National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Dallas 83, New Orleans 81
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 21, 2012
Where: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: #26 Pat Fraher, #77 Karl Lane, #32 Eddie F. Rush
Attendance: 15471

Delonte West collected 16 points and six assists and Lamar Odom scored 16 while starting in place of Dirk Nowitzki as the visiting Dallas Mavericks edged the New Orleans Hornets, 83-81, on Saturday.

Shawn Marion added 14 points and Jason Terry overcame a 3-for-16 shooting effort to finish with 12 points for the Mavericks.

New Orleans has dropped seven straight.

Nowitzki, who is nearly 10 points below his playoff average from last spring at 17.5, blamed his struggles on a knee ailment and the fact that he wasn’t in the best shape of his career. In an effort to not exaggerate any injury, Dallas has decided to give its superstar four games off to improve his conditioning.

The Mavericks came out of the locker room on fire, turning a 41-41 halftime score into a 53-41 lead just over three minutes into the third quarter. The burst started with a layup and two dunks and finished from long range, with Odom and West each burying a 3-pointer.

The Hornets put together a similar run at the beginning of the fourth, using a 11-2 spurt to close the gap to 66-64. They would draw to within a point twice in the final 1:06 but never got over the hump as West and Terry each hit a pair of free throws in the last 14 ticks.

Emeka Okafor led the way for New Orleans with 16 points and 17 rebounds.
Top Game Performances
 
Dallas   New Orleans
Lamar Odom 16 Scoring Carl Landry 19
Delonte West 6 Assists Jarrett Jack 6
Shawn Marion 12 Rebounds Emeka Okafor 17
Jason Terry 6 Free Throws Made Carl Landry 9
Rodrique Beaubois 3 Steals DaJuan Summers 3
Brendan Haywood 2 Blocks Trevor Ariza 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Dallas 83 40.5 4-26 15-20 17 49 7 7 12
New Orleans 81 36.7 2-19 21-32 15 41 3 9 11
Upcoming Games
  • New Orleans will play their next game at home against San Antonio. The Hornets have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .083 after a loss.
  • Dallas will play their next game at home against Phoenix. The Mavericks have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .500 after a loss.
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