CASPER
New member
DALLAS – Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki made pressure shots down the stretch to spoil the New Orleans Hornets' perfect start.
Terry scored 26 points, including the go-ahead jumper in the final minute, Nowitzki contributed 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Dallas Mavericks handed the Hornets their first loss of the season, 98-95 on Monday night.
In the fourth quarter, Terry drained two 3-pointers and had 10 points, Kidd connected on all three 3-pointers, and Nowitzki added eight points and five rebounds.
Terry went 2 for 11 from the floor in the first half, but he stayed aggressive and hit seven of eight second-half shots.
"I was missing wide-open shots, ones that I practice," Terry said. "I'm a shooter, I'm going to keep shooting."
The Mavs rallied from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit with a three-guard lineup featuring Terry, Kidd and J.J. Barea to stretch their winning streak to four games.
"It was an attempt to get more playmaking into the game, get more penetration in the game," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "That was a gamble because when you go small, you don't have the length and they are a very long team. But the group that finished did a great job."
New Orleans had been off to a franchise-best 8-0 start and was the NBA's last unbeaten team.
The Hornets got 22 points and nine assists from Chris Paul, but Paul had only two second-half points. Peja Stojakovic added 17 points, Trevor Ariza had 13 points and seven assists, and Emeka Okafor pulled down 14 rebounds for New Orleans.
Terry's 17-footer with 46 seconds remaining gave the Mavericks a 95-92 edge, but Ariza's 3-pointer with 40 seconds left tied it at 95.
Terry hit an 18-footer with 34 seconds to play for a 97-95 advantage. Nowitzki made only one free throw with 2.8 seconds left, giving New Orleans a final chance to tie, but Okafor missed a contested 25-footer at the buzzer.
The teams have a rematch Wednesday night in New Orleans.
"It's special because it's like a mini-playoff series," Terry said. "And we held serve by winning at home, and now we go on the road. That's kind of fun, this early in the season to have something like that."
The Hornets were hurt by missing eight of 24 free throws. The Mavericks weren't much better from the line, missing eight of 27.
After the Mavs trailed by as many as 11 in the third quarter, Terry made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to open the final period, pulling the Mavericks within 78-75.
