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OKLAHOMA CITY -- How it happened: The Thunder, a bunch of kids who couldn’t close out a game against the Mavericks in last season’s West finals, slammed the door in the defending champions’ face again.

That has happened in all four of the Mavs’ trips to Oklahoma City this season. This was the most heated, heart-pumping game of them all.

A wild first half featured Dirk Nowitzki and Kendrick Perkins exchanging shoves and profane unpleasantries, a 19-3 run by the Thunder and a 17-4 response by the Mavs. That set up a thrilling back-and-forth second half.

It all came down to crunch time again.

Oklahoma City didn’t have a field goal for the final 4:52, but the Thunder pulled out the win with suffocating defense and perfect free throw shooting down the stretch. The Mavs scored only two points in the final 2:18. A pair of free throws by Kevin Durant gave Oklahoma City the lead for good with 50.4 seconds remaining, and James Harden protected the lead by going 4-of-4 from the line in the final minute.

Nowitzki had a spectacular performance, scoring 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting, highlighted by a 14-point second quarter. But the Thunder got another big game from Russell Westbrook (29 points, 10-of-21 shooting), 26 points from Durant despite a 5-of-17 shooting night and got surprise scoring contributions from veteran role players Perkins (13 points) and Derek Fisher (11 points).

What it means: The defending champions are in serious danger of having their repeat quest end in the first round. Oklahoma City has a 2-0 lead as the series heads south on Interstate 35.

Bold play of the game: Delonte West put Westbrook -- maybe the most athletic guard in the NBA -- on a poster with a left-handed dunk in transition traffic. West stripped Durant and outraced Durant and Harden down the floor before soaring over Westbrook for the slam. That gave the Mavs a 73-72 lead with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter.

Stat of the night: Jason Kidd became the fifth player in NBA history with 1,000 playoff points, rebounds and assists. Kidd, who has career postseason totals of 2,004 points, 1,004 rebounds and 1,227 assists, joined a club that includes Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Kobe Bryant is eight assists away.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- How it happened: Consider the switch flipped -- and it still couldn't reel a win against the amazing Thunder.

The creaky, old defending champion Mavericks played a whale of a game Saturday night, seamlessly returning on cue to the team-oriented, defensive-minded game plan that took them all the way to the title last season. Dallas had Game 1 in their hip pocket. Only anyone who has paid attention when these two teams get together know it wasn't over.

The Thunder trailed 92-85 with 3:23 to and were down to one final possession with 9.0 seconds to go after Dirk Nowitzki's two free throws gave the Mavs the 98-97 lead. Kevin Durant, ice-cold for much of the game, took the inbounds pass from Russell Westbrook, went one-on-one with Shawn Marion and pulled up a few feet behind the free throw line.

The soft jumper looked short, hit the front of the rim, bounced backward and dropped, and the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd went nuts. In three games this season at OKC against the Mavs, Durant has two buzzer-beaters.

For much of the game this was a battle of sidekicks. Jason Terry hit his first six shots. Russell Westbrook carried the Thunder, who trailed 51-48 at halftime and 73-69 after three.

The Mavs will wonder how this one, another one in OKC, got away down the stretch. Closing time used to be the Mavs' time. Chalk another one up to the Thunder, whose defense down the stretch caused the Mavs to scramble on offense.

Westbrook finished with 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Durant, just 10-of-27 from the floor, had 25 points and James Harden finished with 19 -- 10 coming at the free throw line -- and six boards. Serge Ibaka was tremendous with 22 points and five blocks.

Nowitzki finished with 25 and a flurry in the fourth that seemed like it would lift Dallas to a huge win for a team that was just 13-20 on the road in the regular season. But the Mavs had four turnovers in the fourth quarter and Nowitzki had three of them, two in the final 90 seconds. After his fast start, Terry was mostly a non-factor in the second half and finished with 20. Shawn Marion, who could not have been in better position to stop Durant on the final shot, had 17 points, canning three 3s and grabbing eight rebounds.

Jason Kidd, coming off a week's rest set a career playoff high with seven steals. He needed one more.

The Mavs got everything they could have wanted in the first half, save for better shooting from Nowitzki (4-11, 10 points). They dominated both ends of the boards (OKC owned a 45-40 average advantage in four regular season games), held a 7-2 edge in second-chance points, led in fastbreak points and more than doubled OKC's free throw attempts (11-5), perhaps the most important stat to track in this series. In four regular-season games, the free throw edge for OKC was 31-19 a game.

What it means: The Mavs head into the off-day knowing they blew a significant opportunity to pile major pressure onto the shoulders of the young Thunder. That's now three games at OKC this season that Dallas had in its grasp but couldn't close out. Meanwhile, the Thunder know they got away with one and can put the defending champs in an unenviable hole with a win Monday night.

