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A tipped pass was just the beginning of the chaos between the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
The fun began with the Mavericks trailing 118-117 with 8.3 seconds left. Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber almost lost the game with an ill-timed pass to Luka Doncic, who still came down with the ball and drove to the basket to try to score the victory.
Understandably, most of the Cavaliers’ defenders collapsed on Doncic. That left Mavericks forward PJ Washington wide open under the basket for a go-ahead layup.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, that left 2.6 seconds on the clock, enough time for Cavaliers wing Max Strus to receive the ball and hit the 59-foot buzzer-beater to blow the roof off Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
The Cavaliers win, 121-119.
Another angle:
This isn’t even the end of the madness that’s happening here from Strus. Here’s how the Cavaliers’ possession ended in the final four minutes:
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Max Strus triple
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Max Strus triple
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Max Strus triple
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Max Strus triple
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Triple by Donovan Mitchell (after a rebound by Strus)
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Miss Darius Garland
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Miss Donovan Mitchell
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Donovan Mitchell triple
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Evan Mobley Rotation
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Max Strus triple
The Cavaliers began that stretch down 110-100 and proceeded to score 21 points in four minutes, 15 of which came from Strus (and all from three-pointers).
Strus finished the game with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting (7-of-10 from deep), which was enough to ruin Doncic’s big night of 45 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds, three steals and one turnover. So far, it’s been a pretty solid season since Strus signed a four-year, $63 million deal with Cleveland.