The Dallas Mavericks entered Monday’s game against the Denver Nuggets looking to establish a winning streak for the first time this year. They beat the LA Clippers in a tight battle on Saturday night, but the Nuggets were one of the best teams in the NBA. Surely, this was a loss, right?

And it looked UGLY early. The Nuggets led 41-27 after the first quarter, well on their way to a blowout win. And then, the Mavericks stormed back in the second quarter on the back of Ryan Nembhard, who was a perfect 5/5 in the frame. And he helped give the Mavs the lead at halftime.

The next quarter would have a razor-thin margin. No team led by more than four in the third quarter, a frame that saw seven lead changes and five ties. And it appeared the fourth would be more of the same, but Ryan Nembhard and Cooper Flagg helped push the Mavs on an 11-0 run to push the game out of reach, and the Mavericks would take down the Nuggets, 131-121.

The Mavericks’ rookies were absolutely fantastic. Ryan Nembhard had 28 points on 12/14 shooting and 10 assists with no turnovers. Cooper Flagg had 24 points and 8 rebounds. But Anthony Davis also had a great game with 32 points and 13 rebounds. Do not discount the effort he put on display against Nikola Jokic, and while Davis was at center (where he should’ve been all along), he was great in this game.

That helped counteract 29 points, 20 rebounds, and 13 assists from Nikola Jokic. Spencer Jones even almost had a 30-piece. But the Mavericks came away with a huge upset win, and their first winning streak of the season.

Here are three overreactions from this win.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ December schedule shows things won’t get much easier

1. Let’s Never Sit Ryan Nembhard Again, Okay? Ok.

I’m aware Ryan Nembhard is on a two-way contract, and the roster is full. Cut someone, trade someone, I don’t care. Ryan Nembhard is the best point guard on this roster. And he’s likely only going to get better. He finished with 28 points and 10 assists in this game, and the offense finally looks like it has life. Keep him playing.

2. Anthony Davis Finally Looks Great

Anthony Davis didn’t look great to start the season. He may have put up numbers, but that production didn’t feel impactful. He wasn’t moving as well. And then he missed 14 games with a calf strain.

He looks to be in much better shape now, and he was dynamite in this game with 32 points and 13 rebounds. He will likely still be traded sometime this season, because the roster doesn’t make sense with him at power forward (he played center in this game). But he’s at least showing how great he still can be.

3. Klay Thompson Has Finally Found His Rhythm

NBA fans are used to Klay Thompson starting a season off slowly. But it was looking BAD to start this year. He was shooting just 26.7% from three in the first nine games of the year, and a lot of his misses were WAY off.

The Captain is back. Fresh off a season-high 23 points on 6/10 three-point shooting against the Clippers on Sunday, he responds with a 15-point outing with three triples on Monday against the Nuggets. He’ll never be the player he once was, but he’s still a REALLY good shooter and is a future Hall-of-Famer for a reason.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg made NBA history in back-to-back games vs Lakers, Clippers

Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2025-26 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey on Twitter

More Dallas Mavericks NewsEmpty heading

• Mavericks finally admit mistake in trading Luka Doncic to Lakers, fire Nico Harrison

• Mark Cuban says how ‘painful’ it is with Luka Doncic on Lakers instead of Mavericks

• Mavericks already pushing for former executive to be Nico Harrison replacement

• 3 Anthony Davis NBA trade ideas now that Mavericks have fired Nico Harrison

LANDOVER, Md. — Riley Moss found himself in an unfamiliar spot.

On Washington’s third drive Sunday night, the Broncos cornerback stood on the visiting sideline with his helmet at his side and watched.

He wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t playing poorly.

Just the opposite, in fact. Moss felt great and ultimately felt like he played great, too. Sure, Commanders receiver Treylon Burks caught one of the most impressive touchdowns of the year in the NFL over him later in the game, but Moss had great position.

If there’s one snap he wants back, it’s an overtime go-ball to Deebo Samuel in which the talented receiver ran past Moss for a 38-yard gain that put Washington right down near the goal line and set up its final score.

Overall, though, Moss liked his outing.

He was not penalized. He played with good technique.

And yet here he was early in the game, on the sideline, watching second-year man Kris Abrams-Draine work.

Starting nickel Ja’Quan McMillian occasionally found himself in the same spot, watching rookie first-rounder Jahdae Barron play in the slot.

