Mavericks Win Another One-Pointer - 94-93

Newcomer Shawn Marion came up big at the end as Dallas wins yet another squeaker. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The Mavericks tried to give this game away.

After holding on to double digits leads in the first half, the Dallas Mavericks (28-14) continually allowed the Washington Wizards (14-27) back into the game. In fact, the Mavericks led 94-87 with 1:12 to play before allowing consecutive three's by Randy Foye and Mike Miller that made it a one-point game with 27 seconds left.

Dirk Nowitzki followed this up with a charge on Brandon Hayward and Washington had the ball, down 94-93, with six seconds left. The Wizards then used a 20 second timeout to draw up the play, but you wouldn't have known there was a play at all watching the action.

Caron Butler dribbled out the clock, driving inside on Marion one-on-one and rising up at about 16 feet before being completely rejected by Marion.

"I knew he was going to iso, so I just wanted to stay and play good defense on him, and I did that," said Marion, who had 12 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks on 50 percent shooting. "It fires you up when you make that big play. That's what makes it fun."

Nowitzki Leads All Scorers Again

Dirk Nowitzki continues to play lights out.

He scored a game-high 28 points on 11-19 shooting, while also chipping in five boards and getting two blocked shots. Nowitzki has had the game-high in points five times in the last six games (3-3).

He's scored 25 or more points six times in the last seven games, averaging 28.7 points.

JET Starts, Plays Well

With Josh Howard out with a "stomach illness", Jason Terry made the most out of his second start of the season.

Terry scored nine in the fourth quarter, on 4-6 shooting, and finished the game with 21 points and three steals.

"When it comes to that situation, it's second nature to us," said Terry, describing the Mavericks penchant winning close games. "We don't tense up."

Whats Next

An ugly win over a bad team is still a win, no matter how you slice it, and Washington is beginning to get fully healthy and are without a huge knucklehead/distraction in Gilbert Arenas.

Dallas hits the fourth stop on their five-game road trip in Philadelphia Friday night, taking on the
13-28 76ers. Philly has lost three of their past four games and are 6-14 at home this season.

Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. and can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.


News and Notes

• Jason Kidd dished out 15 assists on the night and has four double-digit assist totals in the past five games. This after having only one in the previous nine games. Kidd is fifth in the NBA in assists per game (9.2)
• With 12 points and 12 boards, Shawn Marion now has three double-double this season. Marion has also scored in double figures in seven of the past eight games.
• Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry have both scored over 20 points in a game 10 times this season. Dallas is 8-2 in those contests.
• The Mavericks have now won three of their last four games, after losing three of the previous four.
• Dallas has won nine straight games decided by one-point, the second longest streak in NBA history. The record is 10, set by the St. Louis Hawks 1959-1960, so the Mavs are one win away from immortality!!
  

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)