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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mavs crushed in Nowitzki’s season debut

Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, left, defends against San Antonio’s Tony Parker. Nowitzki scored eight points in his season debut. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

NBA: Danny Green scored a career-high 25 points and the San Antonio Spurs spoiled former league MVP Dirk Nowitzki’s return with a 129-91 rout of the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.

Tony Parker had 18 points, Kawhi Leonard added 17, Tim Duncan 15 and Stephen Jackson 14 for the Spurs (21-8).

After missing the Mavericks’ first 27 regular-season games, Nowitzki entered with 6:28 left in the first quarter to a hearty mix of cheers and boos. Nowitzki, who underwent surgery on his right knee Oct. 19 after battling soreness the previous season, quickly picked up a rebound for Dallas and finished with eight points – going 3 for 4 from the field – and six rebounds in 20 minutes.

Darren Collison scored 15 points to lead Dallas (12-16), which lost its third straight.

• Anthony rallies Knicks past Wolves: Carmelo Anthony scored 19 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, rallying New York Knicks to a 94-91 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.

New York trailed from the opening minutes until Anthony scored eight straight points down the stretch. He had scored just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first half, but had the final 12 for the Knicks to give them a 4-2 finish on their six-game homestand.

J.R. Smith added 19 points and Tyson Chandler had 16 and nine rebounds for the Knicks.

Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who played without star forward Kevin Love because of an eye injury.

• Thornton helps Kings top Blazers: Marcus Thornton scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half to help the Sacramento Kings snap visiting Portland’s five-game winning streak with a 108-96 victory over the Trail Blazers.

John Salmons had 13 of his 15 points in the second half for Sacramento, which had lost six of its previous seven games.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers.

• Clippers beat Suns to run win streak to 13: Blake Griffin scored 23 points, Chris Paul had 17 points and 13 assists and the visiting Los Angeles Clippers extended a franchise record with their 13th consecutive victory, 103-77 over the Phoenix Suns.

Reserve Jamal Crawford added 22 points for the Clippers, who won in Phoenix for the first time since April 17, 2007. Los Angeles’ overall win streak is a franchise best, as is the team’s six straight road victories are also a franchise best.

• Johnson scores 22 as Nets win: Joe Johnson scored 22 points, Gerald Wallace had 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists and the Brooklyn Nets held on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 95-92 in New York.

Deron Williams added 16 points to help New Jersey end a six-game losing streak at home against Philadelphia.

Jrue Holiday led Philadelphia with 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Thadeus Young added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Evan Turner had 15 points and seven rebounds. The 76ers, opening an eight-game trip, have six of their last seven games.

• Jazz survive Magic: Paul Millsap scored 18 points, Gordon Hayward added 17 and the Utah Jazz survived a fourth-quarter rally to slip past the host Orlando Magic 97-93.

Orlando cut the lead to one in the waning seconds, but came up empty at the foul line attempting to tie it.

Arron Afflalo had 20 points, and Nik Vucevic added 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead Orlando.

San Diego State beats Indiana State

College basketball: Jamaal Franklin had a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds and No. 18 San Diego State held off Indiana State 62-55 in the Diamond Head Classic tournament in Honolulu.

Chase Tapley scored 13 points and the Aztecs (11-1) won despite poor free-throw and 3-point shooting.

San Diego State pulled ahead for good during a seven-point run that included five straight points from Tapley. With less than five minutes to play, Tapley drove to the basket and was stopped by Jake Odum, who was called for an excessive foul. Tapley made two free throws and a quick 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving the Aztecs a 51-44 lead.

The Sycamores (6-4) pulled no closer than three points after that.

RJ Mahurin had 15 points for Indiana State.

• Arizona cruises past Miami: Mark Lyons scored 19 points, and No. 4 Arizona easily defeated Miami 69-50 at the Diamond Head Classic tournament in Honolulu.

Nick Johnson had 12 points, and Kevin Parrom added 11 for the Wildcats.

Miami went scoreless for a four-minute stretch of the second half. Arizona scored 10 points during the run to take a 26-point lead with less than three minutes remaining.

• Penn State women romp: Maggie Lucas scored 21 points and Alex Bentley made eight steals including six in the first half, tying her career high, to lead No. 11 Penn State to an 82-37 rout of New Jersey Institute of Technology in State College, Pa.

The Lady Lions (10-2), in their final game before starting Big Ten Conference play, raced to a 44-9 halftime lead against the Highlanders (6-7) of the Great West Conference.

Cummings dealt for Dynamo’s Sturgis

Miscellany: The Colorado Rapids have traded forward Omar Cummings to the Houston Dynamo for midfielder Nathan Sturgis and allocation money.

The 30-year-old Cummings had scored 39 regular-season goals since joining the Rapids and had 14 as Colorado won the league title in 2010. He has seven goals in 28 appearances with Jamaica’s national team.

Sturgis, 25, has been with Los Angeles (2006-07), Real Salt Lake (2007-08), Seattle (2009-10) and Toronto (2011) in addition to Houston.

• No talks between owners and players’ union: All is quiet between the NHL and the players’ association, and there is no sign the sides will talk even by phone before Christmas.

“Nothing today,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email. “Don’t know whether we will speak before the holiday.”

• UK paper suing Armstrong over libel case: Lance Armstrong is being sued for more than $1.5 million by a British newspaper over the settlement of a libel action, which followed doping allegations against the cyclist that it published.

The Sunday Times paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds (now about $485,000) in 2006 to settle a case after it reprinted claims from a book in 2004 that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded this year that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for life.