Arenas, Wizards End Mavs' Winning Streak

Gilbert Arenas can't be held down for long. <br/><br/>Arenas followed a subpar outing by scoring 38 points, and the Wizards beat the Mavericks 106-97 Monday night to end Dallas' 12-game winning

Tuesday, December 5th 2006, 6:28 am

By: News On 6

Gilbert Arenas can't be held down for long.

Arenas followed a subpar outing by scoring 38 points, and the Wizards beat the Mavericks 106-97 Monday night to end Dallas' 12-game winning streak.

``It feels great,'' Arenas said. ``It shows what we're capable of doing if we come out and play hard. But we have to get a streak of our own pretty soon here if we want to be in that race.''

On Saturday night in Chicago, Arenas was held to 10 points. It was the third time he's been held to 20 points or fewer this season. In the following games, Arenas is averaging more than 36 points.

Last season, Arenas was held under 20 points 14 times, and he averaged 33.1 points for the next game.

Against Dallas, Arenas got help from Antawn Jamison, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Caron Butler added 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Wizards, who built leads of 20 points in the first half and 31 in the third quarter.

In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 21 points before leaving with a sprained ankle in the Lakers' 101-87 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Bryant got an offensive rebound and missed an off-balance shot before landing on Indiana center Jeff Foster's right foot early in the third quarter. Bryant was helped off the court before walking to the dressing room without assistance.

He came back to the bench a couple minutes later, but didn't return to the game.

In other NBA games, it was: San Antonio 129, Golden State 89; Chicago 100, Boston 82; Orlando 92, Sacramento 89; Utah 101, Milwaukee 88; and New York 98, Memphis 90.

Dirk Nowitzki, who led Dallas with 27 points, capped a 19-6 run with a 3-pointer that pulled the Mavericks to within 102-95 with 1:07 remaining.

The Mavericks' 12-game winning streak is the longest in the NBA this season.

``They didn't quit,'' Jamison said. ``They finished the game like a veteran team, as they should have.''

Spurs 129, Warriors 89

At San Antonio, Brent Barry scored 18 points and the Spurs won by their largest margin in nearly nine years.

The Spurs' reserves accounted for 75 points in the rout.

Beno Udrih scored a season-high 16 points for San Antonio. Tim Duncan had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Michael Finley and Tony Parker each added 14 points.

Anthony Roberson, who sprained his left thumb Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks, scored 21 for Golden State.

Lakers 101, Pacers 87

Bryant scored 21 points before leaving with a sprained ankle, and the Pacific Division-leading Lakers held on for the win.

Kwame Brown scored 17 points for the Lakers and Lamar Odom had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Jermaine O'Neal led visiting Indiana with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The win was the third straight for the Lakers, while the Pacers dropped their third in a row in the finale of a six-game road trip.

Bulls 100, Celtics 82

In Chicago, Andres Nocioni scored 20 points, and the Bulls won their fifth straight.

Chicago led 53-35 at halftime and by as many as 30 in the third quarter.

After scoring a career-high 31 on Friday against New Orleans and 24 the following night against Washington, Nocioni was 8-of-10 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds against Boston.

Paul Pierce scored a season-low eight points for Celtics, losers of three straight.

Jazz 101, Bucks 88

In Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer had 30 points and 13 rebounds and Utah's Jerry Sloan got his 999th coaching win.

Mehmet Okur had 17 points and had 13 rebounds for the Jazz.

Charlie Bell led Milwaukee with 23 points.

Sloan can become the fifth coach to reach 1,000 career wins Friday at Minnesota.

Magic 92, Kings 89

Jameer Nelson hit a long 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left, and Orlando snapped an 11-game road losing streak at Arco Arena.

Dwight Howard had 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Magic, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

With Ron Artest sidelined by a sore lower back, Mike Bibby led the Kings with 19 points and seven assists.

Knicks 98, Grizzlies 90

In New York, Eddy Curry scored 26 points and the Knicks won at home for just the second time this season.

David Lee added a season-high 20 points, teaming with Curry to wear out the Grizzlies' frontcourt. Curry, who had his career-best seventh straight game with 20 or more points, grabbed 15 rebounds before fouling out, and the Knicks shot a season-best 56.3 percent from the field.

Hakim Warrick scored 19 points for the Grizzlies, who lost their third straight.