Dirk passes Shaq, Barea explodes as Mavs outlast Nets in OT

It started out as Dirk Nowitzki's night. By the time all was said and done, it belonged to J.J. Barea.

Playing the second half of a road back-to-back, a night after receiving a tongue-lashing from their coach, the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Brooklyn Nets 119-118 in overtime behind Barea's career-high 32 points.

In the opening minutes of the second quarter, a baseline jumper from Nowitzki pushed Dallas' lead to 12 points. More importantly, it pushed the German 7-footer past Shaquille O'Neal and into sixth place on the all-time scoring list. Nowitzki and the Mavs rode that wave for a time, opening up a 16-point lead midway through the second.

From there, things started to go sideways. The Mavs' offense went ice-cold, and the ball started to get stuck. There were breakdowns at the other end. Nets forward Thaddeus Young started going off. Just over a minute into the fourth quarter, the Mavs found themselves in an 11-point hole.

One could imagine the scolding Rick Carlisle would have in store for them. Doubtless, Carlisle's players had his message in the back of their minds. Mavs owner Mark Cuban insisted before the game that Carlisle's comments a night prior - that "these guys won't be Mavericks very long" if the effort didn't improve - were just about motivation. If so, it seems to have worked.

Led by Barea, who couldn't seem to miss (he shot 13-of-20 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range), Dallas clawed its way back. The diminutive Puerto Rican guard put his team up three with an and-1 layup, before Young's 3-ball sent the game to an extra frame.

It was a straight shootout in overtime, with the teams trading triples for the first three minutes, before things clamped down. In the end, it was Nowitzki, on his banner night, with the ball - and the game - in his hands.

With 19 seconds left and the Mavs stuck a point, he got a mismatch, backed his smaller defender into the post, and flicked in the go-ahead layup. It proved to be the game-winner, as Jarrett Jack's 18-footer clanked off iron just before time expired.

And so the Mavs escaped with a victory, and earned a stay of execution from their fiery coach.

"I fly off half-cocked about every other day, so you cant pay much attention to what I say," Carlisle conceded after the game. "The truth is I love this team and I really care about these guys. I want them to want it as much as I want it for them, and sometimes that manifests in some unusual ways, but I'm never going to stop caring."