Dallas Mavericks defeated the visiting Portland Trail Blazers with a 132-120 overtime win at the American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Dirk Nowitzki finished with 40 points and Deron Williams added 31 points and 16 assists to lead the Mavericks to their 35^th victory in 70 games played this season.

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Wesley Williams and Raymond Felton chipped in with 15 points and 11 points respectively for the Mavericks, who improved to 20-17 at home.

"It's my job as a point guard," Williams after going 11 for 18 from the field said. "You've got to know when your good fella's hot."

With the win, Dallas moved closer to Portland for the sixth playoff spot in the highly competitive Western Conference. The Mavericks have 12 games to play, and the Trail Blazers still have 11 on schedule.

The 2011 NBA champion team (35-35) also secured a tiebreaker by having the edge of winning the first two of three games in the season series against the Portland squad (36-35). The Mavericks will be visiting the Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

"This was the tiebreaker game," Williams told. "We gained a full game on them, and we see them again next week."

The Dallas team were trailing in the opening quarter with Portland's 36-25 run, but the Mavericks staged a 33-19 charge to end the first half leading by three points 58-55. In the third period, the host team managed to stretch their lead by outscoring the visiting team 32-27.

The Mavericks entered the fourth period leading 90-82, the Trail Blazers made a huge 31-23 run in the fourth to tie the game at 113 all. Portland got the chance to win the game as they got the last possession of the ball in regulation time, but Damian Lillard missed a three-pointer.

In the extended five minutes of the game, Williams made a tiebreaking 3-pointer and Nowitzki scored eight straight points. Portland was held to just seven points in the overtime period.

Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 26 points, while Allen Crabbe added 24 and CJ McCollum had 22 points.

TagsNBA, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Dirk Nowitzki, damian lillard, cj mccollum, Deron Williams