Dirk Nowitzki scored 41 points and Marquis Daniels added 22 to help the Dallas Mavericks beat Miami 113-93 Thursday night, handing the Heat their first loss of the season and ending their franchise-record 14-game home winning streak.
Nowitzki made 12 of 24 shots from the field, shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range, made all 13 free throws and added 10 rebounds for Dallas (5-1).
"Shaquille O'Neal had 22 points -- giving him 22,002 for his career -- and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who lost for the first time in five games this season. Dwyane Wade added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists before spraining his left ankle with 7:07 remaining. He did not return.
"We had a lot of defensive lapses and they shot the ball well," O'Neal said. "We got into a hole, and I felt we had a couple opportunities to get out of the hole but they shot the ball well. Dirk had a hell of a game. He's a great player."
Dallas built a 14-point halftime lead and opened the third quarter with an 18-4 burst that pushed its lead to 89-63 against a Heat team that trailed for 4 minutes, 44 seconds in its first four games combined.
Timberwolves 96, Rockets 91
In Houston, Kevin Garnett hit a jump shot with 8.3 seconds left and finished one assist short of a triple double, leading Minnesota over Houston.
Garnett had 20 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, and Eddie Griffin made a key 3-pointer down the stretch against the team with which he began his troubled career, sending the Timberwolves past a Rockets team missing leading scorer Tracy McGrady.
McGrady missed his first game of the season with nagging hip and groin strains. The Rockets really could've used him.
Yao Ming scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half and Maurice Taylor added 19, but Houston's perimeter players weren't able to replace McGrady's scoring punch.
Nuggets 117, Pistons 109
In Denver, Carmelo Anthony had 34 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals to break out of his early season slump and help Denver end a three-game losing streak with a victory over Detroit.
Stagnant and stingy to open the season with four double-digit losses in five games, the Nuggets played by far their best game despite losing center Marcus Camby to a hamstring strain late in the second quarter.
Earl Boykins had a career-high 32 points to become the smallest player in league history to eclipse 30 points and Denver shot 50 percent to end a seven-game losing streak against the defending champions.
Hakim Warrick had 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to lead No. 6 Syracuse to a 104-54 victory over Northern Colorado on Thursday in the first round of the Coaches versus Cancer Classic.
Syracuse (1-0) will play Princeton (1-0) in the second round Friday night. The Tigers beat Bucknell 61-48 in the Carrier Dome earlier Thursday.
Northern Colorado (0-1), in only its second season back in Division I, had not played a ranked Division I team since 1957 and the Orange were merciless, scoring the first 24 points of the game.
Gerry McNamara, who finished with 11 points and five assists, hit two straight 3-pointers and a fast-break layup and Warrick, a preseason All-America, had six points to pace Syracuse's early surge.
The Bears, meanwhile, missed their first eight shots and two free throws and committed five turnovers while the Orange hit nine of their first 10 shots. Northern Colorado finally broke through on a 3-pointer by Sean Nolen at 12:27, but by then the game essentially was over.
Josh Pace had 13 points, Darryl Watkins added 12 and Demetris Nichols had 11 for Syracuse, which shot 67.3 percent in taking a 53-20 halftime lead.
Sean Taibi had 16 points and seven rebounds, Nolen finished with eight points for the Bears, who shot 25.4 percent for the game.
No. 24 Memphis 102,
Savannah St. 40
In Memphis, Rodney Carney scored 21 points and No. 24 Memphis had six players finish in double figures in a 102-40 victory over Savannah State on Thursday night in the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Carney was 7-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, for the Tigers (1-0), who will play George Mason in the second round on Saturday night. The Patriots (1-0) beat Ind.-Pur.-Fort Wayne 69-51 Thursday night.
Anthony Rice scored 17 points for Memphis, while Sean Banks finished with 15 and Jeremy Hunt added 14. Freshman forward Joey Dorsey finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds, while freshman point guard Darius Washington had 10 points and eight assists.
Josh Barker led Savannah State (0-1) with 12 points, while Donald Carson added 10.
Memphis steadily built the lead through the first half, leading by as many as 34 points before taking a 55-22 halftime lead.
The advantage was built around solid shooting, particularly from 3-point range, control of the boards and a defense that limited Savannah State to 29 percent shooting and 11 turnovers in the first half.
No. 12 Mississippi St. 53, Fairfield 49
In Birmingham, Alabama, Ontario Harper scored a career-high 17 points and No. 12 Mississippi State, playing without preseason All-America Lawrence Roberts, beat Fairfield 53-49 Thursday night in the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
Roberts, a senior forward, sat out because of a one-game suspension from the NCAA over his expenses to attend a tryout before the NBA draft.
The Bulldogs (1-0), who trailed for much of the game before taking the lead for good midway through the second half, will play Birmingham-Southern (1-0) in the second round on Friday night. Birmingham-Southern beat Alabama A&M 79-69 on Thursday.
Winsome Frazier and Gary Ervin hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Bulldogs a 47-39 lead with 1:44 to play.
Deng Gai had 14 points and eight rebounds for Fairfield.
An Australian player has signed a basketball letter of intent with Indiana University, coach Mike Davis said.
Ben Allen, a 2.08m center from Melbourne, Australia, will enroll at Indiana in the fall of 2005 and will be eligible to play basketball in the 2005-2006 season.
Allen is a member of Australia's 18-and-under and 21-and-under national teams.
"If Ben Allen was a high school player in the United States, he would be a top-10, top-15 player nationally," Davis said Thursday. "With his ability to play both inside and outside at his size, he is a special talent."
Davis said Allen could have an immediate impact for the Hoosiers.
"When you add Ben to the guys we will have back next year, we will be one of the most talented teams in the Big Ten," Davis said.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
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