Mavericks shake off loss to Spurs, stun Grizzlies

After the embarrassment that transpired 24 hours earlier in Texas, not many saw this coming.

Probably not many gave the Dallas Mavericks a chance at upending a Memphis Grizzlies squad that had won nine of its previous 10 games. Not after the Mavs were shell-shocked at home by 26 points against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

But as coaches are fond of saying, that’s why they play the game. And after Saturday’s game was played, the Mavs were able to rejoice and get out of the FedEx Forum with a 114-110 victory in overtime against the Grizzlies.

Angry, upset and just plain annoyed by the way the Spurs beat them, the Mavs picked up the pieces and beat a Grizzlies team that came in as one of the hottest squads in the NBA.

“We have a high character group with a lot of pride,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Everybody was extremely disappointed with how it went Friday night, and it really showed in our fight tonight.

“It’s a very difficult league right now, as evidenced by both last night and tonight, and I’m proud of the way the guys held the line.’’

The Mavs (29-25) were able to hold the line and snap a three-game losing streak mainly because numerous players stepped up and made crucial plays. The biggest of them all was an 18-footer that Dirk Nowitzki made that gave Dallas a 112-109 lead with 16.6 seconds remaining in overtime.

Mike Conley then missed on a drive to the basket for Memphis, and Raymond Felton grabbed the defensive rebound and hit a pair of free throws for a 114-109 lead with 10.3 seconds to go.

Shortly thereafter, Felton fouled Conley while he was attempting a 3-point shot. But Conley missed the first free throw, made the second one, and missed the entire rim while attempting to miss the third free throw on purpose.

That gave the Mavs the ball back, and they ran out the clock on the Grizzlies (30-21)

“I think we knew what we had to do,” rookie Justin Anderson said. “Everybody kind of felt really embarrassed about how we lost the game Friday night.

“You can just see it in everybody’s eyes. The locker room was pretty quiet going into the game, everybody was super focused and then once we got going — the bench activity, talking on the bench, guys were up screaming and yelling for each other, we were making the extra pass — we got back to who we were.”

The Mavs’ bench left their imprint on this game. Felton was aggressive all night and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds —one more than Memphis robo-rebounder Marc Gasol.

Dwight Powell scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in only 14 minutes. And Anderson skied high for a pair of rebounds, hit a crucial 3-pointer late in the game and finished the night with six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.

“Justin Anderson played great minutes,” Carlisle said. “He gave us force, presence, hit some shots.”

Also for the Mavs, Chandler Parsons fired in a game-high 26 points and pulled down eight rebounds, Nowitzki scored 18 points and snatched seven rebounds. In addition, Deron Williams (22 points, 11 assists) collected his second double-double of the season.

Still, this one started rocky as Memphis broke to an early 12-4 lead. The Mavs closed to within 30-25 after the first quarter and actually led 54-52 at the half.

It stayed close, and then Conley’s 3-pointer sent it into overtime tied at 102. But Parsons opened the overtime session with a pair of 3-pointers and the Mavs were off and running again.

“We just talked about competing,” Nowitzki said. “I liked the grit, I liked the fight. We just hung in there and kept fighting with a tough team. We knew they had won [nine out of 10], so this is a good win for us.’’

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 11:09 PM with the headline "Mavericks shake off loss to Spurs, stun Grizzlies."