Dallas wins 12th straight; Howard hurts ankle

Feb 27, 2007, 4:40 GMT

Dallas, TX - Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and yanked down eight rebounds to pace the surging Mavericks to their 12th consecutive victory, a 110-87 rout of the Atlanta Hawks.

Jason Terry scored 21 and Josh Howard finished with 20, but left in the fourth quarter after spraining his right ankle. Jerry Stackhouse scored 19 and dished out nine assists, as the Mavericks extended their club-record home winning streak to 20 contests.

The Mavericks are an amazing 27-3 on their home floor this year and they've put together three winning streaks of at least 12 games this season. They haven't lost consecutive games since an 0-4 start and moved to an NBA-best 47-9, which includes wins in 33 of their last 35 games.

We've got guys finishing and going hard to finish and knocking down shots right now,' Stackhouse said. 'Hopefully we can continue to play that way because everybody is playing with a lot of confidence.'

The Hawks are at the opposite end of the spectrum, losing four of five, dropping them to 22-35. Joe Johnson went 12-of-18 from the field for 29 points for Atlanta, which lost for the 13th time in the last 16 encounters to Dallas. Zaza Pachulia had 24 points and nine boards in defeat.

'We've got to defend and rebound the ball, and we just couldn't stop them tonight,' Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. 'We'll see them again and hopefully we'll be better before they come back to our place.'

The Hawks led 6-1 early, but that was an aberration, as the Mavericks took control the second. The Mavs led 27-23 after one period and widened the margin to double digits at 38-27 on a Howard turnaround jumper with 8:51 left in the half. Austin Croshere's basket made it 40-27, ending eight consecutive Dallas points.

Dallas led 60-45 at the half and continued to pull away in the third. Terry's jumper moved the score to 69-49 with just under seven minutes left in the period and it was 87-67 going into the fourth.

The Mavs led by as many as 25, with Pops Mensah-Bonsu's jam in the final minute providing that margin.

Howard suffered his injury when he stepped on the foot of Johnson while taking a jumper.

'Hopefully he should be okay,' Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. 'The X-rays were negative and we'll check him out tomorrow night.'

Game Notes

Greg Buckner missed the game for Dallas due to a bruised left knee...Dallas' last loss at home was a 92-83 defeat to the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 7...Josh Childress had 13 points and Marvin Williams 11 for Atlanta...The teams will meet against March 25 in Atlanta.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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