Mavericks 101, Suns 99

DALLAS (AP) _ After their first meeting in November, the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns both had only one victory. <br/><br/>Now, they're resembling the teams that played each other in the Western

Friday, December 29th 2006, 6:28 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) _ After their first meeting in November, the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns both had only one victory.

Now, they're resembling the teams that played each other in the Western Conference playoffs the past two seasons.

Dirk Nowitzki hit a 19-footer with 1.3 seconds left to give the Mavericks a 101-99 victory in a matchup of division leaders who came into Thursday night's game with NBA's top two winning percentages.

``It tells us we're OK,'' said Steve Nash, the NBA MVP in both seasons since leaving Dallas for Phoenix. ``We've improved since the start of the year, and I think we've got a lot of improving to do.''

The Mavericks (22-7), with the best record in the NBA, won their eighth straight game. The defending Western Conference champs are 22-3 since the first 0-4 start in team history.

Phoenix (19-8) had won eight straight road games, one short of matching the team record.

In the only other NBA games Thursday night, the San Antonio Spurs remained within a half-game of Dallas in the Southwest Division with a 106-83 victory over the Utah Jazz, and Denver beat Seattle 112-98 to give George Karl his 800th coaching victory.

The Suns had one more chance after Nowitzki's shot. But after a timeout and the inbound pass, Amare Stoudemire's 22-foot shot bounded off the front of the rim as time expired.

``It was about the best we could have expected in that situation,'' said Stoudemire, who finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Jason Terry scored 32 of his season-high 35 points by the midpoint of the third quarter, then hit a big 3-pointer before setting up the final two Dallas baskets in the last 23 seconds.

Terry made a nifty pass to Josh Howard for an acrobatic layup that put the Mavs up 99-97. Then after the Mavericks' final timeout, Terry got the final pass to Nowitzki, who made the shot over Shawn Marion.

``I heard my number called. Shawn was guarding me and I was going to hold it a little longer, but I think he was a little surprised that I quick-shot it,'' Nowitzki said. ``Jet was amazing all night. He was aggressive.''

Terry had eight assists and his second 30-point game of the season, both against the Suns. Nowitzki finished with 27 points on 8-of-20 shooting with 10 rebounds. Howard had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

``All respect goes to JT. He came out lights out shooting the ball, getting us into our offense and just running the team,'' Howard said. ``He was our general. Dirk and myself struggled, but at key plays, he found both guys and we finished the basket for him.''

Dallas and Phoenix were a combined 2-9 after the first meeting Nov. 9. That initial victory by the Mavs started a 12-game winning streak, and the Suns have since set a franchise record by winning 15 in a row.

After trailing by as many as 13 points twice, the last after a Terry-led run in the third quarter, Phoenix built as much as a nine-point lead in the fourth.

``It was a great game, the last bucket won it,'' Nash said. ``Dirk's a clutch player and he made a big shot. ... It was pretty evenly matched teams. Little mistakes here and there cost us the game.''

Nash finished with 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting with 13 assists _ including the last two game-tying baskets.

An ally-oop pass from Nash led to Stoudemire's one-handed dunk with 1:07 left that tied the score at 97. Nash's more conventional pass to Marion led to a layup with 6.3 seconds left before the Mavericks called timeout to set up their final play.

``Dirk was the only option. We didn't have a plan B,'' coach Avery Johnson said. ``We were trying to get him the ball. Just jokingly, we told Jason to try.''

Terry scored 10 in the Mavs' 15-2 run that pushed them ahead 73-60 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Dallas then fell behind until Terry finally scored again _ hitting a 3-pointer with 2:09 left that put the Mavs ahead 95-94.

Nuggets 112, SuperSonics 98

At Denver, Allen Iverson had 44 points and 10 assists to help Karl to his milestone win.

Karl was handed a Denver jersey with No. 800 on it along with the game ball after beating his former team to become only the 12th coach in NBA history to reach the mark.

Iverson had his highest-scoring game since being acquired by Denver in a trade with Philadelphia on Dec. 19. His season high is 46 against Chicago on Nov. 24. Earl Boykins added 24 points, and Reggie Evans had a season-high 18 rebounds.

Spurs 106, Jazz 83

Tony Parker scored 22 points, Tim Duncan added 20 and San Antonio cruised to its 15th consecutive home victory over Utah.

Parker hit all five of his shots from the floor and scored 12 points in the second quarter as the Spurs turned a one-point lead into a 15-point advantage at halftime.