Dallas

Monta Ellis Leads Mavericks Past Hornets, 92-81

Mavericks see 92-81 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night

Monta Ellis scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and Amare Stoudemire had 14 points in 11 minutes in his Dallas debut in the Mavericks' 92-81 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night.

Stoudemire made his first appearance in an NBA game since Feb. 11. He was signed by Dallas during the All-Star break after his contract was bought out by the New York Knicks.

Mo Williams scored 22 points for the Hornets. Williams, acquired from Minnesota on Feb. 10, also led Charlotte in scoring in his team debut Saturday night, finishing with 28 against Oklahoma City.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams added 15 each for Charlotte. Al Jefferson had a season-high 17 rebounds, but scored only eight points on 4-for-16 shooting.

Dallas' Richard Jefferson scored 10 points starting in place of Chandler Parsons. Parsons sustained a sprain and bone bruise to his left ankle Friday night and will miss at least three games. He was on the Dallas bench wearing a boot.

Tyson Chandler scored 12 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the floor after going 7-for-7 in Dallas' previous victory over the Hornets in November.

The Mavericks' 19-5 record against Eastern Conference teams is second in the Western Conference to Golden State's 16-2. The victory moved Dallas within percentage points of the fifth-place Los Angeles Clippers in the West. The Hornets dropped a half-game behind Brooklyn in the race for the final playoff berth in the East.

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Stoudemire entered the game with 5:26 to play in the opening quarter, greeted by a standing ovation. In the last 2 minutes of the period, he had a putback basket over Al Jefferson, a baseline dunk over Jason Maxiell and an alley-oop from J.J. Barea.

Dallas built a 43-24 lead with 6:34 to play before Charlotte responded with an 11-point run. The Mavericks added only three free throws the rest of the period for a 45-35 halftime lead. Ellis heaved a shot at the buzzer from just behind the 3-point line that swished through, but the ball didn't leave his hands in time.

TIP-INS

Hornets: Charlotte has cracked 50-percent shooting a league-low two times season and shot 36.4 percent on Sunday. ... Mo Williams lives in Dallas and bought more than 30 tickets for the game

Mavericks: Parsons' earliest return would be Saturday at home game against Brooklyn. ... For the first time this season, Dirk Nowitzki had more rebounds (12) than points (8). He didn't attempt a 3-pointer for the first time since late December. ... Dallas signed Bernard James to a second 10-day contract Saturday.

UP NEXT

Charlotte will play the second of four consecutive road games at Chicago on Wednesday night.

The Mavericks will play the second of three games in four days at home on Tuesday night against Toronto.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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