Mavericks Return Favor in Victory Over Pacers

With a big swat of the game’s first shot, the Indiana Pacers showed they were ready to rumble.

But the Dallas Mavericks didn’t bite. They stuck to their style and worked it to perfection.

Michael Finley had 33 points and 13 rebounds in three quarters, and Nick Van Exel had 20 points and 10 assists as the Mavericks ran and shot their way past the Pacers, 118-97, Tuesday night at Dallas in a game between the teams with NBA’s best records.

“They wanted to use their physicality as an intimidation factor, but we withstood that,” Finley said. “We kept our composure and came away with the win.”

Dallas improved to 21-3 and avenged a road loss last month that prevented them from tying the best start in league history.

This victory set a lesser, but still impressive record: Best home start in franchise history, 12-0.

The East-leading Pacers won the previous meeting, 110-98, with their physical play and an offense that sliced through the Maverick zone. Three players had at least 20 points last time; Jermaine O’Neal led Indiana this time with 20.

Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, who missed the previous two games resting a sprained right ankle, had 20 points and five rebounds in 28 minutes. Steve Nash had 13 points and seven assists.

Indiana (18-6) had won three straight, but over a longer stretch the Pacers are 4-4, with all four losses on the road. Their previous worst loss had been by 15.

“They were ready for us,” Pacer Coach Isiah Thomas said.

Sacramento 95, Phoenix 86 -- Chris Webber had 27 points and 12 rebounds as the Kings stayed perfect at home and ended the Suns’ four-game winning streak.

Bobby Jackson had 19 points for the Kings, who never trailed and won for the 15th victory in 17 games. Sacramento scored 10 straight points to begin the fourth quarter while improving to 13-0 at Arco Arena this season.

Rookie Casey Jacobsen, a former Stanford and Glendora High standout, had a season-best 15 points for the Suns.

Portland 102, New Orleans 93 -- Bonzi Wells scored a season-high 30 points, and Rasheed Wallace had 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Trail Blazers at Portland, Ore.

Portland pulled ahead thanks to a 12-5 third-quarter run that put some distance between the two teams after what had been a very close game. There were 16 ties and 10 lead changes before the Trail Blazers finally built a lead.

Washington 109, Atlanta 99 -- Michael Jordan rebounded from one of the worst games of his career by scoring a season-high 30 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 23 to lead the Wizards at Atlanta.

On Sunday, Jordan had only two points in 40 minutes -- matching the career low he set last April -- but he equaled that 17 seconds into this game with a jumper from the wing. He easily got open shots, spending most of the game defended by Glenn Robinson and Ira Newble.

New York 101, New Jersey 99 -- Allan Houston scored 29 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 36.6 seconds left to lead the Knicks at New York, ending a six-game losing streak to the Nets.

Jason Kidd scored a season-high 39 for the Nets but missed a potential game-tying 12 footer from the lane with four seconds left. Richard Jefferson then missed a tip, and time expired before the Nets could get off another shot.

Toronto 122, Milwaukee 117 -- Morris Peterson made two free throws with seven seconds left in overtime at Milwaukee as the Raptors ended a four-game losing streak.

Ray Allen, who had 37 points, made a three-pointer to get Milwaukee to 118-117 with 15 seconds left. Alvin Williams was fouled and made both free throws to extend the Raptors’ lead to 120-117 with 14 seconds left.