Just how improbable was the Mavericks’ comeback win over the slumping Knicks on Tuesday night?
Well, Dallas picked up a stunning victory while facing an obstacle that no team had overcome in the last two decades.
The Mavericks trailed by nine points with 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, and thanks to a wild rebound by Luka Doncic off his own miss at the free throw line, and an immediate bucket in the closing seconds of regulation following the board, Dallas forced overtime and eventually sent New York to its fourth straight loss, and second in its last three games where what seemed like a certain win turned into a devastating defeat.
So, how infrequent was such a comeback? According to ESPN Stats & Info, over the last 20 seasons, NBA teams hadn’t won a single game in 13,884 tries when trailing by at least nine points with 35 or fewer seconds remaining in the game.
But the Mavericks have Doncic, who went off for 60 points in a historic triple-double that continued the Knicks’ freefall after an eight-game winning streak that now seems like a lifetime ago.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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