Dirk Nowitzki's 19-foot jumper bounced up and then fell in as time expired, giving the Dallas Mavericks a 110-108 victory over the Knicks on Monday night.
The Mavericks blew an eight-point lead in the final 90 seconds, then pulled out their third straight victory when Nowitzki's jumper that seemed to have missed instead fell through.
Carmelo Anthony had 44 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks. He played strong defense on the Mavericks' final possession, but was left standing in disbelief long after the buzzer after Nowitzki's shot appeared to hit the backboard first, then the front rim, then bounced up before dropping.
Vince Carter scored 23 points and Monta Ellis had 22 for Dallas (35-23), which has won nine of 11 and is a season-best 12 games over .500.
Jose Calderon finished with 20 points, and Nowitzki had 15 for the Mavericks, who swept a three-game road trip and beat the Knicks for the 20th time in the last 25 meetings.
Tyson Chandler had 12 points and 12 rebounds against his former team, sparking the Knicks' comeback after they trailed 108-100 with 1:37 left. But New York (21-36) lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell a season-worst 15 games below .500.
The Knicks had blown big leads in their last two games, giving away a 14-point advantage at Orlando and a 17-point cushion at Atlanta, collapses that coach Mike Woodson called "mind-boggling."
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This one had to hurt worse.
Carter made consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to give Dallas a 90-85 lead, and the Mavericks seemed to have put it away when Calderon made a 3-pointer, and Brandon Wright followed with a basket to stretch the late lead to eight points.
But after Raymond Felton's basket, Chandler converted a 3-point play, then came up with a steal to start a break that ended with Anthony's 3-pointer that tied it at 108 with 50 seconds remaining.
The Knicks got the ball back after a Dallas miss but committed a shot-clock violation, giving Dallas the ball for Nowitzki's winner.
Amare Stoudemire scored nine points in his first start since the end of the 2011-12 season for the Knicks, who had just 10 available players after waiving Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih earlier Monday following contract buyouts.
The Mavericks shot 55 percent and led 31-21 after one quarter, but the Knicks came right back and made 14 of 19 shots (74 percent) while scoring 38 points in the second, when Anthony scored 17 points. New York erased a 14-point deficit to grab a two-point lead on Anthony's jumper with 11 seconds left, but Ellis made a 3-pointer as time expired to give Dallas a 60-59 edge.
Dallas had the lead back up to eight in the final minute of the third, but Anthony made three free throws, then nailed a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining as the Knicks trimmed it to 84-82.
