Call this one wild and crazy game. The Portland comeback Friday night taught the young Mavs never to give up no matter how far down you are. Denver had a 25 point lead late in the 2nd. It looked like the game was all over and going to be a blow out. But, wait! They didn't roll over and die. They came back with a strong 3rd quarter, outscoring Denver 40-22, and cut Denver's lead down to 5 at the end of the quarter. And they came into the 4th strong and actually went up by 10 points! We were going bonkers. But Denver had a small rally of their own and Dallas made some errors and cut it down to a 1 point lead. The teams flip-flopped the lead back and forth over the last two minutes of regulation. Someone from Denver was fouled and only made 1 of 2 to make it a tie game with about 36 seconds left. Dallas made a basket and Rodney Rogers made a short baseliner over Jim Jackson to tie the game with 1 second left. Jackson had a shot at the game winner, but it didn't go and we had overtime. Denver managed to get a 4 point lead in overtime, but Dallas wasn't about to lose this game. Two illegal defenses on Denver in a row cut it down to a 2 point lead off of the made free throws by Jackson and Dallas also got a basket to tie the game. With Denver up by 1 and seconds to go, Dallas inbounded the ball to Jackson who was fouled. He iced the free throws for the Dallas victory of 124-123. Jackson scored a career high and team record tying 50 points. Mashburn had set the new record of 50 points in a game just 2 weeks ago. Jackson also set the team record for most points in a half [from memory, I think he had 16 points in the 3rd, 15 points in the 4th, and 8 in overtime]. It was the biggest comeback in team history. The previous comeback high was 19 points. Jason Kidd looked awesome. He really hustles out there and ran down some key rebounds. Roy Tarpley struggled again. Reggie Slater was eating him alive taking the ball right at him. Popeye Jones had 3 fouls in 1st quarter. He got his 5th foul early in the 4th, but was able to contribute at the end of the 4th with a key (when the lead bounces back and forth, lots of things are key) offensive rebound and putback. He also played most of overtime. Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn played the entire 2nd half. The 3 Js were awesome this game. The role of unsung hero once again goes to Lorenzo Williams for doing the things that really don't show up in the boxscore. Tony Dumas was again the first guard off the bench, but Lucious Harris gave Kidd a breather in the 3rd quarter. Robert Pack is so quick and had an awesome game with a triple double. Dikembe Mutombo got his 3rd foul early in the 2nd quarter and was not very effective in this game (in fact, I just recalled the play where Kidd was streaking up the court and drove right at Mutombo and got the layup and the foul!). Dale Ellis was lighting it up against his old team. Dallas FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Jamal Mashburn 48 12-28 1-4 10-12 35 4-9 2 4 2 0 0 Popeye Jones 29 4-9 0-0 1-2 9 3-9 1 0 5 0 0 Lorenzo Williams 37 1-5 0-0 1-2 3 6-11 3 2 4 1 3 Jason Kidd 42 4-13 0-3 5-6 13 2-8 6 3 1 2 0 Jim Jackson 48 17-28 0-2 16-17 50 2-4 5 4 2 0 0 Terry Davis 11 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2-4 0 0 2 0 0 Tonu Dumas 9 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 Donald Hodge 15 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0-1 1 1 3 0 1 Roy Tarpley 18 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 2-3 1 1 6 1 3 Lucious Harris 8 2-3 0-0 0-1 4 1-1 1 1 1 1 0 Totals 265 45-97 1-11 33-40 124 22-50 20 16 28 5 7 Denver FG 3pt FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A M-A Pts O-T Ast TO F Stl Blk Dale Ellis 45 11-19 2-5 0-0 24 4-7 1 1 5 1 0 Rodney Rogers 44 10-22 1-2 4-4 25 3-9 2 2 4 3 1 Dikembe Mutombo 29 1-3 0-0 4-4 6 3-6 0 1 6 0 2 Robert Pack 50 8-13 1-2 4-4 21 0-10 17 8 4 4 0 Bryant Stith 36 8-9 0-0 7-11 23 1-1 0 2 5 1 0 Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf 20 3-11 0-1 3-3 9 1-1 3 0 1 0 0 Brian Williams 22 1-4 0-0 6-8 8 1-3 0 2 3 0 1 Reggie Slater 15 2-4 0-0 3-6 7 0-3 1 1 1 0 1 Cliff Levingston 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 265 44-85 4-10 31-40 123 13-41 24 17 29 9 5 1 2 3 4 OT - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT% Dallas 24 19 40 27 14 124 .512 .091 .464 .825 Denver 28 38 22 22 13 123 .533 .400 .518 .775 Halftime: 66-43 Den 3rd Quarter: 88-83 Den Den's largest lead: 62-37 2nd Q Dal's largest lead: 105-94 4th Q Attendence: 17,171 (sell-out) Time: 2:50 Technicals: Dallas: Jones 1:05 2nd, illegal D 7:03 2nd, illegal D 4:21 3rd, llegal D 2:21 OT. Denver: D. Ellis 1:02 2nd, illegal D 2:22 1st, illegal D 11:01 2nd, illegal D 11:47 3rd, illegal D 9:54 4th, illegal D 2:53 OT, illegal D 2:47 OT. Officials: Jack Nies, Ronnie Nunn, Mike Smith.