An Overturned Luka Buzzer-Beater Followed By A Vlatko Cancar Halfcourt Heave Helped Denver Beat Dallas

The Dallas Mavericks played host to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, and took what they thought was a 59-52 lead into halftime after a stepback three-pointer from Luka Doncic just before the halftime buzzer.

However, the play was reviewed during halftime and it was determined that Luka’s heel stepped on the boundary line and, as such, there was no basket and should be two seconds left on the clock.

So, when the teams came out of the locker room after halftime, they actually played out the final two seconds of the first half, with Denver inbounding the ball from the other side of the court with the Dallas lead 56-52. Denver got the ball to Vlatko Cancar who launched a 50-foot shot that hit nothing but net to cut the deficit to one.

That six-point swing proved very costly, as the game remained very close throughout the second half, with Michael Porter Jr. hitting what ended up being the game-winning three with just under a minute to play.

The Mavs didn’t score again, as a deep three from Doncic went begging at the buzzer, and the Nuggets ended up swiping a 98-97 win in Dallas despite the absences of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. It was a rough loss for a Dallas team that’s made something of a habit of losing to shorthanded teams this season, and after the game Luka was none too happy about the overturned three to end the half.

It was a bizarre situation, but the league determined on review that Doncic’s foot hit the line and the Nuggets capitalized thanks, in part, to Cancar’s apparent obsession with hoisting halfcourt shots every day at practice.

They say practice makes perfect and his execution on that shot, swishing one from well beyond the midcourt line, was proof of concept and proved to be a massive swing in a one-point game.