Monta Ellis hit a wild, fall-away jumper at the buzzer, lifting the Dallas Mavericks over the Milwaukee Bucks 107-105 on Wednesday night.
A night after Ellis scored 38 points in a double-overtime win at Chicago, he got 23. He had eight in the final two minutes on what otherwise had been a bad shooting night for the Mavericks' top scorer, playing against his former team.
The Mavericks won their fifth in a row while resting Dirk Nowitzki because of a sore back. Coach Rick Carlisle called it a "precautionary" move.
Nowitzki played 42 minutes in the Mavs' win at Chicago. He recently was given another night off.
Tyson Chandler scored 18 points and added 20 rebounds for the Mavericks.
Brandon Knight scored 25 points and Khris Middleton added 21 for the Bucks in the third straight loss.
Dallas' Jameer Nelson made a wide-open 3-pointer to cut the Bucks' lead to one with just under two minutes left. After a travel by Jabari Parker, Ellis hit a layup on the other end to give Dallas a 100-99 lead with 1:34 left.
In a back-and-forth ending, Ellis made a jumper that put the Mavs ahead with 32.9 seconds left, and Milwaukee turned the ball over on an offensive foul by Knight. Richard Jefferson hit one of two free throws for a 105-103 lead.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
But Knight hit a jumper over Chandler to tie it with 8.9 seconds left. That set up Ellis, who made a shot falling away to his left with O.J. Mayo guarding him.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Carlisle said the team is being cautious to make sure Nowitzki's back injury doesn't linger or get worse. "We've got to get that thing knocked out of there and get him ready for whatever the next game is," Carlisle said. ... Carlisle, who coached Bucks coach Jason Kidd on the Mavericks' 2011 championship team, said Kidd was among "the most competitive guys in the history of the game." ... A technical foul was called on the Mavs' bench early in the third quarter.
Bucks: Forward Ersan Ilyasova has been ruled out at last four games after an elbow to the face left him with a nasal fracture and concussion-like symptoms in Tuesday night's loss at Cleveland. The team said Ilyasova also showed symptoms of a mild concussion. ... Zaza Pachulia was called for a technical late in the second quarter.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: Play Phoenix on Friday.
Bucks: Play Miami on Friday.
