There might be more entertaining regular-season NBA games, but not many.

Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and Erick Dampier all played big. Just not quite big enough.

It was Bruce Bowen's 3-pointer with 1:50 to go in the second overtime that put the Spurs up, 127-125. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker put out superior efforts, and the Spurs needed them all.

After each side botched an opportunity, the Mavericks called timeout and got a free throw from Dampier with 54.4 to go. But Duncan drove to the bucket for a 129-126 Spurs lead. After Barea missed a midrange jumper, the Mavericks fouled Roger Mason, whose free throws sealed it with 23.5 left.

In the first overtime, the Mavericks fell behind, 115-111, but got two free throws from Terry, then survived a flagrant foul on Terry, who had no choice but to foul Parker hard to prevent an easy layup. Parker made one free throw to make it 116-113.

When Dampier flipped out a pass to Kidd on the 3-point line, Kidd's shot was perfect to tie the game with 19.8 seconds left.

Ginobili and Nowitzki both missed shots to force the second bonus frame.

Earlier, the Mavericks shot 86 percent in the third quarter and still trailed by two. They moved ahead early in the fourth as Barea again provided a much-needed spark.

Even so, almost seven minutes of the fourth quarter were spent with neither team going ahead by more than four points.

Finally, a Michael Finley 3-pointer put San Antonio up, 101-96. After offsetting baskets, Barea came through big with a 3-pointer. After Finley missed, Barea fired a pass to Jason Kidd for a 3-pointer with 3:25 to go that put the Mavericks up, 104-103.

Ginobili missed, and Barea was fouled by Duncan with 2:49 left.

Parker then scored twice to put the Spurs back in front, but the game was just beginning in the final 1:41.

While the rest of the game had been an offensive classroom, the final minutes were all defense. Nowitzki hit a tough bank shot, then the teams combined for five consecutive scoreless possessions to get it to overtime.

The Mavericks knew going in that the Spurs were going to have revenge on their minds. The Mavericks hammered the Spurs last month in San Antonio when the Spurs didn't have Ginobili.

This time, it was different. And they knew it was going to be.

"Right now, we've had Josh Howard out, and we've needed other guys to step up and give more," coach Rick Carlisle said before the game. "J.J. [Barea] has given it to us. Devean George has stepped up and played well. Shawne Williams has stepped in and done some good things. Our star players have had to bring it up a notch. It's not easy. But we just got to keep finding a way. It gets harder against San Antonio.

"We're going to have to throw a great game out there to have a chance to win."

The Mavericks were neither great nor did they get high-tone efforts from some of their support personnel as they were down, 47-45, at halftime.

Starters George and Barea were a combined 2-for-9 from the field in the first half. The Mavericks were up by 11 points at one juncture, but a 16-4 San Antonio sprint put the Spurs up, 39-38.

Whatever Carlisle said to his team at the break worked. With Nowitzki knocking in a pair of shots, the Mavs shot out of the gate with eight consecutive points to go up, 53-47.

It was the start of a riveting quarter of Basketball. The Mavericks held firm with a slim lead, but saw it knocked down to 63-61 at the six-minute mark of the third. Both sides worked hard the rest of the quarter, and things got a little physical at the end when Bruce Bowen was called for consecutive fouls, the second of which came on an inbounds play. Terry's free throws made it a one-point Spurs' lead.

At the end of the period, the Mavericks were down, 81-79.