Mavericks overcome Carmelo Anthony's 55 to win, 131-130 
The Dallas Mavericks out-dueled the Denver Nuggets down the wire in front of an audience of 16,000 people in what could be the game of the year to win 131-130.
The Game opened with a duel as Dirk and Carmelo scored the first 10 points of the game - Dirk scored 14 in the opening quarter to Melo's 8. But the Nuggets turned two Nowitzki misses into early fast-breaks to take an early 7 point lead. But the game was quick to change colors in the first as the entry of Shawn Marion and the adjustment into a zone defense turned a deficit of 3 into a Mavericks lead of 5 with Nowitzki and Butler somehow recording 3 blocks each in the quarter. The Mavericks ended the quarter by stopping the last Nuggets attempt with a Kidd steal and dishing to Shawn Marion for a corner 2 on the break with 3.2 left.
The Nuggets opened the 2nd Quarter strong, tying the game 3 minutes in, seemingly having solved the zone and forcing the Mavericks to multiple turnovers. But as the quarter went on, the Nuggets went cold and slowly faded into the Carmelo Show. Beaubois went 4-4 in the Quarter and Butler added 7 of his own to keep the Nuggets off, But Carmelo seemt unstoppable, even hitting a turn-around fadeaway over an outstretched Shawn Marion, totaling 28 by the end of the Quarter and 55 by the end of the game. The Nuggets ended the half ahead by 1.
The tides turned again in the 3rd as the Mavericks went hot from three point land, Terry hitting off a Double Teamed Dirk and Butler making one off a fastbreak initiated by a Haywood block. But Anthony's efforts kept the Nuggets from falling behind in a big way. The frenetic pace of the game continued, with threes raining from both sides. But too many turnovers caused the Mavericks to lose the lead, but a Terry Jumper off the inbound with 1.8 on the clock cut the Nuggets lead to 1 ending the quarter, 99-100.
The fourth had an unlikely hero changing the momentum once again, as Ian Mahinmi altered a Carmelo Anthony throw down. Leon Powe also made key blocks against J.R. Smith and Chauncey Billups. after sitting most of the 3rd Quarter, Dirk continued the pace he started, covering the offensive end for the Mavericks, hitting key shots in the last 5 minutes. Jason Terry hit an and-one with a minute to go to put the Mavericks up by 5, but Aaron Afflalo hit a pair of threes, including one with 4 left on the clock to put the Nuggets up by one. But Dirk Nowitzki played the part of hero one last time as he sank a 20-Foot two point jumper with 2.1 left. Chauncey Billups' last attempt to tie the game with a 23-Foot jumper went off the rim as the clock expired.
That would have been a nice story. Nice addition in Powe.
