Caron Butler scored 20 points and Jason Kidd added 13 and 12 assists to lead the red-hot Dallas Mavericks to a 105-99 victory over the host Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 17 points and moved past Larry Bird into 25th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list as Dallas (23-5) completed a back-to-back sweep of the Florida teams, having beaten Miami on Monday. The Mavericks have won four in a row an 16 of 17.
Dwight Howard had 26 points and a season-high 23 rebounds as Orlando (16-12) lost for the eighth time in nine outings. It was Howard’s third straight 20-rebound game.
The Magic are 0-3 since revamping the roster with trades for Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson. The trio struggled for the second straight night, combining to score just 21 points on 7-of-30 shooting. Richardson led the newcomers with 10 points.
Tyson Chandler scored 16 points and Jason Terry added 13 for Dallas.
Orlando trailed by 12 points after Terry’s basket with 4:33 to play, but the Magic went on a 13-4 run to pull within 97-94 on Richardson’s 3-pointer with 56 seconds left. Richardson connected on another 3-pointer to cut Dallas’ lead to two points with 24 seconds to go before Nowitzki and Terry hit two free throws apiece to seal the victory.
J.J. Redick scored 21 points and Jameer Nelson scored 19 for Orlando.
Dallas | Orlando | |
Caron Butler 20 | Scoring | Dwight Howard 26 |
Jason Kidd 12 | Assists | Hedo Turkoglu 8 |
Dirk Nowitzki 8 | Rebounds | Dwight Howard 23 |
Dirk Nowitzki 8 | Free Throws Made | Dwight Howard 4 |
Tyson Chandler 1 | Steals | Dwight Howard 3 |
N/A | Blocks | Dwight Howard 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Dallas | 105 | 50.0 | 12-26 | 17-21 | 28 | 38 | 0 | 5 | 13 |
Orlando | 99 | 44.2 | 11-29 | 12-12 | 22 | 40 | 3 | 6 | 13 |