Bold Play of the game: This play will get lost in the remarkable finish, but with 8:25 to go, Ian Mahinmi had the ball under the bucket and position for a slam that would have put Dallas up, 80-73. But Kevin Durant made a huge block and two minutes later, the score was tied at 80-80.

Stat of the game: The Mavs remained winless this season on the road against teams with a winning percentage of .600 or better. They're now 0-13.

ATLANTA -- How it happened: The Atlanta Hawks, needing a win to guarantee home-court advantage in their first-round series against the Boston Celtics, bombed their way to a 31-11 lead and the fat lady was singing late in the first quarter.

The Hawks' 106-89 victory in front of sparse crowd locks the Mavs into the No. 7 seed and sets up an intriguing first-round series with the No. 2-seed Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas, of course, eliminated OKC in five games in last year's Western Conference finals. The series starts Saturday at the rocking Chesapeake Energy Arena. The NBA will announce game times and dates for the remainder of the series shortly.

The Thunder won three of four meetings against the Mavs this season, but all three of Dallas' losses were tight games, including the first one on Dec. 29, won on a Kevin Durant buzzer-beater from behind the arc. The Mavs were 0-2 at OKC this season and they'll need to win at least one up there if they are going to move on to the second round.

The Mavs talked a good game coming into this one, suggesting it was important, yada, yada, yada. Jason Kidd was in slacks and a sport coat and defense was optional. If this was a tuneup for the playoffs, the Mavs had a funny way of showing it. The Hawks led 60-44 at halftime and shot 56.5 percent.

The Mavs delivered a shot of competitive energy to start the second quarter, nibbling the deficit to 60-49, but the tide quickly turned the other way and the Hawks blew it back open, 67-49. Atlanta had six players in double figures and shot well over 50 percent for the game.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 22 points 0n 7-of-12 shooting and played 26 minutes, all in the first three quarters. Rodrigue Beaubois had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds. Jason Terry had 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting.

What it means: The Mavs finish the regular season with consecutive losses and a 36-30 record. Their high-water mark for the season was nine games over .500 at 20-11 on Feb. 17 and 21-12 on Feb. 20.

Bold Play of the game: In the second quarter, Nowitzki drove to the basket, collided with the defender impeding his progress and crashed to the court on his left wrist. He sat on the floor holding the wrist and bending his arm for a moment. In a meaningless game that was already a blowout in the Hawks' favor, it was a certainly a hold-your-breath moment, if only briefly. Nowitzki made both free throws and played in the second half.

Stat of the game: The Mavs' 30 losses in this 66-game schedule equals their total losses during the 2010-11 82-game regular season and the 21-game postseason.

CHICAGO -- How it happened: The Mavericks rested Jason Kidd and Jason Terry in a meaningless game and the Bulls brought back Derrick Rose in a critical game to their pursuit of the No. 1 seed in the East.

And after one quarter of play, the Mavs shot 21 percent, turned it over four times and scored eight points and trailed, to their good fortune, by 11. Hey, give Dallas credit, they kept scrapping after getting down 25-10 against a surprisingly sloppy Bulls squad that needed the win to maintain its shrinking lead over Miami for the No. 1 seed in the East.

Dallas got it down to two points in the second quarter and one point in the third when Delonte West's jumper with three minutes to go capped a 7-0 run to give the Mavs a 56-55 for their first and only lead of the game.

It didn't last long. Rip Hamilton, who killed Dallas with 19 points, drained a floater and then a West turnover led to two Luol Deng free throws that got the Bulls back up by three, 59-56. A Yoakim Noah offensive rebound and assist to Deng made it 61-56 with 1:28 to go. The Bulls made it an 11-0 run on Deng's 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 66-56 bulge.

The Mavs still wouldn't die. Rodrigue Beaubois, who finished with better stats than Rose, hit a 3-pointer with 7:11 to go to cut the deficit to five and Brandan Wright's putback with 5:53 to go made it 75-72.

Joakim Noah though proved too tough on the offensive glass and the Bulls hit key shots to finally put away the Mavs, who probably had not business being as close as they were.

But hey, obviously this game for Dallas was about fielding a team and playing some ball, staying healthy and let the chips fall where they may against the team with the league's best record before a four-day break.

Beaubois showed a little something in this one, coming back from a dislocated left ring finger in the second quarter. He had a big fourth quarter with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to keep the Mavs close. He finished with 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting, five assists and six rebounds in 39 minutes.

Rose, guarded a good deal by Beaubois, finished with 11 points and eight assists in 32 minutes.

Dirk Nowitzki logged 33 minutes and had 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds. Delonte West had 13 points and Vince Carter heated up late for 15 points after starting 0-of-6 from the field. Shawn Marion had just six points and six boards in 30 minutes.

What it means: The Mavs dropped to the seventh seed behind the Denver Nuggets, who won at Phoenix earlier Saturday, by one loss and percentage points. The Nuggets have three games remaining. Dallas, with one game to go, is assured of finishing the 66-game season no better than eight games over .500, the equivalent of 46 wins in an 82-game schedule.

