Mavericks’ win streak reaches seven

Dirk Nowitzki scored seven of his 30 points in a game-turning spurt that ended the third quarter and had 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who stretched their NBA-best winning streak to seven with a 107-80 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night at Dallas.

Dallas hasn’t lost since starting the season 0-4.

“I think we were just trying to find ourselves a little bit,” said Austin Croshere, who had 14 points. “Early, we were waiting for things to happen, and now we’re making things happen.”

After Gilbert Arenas made a tiebreaking three-point basket with 9:29 left in the third quarter, the Wizards missed 10 shots in a row. By the time DeShawn Stevenson scored in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, the Wizards were down by 12 points and never threatened again.

Arenas finished with 29 points for the Wizards.

Cleveland 97, Memphis 94 -- Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall each made a pair of free throws in the final 15 seconds at Cleveland to help the Cavaliers to their sixth victory in their last seven games after they nearly blew a 20-point lead.

Drew Gooden led the Cavaliers with a season-high 22 points and 15 rebounds in 30 minutes against the team that drafted him fourth in 2002.

Chucky Atkins had 17 points for Memphis, which trailed by 14 after three quarters but got to within 80-78 with a 12-0 run to open the fourth.

Meanwhile, Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes, sidelined already for three games after spraining his right ankle last week, could sit out at least three more, the team said.

Detroit 97, Philadelphia 87 -- Rasheed Wallace had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and the Pistons led all the way in taking advantage of Allen Iverson’s absence at Philadelphia.

Iverson had an abscessed wisdom tooth removed. His replacement, Willie Green, led the 76ers with 24 points.

Indiana 93, Milwaukee 88 -- The Pacers rallied in the final three minutes by scoring the last 14 points at Indianapolis to beat the Bucks.

Jermaine O’Neal had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana. Maurice Williams scored 22 points for the Bucks, who led, 88-79, with 3:06 left.

New Orleans 101, Miami 86 -- Peja Stojakovic scored 23 points, and the Hornets opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to break open a close game at Oklahoma City.

Dwyane Wade had 29 points for Miami, which trailed by four entering the fourth quarter.

Denver 113, Chicago 109 -- J.R. Smith had a career-high 36 points, Carmelo Anthony scored 29 and the Nuggets sent the visiting Bulls to their fifth straight loss.

Smith scored five points in the final three minutes against the team that traded him to Denver during the off-season. Kirk Hinrich scored 28 points for the Bulls, who also fell to 0-4 on their seven-game trip.

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Houston guard Kirk Snyder will be sidelined eight to 10 weeks after breaking his right hand Monday against New York.