NBA Game Summary - Atlanta at Dallas

11.17.2005

Dallas, TX (Basketball News) - Josh Howard scored a game-high 25 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Dallas over Atlanta, 87-78, at American Airlines Arena.

Keith Van Horn scored 14 points off the bench and Jason Terry chipped in 12 for the Mavericks, who have won four straight. Marquis Daniels had 11 points in the win.

Zaza Pachulia paced the lowly Hawks with a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds while Joe Johnson contributed 18 points. Atlanta has now lost eight straight to open the season.

Al Harrington finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Dallas shook off a sluggish first quarter and took the lead for good by outscoring the Hawks 29-17 in the second period. The Mavericks fell behind 20-11 in the early moments of the stanza after Salim Stoudamire sank a pair of free throws, but Dallas quickly tied the game with nine straight points.

Terry and Van Horn combined for eight of the points while Nowitzki sank a free throw to knot the game at 20-20. Dallas continued to surge and eventually garnered a seven-point cushion at the break.

In the third, the home club maintained its lead through the entire quarter and held off a late Atlanta rally in the fourth.

Trailing 81-74 with less than three minutes to go, Johnson finished off a three-point play to make it a four-point ballgame. However, the Mavericks kept the visiting club at bay, as Daniels hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six.

Nowitzki’s tip-in with 42 seconds left erased any hope of an Atlanta comeback and accounted for the game’s final margin.

Dallas has now won 11 of the last 14 meetings with the Hawks and 12 of the last 19...Both clubs struggled from the field. The Hawks shot 38 percent while the Mavericks went 32-of-81 (39.5 percent)...Atlanta hit just one three- pointer in the game...Dallas hit 20-fo-23 (87 percent) from the free throw line.

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