Bold play of the game: When Beaubois fell to the ground holding his left hand, visions of being out the rest of the season had to come to mind on the Mavs' bench. But when he checked back in moments later, he showed some toughness that needed to be seen by his coach and teammates. He then put together a strong performance.

Stat of the game: Eight points marks a new franchise low for points by the Mavs in an opening quarter. The previous low was nine, accomplished three times, the last being Jan. 7, 1997.

How it happened: The Dallas Mavericks managed to beat Golden State’s summer league team without expending a whole lot of energy.

It wasn’t exactly an inspirational effort in the Mavs’ final home game of the regular season. They let a team that started four rookies hang around all night.

But it can’t be considered surprising that the Mavs seemed to lack motivation a night after clinching the franchise’s 12th consecutive playoff berth while sitting on the couch.

It’s not like the win was ever in question for the Mavs. They closed the third quarter with a 6-0 run and added the first bucket of the fourth quarter to give themselves enough of a cushion to cruise to the buzzer.

Vince Carter lit it up in the fourth quarter to make sure that the Warriors’ leftovers wouldn’t be a threat down the stretch. Carter scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, when he was 4-of-5 from the floor, including the 1,500th made 3-pointer of his career.

Brandan Wright, the young lottery pick Golden State gave up on last year, added a season-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

Minutes might have been the most important category in the box score for the Mavs. Delonte West, who had 16 points, was the only Mav to play more than 30.

What it means: The Mavs moved a game ahead of the Nuggets for sixth place in the West. Golden State took another step toward retaining its first-round draft pick, which is top-seven protected.

Bold play of the game: Shawn Marion came off a screen on an inbounds pass, curled to the hoop, caught a pass from Carter and dunked with two hands over two Warriors. That gave the Mavs a 73-70 lead and was part of an 8-0 run.

Stat of the night: The Mavs didn’t extend their NBA-record streak of games with a made 3-pointer until the final play of the third quarter, when West knocked one down from the right corner. They missed their first 14 3-point attempts and finished 3-of-19 from long range. The streak now stands at 1,084 games.

How it happened: In a game that had a playoff feel, the Mavs flashed the finishing form that carried them to a championship last year.

Dallas dominated the fourth quarter, something that has been a rarity this season. The Mavs, who didn’t exactly put on a defensive clinic for the first three quarters, went on a 19-8 run in the first six minutes of the final frame to seize the lead for good.

The Rockets, whose playoff hopes took a huge hit, were done in by three of the league’s most prolific fourth-quarter scorers over the last decade and change. Among active players, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Vince Carter are in a class with Kobe Bryant in terms of points scored in the fourth quarter.

Nowitzki and Terry have been the Mavs’ co-closers for years. They went to work again with the Mavs’ season on the line. Nowitzki scored 21 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth. Terry had six of his 19 points, plus a pair of assists.

Carter, a newcomer to the Mavs’ roster this season, is a recent addition to Dallas’ closing committee. He scored a season-high 23 points in the game, carrying the Mavs in the early going and capping it with seven points in the fourth.

Add it all up, and the Mavs' trio outscored Houston's team by a 34-26 margin in the fourth to pull out a 117-110 win.

What it means: The defending NBA champions are pretty secure with their playoff positioning with three games remaining in the regular season. They’re up two and a half games with the tiebreaker on the Rockets and Suns, who top the list of West teams in lottery position. The Mavs can clinch a playoff spot with a home win Friday night over the beat-up Golden State Warriors. Pending the late Nuggets-Clippers outcome, the Mavs might be in sixth place in the West by the end of the night.

Bold play of the game: On a vintage Vinsanity night, Carter revved 'em up three times with over-the-rim acrobatics. The most important and impressive was a two-hand putback slam of a missed Terry layup that stretched the Mavs' lead to five points with 5:31 remaining.

Stat of the night: The Mavs are now 4-24 in games in which they trailed after three quarters.

SALT LAKE CITY -- How it happened: One of the Mavericks' more uninspired performances through 3 1/2 quarters turned into an incredible exhibition of perseverance in Utah.

The Mavs rallied from an 81-72 hole in the final five minutes of regulation as Dirk Nowitzki finally got some help. The previously ice-cold Jason Terry knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, and Vince Carter hit two gargantuan late bombs, one from the corner to get Dallas within one point, 87-86, and then from the right wing for an 89-87 lead with 8.5 seconds to go.

Paul Millsap forced overtime with a slam dunk putback after Gordon Hayward forced up an off-balance prayer from the baseline.

Both teams hit big shots in the first two overtimes, with Nowitzki hitting the game-tying 3-pointer in the first OT to give him 38 points and force a second overtime, but only after Al Jefferson narrowly missed a putback attempt to win it at the buzzer.

