Antoine Walker made a 20-footer at the buzzer, lifting the Dallas Mavericks to their ninth straight win — a thrilling 118-116 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday night.

Dirk Nowitzki scored a career-high 43 points, keeping the Mavericks close with a 16-of-22 shooting performance that included a career-high eight 3-pointers. The Sonics played inspired, and it took quite an effort to beat them.

Steve Nash scored 19 points, while Walker and Michael Finley each had 17 and Antawn Jamison added 15.

Rashard Lewis scored 30 points to lead Seattle. Antonio Daniels added a season-high 21 points, with Ray Allen scoring 20 and Vitaly Potapenko 16.

The teams met for the first time this season, but the entertainment value made this one worth the wait.

The Sonics missed a chance to win when they had what could have been the final possession. Allen ran the clock down to 6 seconds before driving on Finley, but his runner hit the side of the backboard and Walker came away with the rebound.

He called a timeout with 1.6 seconds to go. After the brief break, Walker took the inbounds pass, stepped and spun toward the Sonics bench and threw in the winner from the corner.

Seattle trailed 101-92 early in the fourth quarter but rallied to take a 112-110 lead with 1:54 to play on baskets by Potapenko and Lewis.

Nowitzki took an elbow in the mouth from Potapenko as he drove with the clock running under one minute. Potapenko was assessed a flagrant foul and Nowitzki made both free throws to pull Dallas to 114-113.

It was 116-113 after Lewis added two free throws, but Nash tied it on a 3-pointer with 36.8 seconds on the clock.

On Seattle's ensuing play, Lewis was hammered by Nowitzki as he drove but officials ruled a blocked shot and called Lewis for a loose-ball foul.

Nowitzki, though, missed both shots at the other end, the second bouncing out to the delight of a boisterous crowd and setting up Seattle's final possession.

It was a monstrous performance by Nowitzki, who seemed to swish nearly everything he put up. The other Sonics shot well, too. Lewis was 9-of-16, Daniels 8-of-11 and Potapenko 7-of-8.

Finley started a 20-8 run over the last 7:33 of the third with a basket that seemed to go in by accident. He almost fumbled the ball with one hand, then the other. Just before the shot clock hit zero, he spun and made a 20-footer.

The Mavericks erased a 80-72 deficit in that spurt, taking a 92-88 lead into the fourth quarter in a run that included Nowitzki beating the clock with a 3-pointer and Nash spending most of the period on the bench with four fouls.

Notes:@ Sonics G Brent Barry didn't return after leaving at halftime with a broken finger on his right hand. ... Dallas had held four straight opponents under 100 points. ... The Mavericks survived 12 turnovers. They've committed nine or less in five of their last 10 games.

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