddy on his heels at 24 minutes.

    It’s coming.

   *Jason Kidd and Jason Terry experienced occasional problems, but in the end took control. Jet did it by scoring five of his 19 points in the final five minutes of regulation, including the jumper that tied the game with 32 seconds left. Kidd totaled 17 assists, his final one coming on a desperation inbounds lob to Dirk, who. …

    Bedeviled the Bucks with that trademark One-Legged Euro Lean-Back.

    “That’s my most comfortable spot on the floor,’’ said Dirk, who received Kidd’s inbounds pass with 3.1 seconds left in overtime with his back to the basket at the top of the key. “I am able to operate there pretty good. Everybody knows the spin is coming. …’’

    But nobody can stop it. The UberMan did spin (to his left; that’s another thing he and Jennings have in common) and The One-Legged Euro Lean-Back was released with 1.3 seconds left. It took that much time for it to finally find the net. … but when it did, Dirk had scored 32 and had bettered Jennings, Beaubois had made a maturity leap and had battled Jennings, and the Mavs -- playing against a division-leading team in a city where Dallas so rarely wins -- were able to grab a third straight roadie to move to 8-3.

    “We kept coming and we showed guts,'' Dirk said in summary. "We deserved to win. I’m proud of this team.’’