Dirk Nowitzki finished with 37 points, including 22 in the second half, as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Boston Celtics 99-90 in a marquee matchup of first place teams on Monday.
Nowitzki shot 14-of-22 from the field and went on a nine-point unanswered scoring spree in the third quarter that gave the Mavericks a lead they wouldn’t give up.
Jason Kidd scored 13 points and added 17 assists for the Mavericks, who had lost three of their last four games. They were blown out by Toronto on Sunday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We have been struggling offensively for some reason,” Germany’s Nowitzki said. “We need to get the stops in our end and get ball and run and have fun. It all starts on our defensive end. We did a great job in the second half.”
Paul Pierce scored 24 points, Ray Allen scored 21, Kendrick Perkins had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists for Boston, who have lost three consecutive games at home.
The Celtics have lost four of their last six overall, and they are 4-7 since beating the Magic in Orlando on Christmas Day.
Boston led by five, 25-20, after the first quarter and boosted that to 50-41 at the half.
The Mavericks rallied late in the third as Erick Dampier drove for a basket and Nowitzki hit a jumper from the left side to give Dallas a 69-68 lead and then a jumper from the top of the key for his ninth straight point.
Nowitzki praised Dampier for his contribution.
“I been playing with him [Dampier] for five or six years he does a lot of little things,” Nowitzki said. “When he is active in the paint and rebounding and blocking shots then we are a different animal.”
The Celtics played without superstar Kevin Garnett, who has missed the past nine games with right knee injury.
Rasheed Wallace returned to the lineup after missing three games with a sore foot.
■KNICKS VS PISTONS
AFP, NEW YORK
Nate Robinson made his name with spectacular dunks but he showed he’s no slouch when it comes to the long ball either.
The 25-year-old American sank five-of-nine three-pointers and finished with 27 points as the New York Knicks outlasted Detroit 99-91 in the second half of a home-and-home series.
Wilson Chandler had 17 points, while David Lee added 15 rebounds and 11 points for New York, who lost to the Pistons on Saturday.
This marked New York’s second win in their last six games.
“Before the game we just talked about winning, by any means necessary,” said Robinson, who announced on Monday he would attempt to become the first three-time winner of the NBA Slam Dunk contest during all-star weekend next month. “So our whole aspect was to just come out play hard and win. Even if it was an ugly win, we just had to get the job done.”
Robinson first won the slam dunk competition in 2006 and captured it again last year.
Rodney Stuckey had 22 points for Detroit, who had won three straight heading into Monday’s contest. Ben Wallace finished with a season-high 16 points to go with 14 rebounds.
“He played extremely well,” Pistons head coach John Kuester said of Wallace. “He’s competed the entire season. He did a great job on the boards. We needed other people to step up and we didn’t get the production in certain situations.”
In other NBA action, it was:
• Spurs 97, Hornets 90
• Lakers 98, Magic 92
• Wizards 97, Trail Blazers 92
• Thunder 94, Hawks 91
• Bobcats 105, Kings 103
• Rockets 101, Bucks 98, OT
• Clippers 106, Nets 95
• Timberwolves 108, 76ers 103, OT
• Warriors 114, Bulls 97
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