NBA: Kyrie Irving stars as Mavericks rescue win against Rockets

Kyrie Irving scored 25 of his season-high 48 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Dante Exum’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close regulation helped the Dallas Mavericks complete a comeback from down as many as 22 points in their 147-136 win at home on Sunday over the Houston Rockets.

Dallas (48-30) capitalized on three missed Houston free throws in the final 25 seconds of regulation, including a pair by Jabari Smith Jr. with eight seconds left and the Rockets leading by three points, to force overtime.

The Mavericks dominated the extra frame’s final two minutes.

Irving scored attacking the rim to set his single-game scoring high as a member of the Mavericks, putting Dallas ahead 139-136 with 1:48 remaining in overtime.

That kicked off a game-ending, 10-0 run, punctuated when Luka Doncic followed his block of a Smith 3-point attempt with the final two of Doncic’s 37 points.

Doncic also dished 12 assists, matching Houston’s Fred VanVleet for a game-high, and came one rebound shy of his 21st triple-double of the season.

Among Doncic’s assists was finding Exum for the wing 3-pointer as time expired in regulation. Exum finished with 14 points off the bench, and his made attempt made up for a pair of misses from Irving and Maxi Kleber in the final 30 seconds that seemingly left Dallas looking at a damaging loss to its postseason positioning.

The Mavericks trailed for almost the entirety of regulation after digging a deep hole in the first half. They erased a second-quarter deficit of 22 points when they finished the period on a 27-10 run, but they did not break through to take their first lead of the game until the late fourth.

The two teams swapped the lead six times from when Dallas first pulled ahead at the 3:01 mark, until Reggie Bullock Jr. sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining, part of his 11 points off the bench.

Houston could only extend its lead to three points as a result of going 1-of-4 at the foul line down the stretch. VanVleet, who missed one of the foul shots, scored 24 points.

Dillon Brooks led Houston (38-40) with a season-high 29 points and shot 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Jalen Green added 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and Jock Landale chipped in 13 points off the bench.

P.J. Washington scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for Dallas. — Field Level Media/Reuters