Bucks start road trip in Dallas

Keith Van Horn scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half, burning his former team, as the Mavericks ran past the New Jersey Nets, 110-77, on Saturday in front of their home crowd.

Josh Howard led the way with 29 points and Dirk Nowitzki tallied 16 points in the win over the Nets for Dallas, which has won four of its last five games overall. Every player in the game scored for Dallas, which shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 8-of-15 from three-point range in the victory. The Mavericks have defeated New Jersey 11 straight times.

The Mavericks are 14-4 at home this season. After tonight’s game, they hit the road for a five-game trip. Dallas will visit Houston, the Clippers, Portland, Golden State and Seattle on the upcoming swing.

Milwaukee tries to get back on the winning track as it begins a three-game road trip this evening. On Saturday, Carmelo Anthony poured in a game-high 38 points to lead the Denver Nuggets past the Bucks, 100-93, at the Bradley Center.

Michael Redd scored a team-high 25 points in the loss to Denver for the Bucks, who have dropped five of their last seven games overall. Redd grabbed six boards and dished out six assists in defeat, while Bobby Simmons finished with 15 points.

The Bucks, who will visit the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and the Atlanta Hawks on Friday in the finale of the swing, are 9-8 as the visitor this season. They have split their last four contests on the road.

This is the second and final meeting of the season between the squads. On November 29th, rookie Andrew Bogut scored 19 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked Jason Terry’s shot at the overtime buzzer to boost Milwaukee to a 113-111 win over the Mavericks at the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee has lost two straight and four of its last five at Dallas.