The overtime periods were filled with haymakers as the teams took turns taking the lead, only to have the momentum stolen right back.

For most of regulation, it was the Dirk show for Dallas. He had 20 of the team's 42 points at the half, while Carter was next in line with 12. The supporting cast finally got into the game in the nick of time to save this one from certain defeat.

The Mavs rolled with the same five throughout the first two overtimes with Terry, Jason Kidd, Carter, Nowitzki and Ian Mahinmi. For the third, Carlisle opted to sit Kidd, who logged 46 minutes after going 39 on Sunday at the Lakers, for Delonte West, whose strange first-half finger-jab to the head of Gordon Hayward seemed eons ago.

Fatigue finally seemed to take hold of the Mavs in the third overtime. While the shots started caroming off the rim, the Jazz kept hitting big ones, and the biggest rained down from the hands of Devin Harris, with his fifth from downtown giving Utah a 118-115 lead. Nowitzki missed a 3 at the other end, and Jefferson scored for a 120-115 lead.

West, the lone Mav with fresh legs after playing just 22 minutes in regulation, drained a straightaway 3 to make it 120-118. Then wouldn't you know, the Jazz sealed it with a flying offensive rebound from little-known DeMarre Carroll. His board set up Millsap inside, where Nowitzki had no choice but to foul. However, Millsap kept the door open by missing the second free throw with 14.9 to go for a 121-118 lead.

Terry's 3-pointer to tie was on line but short. Dallas retained possession under its own basket. An absolutely exhausted Nowitzki got the inbounds pass and misfired on an awkward 3-point attempt from the corner.

The Jazz came away with the rebound, and Harris salted the long night away with a pair of free throws. West added a final 3-pointer, but the Jazz and their playoff hopes prevailed.

Nowitzki finished with 40 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Terry ended up with 27 points, with 14 coming in the three overtimes. Carter had 18, and West finished with 16.

Harris had his best game against his old team with 23 points. Jefferson had 28, and Hayward had 24.

What it means: The Mavs (34-28) end the disappointing four-game road trip with consecutive losses and in seventh place in the West standings with four games to go. Houston and Golden State close out the home schedule Wednesday and Friday.

Bold play of the game: Millsap goes untouched above the rim and slams home Hayward's off-balance shot in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime. It was the Jazz's 12th offensive rebound of the game, and without it, those crazy 15 minutes of OT would not have been necessary.

Stat of the game: Shawn Marion finished with two rebounds, snapping his five-game run of double-digit rebounds. He didn't play in the fourth quarter or any of the overtimes.

LOS ANGELES -- How it happened: Who needs Kobe Bryant for Showtime in L.A.?

The Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers persevered without the league's leading scorer and with an under-the-weather Andrew Bynum to win an overtime shootout in part because Pau Gasol hit consecutive 3-pointers in the extra frame (the first of which the Dallas Mavericks protested to no avail that Matt Barnes interfered with at the rim). Gasol had made just five the entire season.

But, the bigger picture saw Dirk Nowitzki struggle from the floor (9-of-28) and fail to get to the free-throw line (3-of-3, one on a defensive 3-second call and two in the final minute of OT) despite leading the team with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Dallas wasted significant games from Delonte West (16 of 20 points in the first half), Jason Kidd (13 points, 5-of-7 FGs) and Jason Terry (21 points, 11 in fourth quarter and OT, 5-6 on 3s).

Terry's drive to the cup in the final 10 seconds of overtime to tie didn't draw a foul call and his shot from nearly under the backboard never had a chance. The Mavs could have gone for the 3 and the win, but Kidd inbounded to Terry, who took Ramon Sessions inside, but couldn't get it to go.

If the Lakers and Mavericks meet in the first round of the playoffs, which Sunday's win by L.A. makes all the more likely, Dallas better figure out a way to put a leash on the big man Bynum and slow down Sessions, who has had two massive games against the Mavs since his trade to L.A.

An upper-respiratory infection, along with the Mavs' defense couldn't hold Bynum down after a slow start. It was Bynum's and-1, followed by a monster dunk with 5:25 left that ended a 10-1 Dallas run and quickly turned momentum to the Lakers' side.

Bynum finished with 23 points (just 9-of-24 FGs) and 16 rebounds. Sessions put in seven of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, including five consecutive points.

The Lakers dominated the boards with 15 offensive rebounds for an 18-9 advantage in second-chance points. Metta World Peace came up big to start the third quarter and finished with 18 points while splitting his six boards among offensive and defensive.

Considering the Lakers were playing without Bryant, Bynum was sick, Kidd was coming off Friday's rest and Dallas had yet to beat L.A. this season, the Mavs needed this one. Now they head to awaiting Utah with weary legs.

Kidd logged 39 minutes, Nowitzki played 43 and Terry played 37.

