DALLAS — Joe Johnson made sure Jason Kidd’s 41st birthday was a happy one.
Johnson, who has been automatic in late and close situations since joining the Nets two summers ago, hit the game-tying layup with 9.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and then led the Nets with six points in overtime on the way to an improbable 107-104 victory over the Mavericks in front of a sellout crowd of 19,603 at American Airlines Center Sunday night.
“Down the stretch, man,” Johnson said, “those moments are ones I really cherish and love.”
They have become moments the Nets (37-31) love to have Johnson for, as he is 7-for-7 in his one-plus seasons as a Net when they are within three points in the final 10 seconds of the game, and 3-for-3 this season.
“He’s clutch, man,” said Deron Williams, who finished with 15 points in his return to his hometown. “That’s why the ball is in his hands.”
There was no question who would have the ball after Dirk Nowitzki’s jumper missed with 22.8 seconds left in regulation and the Mavericks (42-29) clinging to a 91-89 lead.
Johnson, who grabbed the rebound, brought the ball up, drove past Shawn Marion and laid the ball in to tie the score, giving the Nets — who have won four straight and 11-of-13 — new life in a game in which they trailed for nearly all of regulation.
“Shawn is one of the best defenders in this league, and we all thought he got fouled going to the basket,” Kidd said. “But Joe delivered when we needed it most, and he’s done that for us all season.”
Johnson then put the Nets ahead for good in overtime, making a 3-pointer off an assist from Paul Pierce to make the score 96-93, and then followed that up with a difficult step-back jumper over Marion — his old teammate from their days together in Phoenix — that gave the Nets a 98-95 lead with 3:29 remaining.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Johnson said. “The coaching staff, my teammates, they were running plays to get me the ball and I just wanted to be effective and come through and make plays. Not necessarily score, but put my teammates where they can be effective as well.”
It looked for most of the game as if the Nets would never have the opportunity to give Johnson a chance to win it for them late, as the Mavericks led comfortably most of the way, including a pair of 14-point leads. But although Dallas got big nights from Monta Ellis (team-high 32 points) and Samuel Dalembert (12 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocked shots), they got very little from Nowitzki, who finished with 10 points on a dismal 2-for-12 shooting — including going 0-for-5 in the fourth quarter and missing both of his shots in the final minute of regulation.
“We got lucky,” Kidd said when asked how the Nets slowed down his teammate on the Mavericks’ 2011 NBA championship team. “Against talented players like Dirk, you just hope that they miss. Guys made it extremely tough. We showed them different looks, gave him different personnel, different guys on him, and he had some great looks that he normally makes. But, again, we got lucky tonight.”
This was the kind of game that a couple of months ago, back when the Nets were stumbling out of the gate to a 10-21 record, they likely would have folded without giving themselves a chance to make it interesting.
It was just the latest example of how much things have changed since the start of the new year. The Nets are 27-10 since Jan. 1, maintaining the best record in the East in 2014, while remaining within 1 ¹/₂ games of the Raptors for first place in the Atlantic Division and moving to within a game of the fourth-place Bulls in the Eastern Conference.
“One word: grit,” Pierce said in describing the win. “It’s one of those gritty games right there. Most of the game, things didn’t really go our way. We really didn’t get a lot of calls, but the guys stuck in there and grinded it out.
“We really grew as a team, getting a win on the road in a hostile environment, being down most of the game. We’re just starting to show the true character of this ballclub.”