Golden State's Baron Davis, right, goes to the basket against Dallas' Davean George. The Mavericks defeated the Warriors, 118-112, on Tuesday night in Dallas.

Dallas ? Don’t count out the Dallas Mavericks just yet, no matter how tempting they’re making it.

After letting a 21-point lead turn into a nine-point deficit in the closing minutes, Dirk Nowitzki came alive with consecutive three-pointers to start a game-ending 15-0 run that carried the Mavericks past the Golden State Warriors, 118-112, Tuesday night.

That guaranteed the NBA’s best regular-season team at least one more game in the playoffs – Game 6 on Thursday night at Oakland.

“Our guys are resilient, they have a lot of pride,” Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. “We were able to finish, we were able to close out a game. When this team gets hot, it can be pretty special.”

Golden State led 112-103 on a lunging three-pointer by Baron Davis with 3:19 left that looked to be the knockout punch for one of the most stunning upsets in NBA history. Yet that’s when Nowitzki picked Dallas up off the mat, the way the league’s likely MVP is supposed to do – but something he’d yet to do all series.

Nowitzki scored 12 points the rest of the way, hitting the two 3s and went 6-of-7 from the foul line. The Warriors helped the collapse by missing their final eight shots.

Nowitzki wound up with 30 points, easily his most this series. He was 14-of-15 from the line, and had 12 rebounds.

“We got on Dirk’s back and he carried us,” said Devean George, who knows the feeling after winning titles with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant on the Los Angeles Lakers. “That’s who he is for us. We’re going to ride with him. … We’ll build off this. We’ve been fighting all year. We’ll do the same in the next game.”

The Warriors hung on the door to their locker room one of the yellow “We Believe” T-shirts that fueled them at home in Games 3 and 4. They’re sure to see more of them when the first-round series shifts back to Oakland. If a Game 7 is needed, it would be in Dallas on Saturday night.

“It doesn’t matter if we play (Game 6) on the moon,” Dallas guard Jason Terry said. “We fear nobody. It’s about taking on the challenge.”

Davis did his best to get Golden State into the second round right away with 27 points and nine assists. He was 7-of-7 for 21 points with six assists, including a half-court alley-oop to Jason Richardson, in the second half. But he also was part of the collapse, drawing his fifth and sixth fouls during the Mavs’ big finish.

Golden State’s Stephen Jackson added to the misery by getting ejected with 8.9 seconds left after being assessed a technical foul while clapping, the same offense that got him thrown out of Game 2. The Warriors also wasted 16 three-pointers, a franchise-record for a playoff game. Richardson had five of them and 23 points.

“All we had to do is guard and we didn’t do it,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “There’s no excuse for that. Bad judgment cost us the game.”

Nelson added that Jackson “will be fined by me for a substantial amount.” However, with two ejections this series, the coach’s punishment may not be enough to stop the league from sitting him down for Game 6.

Dallas’ Josh Howard had 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, and was right in the middle of the fourth-quarter turnaround, a big change from his second-half absence in the Game 4 loss.

Devin Harris scored 11 of his 16 points in the final period, including nine in a row. The last two came on a layup he spun off the glass that put Dallas within 112-111.

After a miss by Jackson, Nowitzki shook free from the multiple defenders that had been swarming him all game and took a pass from Howard in the lane. He was banged hard, sent back to the line for two free throws – the tying and go-ahead points with 48.6 seconds left, accompanied by chants of “M-V-P” from a crowd of 21,041, the most ever for a Mavs home game.