Kyrie Irving sank the defending champion Denver Nuggets with a sensational one-handed floater that NBA reporter Kevin O’Connor called “one of the greatest game-winners you’ve ever seen.”
The Dallas star fired a left shot at Nikola Jokic at the buzzer, capping a wild final 26 seconds and giving the Mavericks a 107-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
The Nuggets rallied from 13 points down midway through the fourth quarter and took the lead on Jamal Murray’s tiebreaker 3-pointer with 26 seconds left.
Luka Doncic responded almost immediately on the inside pass after a timeout, hitting from several yards behind the arc for a 105-105 tie.
After Murray missed an elbow jumper, Dallas called a timeout with 2.8 seconds remaining. The right-handed Irving took the inside pass, dribbled with his left hand as Jokic chased and had to launch the 21-foot shot to beat the buzzer.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) dribbles past Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) shoots the last-second game-winning field goal against Denver
“Sometimes I just spend an hour straight working on left-handed straight stuff,” the 6-foot-2 Irving said. “To be just a little goalie, you just have to have a multitude of finishes. And it’s something I’ve been working on since I was a kid.
“We have confidence in Kyrie,” said rookie center Derek Lively II, who had 14 points. “Every time we see him get the ball, sit back and watch it happen.”
After the shot, Irving ran toward his teammates coming off the bench and was mobbed near midcourt as Jokic and company quietly passed by on their way to the Denver locker room.
“I wasn’t going to jump into the pile,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. ” I thought about it. But knowing my luck, I would have missed and hit the ground. I thought I was going to stay there and celebrate with these guys. A lot of pleasure. This should be fun.’
Several fans noted the difficulty Irving had attempting a left-handed floater from that distance with Jokic defending him.
“This might be the hardest shot I’ve ever seen at any level,” one fan wrote.
Irving (11) reacts as teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. runs after the game-winning shot
Irving (11) celebrates with his teammates after the victory against the Denver Nuggets in Dallas
Doncic scored 37 points and Irving 24 as the Mavericks (39-29) beat the defending champions for their fifth win in six games, responding to a 1-5 streak that followed a seven-game winning streak, Dallas ‘ the longest of the season.
The Mavs tied with Phoenix in a virtual three-way tie with Sacramento for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Nuggets had a five-game road winning streak halted. They had won all five games by double digits, a first in franchise history. Denver is the only team this season to have two road streaks of at least five wins.
Denver (47-21) fell a half-game behind Oklahoma City to have the best record in the West while falling to 11-2 since the All-Star break. The other loss came in overtime after Phoenix’s Kevin Durant made a tying 3 with 26 seconds remaining in regulation.
“I saw Kyrie Irving do a left-handed hook running from the elbow,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said when asked what he saw on the final sequence. “We’ve been on both sides.”
Murray scored 23 points, while the Mavs frustrated Jokic in a 6-of-16 shooting day. Jokic had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and he was fidgety because of the non-calls while the Mavs made plenty of contact in first half.
Luka Doncic (right) and Kyrie Irving (left) celebrate after the latter’s game-winning shot
So did Malone, who eventually called a timeout and ran across the field to complain and received a technical. He almost got a second just before guard Reggie Jackson was also called for a second.
Irving and Doncic teamed up for 3 straight seconds to give Dallas a nine-point lead with eight minutes remaining, and the margin reached 13 before the Nuggets began to claw back.
Michael Porter Jr., who had 12 of his 20 points in the first quarter, started the rally with a 3-pointer. Jokic pulled the Nuggets even to 102-102 with a bucket inside with 1:05 left.
PJ Washington Jr. pulled down 11 rebounds, his most for Dallas since being traded to Charlotte last month. The Mavs cruised past Denver 59-37. Dallas had a game-high 21 offensive rebounds and a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points.
“I can’t remember the last time we went over 22,” Malone said.