Mavericks Make Up for Nowitzki's Loss

Dirk Nowitzki's early departure couldn't slow the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Howard scored 26 points to make up for Nowitzki's loss, and the Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors 117-98 Wednesday

Friday, December 1st 2006, 6:01 am

By: News On 6

Dirk Nowitzki's early departure couldn't slow the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Howard scored 26 points to make up for Nowitzki's loss, and the Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors 117-98 Wednesday night for their 11th straight victory.

Jerry Stackhouse added 23 points for the Mavs, who haven't lost since their 0-4 start and moved into first place in the Southwest Division after Utah beat San Antonio 83-75.

``We know we are a good team no matter who's out there on the floor,'' center Erick Dampier said. ``We're hard to beat if we're playing the type of defense that we are capable of playing. We can play with anyone in this league, so it's up to us every night and go out there every night and play good defense consistently.''

Nowitzki departed with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter with blurred vision and left the arena to be examined by a team specialist. The Mavs said he had a bruised retina, and team specialist Dr. Maurice Syrquin cleared him for all basketball activity.

The All-Star forward said he hopes to play Friday night against Sacramento.

``We have a lot of guys who can step in,'' Nowitzki said. ``This team is deeper than last year's. When somebody is out, somebody else moves in.''

In other games, it was: Atlanta 99, Charlotte 90; New York 101, Cleveland 98; New Jersey 106, Boston 103; Phoenix 102, Houston 91; Orlando 94, Seattle 84; Indiana 108, Golden State 106; and the Los Angeles Clippers 105, Memphis 90.

Jason Terry scored 14 points and Dampier had 13 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Mavericks, who have won 22 straight regular-season home games against Eastern Conference opponents.

After losing their first four games, the Mavericks have embarked on the third-longest winning streak in franchise history.

``They came out with a lot of energy,'' Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said. ``That's a good team. They didn't win 11 in a row by mistake. They have so many weapons.''

Chris Bosh had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto, which fell to 1-8 on the road. T.J. Ford also scored 18 for the Raptors.

Jazz 83, Spurs 75

Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Matt Harpring added 13 points and 12 boards, and host Utah snapped its two-game losing streak.

Deron Williams finished with 15 points and nine assists in the Jazz's first win over San Antonio since April 2005. Utah also had a 50-34 rebounding advantage.

Tim Duncan had 21 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which lost for the third time in four games.

Suns 102, Rockets 91

Steve Nash broke out of a bad shooting night with eight points in a 19-5 fourth-quarter run, and host Phoenix won its fifth in a row.

Amare Stoudemire had 22 points and 15 rebounds for the Suns, who dominated the boards 55-36 and snapped the Rockets' four-game winning streak. Shawn Marion had 13 points and 12 boards.

Tracy McGrady scored 23 points on 9-for-26 shooting for Houston. Yao Ming added 18 and Rafer Alston 16.

Magic 94, SuperSonics 84

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 12 rebounds, leading visiting Orlando (12-4) to its fifth straight victory and ninth in 10 games.

Howard was perfect from the field, making all eight field goal attempts and was 8-for-12 at the free-throw line. It was Howard's seventh straight double-double and ninth in his last 10 games.

Ray Allen led the Sonics with 21 points, but made just two of eight shots in the second half.

Pacers 108, Warriors 106

At Oakland, Calif., Stephen Jackson grabbed a loose ball and hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left.

Baron Davis had 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Monta Ellis scored 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. The Warriors seemed poised to make Don Nelson the second coach in NBA history with 1,200 career victories, joining Lenny Wilkens. Instead, Nelson will get another shot Saturday night against Milwaukee.

Jamaal Tinsley scored 12 of his season-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and Al Harrington had 28 for the Pacers.

Clippers 105, Grizzlies 90

At Los Angeles, Cuttino Mobley connected on his first nine shots, added a buzzer-beating 3-pointer off a steal to end the second quarter and finished with 24 points.

The Clippers snapped a five-game losing streak and beat Memphis for only the third time in the last 14 meetings. Elton Brand finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Hakim Warrick scored 22 points for the Grizzlies (4-11), who are tied with Charlotte for the NBA's worst record.

Knicks 101, Cavaliers 98

Quentin Richardson scored 27 points and Eddy Curry had 24, 12 in the fourth quarter, as the Knicks snapped the Cavaliers' six-game home winning streak.

Curry and Jamal Crawford combined for 23 of New York's 28 points in the fourth as the Knicks improved to 5-5 on the road.

LeBron James had 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting.

Nets 106, Celtics 103

Vince Carter scored 23 points, 16 in the fourth quarter, and Jason Kidd added 19 as visiting New Jersey snapped a six-game losing streak.

Paul Pierce scored 31 points for Boston and Wally Szczerbiak had 25.

Hawks 99, Bobcats 90

Joe Johnson scored 22 of his season-high 36 points in the second quarter, and visiting Charlotte couldn't overcome the longest field-goal drought to open an NBA game this season.

Raymond Felton and Sean May each scored 21 points for the Bobcats, who were 0-for-13 from the field to start the game before a jumper by May with 4:07 left in the period.