PORTLAND, Ore. -- On the play that decided the Dallas Mavericks' 96-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Moda Center, Wesley Matthews defended Damian Lillard as if he knew him well.

Matthews should. The players were backcourt mates for three seasons with the Trail Blazers before Matthews signed a free agent contract with the Mavericks before the 2015-16 campaign.

"I've been his teammate, so I know the kind of clutch gene that he has," Matthews said of Lillard, who missed an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer. "I just tried to play tense, to play aggressive. I tried to speed him up and make him a little uncomfortable, and we ended up getting the stop that we needed."

After a timeout with 9.8 seconds left, the Blazers inbounded out top to Lillard, who was blanketed by Matthews. Al-Farouq Aminu's pick came late.

"Wes was right on my back," Lillard said. "Took me two, three seconds to get him off me. After that, I went to attack right, and (the Mavericks) were corralling me. I tried to change direction. There was nothing there. Then there were two seconds left. I was stuck with a jumper."

Harrison Barnes went for 28 points, and Deron Williams collected 23 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Mavericks (8-21).

Lillard scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half as the Trail Blazers (13-18) rallied from a 24-point halftime deficit. Allen Crabbe came off the bench to score 14 points for Portland, which lost its fourth consecutive game and eighth in the past nine contests.

Dallas led 62-38 at the half and stoked its advantage to 69-44 early in the third quarter, but Portland used a 19-4 surge to get to within 73-61 late in the quarter. With Lillard scoring 20 in the quarter, the Blazers closed the gap to 81-71 heading into the final period.

Portland cut the difference to 81-75 early in the fourth quarter. Mason Plumlee's three-point play trimmed it to 90-85 with 3:54 remaining. Then Crabbe rimmed in a 3-pointer to make it 90-88 with 2:41 left.

Williams knocked down a jumper for a 92-88 lead with 2:24 to play, but Aminu buried a 3-pointer, and it was 92-91 with 2:08 to go.

Matthews scored off a steal to give Dallas a 94-91 bulge, but CJ McCollum converted a drive and Portland was within 94-93 with 1:22 left.

Williams answered with a jumper for a 96-93 advantage with 1:01 remaining. Lillard's driving layup with 45 seconds to go cut it to 96-95. Dallas let the shot clock expire, and Portland called timeout with 20.3 seconds to go. Lillard drove but turned the ball over with 12.9 ticks left.

Then Williams threw away the inbounds pass, and the Blazers called timeout again with 9.8 seconds remaining. That set up Lillard's final attempt from beyond the arc, which was thwarted by Matthews' relentless defense.

"Fantastic," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "There's nobody like Wes Matthews on defense at the end of a game. The guy is unbelievable ... he was one of the guys who willed us to win.

"The steal late in the game, where he went down and laid the ball in, was a huge play. (The Blazers) were gaining a lot of momentum. Wes had his imprint all over this game."

Portland limited Dallas to 36 second-half points and 34.2 percent shooting, including 1 of 17 from 3-point range. But it wasn't quite enough.

"We didn't play hard enough in the first half to win a game," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "We didn't play with enough passion, enough heart. Dallas played well, but to give up 62 in the first half against the lowest-scoring team in the league? It's unacceptable.

"We just didn't do it. I'm not going to take any consolation or anything else about how we played the second half. It was nice we came back, but the first half was unacceptable."

NOTES: Dallas F Dirk Nowitzki (Achilles tendon) hasn't played since Nov. 25, but he will work out with teammates Thursday. Coach Rick Carlisle won't rule out a return for Friday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. "Signs are good, but we're going to be cautious with him," Carlisle said. ... Dallas C Andrew Bogut (knee), who missed his ninth straight game, isn't expected back until the end of December at the earliest. ... Portland was without F Evan Turner (ankle) for the second straight game. ... Blazers F Al-Farouq Aminu (back) started after missing the previous four games. He had five points and six