Vlatko Cancar beat the buzzer from near midcourt as the final two seconds of the first half replayed after halftime, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks 98-97 on Sunday night.

The Nuggets went to the locker room thinking they were down by seven after a 3-pointer by Dallas star Luka Doncic beat him to the buzzer after being outplayed two nights earlier without two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and fellow starters Jamal. Murray and Aaron Gordon.

Instead, Doncic’s fellow Slovenian pulled the Nuggets within a point, and the six-point swing paid off when Michael Porter Jr. hit a decisive 3-pointer with 55 seconds left.

Video replay showed Doncic stepping off the court before the second-period shot, and since the teams had already left the court, play had to be resumed at that point after the break.

Denver coach Michael Malone put Cancar in the game, and he hit the shot on the run near the line after receiving the pass to restart the clock. Denver was down 56-55 at halftime, instead of 59-52.

Bones Hyland scored a career-high 19 points, and Porter Jr. had 12 points on just one of five 3-pointers, scoring the final score.

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