May 12th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Dallas Mavericks, down 3-0 prior to their game Monday night against the Denver Nuggets, had to dig deep into themselves and find a way to keep themselves alive to extend their series. In the Mavericks’ case, they relied on the ole’ standby, Dirk Nowitzki; and to be certain, he did not disappoint as he scored 44 points, leading Dallas to a narrow 119-117 win over Dallas at American Airlines Center. With the win, Demver is still ahead in their best-of-7 series three games to one.
Denver outscored Dallas 34-23 in the first quarter while the Mavericks narrowly outscored the Nuggets 30-29 in the second quarter; they would continue to chip away at the Nuggets lead and would be down by only five going into the final period.
But the final outcome was determined in the game’s final 30 seconds when Dallas’ Josh Howard made a pair of free throws but Denver’s Carmelo Anthony countered with a pair of free throws of his own. But the Mavericks went to Nowitzki, who would get fouled by Kenyon Martin – his sixth foul – and would make two free throws with 8.3 seconds left; Anthony would keep it close with a 3-pointer. But it was a instance of too little too late as the Mavericks’ Jason Terry made one of 2 free throws to ice the game.
Dallas’ high scorer was Nowitzki with 44 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block while Howard added 21 with 11 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal; Jason Kidd chipped in 13 with 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Denver was led by Anthony with 41 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals while Chauncey Billups added 24 with 2 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal and a block; J.R. Smith poured in 19 with a rebound and a steal. Dallas looks to extend the series as they play Denver again on Wednesday.
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