One would typically think that Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki would be the go-to guy during a game where a rally is taking place; if you thought that during the Mavericks’ game against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, then you thought wrong.  It was none other than bench player supreme Jason Terry.  Terry led a spirited Mavericks rally in which they came from a 13-point deficit to nip the Pacers 109-106 at American Airlines Center.

The Pacers’ Troy Murphy had 13 first-half points, including a three-point play with less than a second left, which gave Indiana a 56-49 advantage at halftime.  Murphy would score the first 8 Pacers points of the third quarter – including a pair of 3′s – allowing Indiana to pad its lead to 64-51; Dallas would cut their deficit to 83-77 going into the final period then open the quarter with an 8-2 run to tie the game at 85.

But the Pacers would respond in kind with a 10-3 spurt capped by a 15-footer by Brandon Rush with 5:06 remaining; however, Terry would score the Mavericks’ next 6 points to narrow the lead to 97-94.  Jason Kidd would drain a 3-pointer and Terry hit a jumper to tie the game at 99 then Kidd hit another trey with 1:22 left to go to give Dallas a 102-99 lead.  Indiana would get no closer than 3 the rest of the way.

The Mavericks’ high scorer was Terry from off the bench with 29 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals while Nowitzki and Antoine Wright added 24 – with Nowitzki grabbing 12 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists along with 2 steals and 2 blocked shots while Wright grabbed 4 boards, dished out an assist and blocked a shot.  The Pacers were led by Danny Granger with 22 points, 9 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocked shots while Murphy added 21 (including three treys) with 14 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal; Rush pitched in, scoring 18 with 2 rebounds, an assist and a steal while Marquis Daniels notched a double-double while pouring in 14 with 11 rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot.  Dallas (7-7) plays again on Friday when they fly to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers while Indiana (5-8) makes the short commute to Houston when they face the Rockets on Wednesday.