Nowitzki and Dallas crush Nets

Dec 6, 2006, 3:25 GMT

East Rutherford, NJ - Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 92-75 rout of the New Jersey Nets at Continental Airlines Arena.

Josh Howard netted 23 and also pulled down six boards while Jason Terry added 13 points and seven assists for the Mavericks, who have won 13 of their last 14 games. Devin Harris donated 10 points for Dallas, which has won 12 of the last 13 meetings.

'I liked the way we had energy early and sustained it,' Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. 'They tried to make a run on us there at the end of the third quarter, but we were able to hold them off. Even though we didn't shoot the ball great, I thought our defense was pretty good we were pretty active.'

Dallas had its 12-game winning streak broken Monday night with a 106-97 loss at Washington.

'Last night's fourth quarter we can back from a 31-point lead and cut it to eight or nine,' Howard said. 'Not many teams can do that. They made their run at the start of the fourth, but we kept fighting and pushed it back up.'

Vince Carter chipped in 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting and Nenad Krstic poured in 18 points and grabbed 12 boards for the Nets, who had a two-game winning streak come to an end. Jason Kidd finished with 10 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the contest for New Jersey, which is 1-7 versus the Western Conference this season.

'That's something that's given us trouble this early in the season is we can't let teams have second and third opportunities, especially real good teams,' Kidd said. 'Tonight there were quite a few of those second opportunities where they knocked down a three or had an easy put-back. We have to find a way to eliminate that.'

The Mavs jumped out to an 8-0 lead as the Nets missed their first six shots from the floor. However, New Jersey went on an 11-5 run, capped by Carter's layup, narrowing the gap to 13-11.

Leading 15-13, Dallas reeled off an 11-2 spurt spanning the first and second quarters. Jerry Stackhouse drained four straight free throws at the end of the opening frame for a 21-14 advantage, and Devean George's trey capped the run, extending the lead to 26-15, as New Jersey once again began the frame ice cold, missing its first five shots in the second.

The Mavericks cruised into the half with a 49-35 margin.

Harris' layup pushed the lead to 57-40, but the Nets stormed back with a 19-7 rally, including eight points from Carter and six from Mikki Moore, cutting the deficit to five, 64-59. However, that was as close as New Jersey would get.

'We were just ready to play tonight,' Nowitzki said. 'Some of the offensive looks we didn't knock down, but if your defense is solid it gives us a chance to win.'

Leading, 69-63, early in the fourth, the Mavs put the game away with a 19-8 surge, including 10 points from Nowitzki, for an 88-71 score with 3:10 to play.

'When times are rough you have to continue to play, continue to execute,' Carter said. 'You never know what could happen. They let us right back into the basketball game.'

Game Notes

The Nets had only 10 field goals and shot 29 percent from the floor in the first 24 minutes of play.

New Jersey's Richard Jefferson ended with 12 points and six rebounds.

Dallas shot 41 percent from the field compared to 35.1 percent for the Nets.

Stackhouse finished with nine points.

© 2006 The Sports Network