Josh Green has come up trumps in his Australian showdown against Ben Simmons as Dallas posted a 119-107 NBA win over Brooklyn.
A night after pouring in 20 points in an upset win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Green scored 12 points and tallied three assists on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT) as the Mavericks held off a second-half fightback from the Nets.
Simmons, who was rested from Brooklyn's loss to the Golden State Warriors a day earlier, scored nine points to go with nine rebounds and seven assists in 20 minutes of action.
Dallas led by 18 points at three-quarter time, but the margin was trimmed to as little as six points in the last term.
Green, who spent 33 minutes on court, produced a spectacular one-handed dunk in the final quarter to help ease the visitors' nerves.
His successful three-pointer with two minutes remaining sealed the win for the Mavs (28-23).
Dallas guard Kyrie Irving came back to haunt his former side, nailing 6-of-10 from long range on the way to 36 points.
In one scintillating play, Irving latched on to Green's lobbed pass to slam home a one-handed alley-oop dunk.
"That was amazing. That was impressive," Luka Doncic, who had 35 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, said of the play that Irving said he called for himself.
The star performance came a year after Irving was traded from Brooklyn to Dallas.
Mikal Bridges led the way for Brooklyn (20-30) with 26 points.
Another Boomers star in Josh Giddey had a quiet game as his Oklahoma City Thunder (35-16) suffered an upset 124-117 loss to Utah (26-26).
Giddey managed just eight points, three rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (28 points), Jalen Williams (26 points) and Chet Holmgren (22 points) all put up big numbers for OKC.
But 33 points from Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen and 22 from John Collins was enough to get the hosts over the line.
In Miami, Aussie veteran Joe Ingles made 3-of-4 from long range but it wasn't enough to stop Orlando (27-24) crashing to a 121-95 loss to the Heat (27-24).
Ingles scored nine points in his 15 minutes of action, with Paolo Banchero top-scoring for the Magic with 23 points.
Jimmy Butler led the way for Miami with 23 points, while Terry Rozier racked up 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Australian centre Jock Landale didn't see any minutes in the Houston Rockets' 132-129 loss to the Indiana Pacers, who were led by Pascal Siakam's 29 points.
Coby White and DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points apiece as the Chicago Bulls overcame a 23-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-123 in overtime and New York beat the Memphis Grizzlies 123-113, with Jalen Brunson scoring 27 points for the Knicks to go with eight assists before injuring his ankle.
With AP.
