Jerry Stackhouse's buzzer-beating 3-pointer last night lifted the Mavs to a season-high seventh straight victory. The Mavericks won by one point, which is the first time they have won a game by one point since they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-93 on Feb. 3 in Dallas. That game didn't need a big shot from anyone, but rather a big defensive stop from Josh Howard and Devean George on Kevin Garnett. Howard came up with a loose ball after hassling KG, Dirk got the ball and was fouled. He nailed both free throws to put the Mavs up by four and Randy Foye drained a meaningless three to give the Mavs a one-point victory. The Mavs had also won the game before that by one point against Memphis.
It makes sense that they haven't had a lot of close wins. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 10.6 points per game in wins. They are being outscored in losses by 7.7 points. Although that is obviously slimmer than their average win margin, they haven't lost a one-point game this season. In fact, they haven't lost a game by one point since Game 5 of the NBA Finals against Miami when they lost 101-100. They haven't lost a regular-season game by one point since March 23, 2006 against Golden State.
-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd
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