NBA Game Summary - Dallas at Portland

Portland, OR (Basketball News) - Jerry Stackhouse scored 18 points to lead a balanced Dallas scoring attack as the Mavericks cruised to a 102-90 victory over Portland at the Rose Garden.

Shawn Bradley added 15 points and Michael Finley, Jason Terry and Josh Howard each had 14 for the Mavericks, who earned their sixth straight win despite the absence of All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, who missed the game with a sore left shoulder.

It matters to me how we finish the season," said Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson. "I have no idea who we’ll play in the playoffs, but I really want to see our team playing good defense heading into the playoffs."

Shareef Abdur-Rahim compiled 19 points and 10 rebounds while Ruben Patterson recorded 18 points for the Blazers, who have lost nine of their last 10. Travis Outlaw chipped in 15 points off the bench.

"The difference in the game like this has more to do with the fact that they are hot as they enter the playoffs and we’re just playing out the season," said Portland interim head coach Kevin Pritchard. "That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a big effort to win these games. You should still have pride and go play."

The Mavericks took control of the game with a 14-3 run late in the first quarter which turned a 20-15 lead into a cozy 16-point advantage. Bradley netted six points during the burst, including a putback dunk with 31 seconds to go in the period which put the visitors ahead 34-18.

Dallas maintained a double-digit lead through the entire second quarter. The margin was as large as 19 points before back-to-back baskets by Patterson in the final minute of the first half cut Portland’s deficit to 61-46 at intermission.

The Blazers would get within eight, 64-56, on Abdur-Rahim’s tip-in less than four minutes into the second half, but Dallas began to pull away with a 9-0 run later in the third quarter which gave the Mavericks a comfortable 80-62 lead with 3:17 left in the period. Stackhouse began the scoring with a three- pointer and hit another key triple during the course of the spurt. Dallas would enter the final 12 minutes up 85-71.

"I hit some big threes, but I don’t want to fall into the trap of shooting a lot of threes," Stackhouse said. "But if I’m open and my teammates set me up, I’m going to shoot."

Portland would close the gap to 99-90 on Sebastian Telfair’s three-point play with 1:23 remaining before Terry made 1-of-2 free throws and Devin Harris converted a layup for the final margin.