Mavericks’ rally deals Sonics loss
SEATTLE – Jason Terry made two 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, the second with 18 seconds left, and the Dallas Mavericks rallied from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 101-98 Friday night.
Dallas won for the 10th time in its last 12 games and improved to 4-3 in the second game of a back-to-back. The Mavericks beat Sacramento on Thursday night.
Terry was quiet until the fourth quarter, when he scored 12 points and helped Dallas rally from an 87-75 deficit with less than 8 minutes left. The Seattle native finished with 19 points.
A night after scoring a season-high 37, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki followed up with 34 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Howard added 20 points, 14 in the second half.
Seattle lost for the sixth time in its last nine games and has dropped five of its last six home games.
Vladimir Radmanovic led the Sonics with 20 points off the bench. Ray Allen added 19, but shot just 8 of 21 and Rashard Lewis scored 16.
Dallas went scoreless for the first 4:32 of the fourth quarter, getting its first points on a pair of free throws from Terry. Nowitzki added a pair of free throws before making the Mavs’ first field goal of the quarter with 6:31 left, pulling them within 87-81.
Nowitzki then hit a jumper as Dallas rattled off 13 of the next 15 points, trimming Seattle’s lead to 89-88.
Radmanovic then made an aggressive drive and scored, but two free throws from Nowitzki and Terry’s 3-pointer gave Dallas a 93-91 lead with 2 minutes left.
Allen’s jumper gave Seattle one final lead, but Terry found Nowitzki under the basket for a dunk, and a 96-95 lead with 51 seconds left.
After a Seattle miss, Terry made a 3-pointer from the top of the key and added a pair of free throws in the final seconds.
Dallas outscored Seattle 31-19 at the free-throw line and was 14 of 16 in the fourth quarter.
Ronald Murray added 15 points off the bench for Seattle.
Dallas’ Jerry Stackhouse made his season debut, checking in with 3:34 left in the first quarter. Stackhouse missed the first 26 games because of swelling in his right knee, caused by a deep bruise in Dallas’ first preseason game.
His first basket came on a reverse layup with 10:40 left in the second quarter. He finished with eight points and played 16 minutes.
Seattle received a scare late in the first half when Luke Ridnour was injured. Ridnour collided with Stackhouse and crumpled to the floor moments later. He remained on the court for a minute, but got up and walked off the court under his own power.
The team said Ridnour had a chest contusion and he started the second half.
Notes
Terry spent part of the pregame pulling together 80 tickets for Friday night’s game. … Marquis Daniels of Dallas missed his second straight, and fourth in the last five games, with a neck strain. … Dallas guard Devon Harris missed part of the second half with an upset stomach. He returned briefly in the fourth quarter.