Howard’s 47 lead Dallas past Utah

DALLAS -- The high-rollers who own front-row seats at Dallas Mavericks games gave up their spots Saturday night as part of the annual “Seats for Soldiers” benefit.

Then Dallas’ Josh Howard and Utah’s Deron Williams made sure the troops enjoyed quite a show.

On a night when both teams made 60% of their shots, Howard’s career-best 47 points pushed the Mavericks past the Jazz, 125-117, despite a career-high 41 for Williams.

Howard’s total was the sixth-most in Mavericks history and topped his previous best by 17. His line: 14 for 19 shooting, four of five on three-pointers and 15 of 17 on free throws, plus 10 rebounds, two assists and a block.

“Josh is great when he’s aggressive for four quarters. Tonight, he had it rolling,” teammate Jason Terry said.

Howard finished six points shy of the franchise scoring record.

“We didn’t have much of an answer for Howard,” Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said. “We couldn’t stop him, but there were a lot of people we had a tough time stopping.”

Williams scored 18 points in the third quarter, including Utah’s last nine. He had 14 more in the fourth quarter, including two free throws that got the Jazz to within 112-110 with 3:41 left.

Williams was 13 for 20 from the field and 12 for 13 from the free-throw line.

“All our losses, we’ve struggled defensively,” Williams said. “We dominated points in the paint, we executed well, we just didn’t get enough stops. We need to work on helping each other out on our rotations.”