Mavs master road
SEATTLE – Dirk Nowitzki scored 29 points and reserve Jerry Stackhouse added 21 as the Dallas Mavericks closed the most successful road trip in franchise history by beating the Seattle SuperSonics 104-97 Thursday night.
Nowitzki added 12 rebounds and was 10 for 11 at the free-throw line, making up for an 8-for-22 shooting performance.
Dallas won its seventh straight overall and finished a 5-0 trip. The Mavs had never won five games in any of their 34 road trips of five games or more.
Dallas has not lost since a 117-115 overtime defeat at New York on Jan. 11.
Jason Terry added 20 points for the Mavericks, who pulled even with San Antonio in the Southwest Division at 33-10.
Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 36 points, but he was stripped by Terry with 1:30 left and Seattle trailing 99-95. Lewis then fouled Stackhouse at the other end, and Stackhouse made both free throws to put Dallas ahead 101-95.
Nowitzki added a jumper with 58 seconds left.
Ray Allen added 25 points for Seattle, but was just 3 for 11 in the second half and missed six straight shots at one point. His only points of the fourth quarter came with 47 seconds remaining.
Down by 11 in the third quarter, Seattle slowly chipped away with a series of short scoring bursts. The Sonics closed the quarter and started the fourth on a 12-4 run to get within 80-78. Dallas went back ahead by eight, 88-80 on Nowitzki’s 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 7:23 left.
Again, Seattle rallied, this time getting to 90-89 on Mikki Moore’s basket with 4:43 left. Dallas scored the next five, but Moore scored again to draw Seattle within 95-93. Stackhouse then scored on a driving layup over Moore and Johan Petro and was fouled. The three-point play gave Dallas a 98-93 lead with 2:32 left.
Seattle suited up just nine players and only eight played. Moore started in place of Vladimir Radmanovic and Ronald Murray started for Luke Ridnour.
Radmanovic sprained his right foot Wednesday night in Utah and Ridnour sprained his left knee in the same game.
Murray finished with 10 points. Damien Wilkins added 11 off the bench.
Mavericks 104, Sonics 97
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| DALLAS | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Howard | 30:42 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Nowitzki | 41:21 | 8-22 | 10-11 | 4-12 | 3 | 3 | 29 |
| Diop | 19:15 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 4-5 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Griffin | 28:43 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-7 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Terry | 37:01 | 8-18 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| Van Horn | 14:23 | 3-4 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Stackhouse | 29:21 | 6-15 | 7-8 | 1-3 | 3 | 1 | 21 |
| Dampier | 26:40 | 2-4 | 3-5 | 4-9 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Armstrong | 12:34 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 35-81 | 25-30 | 17-44 | 20 | 21 | 104 |
Percentages: FG .432, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 9-25, .360 (Nowitzki 3-8, Terry 3-8, Stackhouse 2-6, Van Horn 1-2, Howard 0-1). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 9 (10 PTS). Blocked Shots: 8 (Dampier 4, Diop 3, Stackhouse). Turnovers: 8 (Nowitzki 2, Howard, Armstrong, Dampier, Stackhouse, Terry, Van Horn). Steals: 6 (Terry 2, Howard, Dampier, Diop, Griffin). Technical Fouls: Defensive Three Second, 7:26 second; Defensive Three Second, 1:55 third.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| SEATTLE | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Lewis | 43:46 | 10-15 | 12-12 | 2-10 | 2 | 4 | 36 |
| Moore | 35:48 | 3-5 | 1-2 | 2-5 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Swift | 23:28 | 3-7 | 0-1 | 3-6 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Allen | 41:01 | 9-21 | 5-5 | 0-6 | 3 | 4 | 25 |
| Murray | 44:37 | 5-18 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| Wilkins | 24:36 | 3-9 | 5-5 | 1-2 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| Petro | 20:00 | 0-1 | 2-4 | 2-5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Collison | 6:44 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 33-77 | 25-29 | 13-42 | 16 | 20 | 97 |
Percentages: FG .429, FT .862. 3-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Lewis 4-4, Allen 2-11, Wilkins 0-1, Murray 0-5). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 10 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Lewis, Swift, Wilkins, Petro). Turnovers: 9 (Moore 4, Murray 2, Lewis, Swift, Wilkins). Steals: 4 (Allen 2, Lewis, Murray). Technical Fouls: Coach Hill, 6:21 third.
| Dallas | 21 | 32 | 27 | 24—104 |
| Seattle | 34 | 19 | 23 | 21—97 |
A—15,891 (17,072). T—2:30.