Both Moss and McMillian played a ton — Moss 77 out of 90 defensive snaps and McMillian 64 — in Denver’s 27-26 overtime win, but they also entered what could shape up to be a one-week happening or could be a new phase of the season in the Broncos secondary.

A work-share.

Head coach Sean Payton said after the game that the adjustment had nothing to do with the quality of work provided by Moss and McMillian.

Rather, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and the Denver coaching staff liked how Abrams-Draine and Barron played so much when All-Pro Pat Surtain II missed three games with a pectoral injury that they wanted the pair to continue getting live game reps even with Surtain’s return Sunday night.

“It’s a good question,” Payton said of Abrams-Draine getting time in place of Moss during the game. “I know we were trying to, you know, when Patrick (Surtain) comes back and then you have these other guys, it was more about keeping these guys in game form. And I knew that we were going to try to.

“There was nothing — it was more about the rotation and just keeping them all going.”

Moss did not protest after the game.

The Denver Broncos entered the NFL’s Sunday night game on an eight-game winning streak. The Washington Commanders came in on a six-game losing streak.

But Denver needed outside linebacker Nik Bonitto to bat down a 2-point conversion pass with 2:47 left in overtime to keep the streaks going as the Broncos escaped with a 27-26 victory.

“When you realize the game’s over, you can take a deep breath and enjoy it,” Denver quarterback Bo Nix said.

First with the football in overtime, the Broncos went 76 yards in five plays for a touchdown. The big play was a 41-yard gain when tight end Evan Engram took a pass across the middle from Nix and ended up at the Washington 11-yard line.

RJ Harvey ran 5 yards for Denver’s overtime touchdown, but Nix had gotten the rest of the yards on four consecutive completions.

“Being able to go down the field and score flips the pressure,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “… Bo was fantastic in that final drive. Evan made a great play. A lot of guys stepped up. And then defensively, look, they’re a tough out. The quarterback was able to make some plays.”

Washington’s overtime drive to a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Mariota to wide receiver Terry McLaurin was much more dramatic than Denver’s overtime series after the Commanders kicked a field goal on the final play of the fourth quarter to cap an 18-play possession.

The Broncos lost a fourth-down interception to a pass-interference penalty after Mariota made a miraculous escape from a sack, Mariota lost a 30-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin to a holding penalty and the touchdown that counted came on fourth down.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

As in each of the victories in the streak, Denver trailed on Sunday night before coming through with its seventh win by four or fewer points.

“I was told a long time ago by one of my many offensive coaches that pressure is a privilege and not many people get to be in that opportunity,” Nix said, “so if it’s going to be me who gets this opportunity, I’m going to make the best of it. It doesn’t always go your way. Fortunately for us, it’s gone our way in these games. Last year, we were on the opposite end of these close ones, so I understand what it’s like to be on the other side of things.

“But you just got to keep moving on, and you got to have a belief you’re going to find a way. It didn’t look great for a minute, but we just found a way to get the next best play and, at the end of the day, score one more point than they did.”

Before the overtime fireworks, the play of the game had occurred with 23 seconds left in the first half.

Denver took a 13-7 lead when Nix threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Courtland Sutton even though the quarterback was about to hit the ground, falling sideways after being smacked on a scramble.

“From my perspective, it kind of feels like you’re floating for a second,” Nix said. “But I was obviously a little bit close to being down, but stayed up just long enough. (Sutton) did a great job. He started on the other side of the field and ran all the way to the other side, so he just scrambled with me and got open.

“And in a game like that, we literally talk about a game of inches, but it really does come down to an inch or two every once in while.”

The pass to Sutton was Nix’s eighth completion of the drive as he accounted for all 64 yards in the scoring series.

“That was an amazing throw,” Payton said. “… That was an important drive. That two-minute drill was the difference between winning and losing.”

After Washington took a 14-13 lead on the opening series of the second half, Nix converted three consecutive third-down snaps – on an 11-yard scramble and completions of 31 and 21 yards – to set up Harvey’s 1-yard touchdown plunge with 3:59 left in the third quarter.

But in the fourth quarter, which has been so pivotal during Denver’s winning streak, Nix completed 6-of-11 passes for 32 yards, took a sack and was intercepted by linebacker Bobby Wagner at the Broncos 36, setting up one of the two fourth-quarter field goals that Washington used to send the game into overtime.

A former Pinson Valley High School and Auburn quarterback, Nix completed 29-of-45 passes for 321 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran two times for 16 yards against the Commanders. The passing yardage tied for the second-most on Nix’s career list.