DALLAS — Antoine Wright had a simple objective. In a game with 61 fouls already called, he was trying to commit another.

Wright bumped Carmelo Anthony once, hard enough to knock him off stride. But not enough for a foul call.

So he jostled Anthony again. Still no call — and now Wright was out of position, leaving Anthony a clear look at the basket. His 3-pointer went right through with a second left, giving the Denver Nuggets a 106-105 victory over the Dallas Mavericks yesterday, and a 3-0 series lead that has been insurmountable in NBA history.

"I have hit a lot of big shots in my short career, but never in a situation like this," Anthony said. "It was a thin line between 2-1 and 3-0."

It's even thinner than he thinks. About two hours after the game, the league office announced that Wright was right. In a brief statement, NBA president Joel Litvin said, "At the end of the Dallas-Denver game this evening, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony's 3-point basket."

The Nuggets can consider themselves lucky to be close enough to get saved by a controversial finish. They missed 15 of their first 17 shots and made only two longer than 5 feet the entire first half, yet never trailed by more than six.

"The game didn't come down to that last play," Dallas guard Jason Kidd said. "You've got to make plays down the stretch, and we just didn't do that."

The Mavericks led 105-101 with 31 seconds left, then saw Anthony zip in for a quick dunk. Dirk Nowitzki missed a 13-footer with about 8 seconds left and missed a high-arching shot from the corner at the buzzer.

"This is about as tough of a loss as I've been a part of in my 11 years," said Nowitzki, who overcame a third-quarter leg bruise to score 33 points and grab 16 rebounds. "That's a game we've got to have."

During the timeout before Anthony's winning shot, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle reminded his players they had a foul to give and told them to use it. Wright's attempt was good enough for the league office, but not for the crew.