Carter's outside shooting leads Mavs past Bucks
MILWAUKEE -- On a night when shots were falling in bunches for the Dallas Mavericks, few were bigger than Vince Carter's.
Carter's three fourth-quarter 3-pointers put the dagger in the Milwaukee Bucks' late-game comeback, sealing a 115-108 victory for the Mavericks on Tuesday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
In all, Carter made four 3-pointers and finished with 23 points -- one of five Mavericks to score in double figures. He went 6-of-10 from the field and made all seven of his free-throw attempts.
"I felt in the groove," Carter said. "The basket just seemed extremely big, and I felt comfortable with my shot. I was just in the flow of the game. A couple of shots, once I let them go, I happened to look down and see the 3-point line was up there. Oops. I know if I don't make them, coach is going to yell. But I was just prepared. I had my feet set, in rhythm, just in attack mode."
Carter scored 15 of his points in the second half, with 10 coming in the fourth quarter.
"We had big shots all night," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said, "but he got hot at the right time. ... He has that ability."
Dirk Nowitzki finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas (30-33). Jae Crowder and O.J. Mayo each added 14, while Mike James had 13 for the Mavericks, who have won four straight.
Crowder, a Marquette product who was playing his first professional game in Milwaukee, also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. He was the Big East Conference Player of the Year last season.
"I felt comfortable," Crowder said. "I played a lot of games here in this arena. I just played pretty free, and whenever the opportunity came for me to knock down a shot or play good defense, I stepped up."
Monta Ellis led Milwaukee (32-30) with 32 points, and Mike Dunleavy finished with 18. J.J. Redick contributed 17, while Epke Udoh and Larry Sanders combined for 27 points and 17 rebounds. Brandon Jennings finished four points and five assists in 27 minutes for the Bucks, who had won five of their previous six.
"The guys played hard," Milwaukee coach Jim Boylan said. "Sometimes, even when you're playing hard, the tank is empty. Every time we would make a move and expend a lot of energy, they would come down and make a tough shot. ... We just came up on the short end tonight."
Milwaukee scored a season-high 35 points in the opening quarter and led by seven heading into the second, but a 15-0 Mavericks run turned a nine-point deficit into a six-point lead with 2:35 left in the half.
Milwaukee outshot Dallas, 50 percent to 47.8 percent, in the half, but the Mavericks' 6-for-16 showing at the 3-point arc, compared to just 2-of-9 for the Bucks, made the difference.
The Mavs opened the second half with a 12-2 run, pushing their lead to 18 on Mayo's 3-pointer with 7:50 to play in the third. Milwaukee then scored 11 straight, capped off by Redick's layup to cut it to 77-70 with 3:30 left in the third. Dallas outscored Milwaukee 11-4 after that to take a 90-79 lead into the fourth.
NOTES: The victory was Dallas' third in a row on the road, a season high. ... After missing Milwaukee's 115-113 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, Sanders, Redick and Ersan Ilyasova returned to action Tuesday. The Bucks did have to play without Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who has a toe injury. ... Dallas improved to 9-24 all-time at the BMO Harris Bradley Center ... The Bucks are 6-3 since acquiring Redick at the trade deadline last month and have scored at least 100 points in eight of those games -- including their last seven in a row.
