Kyrie Irving hit a running left-handed shot at the buzzer, capping a wild final 26 seconds and giving the Dallas Mavericks a 107-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
The Nuggets rallied from 13 points down midway through the fourth quarter and went ahead on Jamal Murray’s tiebreaking 3-pointer with 26 seconds remaining.
Luka Doncic answered almost immediately on the inbounds pass after a timeout, hitting from several feet behind the arc for a 105-105 tie.
After Murray missed an elbow jumper in the final seconds, Dallas called timeout. The right-handed Irving took the inbounds pass, dribbled with his left hand as Nikola Jokic pursued and hit the shot from about 20 feet.
Denver had a five-game road winning streak stopped. The Nuggets had won all five by double digits, a first in franchise history.
Doncic scored 37 points and Irving had 24 as the Mavericks (39-29) won for the fifth time in six games, answering a 1-5 stretch.
Dallas pulled even with Phoenix as part of a virtual three-way tie with Sacramento for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Murray scored 23 points, while the Mavs frustrated Jokic into a 6-of-16 shooting day. Jokic had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
