Mavericks Upend Celtics, Stay Perfect

The Dallas Mavericks stayed unbeaten because Dirk Nowitzki kept connecting and Shawn Bradley kept the Boston Celtics from the basket.

Nowitzki scored a season-high 32 points and the 7-foot-6 Bradley blocked five shots and changed many others as the Mavericks won 97-86 Friday night to improve to 9-0.

Bradley didn’t start because of an upset stomach, but played 36 minutes and made all four of his shots .

“Bradley was sensational,” Dallas Coach Don Nelson said. “I told him he needs to get food poisoning again.”

The Celtics (6-3) had their winning streak end at six as Paul Pierce scored only nine points and Antoine Walker had only four of his 22 in the second half.

“It was hard but we made it harder on ourselves,” Pierce said. “The zone really bothered us.”

So did Nowitzki.

“He gets out and runs the floor well,” Walker said. “He’s very aggressive in transition. That’s when he looks for his shot.”

The win was the Mavericks’ sixth by 10 or more points as they became only the sixth team in 19 years to start 9-0 or better.

“It’s fun,” Nowitzki said. “We know the streak is going to end sooner or later, but then we’ll just try to start another one.”

If the Mavericks defeat New Jersey on Saturday and the Lakers on Tuesday, they would be the first team to go 11-0 since Atlanta and the Lakers both reached that mark in 1997-98.

Bradley felt weak but didn’t have to move much in Dallas’ 2-3 zone defense.

“The plan was to play two to three minute spurts,” he said, but “it seemed to go OK.”

The Celtics’ last lead was 16-15, but they cut the deficit to 76-70 with 8:35 left on consecutive 3-pointers by Walker and Tony Delk.

The Mavericks regained control with a 10-0 run that made it 86-70 with 6:16 left. Michael Finley started it with a three-point basket, Nowitzki made two jumpers and Walt Williams ended it with a three-pointer.