NBA Game Summary - Memphis at Dallas

Dallas, TX (Basketball News) - Josh Howard scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Dirk Nowitzki added 19 points and Dallas routed Memphis, 110-89, at the American Airlines Center.

Michael Finley added 17 points, while Keith Van Horn came off the bench to chip in 14 for Dallas, which has won four straight overall and eight in a row at home. Jason Terry contributed 12 for the Mavericks, who played without the services of guard Jerry Stackhouse.

"This was another solid game for us, a good home performance," Terry said. "I thought we came out with the energy required to win the game and defensively we got better."

Stackhouse was handed down a one-game suspension by the NBA on Monday along with Utah Jazz guard Kirk Snyder for a postgame altercation between the players over the weekend. The incident took place outside the locker rooms following Dallas’ 88-81 victory over the Jazz on Saturday.

Stackhouse is averaging 14.9 points in his first season with the Mavericks.

"It was a nice victory for us tonight," said Dallas head coach Avery Johnson. "We pretty much played an all around solid game tonight."

Lorenzo Wright paced Memphis with a team-high 18 points. Pau Gasol added 14 points, while Mike Miller netted 13 for Memphis, which was unable to secure its second straight playoff berth with the loss.

The Grizzlies, who appeared in the postseason for the first time in franchise history in 2004 and were eliminated by San Antonio in four games in the first round, are currently No. 8 in the West and own a four-game lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves for the final playoff spot.

Memphis will have a chance to nail down a playoff spot Wednesday night at Houston.

The Grizzlies led 23-22 after a tightly contested first quarter, but Dallas started the second on a 23-9 flurry to take the lead. Marquis Daniels’ jumper capped the burst, staking Dallas to a comfortable 45-32 advantage with 4:12 left in the first half.

"We are just worried about getting stops and playing great defense," said Daniels, who ended with 10 points off the pine.

The Mavericks then carried a 51-44 lead into the locker room. Wright netted 13 points to led the Mavericks, while Howard paced Memphis with 10 points at the break.

Neither team was able to find its shooting touch from beyond the arc in the first half. Dallas finished 0-of-5, while Memphis was 1- of-4 from three-point land after 24 minutes.

Memphis methodically chipped away at the lead in the third, trimming the deficit to four, 63-59, on Shane Battier’s jumper with 5:56 left in the frame. However, that was as close as the Grizzlies would get in the third. The Mavericks responded by closing the period on a 16-11 run, pushing the margin to 79-71 after three quarters of action.

Dallas started to pull away in the fourth. A quick 7-2 spurt was capped by Devin Harris’ jumper, staking the Mavericks to a commanding 86-73 lead with 9:50 left in the contest.

The lead would balloon to 20, 103-83, on Howard’s bucket with 3:36 to go. Memphis never recovered from that point on en route to the 21-point loss.