Dallas snapped out of a mini-slump in dominant fashion and more help could be on the way for the Mavericks – or maybe not.
Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 37 points and Jason Terry added 24, helping Dallas put aside talk of whether Jason Kidd is about to become their teammate and beat the Portland Trail Blazers 96-76 at home on Wednesday night.
“It was a weird day for everybody, having to play a game after all the talk,” Nowitzki said. “But everybody was a professional and put on the uniform for the organization.”
The Kidd trade appeared to be close to a done deal earlier in the day, but hit a snag because Dallas’ Devean George opted out of it. He doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but has the equivalent – a provision in the collective bargaining agreement known as “early Bird rights,” which he can protect by not consenting to any deal.
George started because of an injury to Josh Howard – and went 0-for-11. He had no points, four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
“All the finger-pointing is at me,” George said. “I’m the bad guy. I’ll take that.”
active for the game and were already talking about moving on without their All-Star point guard before getting pounded 109-91 by the Raptors.
“We’re giving up a Hall of Fame point guard and some good role players,” coach Lawrence Frank said. “If this deal goes through, we’ll be receiving some very good players as well and a new era of Nets basketball will start because Jason is that significant a player.”
In the rest of a busy night in the NBA it was, Orlando 109, Denver 98; Philadelphia 102, Memphis 88; Charlotte 100, Atlanta 98, OT; San Antonio 112, Cleveland 105; Boston 111, New York 103; Detroit 96, Indiana 80; New Orleans 111, Milwaukee 107; L.A. Lakers 117, Minnesota 92; Houston 89, Sacramento 87; Golden State 120, Phoenix 118; Utah 112, Seattle 93; and Washington 91, L.A. Clippers 89.
The Mavericks had lost their last two games, blowing early 10-point leads with awful second halves each time. They made sure that didn’t happen again, holding Portland to 33 points in the final two quarters on their way to a 10th straight home win.
Brandon Roy scored 25 points for Portland, which goes into the All-Star break having lost four straight and six of eight. Still, the Trail Blazers may use their down time over the next week to savor going 28-24 so far after winning only 32 games all last season.
rris (ankle) and key reserve Jerry Stackhouse (hamstring). A bigger distraction was talk that Harris and Stackhouse were part of a deal that would bring Kidd from New Jersey in a deal that also would include George and reserves DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager.
Ignoring it all, Nowitzki got things rolling with 13 points in the first quarter and 20 by halftime. He finished 13-of-26, with a pair of 3-pointers and nine free throws. He also had 12 rebounds.
Spurs 112, Cavaliers 105
At Cleveland, Manu Ginobili made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a season-high 46 points as San Antonio, back on the floor where they won the NBA title last season, downed Cleveland.
Tim Duncan added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who completed their annual rodeo road trip at 6-3.
LeBron James scored 39 points – 18 in the fourth – for Cleveland.
Rockets 89, Kings 87
Steve Novak hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give host Houston its eighth straight win and 17th victory in the last 20 games.
Ron Artest led the Kings with 30 points.
Yao Ming led the Rockets with 25 points and 14 rebounds.
Lakers 117, Timberwolves 92
Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Lamar Odom had a triple-double and the Los Angeles Lakers finished their road trip 7-2. Odom finished with 10 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
lost their fifth straight game.
Pistons 96, Pacers 80
Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton led a balanced attack with 14 points each and host Detroit won its 10th straight game.
Ike Diogu led the Pacers with 14 points.
Celtics 111, Knicks 103
Paul Pierce scored 24 points, and Ray Allen added 21 to help Boston head into the break with a five-game winning streak.
Already without Kevin Garnett, who missed his ninth consecutive game with an abdominal strain, the Celtics lost forwards Brian Scalabrine to a groin pull and Glen “Big Baby” Davis to a quadriceps injury in the first half.
Jamal Crawford scored 26 points for visiting New York.
Warriors 120, Suns 118
Monta Ellis scored 37 points and Baron Davis made three straight baskets down the stretch for host Golden State.
Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 29 points, but missed one of two free throws with 3.5 seconds left and the Suns down by two points.
Davis had 27 points and 13 assists.
Magic 109, Nuggets 98
Rashard Lewis scored 25 and Dwight Howard had 23 points and 24 rebounds for host Orlando.
Carmelo Anthony had 32 points for Denver before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, and Allen Iverson had 21 points and seven assists.
Raptors 109, Nets 91
Chris Bosh had 27 points, Jose Calderon had 22 points and 12 assists and Toronto beat visiting New Jersey.
Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter each had 15 points for the Nets, whose three-game winning streak ended.
Jazz 112, SuperSonics 93
Carlos Boozer had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double as visiting Utah soared into the All-Star break. The Northwest Division-leading Jazz have won for 12 of 13 games.
Rookie Kevin Durant scored 19 points for the Sonics.
76ers 102, Grizzlies 88
Andre Iguodala had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as Philadelphia won its fifth straight and completed a perfect homestand before the All-Star break.
Hakim Warrick and Rudy Gay scored 23 points each for the Grizzlies, who dropped their ninth straight road game.
Bobcats 100, Hawks 98
Jeff McInnis’ floater with 51.4 seconds left in overtime gave host Charlotte a victory over Atlanta.
Emeka Okafor had 20 points and 22 rebounds for the Bobcats, who snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Joe Johnson scored 23 points to lead the Hawks.
Hornets 111, Bucks 107
At Milwaukee, Peja Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left and All-Stars David West and Chris Paul combined for 43 points for New Orleans.
The Bucks have lost seven of their last eight.
Wizards 91, Clippers 89
g streak.
Rookie Al Thornton led Los Angeles with 24 points and nine rebounds.
Add A Comment