DALLAS – No matter how many things the Denver Nuggets did wrong Saturday, they somehow always remained within striking distance of the Dallas Mavericks.

And with a second left, Carmelo Anthony struck.

Anthony broke free of a defender trying to foul him and nailed a 3-pointer that gave the Nuggets a 106-105 victory over the Mavericks, giving them a 3-0 series lead that has been insurmountable in NBA history.

Denver trailed 105-101 with 31 seconds left, but got a quick dunk from Anthony and forced Dirk Nowitzki to miss a 13-footer with about 8 seconds left. After a timeout, Anthony took an inbounds pass and Dallas’ Antoine Wright tried to foul him – twice – since the Mavericks had a foul to give.

Anthony lost his dribble the first time, then bounced off the second bump to find himself wide open. He buried the 3 from right in front of the Mavericks bench, where everyone was going bonkers over the lack of a foul call. It was pretty ironic considering there had been 61 fouls called to that point, keeping either team from ever getting into a flow the entire game.

Dallas’ last-gasp chance was a high-arching 3 from Nowitzki that was nowhere close to going in. At the buzzer, the crowd fell silent, the Nuggets began to celebrate and the Mavericks began to gripe. Team owner Mark Cuban shoved a cameraman and several clusters of players appeared to be exchanging words with Denver players and staff. Cuban continued his tirade behind the scorer’s table, his face reddening.

The Nuggets won the first two games with ease, thanks to huge fourth quarters. They were better by a basket in the final period this time, and that was enough – despite Anthony missing his first seven shots, Nene missing his first eight and Chris Anderson fouling out in just 11 minutes.

Chauncey Billups scored 32 points, including 16 in the third quarter, and Anthony finished with 31 as Denver took its first-ever 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series. The Nuggets will go for the sweep Monday night.

All sorts of things are in their favor, from the fact no NBA team up 3-0 has ever lost the series to their dominance of Dallas this season. Denver is now 7-0 and is the only team to win on the Mavericks’ court since mid-February; the Nuggets are 2-0 in that span, everyone else 0-17.

Nowitzki had 33 points and 16 rebounds, and Brandon Bass scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to put Dallas in position to win. But the Mavericks’ inability to pull away when they had their chance caught up to them.

AP-ES-05-09-09 2026EDT