What it means: The loss means the Mavs go 0-for-4 against the Lakers this season. They helped L.A. keep its grip on the No. 3 seed, increasing the likelihood of a Lakers-Mavs first-round series that would start at Staples Center in two weeks.

Bold play of the game: Gasol's consecutive 3s were stunning and ultimately the difference in the game, but with 5:24 to go in the game, Bynum got the crowd revved up and the momentum swinging in the Lakers' favor. After Metta World Peace left a 3-pointer hanging high over the front of the rim, Bynum plucked it out of the air and threw it down with authority to bring the Lakers to within 89-88.

Stat of the game: The Mavs' run of 18 consecutive wins when scoring more than 100 points came to an end. The last time Dallas lost when it scored at least 100 was the third game of the season at Oklahoma City.

How it happened: The Dallas Mavericks never trailed against the Portland Trail Blazers. It still wasn’t pretty in Portland.

The Mavs didn’t exactly throw a knockout punch against a poor team playing without All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who is out for the season after undergoing hip surgery. The Mavs played a sloppy, turnover-plagued fourth quarter that allowed the Blazers to rally, mounting a 12-0 run to make the visitors sweat down the stretch.

But the Mavs survived for their third straight win since ridding their locker room of Lamar Odom.

The Mavs opened the game with a 9-0 run and never relinquished the lead at the Rose Garden. Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs’ lone All-Star, scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first quarter while the Mavs established a 14-point lead. Nowitzki finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

Delonte West ran the show with Jason Kidd resting and Rodrigue Beaubois suffering a strained right calf in the second half. West had 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, seven assists and six rebounds while logging 44 minutes. The blemish on West’s impressive all-around performance was his six turnovers.

Shawn Marion had 17 points and 14 rebounds, one board shy of his season high.

Brandan Wright, who played the majority of the minutes at center, had 13 points and eight rebounds. He also broke up an alley-oop attempt to J.J. Hickson that would have cut the Mavs’ lead to a bucket with a little less than a minute ago.

What it means: The Mavs are in sole possession of sixth place in the West by a relatively comfortable margin. They are up a game and a half on the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets -- both Friday night losers -- and own the tiebreakers over both teams.

Bold play of the game: West drove down the middle and threw down a two-hand dunk in the final minute of the first half, sending an excruciating bolt of pain up his surgically repaired right ring finger. That play was part of an 11-2 run for the Mavs to finish the first half, a fine response to the Trail Blazers slicing the lead to single digits.

Stat of the night: Marion recorded his third double-double in four games and his fourth consecutive double-digit rebounding game. Marion, the shortest player in the league leading his team in rebounding, has averaged 12.8 boards per game in that span.

DALLAS -- How it happened: At least the Mavericks can now say they can win without Lamar Odom. They won for the first time in eight games without the aloof forward, who has played his final game with the Mavs.

But let's not get carried away either. This win against the 14th-place Sacramento Kings, a squad with five road wins under its belt, was never easy, even during a fourth quarter that looked to have runaway written all over it. Yet, with 6:20 to go, the mistake-prone Kings had cut the Dallas lead to five, 92-87.

Delonte West, who started at shooting guard in Jason Kidd's return to the point, then scored five points in a row, including a 3-pointer, for a 97-87 lead. That finally put Sacramento away for good.

It certainly was an odd game in Kidd's return from a strained right groin. Kidd, for starters, played 22 minutes, all in the first three quarters, and he attacked about as aggressively as he has all season. He finished with seven points, seven assists and six rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki never found a rhythm once again (5-of-16 at Memphis on Saturday) and had 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting.

Six Mavs scored in double figures. Rodrigue Beaubois tied Dirk for the team lead with 15 points and Jason Terry had 13 off the bench as the Mavs' reserves scored 51 points. Brendan Haywood had 11 points and five rebounds in 17 minutes and Shawn Marion finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds, giving him 25 boards in the last two games.

And don't forget the boost Yi Jianlian gave the Mavs in the second quarter when things were a bit flat. The 7-footer splashed all four of his jumpers in a stretch of 5:34 to help the Mavs take a 57-50 lead to the locker room. Yi and Haywood led the Mavs with eight points apiece at the half.

Dallas' rebounding was a major theme from wire-to-wire. They had nine second-chance points after the first quarter when half of their 18 rebounds came on the offensive end. They doubled the Kings' scoring in that category, 20-10, and dominated the boards, 56-40.

The Kings were still shooting a pretty torrid 46.5 percent after three quarters, but Dallas held them to eight field goals in the fourth quarter. They had no real answer for intriguing young big man DeMarcus Cousins, who finished with 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting and 18 rebounds.

