Dirk Nowitzki matched his season high with 39 points and new starter J.J. Barea provided quite a spark in the fourth quarter, leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 112-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.
Nowitzki had 37 points through three quarters and the Mavs seemed to be comfortably headed to victory when the Suns began to make things interesting. But just when they got within 10, Barea -- a 5-foot-11 backup point guard-turned-co-starter alongside Jason Kidd -- helped Dallas regain control by single-handedly guiding a 10-0 run. Soon after, he nailed a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 23 and punctuated it with a loud scream drowned out by a roar from fans already on their feet.
Barea finished with 18 points, and Jason Terry continued his recent roll off the bench with 19 points as the Mavs won for the eighth time in nine games, pushing them to two games over .500 for the first time this season. It also was their fourth straight home win, evening their record in Dallas at 4-4. They've got a good chance to stretch both streaks with the next five games at home.
Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal returned to the lineup for Phoenix after missing the two previous games, Nash because of flu-like symptoms that cost him several pounds and O'Neal because of sore knees and coach Terry Porter's plan to avoid using him in back-to-back games. Their presence wasn't enough, though, as the Suns lost their fourth straight.
Nash, whom Porter was expecting to be fired up by his return to Dallas, had 20 points and 10 assists without playing the fourth quarter. Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 28 points but got his fifth foul late in the third quarter and wasn't a factor after that.
Nowitzki opened the game with an open jumper and took off from there. He scored 14 points in the first quarter and nine more in the second. He was 10-of-13 at the half. Then he scored another 14 in the third quarter on 6-of-8 shooting.
It didn't matter who Phoenix used against him, and Porter tried almost everyone -- Stoudemire, O'Neal and Matt Barnes, with Grant Hill, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw getting in on some switches, plus Nash coming over on double-teams.
Had the game been closer, Nowitzki likely would've had more than two points in the final period. It was still enough to match the 39 points he scored in an overtime victory against the New York Knicks, and it continued a bad trend for the Phoenix defense. In two of their previous three games, the Suns gave up 43 points to Miami's Dwyane Wade and 47 to New Jersey's Devin Harris.
Barea earned his first start of the season, and just the 11th of his three-year career, by hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in the final minute of the previous game. He played 31 minutes and the two-point guard lineup might be something coach Rick Carlisle sticks with considering this was among Dallas' best outing of the season.
Erick Dampier had nine points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. Shawne Williams added 12 rebounds and seven points.
Although these teams no longer score like they used to, the Mavericks did a good imitation of their former selves in the first half, scoring 33 points in the first quarter and a season-best 64 by halftime.
The Suns kept up with the pace the first 11½ minutes, then Dallas closed the first quarter with a bizarre stretch -- Barea scoring on a full-court layup, falling into the crowd, then getting the ball right back when Phoenix's Goran Dragic rushed to get the ball in and stepped on the line. The Mavericks lobbed the inbound pass to Terry, who somehow slipped free from the defense and nailed a wide-open 3 as time expired. Terry backpedaled to half-court with his arms raised as fans cheered.
More applause followed as Dallas turned that little spurt into a 21-4 run.
Notes:@ The Mavs were without Josh Howard for the seventh straight game. They're 6-1 in that span. ... Dallas went from not leading its previous game until the final minute to never trailing in this one. ... O'Neal had four points and five rebounds in 26 minutes. He made only 1 of 6 shots. ... Kidd made a 3-pointer, the 1,386th of his career, tying Antoine Walker for ninth in NBA history.
