The Portland Trail Blazers looked like they had this one all but wrapped up in regulation.
Damian Lillard got an easy layup off of a pick-and-roll to give the Blazers a three-point lead with 44 seconds remaining. The Dallas Mavericks drew up a play for Wesley Matthews to tie the game but his shot missed and Portland corralled the rebound.
The Mavericks needed one stop to have a chance and after Lillard missed a jumper, followed by a missed putback by Moe Harkless, the Mavs got the chance they needed.
Jalen Brunson came up with the loose rebound and was fouled trying to push the ball up the floor to give Dallas a chance to tie things up. He missed the first free throw, giving him no other choice but to intentionally miss the second to create an offensive rebound opportunity.
When the ball was knocked out of bounds in favor of the Mavericks, Luka Doncic converted on their late-game luck:
And every Mavs fan shouted Halleluka. pic.twitter.com/cBKM9SKnhp
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 24, 2018
This insane shot was off in time, sending the game into overtime.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, they ran out of gas as the Trail Blazers pulled away with the win.
Lillard finished with a game-high 33 points and seven assists while C.J. McCollum overcame a 1-for-8 shooting night from the perimeter to score 22 points. Doncic had 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, but needed 22 shots to reach his scoring total.
Regardless of the loss, Doncic continues to impress every time he steps on the court. He had NBA Twitter in a frenzy late on Sunday night with everyone raving about how incredibly clutch this 19-year old rookie is.
As for his team, the Mavericks have now dropped six games in a row, currently the worst losing streak in the NBA. The Blazers, however, take this momentum into Lillard and McCollum's Christmas Day debut against Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz.