What it means: Dallas (32-26) began a crucial stretch of eight games in 12 days with a must-have victory after dropping three of their last four and two in a row. The win moved them into sole possession of seventh place and one-half game back of No. 6 Houston. The Mavs left immediately after the game for the West Coast where they will play four big ones, starting Thursday night at Golden State, then Friday at Portland, Sunday afternoon at the Los Angeles Lakers and finally Monday night at Utah.

Bold play of the game: With less than 50 seconds to go in the third quarter and the Mavs trying hard to further separate from the Kings, Vince Carter was determined to get to the rim after he had a bit of an embarrassing moment a couple minutes earlier, leaving his finger roll well short, only to catch it and get called for traveling. This time around, he'd get a highlight reel for flying. The 35-year-old drove baseline and posterized 7-foot Kings center Hassan Whiteside with a nasty tomahawk jam for an 81-74 lead.

Stat of the game: Marion's 14 rebounds were one shy of his season high, but his offensive boards eclipsed his previous season high of seven and was one shy of his career high of nine set back in November 2005 against Toronto.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- How it happened: The Dallas Mavericks played a fine three quarters. Too bad for them they didn't show up until the second.

Memphis jumped out to an 8-0 lead, made it 19-5, 26-6 and finally 29-10 after 12 minutes. The Mavs made two baskets in the first period and shot 13 percent.

Ballgame.

Only it didn't have to be that way. The Mavs largely outplayed Memphis the rest of the way and did so despite a gimpy Delonte West, no Ian Mahinmi and with Dirk Nowitzki plodding through one of his shooting performances of the season (5-of-16). Against all that, Vince Carter, Brandan Wright and Shawn Marion nearly managed the impossible.

With 4:15 to go in he third quarter, Carter's step-back 3-pointer from the wing got Dallas to within one point, 63-62, for the first time in the game. But over the next three-plus minutes, Memphis scored seven consecutive points, stopped only by an accidental Rodrigue Beaubois bank-in 3-pointer.

Down five to start the fourth quarter, the Mavs had two catastrophic turnovers on inbounds passes in the first six minutes among their 16 on the night. Down 81-74 with 9:35 to go, Beaubois couldn't get the ball in on the sideline and was whistled for a five-second violation. Then with 6:46 left and coming out of a timeout, Jason Terry's inbounds pass intended for Delonte West got lost in translation and O.J. Mayo scooped it up, got fouled, made two free throws and the Memphis lead swelled back to 10 at 88-78.

Nowitzki added two more critical turnovers in the final two minutes on outlet passes after grabbing a critical rebound reminiscent of the awful pass he throw in the final 20 seconds of overtime Friday night. Having played 36 minutes at the time of the foul after going 42 in Friday's overtime loss, is there any other explanation other than fatigue?

Don't tell the Grizz about that. They were playing their seventh game in nine nights and tore up the Heat in Miami on Friday. Rudy Gay rebounded from a rough night in Dallas on Wednesday to lead all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Zach Randolph had 15 points, including two big free throws with 15.8 seconds to go to extend the lead to five.

Despite Nowitzki's ragged shooting night, he still led Dallas with 17 points and eight rebounds. Wright had 16 points, Carter scored 14, Marion had 12 and Terry had 12.

On the Lamar Odom watch, he played four minutes in the first quarter and never saw the floor again. What does that say about Odom on a team that was shorthanded to begin with?

What it means: The Mavs (31-26) have lost two in a row and three of four since the comeback at Orlando. Although they own the tiebreaker against all the playoff contenders under them, they are not making their lives any easier with nine games left in the regular season and six of them on the road.

Bold play of the game: With 6:57 left in the game and the Mavs trailing 83-78, they couldn't get a rebound. Memphis reset and Gilbert Arenas received a floating pass from the other side of the court that could have been picked off, but Terry had his back to the pass. Arenas hauled it in and sent up his own floater of a 3-pointer that splashed down for one of his three 3-pointers in the game. The deflating shot put Memphis back up by eight and the next possession the Grizz made it 10, 88-78.

Stat of the game: Biggest lead: Grizzlies 20, Mavericks 0.

How it happened: The Mavs managed to blow a big lead against a bad road team and couldn’t make up for it in crunch time.

LaMarcus Aldridge, the first-time All-Star from nearby Seagoville, finished off his hometown team at the overtime buzzer. Aldridge hit a stepback 16-footer over Brendan Haywood to seal the Mavs’ fate in a game that the Dallas truly deserved to lose.

Dallas led by as many as 15 in the first half, but that was all gone and then some after the Mavs’ miserable third quarter. Portland outscored the Mavs by a 30-10 margin in the frame, closing the quarter with a 16-0 run fueled by point guard Raymond Felton's 12-point scoring spree.

The Mavs rallied in the fourth quarter, sparked by an impromptu Brandan Wright dunk show, but couldn’t finish the job in regulation. The Mavs didn’t lead again the rest of regulation after Rodrigue Beaubois was whistled for a foul -- much to the chagrin of Mark Cuban –- to send Jamal Crawford to the line for three free points with 6:03 remaining.

