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Mirza Teletovic's career-high 34 points leads the Nets over the Mavs, 107-106

By Tom Lorenzo
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

BROOKLYN - The "red hot" Brooklyn Nets were once again at home, but this time the opponent wasn't a lottery-bound team, but a possible playoff-bound Western Conference squad in the Dallas Mavericks.

This one got a bit too close at the end, but on the back of a "red hotter" Mirza Teletovic and his career-best 34 points, the Nets continued to roll, beating the Mavs at home, 107-106..

Neither team started off strong in this one, plenty of mistakes and missed opportunities early on. Midway through the first the scored was tied at 6-6. The teams combined to shoot 5-of-23 from the floor to start the game. It doesn't get much uglier than that.

The Nets started to heat up a bit, with Deron Williams and Andray Blatche checking in off the bench. The offense started to take off a little, with Blatche once again being the main spark. But, once again, after a 6-0 run, they went cold. After one, the Nets trailed the Mavericks 21-18. Both teams shot 40 percent from the floor.

Teletovic caught fire to start the second quarter, hitting three straight threes and finally putting a little life into the Nets offense. He hit his first seven shots of the game, in six minutes, and went on to score 24 points in the second -- a career-high -- on 9-of-10 shooting. Teletovic was unreal. The second unit with Williams, Blatche, Teletovic, Andrei Kirilenko and Jason Terry was playing great basketball, thanks to the stretch that Mirza gave them, but much credit goes to how active they were on defense as well.

Brooklyn carried a 57-46 lead into halftime.

Deron Williams returned to the starting lineup in the second half, with Alan Anderson heading to the bench. The offense moved well, the defense lagged a bit, but the Nets were able to maintain a 5-point lead midway through the third. At that point, Jason Kidd returned Mirza Teletovic to the lineup to see if he can spark another run.

Teletovic only scored two points in the third, but the defensive adjustments made to close out on him opened up looks for his teammates. After three, the Nets had an 8-point lead, 78-70.

With the Mavericks closing to within three, Kidd went back to his second unit, who had carried the Nets in the second quarter, hoping that they would be able to put a little distance between them and Dallas.

That second unit built up a 9-point lead midway through the fourth, again, with Teletovic, Williams, Kirilenko and Blatche leading the way. Brooklyn from there went to close out the Mavs, responding to each run, and letting it nearly slip away at the end as the Mavs pulled to within two points with seven seconds to play.

In the end, however, Brooklyn picked up yet another win, their ninth in the 2014 calendar year, winning, 107-106.

Williams finished with 18 points and 11 assists off the bench, while Teletovic had a game-high 34 points making a career-best seven threes. He became the third Net to score 30 points in a game this season, along with Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. Speaking of, Johnson had an off night, finishing with just five points in 29 minutes.

D-Will, always a big supporter of Teletovic, said of the King of Bosnia, ""It speaks a lot about (Teletovic). He was definitely frustrated last (season) with his lack of playing time," Deron Williams said. "He had been one of the top players in Europe for a long time, and it was little hit to his ego. He felt like he could contribute and help and he didn’t really get that opportunity. Now that he is, he’s making the most of it."

Old friend Vince Carter scored 19 points in 29 minutes. Dirk Nowitzki finished with 18 points.

Brooklyn has now won nine of their last 10 games and remain 2.5 games out of first place in the Atlantic, with the Raptors winning.

For more on the Mavericks, see: Mavs Moneyball

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