Even minus their top shooter, the Dallas Mavericks easily outgunned the Toronto Raptors.
Josh Howard stepped up in the absence of all-star Dirk Nowitzki, leading all scorers with 26 points as the Mavericks trounced the Raptors 117-98 in front of 19,975 fans at the AmericanAirlines Center.
T.J. Ford drives to the basket on Josh Howard in a 117-98 Raptors loss.
(Matt Slocum/Associated Press)
"We were fortunate to get this win, especially with Dirk going down," Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson said.
Howard was sharp from beyond the arc, draining 4-of-6 three-point attempts as Dallas outscored Toronto 33-3 in that category.
In fact, Darrick Martin scored Toronto's lone trey as the final buzzer sounded to extend the team's mark of consecutive games with a three-point basket to 629.
"I knew what was stake here," he said. "I acted like I wasn't going to shoot and then fired it up.
"It's always good to preserve things. And we preserved it for another game, so it's good."
Dallas has been unkind to the Raptors (5-10), who have lost seven straight and nine of 11 overall at AmericanAirlines Center.
The Mavericks (11-4) have won 11 consecutive games following an 0-4 start.
The franchise record is 14 straight wins set in the 2002-03 NBA season.
"They've got a good basketball team," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said. "They haven't won 11 in a row by mistake."
Nowitzki had six points and six rebounds in 12 minutes, despite suffering from blurred vision and dizziness.
He finally departed for the locker room with 1:46 left in the first quarter and did not return.
"I had no peripheral vision," Nowitzki said. "I couldn't see the other guys.
"I drove to the basket, but couldn't see the rim. It was scary."
"He had a bruised retina in [Monday's] game and had some symptoms then," Johnson said. "And they came back again in the first quarter.
"We had him checked out. He's better, he's better."
Nowitzki, a five-time all-star, is listed as day-to-day.
"We saw the eye doctor and everything's good," he said. "I'll be back in action Friday."
Jerry Stackhouse came off the bench and scored 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor.
Jason Terry contributed 14 points followed by Erick Dampier with 13 points and a game-best 14 rebounds.
Devin Harris also reached double-digits with 10 points for the defending Western Conference champions.
"This team is deeper than last year's," Nowitzki said. "When somebody is out, somebody else moves in."
Bosh paces Raptors
Chris Bosh poured in 18 points and pulled down 18 rebounds for the Raptors, who had won two games in a row and three of four.
T.J. Ford also scored 18 points, while Jorge Garbajosa had 13 points.
Rookie Andrea Bargnani and Joey Graham netted 12 points apiece in what was Toronto's fourth game in five nights.
"Sometimes, the mind is willing, but the legs won't follow," Mitchell said. "Every time we tried to make a little run, they'd hit a three."
Dallas enjoyed a strong start, building up a 20-point lead before Toronto hit stride and trimmed it to 10 points by halftime.
The Mavericks shot a blistering 57.1 per cent in the first half, led by Howard and Stackhouse with 12 points apiece, compared with 40.9 per cent for the Raptors.
Bosh led all players at the break with 14 points and eight rebounds.
"They made shots early and got us down by a big number early," Martin said.
Ford and Graham each scored nine points as Toronto closed the gap to 59-49, a deficit cut to five points on Bosh's dunk early in the third quarter.
But it was all Mavericks after that.
"They scored on us a little bit in the third quarter," Johnson said. "We went really small and we thought that really helped.
"Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse really carried us during that stretch in the second and third quarters."
With files from Sports Network