Felton finished with a season-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting, taking advantage of gimpy Delonte West and lackadaisical Beaubois.

Aldridge took over for the Trail Blazers in overtime, when he had six of his 25 points.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 23 points and 14 rebounds, but he cooled off considerably after a red-hot start. He had 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first seven minutes and was 5-of-12 from the floor the rest of the night. He also had the ball slip out of his hand on an outlet pass that should have resulted in a breakaway dunk for Shawn Marion that would have given the Mavs the lead in the final minute of OT.

What it means: This will go down as one of the Mavs’ worst home losses of the season. It could be extremely costly when it comes to playoff seeding. The Mavs are sixth in the West standings, a game behind the Grizzlies, as they head to Memphis for a critical game that is the butt end of a back-to-back for both teams. The winner of Saturday night’s game gets the tiebreaker in the Dallas-Memphis season series.

Bold play of the game: It's gotta be Aldridge's buzzer-beater ... But Brandan Wright’s right-to-left windmill off an alley-oop in the second quarter might have been more spectacular, and so was his soaring slam over Luke Babbitt. That play turned the AAC from dead to deafening, sparking an 11-0 run that gave the Mavs the lead and life again after their miserable third quarter. Roddy Beaubois attacked the paint and made a perfectly timed feed in transition to the Human Exclamation Point, who took off from the left block and leaped over a ground-bound Babbitt before throwing it down hard with his left hand.

Stat of the night: Felton, who entered the night averaging 10.8 points per game this season, outscored the Mavs in the third quarter by a 16-10 margin. Felton had 12 points in the final 2:57 of the frame.

How it happened: Maybe the Grizzlies, who were playing their fifth game in six nights, just ran out of gas. That doesn’t matter to the Mavericks.

The Mavs absolutely dominated crunch time, as they did so often during last season’s championship run and have done so rarely this season.

That dominance started on the defensive end. The Mavs held the Grizzlies to 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the final 10 minutes, allowing Dallas to turn a five-point deficit into a double-figure margin of victory.

The stops fueled the Mavs’ offense. Shawn Marion’s 12-point fourth quarter featured four fast-break baskets, one on a beautiful, spinning feed from Jason Terry for a dunk.

The brilliance of Marion, who finished with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds, allowed the Mavs’ co-closers to slip into complementary roles as Dallas put the Grizzlies away. Dirk Nowitzki scored six of his game-high 23 points in the final frame. Terry had five of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Marion, as usual, also spearheaded the Mavs’ defensive effort. He held Memphis star Rudy Gay to eight points on 4-of-12 shooting, shutting him out in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs also won the rebounding battle, 45-40, a big deal after getting their butts kicked on the glass on a regular basis recently. Nowitzki grabbed 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.

What it means: The Mavs pulled even with the Grizzlies in the Western Conference standings, sitting in a tie for fifth place. The tiebreaker in the series will be settled Saturday night in Memphis. The Mavs also created a little separation from Houston (idle) and Denver, which lost to New Orleans.

Bold play of the game: Marion grabbed a rebound off O.J. Mayo’s missed runner and went coast to coast for a little floater. That capped a 10-0 run -- which started when Marion replaced Lamar Odom after Odom’s pathetic failure to box out resulted in a three-point play for Memphis’ Quincy Pondexter -- and stretched the Mavs’ lead to five points.

Stat of the night: The Mavs are 3-20 when trailing after three quarters, including comebacks in their last two wins. Dallas was 18-22 when trailing after three quarters last season.

DALLAS -- How it happened: With Jason Kidd continuing the string of injuries and sitting this one out (as well as the rest of the week) with a groin strain, the Dallas Mavericks' offense never showed up against the team right in front of them in the standings.

Or maybe put this one on Lamar Odom's absence due to illness: Dallas is now 0-7 without the "Khloe & Lamar" co-star.

Nah, pin this loss to the Los Angeles Clippers all day, thanks to poor execution and no life in a game that should have commanded both in heavy doses from the Mavs. They were sloppy from the opening tip, shot 35 percent in the first half, had just six assists on 14 baskets, gave up 14 points on nine turnovers and were outscored 10-0 on second-chance points. The Mavs' 33 points marked the second-lowest first-half total of the season, surpassed only by the 29 points they scored in that 93-71 blowout loss early on at San Antonio. Yet, they were fortunate to trail by just 14.

Dallas fell behind by as many as 16 with only Dirk Nowitzki scoring more than five points in the first 24 minutes. He had 12. Meanwhile, the Clippers shot 52.5 percent, but they had eight turnovers to keep the score within reason.

Things only got worse in the third quarter. Dallas didn't score its first field goal until nearly four minutes had passed. A few minutes later Randy Foye drilled one of his career-high and Clippers record-tying eight 3-pointers for a 62-41 lead with 5:06 to go.

