Andrew Bogut limped off in the fourth quarter as his Dallas Mavericks held on for a 113-105 NBA win over the Washington Wizards.
Australian star Bogut, who has missed 11 games this season due to a knee injury, went off with 3:52 remaining in the match and did not return after having six rebounds, two assists and a block coming off the bench.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Bogut's injury doesn't appear to be serious after he banged knees with an opponent.
The Boomers star asked Carlisle to bring him off the bench due to the struggles the team was having with both him and Dirk Nowitzki in the game as starters.
Though the pair had only played 53 minutes together this season due to injuries to both, Dallas had been outscored by 62 points when they were on the floor together.
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"I don't like this," Carlisle said after the win.
"He (Bogut) shouldn't be coming off the bench. But the fact that he's not only willing, but basically offered to, tells you a lot about his character.
"He wants to win. This is not a normal occurrence for a 12- or 13-year guy. And he's a proud guy. He deserves to start. They both do. But we haven't been able to make it work real well. So tonight, this is where we were."
Earlier, Robert Covington made a fall-away shot off an inbounds pass with 0.2 seconds left to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 93-91 NBA victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Sixers needed the late basket after they blew a 26-point lead and seemed headed to overtime.
Ricky Rubio, a 26 per cent three-point shooter, buried one with 1.6 seconds left that tied it at 91.
Dario Saric hit Covington, who had been booed most of the game, for the decisive bucket that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Joel Embiid scored 25 points and Ersan Ilyasova had 19 for the Sixers.
In other matches, Paul George had 32 points and the Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116 while Boston defeated Utah 115-104 with Isaiah Thomas scoring 29 points and picking up a career-high 15 assists for the Celtics.
Kawhi Leonard had 25 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 as the San Antonio Spurs beat Toronto 110-82, holding the Raptors to their lowest score of the season.
Australia's Patty Mills had six points, three rebounds and three assists for the Spurs.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 31 points to help the Sacramento Kings beat the Denver Nuggets 120-113 and Phoenix beat Miami 99-90 while the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Memphis Grizzlies 116-102.
