GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NBA: PHILADELPHIA (2-4) at DALLAS (4-2)

NBA: PHILADELPHIA at DALLAS

<div class="pre">NBA FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
PHILADELPHIA 22 28 18 16 84
DALLAS 21 22 33 23 99 FINAL

HIGH SCORERS: PHI - SAMUEL DALEMBERT 18, WILLIE GREEN 16,
ANDRE IGUODALA 15
DAL - JASON TERRY 25, DIRK NOWITZKI 21, JOSH
HOWARD 18

HIGH REBOUND: PHI - REGGIE EVANS 12, ANDRE IGUODALA 12,
SAMUEL DALEMBERT 7
DAL - DIRK NOWITZKI 12, DESAGANA DIOP 10,
ERICK DAMPIER 7

HIGH ASSISTS: PHI - ANDRE IGUODALA 8, ANDRE MILLER 5, LOUIS
WILLIAMS 3
DAL - DIRK NOWITZKI 8, DEVIN HARRIS 7, JERRY
STACKHOUSE 5

ATT: 19,875</div>

 

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Dirk Nowitzki flashed his all-around skillsand Jason Terry dazzled off the bench as the Dallas Mavericksposted a 99-84 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Nowitzki collected 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists tohelp the Mavericks extend their winning streak to four games inthe series. He also had three blocks and two steals.

"Everybody kept saying at the end to get one or two moreassists, but it's not PlayStation out there," Nowitzki saidabout his near triple-double. "It's not as easy, but I think wedid a good job sharing the ball, making shots, cutting hardwhen they double-team me. That's what we've got to do is moveit when someone is there and make shots."


"He did what he was supposed to do," Mavs coach Avery Johnsonsaid. "We stretched him out pretty good that second half and hewas amazing. Like I've been saying all along, Dirk is a stud.He draws a lot of attention, and the more we can get him tomake those passes, the more that we can finish."


Terry was once again impressive as a reserve, scoring 25 pointson 10-of-21 shooting. He has managed to reach the 20-pointplateau in all but two games this season.


"My job is to come off the bench like a microwave, hot," Terrysaid. "I just wanted to be as aggressive as I could knowingthat they would be double-teaming Dirk all game long, and he wasdoing a great job of finding open shooters as he had eightassists, just an outstanding job by him by accepting thedouble-team and getting the ball to the open shooter."

Dallas' bench, led by Terry, outscored Philadelphia, 48-23.

Trailing, 50-43, at intermission, Dallas opened the second halfon a 16-2 surge to take the lead for good on Devin Harris'driving layup with 8:04 remaining. Terry poured in seven pointsduring the stretch to help Dallas carry a 76-68 bugle headinginto the final quarter.


"In the third quarter, we made a little run, got a push there,"Nowitzki said. "(Terry) had some good looks in transition, andthat's what we want to do a little bit more to speed the gameup. We did a good job defensively, and it really got ouroffense going."


The Mavericks extended their lead to 86-72 with 8:15 left behinda 10-4 burst to begin the fourth and coasted thereafter.

Josh Howard poured in 18 points and DeSagana Diop pulled down 10rebounds for Dallas, which shot 44 percent (37-of-83) from thefield.


Samuel Dalembert scored 18 points and Andre Iguodala chipped in15, 12 boards and eight assists for Philadelphia, which shot 40percent (33-of-82) en route to their third straight loss.

"They were just a better team down the stretch," Iguodala said."They had a little bit more depth and they had some guys thatmade some big shots. They just beat us."