Mavericks work overtime again to turn back Timberwolves

With Dirk Nowitzki and Raymond Felton sidelined with injuries, Chandler Parsons knew someone had to be the player who gave the Dallas Mavericks a much-needed boost.

That player turned out to be Parsons.

With the young Minnesota Timberwolves threatening to get out of American Airlines Center with a stunning victory, Parsons stepped forth and recaptured some of his own youth while helping the Mavs to a hard-fought 106-94 overtime victory before a sellout crowd of 19,621.

Parsons converted 13 of 20 shots while scoring a season-high 30 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds while giving the Mavs the jolt they needed to pad their record to 25-19.

“If I get it going, I feel like the next shot I’m going to take is going in no matter what,” said Parsons, who personally outscored Minnesota in the overtime session, 7-5. “I’ve always been a pass-first player. That’s what I play for, and I feel like I have to step up.”

The “step up” was a major step for Parsons, who has been inconsistent this season since undergoing a hybrid microfracture surgery on his right knee on May 1. Coach Rick Carlisle earlier said it wouldn’t be until after the Feb. 14 All-Star Game that Parsons would likely return to last year’s form.

Nothing that happened Wednesday changed Carlisle’s mind, as he encouraged all within listening distance to pump the breaks on what Parsons was able to accomplish against the Timberwolves.

“Just because of this game he has not arrived,” Carlisle said. “This is another step.

“This is a strong step toward the goal, which is 100 percent health, 100 percent conditioning, rhythm, all those things. The fact that he was able to make a variety of shots in overtime when he was fatigued, that’s a great sign. But let’s not assume that this is the guy whose back we’re going to jump on every time in crunch time – that’s not fair to him.”

Fair or not, the Mavs jumped on Parsons’ back Wednesday. And if they hadn’t, they likely wouldn’t have overcome all that heat the Timberwolves were tossing their way.

“I think we made a decision that we were going to have a stronger will not to lose this game,” said Parsons, who played 46 minutes. “We knew they had played [Tuesday] night [and lost in New Orleans], so they were more tired that us.

“We kept our pose and we’re definitely a more experienced team and we got it done.”

It was a team-record fourth straight home overtime game for the Mavs, and the first such regular-season occurance in the NBA since the 1951-52 season.

This time, the Mavs were down 84-74 with 6:34 remaining before rallying to send the game into overtime at 89-all when Wesley Matthews scored on a driving jump shot with 1:25 left. The confidence to overcome such a deficit against a young athletic team like the Timberwolves spoke volumes about the Mavs and their ability to overcome adversity without Nowitzki there to bail them out.

“We’ll find a way and that’s a credit to our team,” said Matthews, who scored 15 points. “Looking on the other side of it, we need to find ways to avoid overtime.

“Sometimes they’re inevitable, but we still have enough in the tank and enough fight to pull it out.”

Nowitzki missed the game with right knee swelling while Felton sat out after Boston’s Jae Crowder accidently scratched him in the left eye during Monday’s 118-113 overtime win against the Celtics. Nowitzki played 35 minutes against the Celtics and scored a season-high tying 31 points in 35 minutes.

“I finished the game [Monday] night, had no problems, went home and ate, and I probably went to bed around 1 or something and I felt a little stiff,” Nowitzki said. “My knee felt a little stiff, and I didn’t really worry about it much and then woke up [Tuesday morning] basically with some swelling in my knee.

“I can’t really recall anything happening in that game, but it had to happen. Maybe I got kneed. One time I remember I was going for the ball and I hit the ground – maybe it was that.”

Whatever it was, Nowitzki isn’t sure when he’ll be able to play again.

“I can’t really tell you much – it was some swelling in there,” Nowitzki said. “We treated it obviously yesterday when I came in, we treated it this morning and tonight and hopefully by Friday it’ll feel a lot better.”

The Mavs obviously felt a lot better after escaping what could have been a disaster.

“We just said, ‘Hey, let’s put some stops together and put some pressure on these guys,’ ” Carlisle said. “And that’s what we did. The building got into it and we found a way to get to overtime.”

And this is where Parsons took over as he tallied seven of the 17 points the Mavs scored in overtime. He was truly Nowitzki-like during crunch time.

Nowitzki said: “He actually told me that I’m holding him back. So I might have to sit out a couple more.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Mavericks work overtime again to turn back Timberwolves."