Cavaliers’ Max Strus drains 59-foot miracle at buzzer to stun Mavericks

Max Strus caught the pass, and with barely any time to think never mind shoot, one thing crossed his mind.

“Get it up,” he said.

Down it went.

Strus drilled a 59-footer as time expired, his fifth three-pointer in the final four minutes, to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a wild 121-119 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

After the Mavericks took the lead on PJ Washington’s dunk with 2.9 seconds left, the Cavs, out of timeouts, inbounded the ball to Evan Mobley, who passed it back to Strus – whose barrage of four threes in a span of 67 seconds down the stretch brought Cleveland back from a 10-point deficit.

Strus then took a dribble before launching his shot from well beyond mid-court. As it swished through the net, Strus was tackled to the floor by his celebrating teammates as the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse crowd erupted.

“I felt a rhythm and it’s fun when you do that. Every time I shot it, I felt like it was going in, and it was,” Strus said after the game. “Same with the last one.”

Donovan Mitchell scored 31 points, Strus added 21 and Jarrett Allen 19 for the Cavs, who improved to 12-3 since 26 January following a win many of them will long remember.

“Man, just to see it go through, especially what he did for us in the fourth, it had to be him, too,” Mitchell said. “You dream of a shot like that. So for him to get that after what he did for us, the whole fourth quarter, man.”

Strus said the play wasn’t designed but just unfolded.

“[Mitchell] wasn’t in the game so somebody else had to do it,” he joked.

Strus wasn’t all that impressed by his heave. He made an even longer game-winning shot in college.

“Yeah, at my Division II school I made a three-quarter court shot to win the game,” he said.

Luka Dončić had 45 points and 14 assists a day before turning 25 for the Mavericks. Kyrie Irving added 30 for Dallas, who lost for just the second time in 10 games.

“Incredible shot. That was just an incredible shot,” Dončić said. “It was my fault, I should have pressed forward [on Strus]. I thought we played a good game, but that was rough, obviously.”

This was Irving’s first visit since being traded to Dallas from Brooklyn, and he got a warm ovation in player introductions and again when the Cavs played a video tribute for him during a first-quarter timeout. Irving waved to the crowd and formed the shape of heart with his hands to show thanks.

The guard has a complicated relationship with Cleveland fans. Some remain faithful due to his contributions to the Cavs’ title run in 2016 while others feel bitterness toward Irving after he demanded a trade.

He’s been with Dallas nearly a year, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd raved about how Irving has blended in after a bumpy exit from the Nets.

“He’s at peace,” Kidd said. “He’s enjoying Dallas, the city. He’s enjoying his teammates and he’s playing at a high level.”