A tipped pass was only the start of the pandemonium between the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
The fun began with the Mavericks down 118-117 and 8.3 seconds left. Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber nearly lost the game with a mistimed pass to Luka Doncic, who still came down with the ball and drove to the basket for an attempt at a game-winner.
Understandably, most Cavaliers defenders collapsed on Doncic. That left Mavericks forward P.J. Washington wide open under the basket for a go-ahead layup.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, that left 2.6 seconds on the clock, which was just enough time for Cavaliers wing Max Strus to get the ball and hit a 59-foot buzzer-beater to blow the roof off the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Cavaliers win, 121-119.
Another angle:
That’s not even the end of the craziness at work here from Strus. Here’s how ever Cavaliers possession ended in the final four minutes:
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Max Strus 3-pointer
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Max Strus 3-pointer
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Max Strus 3-pointer
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Max Strus 3-pointer
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Donovan Mitchell 3-pointer (off a Strus rebound)
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Darius Garland miss
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Donovan Mitchell miss
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Donovan Mitchell 3-pointer
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Evan Mobley turnover
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Max Strus 3-pointer
The Cavaliers started that stretch down 110-100 and proceeded to score 21 points in four minutes, 15 of which came from Strus (and all of which came from 3-pointers).
Strus finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting (7-of-10 from deep), which was just enough to spoil Doncic’s huge night of 45 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds, three steals and one turnover. So far, it’s been a pretty solid season since Strus signed a four-year, $63 million sign-and-trade with Cleveland.
