Mavericks 119, Nets 118 (OT)
NEW YORK -- Forward Dirk Nowitzki capped a milestone night by converting a go-ahead layup with 19.2 seconds remaining as the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Brooklyn Nets for a wild 119-118 overtime victory on Wednesday.
Early in the second quarter, Nowitzki moved past center Shaquille O'Neal into sole possession of sixth place on the NBA's career scoring list with a 17-footer. Long after passing O'Neal, Nowitzki capped a 22-point night by executing an up-and-under move near the basket.
A hook shot by center Brook Lopez gave the Nets a 118-117 lead with 41.1 seconds remaining, but on the next possession, Nowitzki gave Dallas the lead. He posted up forward Joe Johnson on the left side, drove by him and scored before forward Thaddeus Young could help on defense.
Nowitzki's shot stood as the game-winner when Brooklyn guard Jarrett Jack missed an 18-foot fadeaway from the left wing with .9 of a second remaining. Nowitzki now has 28,607 career points, surpassing O'Neal's 28,596.
The Mavericks rebounded from Tuesday's ugly loss in Toronto despite blowing a 16-point lead. Guard J.J. Barea had the most productive night of his career, hitting his first eight shots from the field and scoring 32 points.
Barea's biggest plays of the night were a three-point play with 12.4 seconds remaining in regulation for a 108-105 Dallas lead. That shot would have been the game-winner, but Young hit a 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left and Barea missed an 8-footer with five-tenths of a second left in regulation.
Barea also preceded Nowitzki's shot with a 3-pointer at the two-minute mark for a 117-116 lead, setting up the dramatic finish.
Young scored most of his 29 points in the paint for the Nets, who have lost six of seven. Guard Bojan Bogdanovic added 17 points on five 3-pointers for Brooklyn, which shot 51 percent from the floor.
NOTES: Dallas G Deron Williams (strained right hamstring) missed his third game of the season. Williams said he does not know the severity the injury and will have an MRI on Thursday. ... Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins had no interest in talking about Williams, who said in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports that his time with the Nets made him think about quitting. "I have no comment about Deron Williams and what he says," Hollins said. "I don't want to talk about Deron Williams period. We had an opportunity to talk about Deron during the fall camp before we started and there's no need to keep talking about Deron from my perspective. So I'm just not going to." ... Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on F Dirk Nowitzki, who needed 10 points to pass Shaquille O'Neal for sixth place on the NBA's career scoring list: "He's an amazing player. He's had an amazing and historic career."