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Watch: Mavericks Max out at the buzzer
Maxi Kleber Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Mavericks Max out at the buzzer

Trailing by two in the final seconds, the Dallas Mavericks went to a crunch-time stud: Maxi Kleber.

Dallas clearly wanted to get a shot for their new acquisition—and a constant figure in Laker rumors—Kyrie Irving. But Los Angeles sent two defenders at Uncle Drew, forcing him to pass to Kleber, who buried a three to shock the Crypto.com Arena crowd.

Arguably, it was two-and-a-half defenders, with Anthony Davis shading off Kleber toward Irving. Davis had 26 points and ten rebounds, but his last seven seconds of the game were rough.

With the Lakers leading 109-105, Davis fouled Kleber on a three-point attempt, and 58.3 percent free throw shooter Kleber sunk all three foul shots. Then, when Davis himself was fouled, the 80.5 percent free-throw shooter split his freebies, opening the door for the Mavs to win.

As George Oscar Bluth Junior would say, AD made a huge mistake. The Lakers were seconds away from tying the Mavericks, and instead, they fell two games behind them in the standings.

The real culprit wasn’t Davis, but the Lakers’ three-point shooting. Tuesday, the Lakers set a franchise record with 15 threes in the first half while beating the Pelicans. Wednesday, the team shot 25 percent from three-point range, hitting 11 of 44 shots. Friday, it was more of the same—25 percent shooting, 5-20.

The Lake Show shot 61.3 percent from the foul line, but the Brow was actually the best on the team, making 8-11 from the charity stripe.

Dallas is now above the play-in line thanks to the heroics of a big man born in Wurzberg, Germany. It’s not Dirk Nowitzki this time. It’s Maxi Kleber.

Sean Keane

Sean Keane is a sportswriter and a comedian based in Oakland, California, with experience covering the NBA, MLB, NFL and Ice Cube’s three-on-three basketball league, The Big 3. He’s written for Comedy Central’s “Another Period,” ESPN the Magazine, and Audible. com

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