Flagg scores 33 points, Davis adds 31 as Mavericks beat Nuggets 131-130

DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg had 33 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Anthony Davis had 31 points and nine rebounds as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets 131-130 on Tuesday night.

Flagg’s career-high fourth 3-pointer gave Dallas a 126-121 lead with 3:17 left, and he assisted on Naji Marshall’s left-corner 3 that put the Mavericks ahead 131-125 with 1:12 left.

The Nuggets, who trailed 50-29 early in the second quarter, got their first lead early in the fourth quarter and pulled within a point in the final minute, having a shot to win after forcing the Mavericks into a 24-second violation with 7.8 seconds left. However, Peyton Watson’s 3-point attempt from the left corner at the buzzer rimmed out.

The Mavericks snapped a two-game losing streak, during which they blew fourth-quarter leads, and have taken the first two games from the Nuggets this season. They won 131-121 at Denver on Dec. 1.

Jamal Murray had 31 points and 14 assists, and Nikola Jokic had 29 points and 14 assists for the Nuggets, who had an 11-game road winning streak snapped. Jokic, the NBA leader averaging 12.1 rebounds, had seven to match his season low.

Denver’s Tim Hardaway Jr., a former Maverick, matched season highs with 23 points and seven 3-pointers.

Both teams completed back-to-backs. The Nuggets won 135-112 over Utah at home on Monday while the Mavericks lost 119-113 at New Orleans.

The Nuggets took their first lead 106-103 in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

Flagg, who has four double-doubles but no triple-doubles, tied his career high for points in a quarter with 14 in the first – hitting all seven field-goal attempts, two from downtown.

Nuggets forward Cam Johnson left the game with an apparent knee injury early in the fourth quarter. Denver coach David Adelman said the extent of the injury won't be known until Johnson has an MRI.

Nuggets host Minnesota on Thursday, and Mavericks visit Golden State.

AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots over Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) makes a move to the basket between guard Ryan Nembhard (9) and Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) dunks during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) brings the ball up the court during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)

A prominent California farmer was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of his estranged wife in a remote mountain community in Arizona, the Navajo County Sheriff's Office said.

Michael Abatti, 63, was arrested in El Centro and booked into jail on a first-degree murder charge. He is awaiting extradition to Arizona.

Authorities say they believe he drove to Arizona on Nov. 20 and fatally shot Kerri Ann Abatti, 59, before returning home to California. She was found dead in her family’s tree-shrouded vacation home in Pinetop, Arizona, where she moved after splitting with her husband.

An attorney for Michael Abatti didn’t immediately respond to an email and text message seeking comment.

Authorities searched his home in far Southern California on Dec. 2 as part of the investigation into his wife's death.

El Centro is a city of 44,000 people just minutes from the Mexican border in the crop-rich Imperial Valley, which is the biggest user of Colorado River water and known for growing leafy greens, melons and forage crops.

Michael Abatti comes from a long line of farmers in the region bordering Arizona, and his grandfather, an Italian immigrant, was among the region’s early settlers. His father, Ben, helped start the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association, and the Abatti name is known throughout the region and tied to farming enterprises, scholarship funds and leadership in local boards and groups.

Michael Abatti has grown onions, broccoli, cantaloupes and other crops in the Imperial Valley and served on the board of the powerful Imperial Irrigation District from 2006 to 2010.

Michael and Kerri Abatti were married in 1992 and had three children.

Kerri Abatti is a descendant of one of the first Latter-day Saints families to settle Pinetop in the 1880s. The community, located 190 miles (305 kilometers) northeast of Phoenix in the White Mountains, was briefly called Penrodville after Kerri’s forbearers before adopting the Pinetop name.

The couple split in 2023 and Kerri Abatti filed for divorce in proceedings that were pending in California at the time of her death.

The Abattis were sparring over finances with Kerri telling the court the couple had lived an upper-class lifestyle during more than three decades of marriage. They owned a large home in California, a vacation home in Pinetop and ranch land in Wyoming and vacationed in Switzerland, Italy and Hawaii while sending their children to private school, she said.

After the split, Kerri was granted $5,000 a month in temporary spousal support but last year asked for an increase to $30,000, saying she couldn’t maintain her standard of living as she quit her job as a bookkeeper and office manager for the family farm in 1999 to stay home with the couple’s three children. Kerri, who previously held a real estate license in Arizona, also asked for an additional $100,000 in attorney’s fees, court filings show.

“I am barely scraping by each month, am handling all of the manual labor on our large property in Arizona and continuing its upkeep,” she wrote in court filings earlier this year, adding she was living near her elderly parents. Kerri said she also needed to buy a newer car because her 2011 vehicle had more than 280,000 miles (450,600 kilometers) on it and sorely needed repairs.

Michael Abatti said in a legal filing that he couldn’t afford the increase after two bad farming years took a toll on his monthly income. He said European shifts in crop-buying to support war-plagued Ukrainian farmers and rising shipping costs were to blame along with an unusually cold and wet winter.

He said in mid-2024 it cost $1,000 to grow an acre of wheat that he could sell for $700, and that he was receiving about $22,000 a month to run the farm as the business struggled to pay its creditors in full.

“The income available at this time does not warrant any increase in the amount to which the parties stipulated, let alone an increase to $30,000 per month,” Lee Hejmanowski, Michael Abatti’s family law attorney, wrote in court papers.

Days later, Michael Abatti agreed to increase temporary spousal support payments to $6,400 a month, court filings show.

He studied in the agricultural business management program at Colorado State University in Fort Collins before returning to California, according to a 2023 book about water issues written by his college friend, Craig Morgan, titled “The Morality of Deceit.”

In 2009, Michael Abatti almost died from an infection caused by a flesh-eating bacteria and was hospitalized and placed in a medically induced coma for treatment, Morgan wrote in the book.

The home of Michael Abatti is seen Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in El Centro, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

The home of Michael Abatti is seen Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in El Centro, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Water droplets from sprinklers cover an irrigated field Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in El Centro, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Water sits in a ditch Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in El Centro, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Water sits in a canal alongside irrigated fields Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, near El Centro, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)