Nowitzki and Dallas stay hot with win over Hornets

Josh Howard netted 15 and pulled down seven boards while Erick Dampier had 11 points and six rebounds for the Mavericks, who have won 18 straight meetings and 10 in a row at home. Devin Harris added 10 points for Dallas, which has won nine straight after losing their first four games of the season.

Jannero Pargo donated 19 points and Chris Paul chipped in 12 points and five steals for the Hornets, who have lost three in a row.

Dallas jumped out to a 21-3 lead, including 11 points from Howard, as the Hornets began the game 1-of-6 from the field. Dampier’s dunk gave the Mavs a 13-3 margin and Howard’s trey capped the spurt.

Pargo banked a jumper as time was running down to cut the deficit to 35-16 after the opening 12 minutes of play. Nowitzki finished with 12 points in the opening frame.

The Hornets scored eight of the first 12 points in the second period to pull within 39-24, highlighted by five straight points from Pargo to begin the stanza.

However, Dallas netted 12 of the next 19 points, including seven points from Nowitzki, extending the lead to 51-31. The Mavericks took a 51-36 margin into the locker room.

Trailing 60-42, the Hornets went on an 11-5 rally, capped by Paul’s running jumper, narrowing the gap to 12, 65-53, but with 2:18 remaining in the quarter Bobby Jackson was ejected from the game after being called for a personal foul. He disagreed with the call and argued with Derek Richardson before getting tossed. The Hornets never got any closer for the rest of the game.

Dallas scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 70-53 advantage into the final frame.

Game Notes

The Hornets’ Peja Stojakovic missed the game with back spasms...The Hornets Jackson finished the game with 10 points...This is the first time in the nine- game winning streak that the Mavs were outrebounded (49-46)...Dallas shot 38.8 percent from the floor while the Hornets connected on 35.9 percent of their shots.