DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki made his return to the Mavericks' starting lineup Sunday, but it took his teammates nearly a full quarter to recognize him. After a four-game absence to improve his overall conditioning and an aching knee, Nowitzki wasn't an integral part of the offense in what turned into the Mavs' most entertaining game of the season, a 101-100 overtime victory over the Spurs.
Nowitzki worked with his longtime shooting coach and mentor from Germany, Holger Geschwinder, in the team's underground practice court before deeming himself ready for action. He was introduced to thunderous applause, but he didn't squeeze off his first shot until the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 13 rebounds, playing nearly 38 minutes because the Mavs weren't able to protect a lead that swelled to 18 with 3:43 left in the third quarter. Fans still are trying to figure out how Dallas rallied to improve to 13-8 and take the lead in the Southwest Division.
Spurs coach Greg Popovich pulled all his starters late in the third quarter, which opened the door for a stunning comeback. The Spurs' reserves hit six 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter to take an 84-75 lead. With Gary Neal and Danny Green knocking down everything, it became evident that Popovich wouldn't bring back his starters. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan became cheerleaders as their understudies took over the game and silenced the crowd at American Airlines Center.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle was later asked whether he was surprised by Popovich's decision. "No, I'm not surprised at all," Carlisle said. "I think he's the greatest coach, really, ever in this game."
The Spurs had a seven-point lead with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter. But Mavs guard Jason Terry, who had a game-high 34 points, converted a three-point play underneath the basket to make it 89-85. Roddy Beaubois, starting in place of injured point guard Jason Kidd, took over the game in the final minute with a running eight-foot jumper to make it 89-87, and then a driving layup with 29.9 seconds left to bring the Mavs to within 91-89. Beaubois blocked Neal's shot with eight seconds on the clock and the ball ended up in the hands of Nowitzki, who eventually found Terry. Carlisle had a timeout, but he made the wise choice to leave it in his pocket.
Terry raced in the other direction and nailed a 16-foot jump shot with half a second left on the clock. It sounded as if a cannon went off inside the arena when the ball swished through the net.
Green appeared to give the Spurs the win with a last-second jumper, but replays showed that he didn't release the ball in time. Given new life, the Mavs prevailed in overtime.
Neal made a driving layup while being fouled with 12.6 seconds remaining, but he missed the free throw with a chance to tie it at 101. Mavs center Ian Mahinmi left the door open by missing two free throws, and Green had a look at a 3-pointer to win the game, but it clanged off the front of the rim.
Even after watching his team try so hard to give the game away, Carlisle wasn't going to disparage the win.
"The one thing that I'm not going to allow to happen is to have our team feel bad about a win," Carlisle said. "I've been around too long, our guys have been around too long. Wins are hard to get. But give San Antonio a lot of credit. They shut down all their starters, and their second-unit guys scored eight out of nine times in the fourth quarter."
Nowitzki wasn't worried about being frozen out of the offense early on because he said the Spurs were giving Beaubois wide-open shots on the pick-and-roll. Spurs center DeJuan Blair was extremely physical with Nowitizki, especially down the stretch, yet the Mavs star said he felt a lot more lift in his legs, which allowed him to make a couple of explosive moves to free himself for pull-up jumpers that were "basically non-existent" before his four-game absence.
It should benefit the Mavs that they've learned how to win without Nowitzki and Kidd. Over the past two games, Beaubois has 36 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Carlisle has asked Beaubois to become more of a competitor than an entertainer this season, and the French point guard has responded.
"It's an opportunity for me to get better, learn as a player and for sure help the team to win," said Beaubois, who had an emblem of the French flag on both cuffs of his white dress shirt. "If Coach is making me play that many minutes, it's because he believes I can help the team. I just need to be ready for that."