Foye was smoking hot and it might have helped if the Mavs had decided to put a hand in his face. With the Mavs making something of a run, trimming a 22-point deficit to 76-62, Foye splashed a 3 as Delonte West turned to the Mavs' bench in disbelief. Foye finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 8-of-15 from deep. He made almost twice as many 3s as Dallas on eight fewer attempts.

Nowitzki finished with 19 points and Jason Terry was the only other Mavs player in double digits, with 15. Those two were 13-of-27 while the rest of the team stunk it up to the tune of 17-of-50.

The numbers across the board were hideous: 39.0 percent (30-of-77) from the floor, 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range and 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from the free-throw line.

Dallas was outrebounded 49-38 and outscored 14-8 on second-chance points, but 10-0 in the first half.

Blake Griffin had several thunderous dunks among his 15-point, 16-rebound night, and Caron Butler had 13 points.

By the end of the game, Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe was hot-dogging on the Mavs' home floor. Not a good night.

What it means: Forget about starting a winning streak on this important three-game homestand and forget about picking up a game on the Clippers for the No. 4 seed for home-court advantage in the first round. The loss drops Dallas (30-24) 2½ games behind L.A. and three games back in the loss column. Also forget about gaining a game on the Memphis Grizzlies, who started a back-to-back-to-back with a big win at Oklahoma City to jump the Mavs and move into the fifth seed while Dallas falls into sixth. The Grizz are in Dallas on Wednesday.

Bold play of the game:With the first half ticking down, Clippers point guard Chris Paul dribbled and dribbled and dribbled to the point that he seemingly frustrated his own teammates. First Kenyon Martin shook his head wanting the ball, and then Butler as he sprang free on the wing. But Paul just kept dribbling and then, boom, swished an elbow jumper with 10 seconds left on the clock and the Clips thought they had a 49-33 lead. But at the half, the refs reviewed Martin's jumper with 4:24 left that was ruled on the court to have beaten the shot clock. Upon review, it was taken off the board and L.A. settled for a 47-33 halftime lead. It was big enough.

Stat of the game: The Clippers reached two significant milestones. They won their sixth game in a row, their longest streak since a six-gamer in March 1992, and they also snapped a 10-game road losing skid in Dallas dating back to 2006.

MIAMI -- How it happened: Jason Terry wore his gold shoes from last summer’s championship series, a reminder to everyone in South Beach just how well he played during the Dallas Mavericks' championship run.

Well, you know what they say about karma.

Terry made just one of 10 shots and was a non-factor offensively. He had as many fouls (3) as points (3). And then there’s Dirk Nowitzki, who missed his last eight shots.

Dallas can’t win on nights when its two best offensive players struggle to shoot.

Miami, leading by seven at halftime, never relinquished the lead as it methodically pulled away from the Mavs at American Airlines Arena on Thursday night.

The Mavs are 4-4 when Terry scores fewer than 10 points, but have lost three of the last four times it has happened. The Mavs don’t have an offensively-gifted team.

Nowitzki is the Mavs' only pure scorer, but they mask their deficiencies with excellent ball movement and quality defense. The ball movement leads to open shots, and the defense allows the Mavs to get into their offensive flow before the defense can set up.

The Mavs didn’t shoot well enough in the second half to put pressure on Miami’s defense, and they didn’t consistently defend well enough to get their secondary fastbreak offense up and running.

All is not lost, though.

Lamar Odom played his second consecutive quality game. More important, he played like he cared.

He dove to the floor for a loose ball in the first half, one of the few times we’ve seen that this season. And in the third quarter, he single-handidly kept the Mavs in the game with nine consecutive points to end the quarter.

Along the way, he showed why owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle have been patient with him: when he’s engaged in the game, he can do a lot of things to help the Mavs.

For the second straight game, Odom attacked the basket aggressively and made good passes after penetrating, setting up his teammates for open looks.(

It wasn’t good enough to help the Mavs win, but it eased some of the sting of yet another road loss.

What it means: The Mavs are just two games ahead of ninth-place Denver in the loss column, and now they have to go faced the rested Orlando Magic for a back-to-back. This is what happens when you lose games to inferior opponents such as New Orleans, New Jersey and Phoenix. The Mavs didn’t play poorly and still lost to Miami, which can happen against good teams.

Bold play: Odom stood in the left corner and waited for Nowitzki’s pass to find him. Then, he launched a 3-pointer that hit nothing but net. It was his ninth consecutive point and pulled the Mavs within eight points at the end of the third quarter. Dirk, thrilled with the play, gave Odom some strong words of support as they headed down the court.

Stat of the night: For the first time since March 2009, the Mavs didn’t shoot a free thrown in the first half. It should come as no surprise, though, because the Mavs launched 17 3-pointers in the first half, making seven. You don’t get to the free throw line hanging around the perimeter.