Seth Curry scored 24 points, Nerlens Noel had 15 points and tied a career high with 17 rebounds in his first start since coming to Dallas in a trade, and the Mavericks beat the Memphis Grizzlies 104-100 on Friday night.
The Mavericks held on despite going scoreless for more than five minutes in the last half of the fourth quarter. The drought ended when Dirk Nowitzki made a free throw after Memphis coach David Fizdale was called for a technical with Dallas leading 94-90 with 46 seconds left.
Mike Conley scored 30 points for Memphis, and Zach Randolph had 24 points and 10 rebounds. Marc Gasol scored 13, but was just 6 of 18 from the field.
Noel, who was supposed to get his first start in Atlanta but was late for the team plane and came off the bench instead, almost had his second double-double of the season by halftime with 13 points and nine boards. His other double-double was with Philadelphia before the deadline deal.
Harrison Barnes had 18 points on just 6-of-15 shooting and Yogi Ferrell scored 17 as all five starters were in double figures for the Mavericks, who flirted with a franchise low in points in an 80-64 loss in their other meeting with Memphis in November.
Dallas was without Nowitzki and three key guards because of injuries in the earlier loss to the Grizzlies. Curry started that game and was just 4 of 14 from the field as the Mavericks nearly had the worst shooting night in franchise history at 29 percent.
The Mavericks have since moved on without starting point guard Deron Williams, committing to Ferrell after adding the rookie on a 10-day contract while Curry gets more comfortable as one of the catalysts for the offense.
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Curry was 8 of 15 from the field and Ferrell was 6 of 12 with another guard out as Dallas shot 48 percent. Wesley Matthews missed his second game with a hip injury.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Chandler Parsons had seven points and four rebounds in 24 minutes in his second game against his former team. He's still on a minutes restriction and didn't return after coming out in the third quarter. ... Conley had a four-point play in the first half when he threw up the 3 as he was getting fouled and it banked in.
Mavericks: Nowitzki scored 10 points and needs 38 to become the sixth NBA player with 30,000 points. ... Devin Harris had a game-high six assists. ... Noel's other 17-rebound game was in March 2015 with the 76ers against Atlanta.
UP NEXT
Grizzlies: Memphis takes a 10-3 record on the second night of back-to-backs into a visit to Houston. The Grizzlies won their first eight.
Mavericks: The second of five straight at home against Oklahoma City on Sunday.
